Tales from Shakespeare | Page 5

"if by your
art you have raised this dreadful storm, have pity on their sad distress.
See! the vessel will be dashed to pieces. Poor souls! they will all perish.
If I had power I would sink the sea beneath the earth, rather than the
good ship should be destroyed, with all the precious souls within her."
"Be not amazed, daughter Miranda," said Prospero; "there. is no harm
done. I have so ordered it, that no person in the ship shall receive any
hurt. What I have done has been in care of you, my dear child. You are
ignorant who you are, or where you came from, and you know no more
of me, but that I am your father and live in this poor cave. Can you
remember a time before you came to this cell? I think you cannot, for
you were not then three years of age."
"Certainly I can, sir," replied Miranda.
"By what?" asked Prospero; "by any other house or person? Tell me
what you can remember, my child."
Miranda said: "It seems to me like the recollection of a dream. But had
I not once four or five women who attended upon me?" Prospero
answered: "You had, and more. How is it that this still lives in your
mind? Do you remember how you came here?" "No, sir," said Miranda,
"I remember nothing more."
"Twelve years ago, Miranda," continued Prospero, "I was Duke of
Milan, and you were a princess, and my only heir. had a younger
brother, whose name was Antonio, to whom I trusted everything; and
as I was fond of retirement and deep study I commonly left the
management of my state affairs to your uncle, my false brother (for so
indeed he proved). 1, neglecting all worldly ends, buried among my

books, did dedicate whole time to the bettering of my mind. My brother
Antonio, being thus in possession of my power, began to think himself
the duke indeed. The opportunity I gave him of making himself popular
among my subjects awakened in his bad nature a proud ambition to
deprive me of my dukedom; this he soon effected with the aid of the
King of Naples, a powerful prince, who was my enemy."
"Wherefore," said Miranda, "did they not that hour destroy us?"
"My child," answered her father, "they durst not, so dear was the love
that my people bore me. Antonio carried us on board a ship, and when
we were some leagues out at sea, he forced us into a small boat,
without either tackle, sail, or mast; there he left us, as he thought, to
perish. But a kind lord of my court, one Gonzalo, who loved me, had
privately placed in the boat water, provisions, apparel, and some books
which I prize above my dukedom."
"O my father," said Miranda, "what a trouble must I have been to you
then!"
"No, my love,"' said Prospero, "you were a little cherub that did
preserve me.Your innocent smiles made me bear up against my
misfortunes. Our food lasted till we landed on this desert island, since
when my chief delight has been in teaching you, Miranda, and well
have you profited by my instructions."
"Heaven thank you, my dear father," said Miranda. "Now pray tell me,
sir, your reason for raising this sea-storm?"
"Know then," said her father, ""that by means of this storm, my
enemies, the King of Naples and my cruel brother, are cast ashore upon
this island."
Having so said, Prospero gently touched his daughter with his magic
wand, and she fell fast asleep; for the spirit Ariel just then presented
himself before his master., to give an account of the tempest, and how
he had disposed of the ship's company, and though the spirits were
always invisible to Miranda, Prospero did not choose she should hear
him holding converse (as would seem to her) with the empty air.
"Well, my brave spirit," said Prospero to Ariel, "how have you
performed your task?"
Ariel gave a lively description of the storm, and of the terrors of the
mariners, and how the king's son, Ferdinand, was the first who leaped
into the sea; and his father thought he saw his dear son swallowed up

by the waves and lost. "But he is safe," said Ariel, "in a corner of the
isle, sitting with his arms folded, sadly lamenting the loss of the king,
his father, whom he concludes drowned. Not a hair of his head is
injured, and his princely garments, though drenched in the sea-waves,
look fresher than before."
"That's my delicate Ariel," said Prospero. "Bring him hither: my
daughter must see this young prince. Where is the king, and my
brother?"
"I left them," answered Ariel, "searching for Ferdinand, whom they
have little hopes