Mira. 'Would I might But ever see that man! Pro. Now I arise: Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Mira. Heavens thank you for't! And now, (For still 'tis beating in my mind,) your reason For raising this sea-storm? Pro. Know thus far forth.-- By accident most strange, bountiful fortune, A most auspicious star; whose influence I pray Will ever after droop.---Here cease more questions; Come away, servant, come: I am ready now; Enter ARIEL. Ari. All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding task Pro. Hast thou, spirit, Perform'd to point the tempest that I bade thee? I boarded the king's ship; now on the beak, Pro. My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Ari. Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd Some tricks of desperation: All, but mariners, Plung'd in the foaming brine, and quit the vessel, Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Ferdinand, With hair up-staring, (then like reeds, not hair,) Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is empty, And all the devils are here. Pro. Why, that's my spirit! Ari. Close by, my master. On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st me, In troops I have dispers'd them 'bout the isle: Pro. Of the king's ship, The mariners, say, how thou hast dispos'd, Ari. Safely in harbour Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour, Bound sadly home for Naples; Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, Pro. Ariel, thy charge Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work: What is the time o' the day? Ari. Past the mid-season. Pro. At least two glasses; The time 'twixt six and now, Must by us both be spent most preciously. Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd, Which is not yet perform'd me. Pro. How now ? moody? What is't thou can'st demand? Ari. My liberty. Pro. Before the time be out? no more. Remember, I have done thee worthy service; Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd Without or grudge, or grumblings: thou didst pro mise To bate me a full year. Pro. Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee? Ari. No. Pro. Thou dost: and think'st It much, to tread the ooze of the salt deep; Ari. I do not, sir. Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age, and envy, Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her? Ari. No, sir. Pro. Thou hast: Where was she born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier. Pro. O, was she so? I must, Once in a month, recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch, Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold, and sorceries terrible To enter human hearing, from Argier, Thou know'st, was banish'd; for one thing she did, Ari. Ay, sir. Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave, As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant : A dozen years; within which space she died, And left thee there; where thou did'st vent thy groans, As fast as mill-wheels strike: Then was this island, (Save for the son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp, hag-born,) not honour'd with Ari. Yes; Caliban her son. Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters. |