A Fairy Tale in Two Acts Taken from Shakespeare | Page 6

with apricots and dewberries;

With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;
The honey-bags steal
from the humble bees,
And for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs,

And light them at the fiery glow-worms eyes,
To have my love
to-bed, and to arise:
Nod to him, Elves, and do him courtesies.
Pease. Hail, mortal, hail!
Cob. Hail!
Moth. Hail!
Queen. Come, wait upon him, lead him to my bow'r.
The moon,
methinks, looks with a watry eye,
And when she weeps, weep ev'ry
little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Tie up my love's
tongue, bring him silently. [Exeunt.
SCENE Another part of the Wood.
Enter Oberon.
Ob. I wonder if Titania be awak'd:
Then what it was that next came in
her eye,
Which she must doat on in extremity?
Enter Puck.
Here comes my messenger! how now, mad sprite!
What night-rule
now about this haunted grove?
Puck. My mistress with a mortal is in love.
Ob. This falls out well and fortunate in truth;
Now to my Queen, and

beg her Indian youth:
And then I will her charmed eye release
From
mortals view, and all things shall be peace.
Away, away, make no
delay,
We may effect this business yet ere day. [Exit Puck.
AIR.
Up and down, up and down,
We will trip it up and down.
We will
go through field and town,
We will trip it up and down.
[Exit Oberon.
SCENE The Wood and Bower.
Enter Queen of Fairies, Bottom; Fairies attending and the King behind
them.
Queen. Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed.
Say wilt thou
hear some music sweet dove.
Bot. I have a reasonable good ear in music.
DUET. By 1st and 2d Fairy.
Welcome, welcome to this place,
Favorite of the Fairy Queen;

Zephyrs, play around his face,
Wash, ye dews, his graceful mien.
Pluck the wings from butterflies,
To fan the moon-beams from his
eyes;
Round him in eternal spring
Grashoppers and crickets sing.
By the spangled starlight sheen,
Nature's joy he walks the green;

Sweet voice, fine shape, and graceful mien,
Speak him thine, O Fairy
Queen!
Queen. Or say, sweet love, what thou desir'st to eat.
I have a ventrous
Fairy that shall seek
The squirrels hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
Bot. I pray you, let none of your people stir me; I have an exposition of

sleep come upon me.
Queen. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms;
Fairies begone,
and be always away.
So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle

Gently entwist.
O how I love thee! how I doat on thee! [They sleep.
Enter Puck, at one door, Oberon and 1st Fairy at another.
Ob. Welcome, good Robin! See'st thou this sweet sight?
Her dotage
now I do begin to pity:
For meeting her of late behind the wood,
I
then did ask of her her changeling child,
Which strait she gave me;
wherefore I'll undo
This hateful imperfection of her eyes:
[He strokes her eyes with the flower.
Now, Fairy, sing the charm.
AIR.
1st Fai. Flower, of this purple dye,
Hit with cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of her eye!
When her lord
she doth espy,
Let him shine as gloriously
As the Phoebus of the
sky.
When thou wak'st, if he be by,
Beg of him for remedy. [Exit
Fairy.
Now, my Titania, wake you, my sweet queen.
Queen. My Oberon! What visions have I seen!
Methought I was
enamour'd of a mortal.
Ob. There lies your love.
Queen. How came these things to pass?
O how mine eyes do loath
this visage now!
Ob. Silence awhile. Robin, remove the man,
And you mean while,
Titania, music call,
And strike more dead than common deep his
senses.

Queen. Musick, ho, musick! such as charmeth sleep.
AIR.
2d Fai. Orpheus, with his lute, made trees,
And the mountain tops
that freeze,
Bow themselves when he did sing,
To his musick,
plants and flowers
Ever spring, as sun and showers
There had made
a lasting spring.
[During this song the body is removed.
Ob. Come, my Queen, take hand with me,
Now thou and I are new in
amity.
AIR.
2d Fai. Sigh no more, lady, sigh no more
Be not inconstant ever,

One foot on sea, and one on shore,
You can be happy never. [Lark
sings.
Puck. Fairy king, attend and mark,
I do hear the morning lark.
Ob. Then, my Queen, in silence sad,
Trip we after the night's shade,

We the globe can compass soon,
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.
Queen. Come, my lord, and in our flight,
Tell me, how it came this
night,
That I sleeping here was found,
With yon mortal on the
ground.
A Dance of Fairies.
FINIS.
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FAIRY
TALE IN TWO ACTS TAKEN FROM SHAKESPEARE
(1763)***
0. This file should be named 12842.txt or 12842.zip *******
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:

http://www.gutenberg.net/1/2/8/4/12842
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be
renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission