Tales of Shakespeare
by Charles and Mary Lamb
Hypertext Meanings and Commentaries
from the Encyclopedia of the Self
by Mark Zimmerman

CHARLES AND MARY LAMB

PREFACE

The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as
an introduction to the study of Shakespeare, for which purpose his
words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in
whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected
story, diligent are has been taken to select such words as might least
interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote:
therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have
been as far as possible avoided.

In those tales which have been taken from the Tragedies, the young
readers will perceive, when they come to see the source from which
these stories are derived, that Shakespeare's own words, with little
alteration, recur very frequently in the narrative as well as in the
dialogue; but in those made from the Comedies the writers found
themselves scarcely ever able to turn his words into the narrative
form: therefore it is feared that, in them, dialogue has been made use
of too frequently for young people not accustomed to the dramatic
form of writing. But this fault, if it be a fault, has been caused by an
earnest wish to give as much of Shakespeare's own words as possible:
and if the 'He said,' and 'She said,' the question and the reply, should
sometimes seem tedious to their young ears, they must pardon it,
because it was the only way in which could be given to them a few
hints and little foretastes of the great pleasure which awaits them in
their elder years, when they come to the rich treasures from which
these small and valueless coins are extracted; pretending to no other
merit than as faint and imperfect stamps of Shakespeare's matchless
image. Faint and imperfect images they must be called, because the
beauty of his language is too frequently destroyed by the necessity of
changing many of his excellent words into words far less expressive
of his true sense, to make it read something like prose; and even in
some few places, where his blank verse is given unaltered, as hoping
from its simple plainness to cheat the young reader into the belief that
they are reading prose, yet still his language being transplanted from
its own natural soil and wild poetic garden, it must want much of its
native beauty.

It has been wished to make these Tales easy reading for very young
children. To the utmost of their ability the writers have constantly
kept this in mind; but the subjects of most of them made this a very
difficult task. It was no easy matter to give the histories of men and
women in terms familiar to the apprehension of a very young mind.
For young ladies too, it has been the intention chiefly to write;
because boys being generally permitted the use of their fathers'
libraries at a much earlier age than girls are, they frequently have the
best scenes of Shakespeare by heart, before their sisters are permitted
to look into this manly book; and, therefore, instead of recommending
these Tales to the perusal of young gentlemen who can read them so
much better in the originals, their kind assistance is rather requested
in explaining to their sisters such parts as are hardest for them to
understand: and when they have helped them to get over the
difficulties, then perhaps they will read to them (carefully selecting
what is proper for a young sister's ear) some passage which has
pleased them in one of these stories, in the very words of the scene
from which it is taken; and it is hoped they will find that the beautiful
extracts, the select passages, they may choose to give their sisters in
this way will be much better relished and understood from their
having some notion of the general story from one of these imperfect
abridgments; which if they be fortunately so done as to prove
delightful to any of the young readers, it is hoped that no worse effect
will result than to make them wish themselves a little older, that they
may be allowed to read the Plays at full length (such a wish will be
neither peevish nor irrational). When time and leave of judicious
friends shall put them into their hands, they will discover in such of
them as are here abridged (not to mention almost as many more,
which are left untouched) many surprising events and turns of fortune,
which for their infinite variety could not be contained in this little
book, besides a world of sprightly and cheerful characters, both men
and women, the humour of which it was feared would be lost if it
were attempted to reduce the length of them.

What these Tales shall have been to the young readers, that and much
more it is the writers' wish that the true Plays of Shakespeare may
prove to them in older years - enrichers of the fancy, strengtheners of
virtue, a withdrawing from all selfish and mercenary thoughts, a
lesson of all sweet and honourable thoughts and actions, to teach
courtesy, benignity, generosity, humanity: for of examples, teaching
these virtues, his pages are full.

THE TEMPEST

There was a certain island in the sea, the only inhabitants of which
were an old man, whose name was Prospero, and his daughter
Miranda, a very beautiful young lady. She came to this island so
young, that she had no memory of having seen any other human face
than her father's.

They lived in a cave or cell, made out of a rock; it was divided into
several apartments, one of which Prospero called his study; there he
kept his books, which chiefly treated of magic, a study at that time
much affected by all learned men: and the knowledge of this art he
found very useful to him; for being thrown by a strange chance upon
this island, which had been enchanted by a witch called Sycorax, who
died there a short time before his arrival, Prospero, by virtue of his art,
released many good spirits that Sycorax had imprisoned in the bodies
of large trees, because they had refused to execute her wicked
commands. These gentle spirits were ever after obedient to the will of
Prospero. Of these Ariel was the chief.

The lively little sprite Ariel had nothing mischievous in his nature,
except that he took rather too much pleasure in tormenting an ugly
monster called Caliban, for he owed him a grudge because he was the
son of his old enemy Sycorax. This Caliban, Prospero found in the
woods, a strange misshapen thing, far less human in form than an ape:
he took him home to his cell, and taught him to speak; and Prospero
would have been very kind to him, but the bad nature which Caliban
inherited from his mother Sycorax, would not let him learn anything
good or useful: therefore he was employed like a slave, to fetch wood,
and do the most laborious offices; and Ariel had the charge of
compelling him to these services.

When Caliban was lazy and neglected his work, Ariel (who was
invisible to all eyes but Prospero's) would come slily and pinch him,
and sometimes tumble him down in the mire; and then Ariel, in the
likeness of an ape, would make mouths at him. Then swiftly changing
his shape, in the likeness of a hedgehog, he would lie tumbling in
Caliban's way, who feared the hedgehog's sharp quills would prick his
bare feet. With a variety of suchlike vexatious tricks Ariel would often
torment him, whenever Caliban neglected the work which Prospero
commanded him to do.

Having these powerful spirits obedient to his will, Prospero could by
their means command the winds, and the waves of the sea. By his
orders they raised a violent storm, in the midst of which, and
struggling with the wild sea-waves that every moment threatened to
swallow it up, he showed his daughter a fine large ship, which he told
her was full of living beings like themselves. 'O my dear father,' said
she, '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 so 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 Eve 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. I 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). I, neglecting all worldly ends, buried among my
books, did dedicate my 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 of finding, thinking they saw him perish. Of the
ship's crew not one is missing; though each one thinks himself the
only one saved: and the ship, though invisible to them, is safe in the
harbour.'

'Ariel,' said Prospero, 'thy charge is faithfully performed: but there is
more work yet.'

'Is there more work?' said Ariel. 'Let me remind you, master, you have
promised me my liberty. I pray, remember, I have done you worthy
service, told you no lies, made no mistakes, served you without
grudge or grumbling.'

'How now!' said Prospero. 'You do not recollect what a torment I freed
you from. Have you forgot the wicked witch Sycorax, who with age
and envy was almost bent double? Where was she born? Speak; tell
me.'

'Sir, in Algiers,' said Ariel.

'O was she so?' said Prospero. 'I must recount what you have been,
which I find you do not remember. This bad witch, Sycorax, for her
witchcrafts, too terrible to enter human hearing, was banished from
Algiers, and here left by the sailors; and because you were a spirit too
delicate to execute her wicked commands, she shut you up in a tree,
where I found you howling. This torment, remember, I did free you
from.'

'Pardon me, dear master,' said Ariel, ashamed to seem ungrateful; 'I
will obey your commands.'

'Do so,' said Prospero, 'and I will set you free.' He then gave orders
what further he would have him do; and away went Ariel, first to
where he had left Ferdinand, and found him still sitting on the grass in
the same melancholy posture.

'O my young gentleman,' said Ariel, when he saw him, 'I will soon
move you. You must be brought, I find, for the Lady Miranda to have
a sight of your pretty person. Come, sir, follow me.' He then began
singing:

'Full fathom five thy father lies.
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Hark! now I hear them, Ding-dong, bell.'

This strange news of his lost father soon roused the prince from the
stupid fit into which he had fallen. He followed in amazement the
sound of Ariel's voice, till it led him to Prospero and Miranda, who
were sitting under the shade of a large tree. Now Miranda had never
seen a man before, except her own father.

'Miranda,' said Prospero, 'tell me what you are looking at yonder.'

'O father,' said Miranda, in a strange surprise, 'surely that is a spirit.
Lord! how it looks about! Believe me, sir, it is a beautiful creature. Is
it not a spirit?'

'No, girl,' answered her father; 'it eats, and sleeps, and has senses such
as we have. This young man you see was in the ship. He is somewhat
altered by grief, or you might call him a handsome person. He has lost
his companions, and is wandering about to find them.'

Miranda, who thought all men had grave faces and grey beards like
her father, was delighted with the appearance of this beautiful young
prince; and Ferdinand, seeing such a lovely lady in this desert place,
and from the strange sounds he had heard, expecting nothing but
wonders, thought he was upon an enchanted island, and that Miranda
was the goddess of the place, and as such he began to address her.

She timidly answered, she was no goddess, but a simple maid, and
was going to give him an account of herself, when Prospero
interrupted her. He was well pleased to find they admired each other,
for he plainly perceived they had (as we say) fallen in love at first
sight: but to try Ferdinand's constancy, he resolved to throw some
difficulties in their way: therefore advancing forward, he addressed
the prince with a stern air, telling him, he came to the island as a spy,
to take it from him who was the lord of it. 'Follow me,' said he, 'I will
tie you neck and feet together. You shall drink sea-water; shell-lush,
withered roots, and husks of acorns shall be your food.' 'No,' said
Ferdinand, 'I will resist such entertainment, till I see a more powerful
enemy,' and drew his sword; but Prospero, waving his magic wand,
fixed him to the spot where he stood, so that he had no power to
move.

Miranda hung upon her father, saying: 'Why are you so ungentle?
Have pity, sir; I will be his surety. This is the second man I ever saw,
and to me he seems a true one.'

'Silence,' said the father: 'one word more will make me chide you, girl!
What! an advocate for an impostor! You think there are no more such
fine men, having seen only him and Caliban. I tell you, foolish girl,
most men as far excel this, as he does Caliban.' This he said to prove
his daughter's constancy; and she replied: 'My affections are most
humble. I have no wish to see a goodlier man.'

'Come on, young man,' said Prospero to the prince; 'you have no
power to disobey me.'

'I have not indeed,' answered Ferdinand; and not knowing that it was
by magic he was deprived of all power of resistance, he was
astonished to kind himself so strangely compelled to follow Prospero:
looking back on Miranda as long as he could see her, he said, as he
went after Prospero into the cave: 'My spirits are all bound up as if I
were in a dream; but this man's threats, and the weakness which I feel,
would seem light to me if from my prison I might once a day behold
this fair maid.'

Prospero kept Ferdinand not long confined within the cell: he soon
brought out his prisoner, and set him a severe task to perform, taking
care to let his daughter know the hard labour he had imposed on him,
and then pretending to go into his study, he secretly watched them
both.

Prospero had commanded Ferdinand to pile up some heavy logs of
wood. Kings' sons not being much used to laborious work, Miranda
soon after found her lover almost dying with fatigue. 'Alas! ' said she,
'do not work so hard; my father is at his studies, he is safe for these
three hours; pray rest yourself.'

'O my dear lady,' said Ferdinand, 'I dare not. I must finish my task
before I take my rest.'

'If you will sit down,' said Miranda, 'I will carry your logs the while.'
But this Ferdinand would by no means agree to. Instead of a help
Miranda became a hindrance, for they began a long conversation, so
that the business of log-carrying went on very slowly.

Prospero, who had enjoined Ferdinand this task merely as a trial of his
love, was not at his books, as his daughter supposed, but was standing
by them invisible, to overhear what they said.

Ferdinand inquired her name, which she told, saying it was against her
father's express command she did so.

Prospero only smiled at this first instance of his daughter's
disobedience, for having by his magic art caused his daughter to fall
in love so suddenly, he was not angry that she showed her love by
forgetting to obey his commands. And he listened well pleased to a
long speech of Ferdinand's, in which he professed to love her above
all the ladies he ever saw.

In answer to his praises of her beauty, which he said exceeded all the
women in the world, she replied: 'I do not remember the face of any
woman, nor have I seen any more men than you, my good friend, and
my dear father. How features are abroad, I know not: but, believe me,
sir, I would not wish any companion in the world but you, nor can my
imagination form any shape but yours that I could like. But, sir, I fear
I talk to you too freely, and my father's precepts I forget.'

At this Prospero smiled, and nodded his head, as much as to say: 'This
goes on exactly as I could wish; my girl will be queen of Naples.'

And then Ferdinand, in another fine long speech (for young princes
speak in courtly phrases), told the innocent Miranda he was heir to the
crown of Naples, and that she should be his queen.

'Ah! sir,' said she, 'I am a fool to weep at what I am glad of. I will
answer you in plain and holy innocence. I am your wife if you will
marry me.'

Prospero prevented Ferdinand's thanks by appearing visible before
them.

'Fear nothing, my child,' said he; 'I have overheard, and approve of all
you have said. And, Ferdinand, if I have too severely used you, I will
make you rich amends, by giving you my daughter. All your vexations
were but trials of your love, and you have nobly stood the test. Then
as my gift, which your true love has worthily purchased, take my
daughter, and do not smile that I boast she is above all praise.' He
then, telling them that he had business which required his presence,
desired they would sit down and talk together till he returned; and this
command Miranda seemed not at all disposed to disobey.

When Prospero left them, he called his spirit Ariel, who quickly
appeared before him, eager to relate what he had done with Prospero's
brother and the king of Naples. Ariel said he had left them almost out
of their senses with fear, at the strange things he had caused them to
see and hear. When fatigued with wandering about, and famished for
want of food, he had suddenly set before them a delicious banquet,
and then, just as they were going to eat, he appeared visible before
them in the shape of a harpy, a voracious monster with wings, and the
feast vanished away. Then, to their utter amazement, this seeming
harpy spoke to them, reminding them of their cruelty in driving
Prospero from his dukedom, and leaving him and his infant daughter
to perish in the sea; saying, that for this cause these terrors were
suffered to afflict them.

The king of Naples, and Antonio the false brother, repented the
injustice they had done to Prospero; and Ariel told his master he was
certain their penitence was sincere, and that he, though a spirit, could
not but pity them.

'Then bring them hither, Ariel,' said Prospero: 'if you, who are but a
spirit, feel for their distress, shall not I, who am a human being like
themselves, have compassion on them? Bring them, quickly, my
dainty Ariel.'

Ariel soon returned with the king, Antonio, and old Gonzalo in their
train, who had followed him, wondering at the wild music he played
in the air to draw them on to his master's presence. This Gonzalo was
the same who had so kindly provided Prospero formerly with books
and provisions, when his wicked brother left him, as he thought, to
perish in an open boat in the sea.

Grief and terror had so stupefied their senses, that they did not know
Prospero. He first discovered himself to the good old Gonzalo, calling
him the preserver of his life; and then his brother and the king knew
that he was the injured Prospero.

Antonio with tears, and sad words of sorrow and true repentance,
implored his brother's forgiveness, and the king expressed his sincere
remorse for having assisted Antonio to depose his brother: and
Prospero forgave them and, upon their engaging to restore his
dukedom, he said to the king of Naples: 'I have a gift in store for you
too'; and opening a door, showed him his son Ferdinand playing at
chess with Miranda.

Nothing could exceed the joy of the father and the son at this
unexpected meeting, for they each thought the other drowned in the
storm.

'O wonder!' said Miranda, 'what noble creatures these are! It must
surely be a brave world that has such people in it.'

The king of Naples was almost as much astonished at the beauty and
excellent graces of the young Miranda, as his son had been. 'Who is
this maid?' said he; 'she seems the goddess that has parted us, and
brought us thus together.' 'No, sir,' answered Ferdinand, smiling to find
his father had fallen into the same mistake that he had done when he
first saw Miranda, 'she is a mortal but by immortal Providence she is
mine; I chose her when I could not ask you, my father, for your
consent, not thinking you were alive. She is the daughter to this
Prospero, who is the famous duke of Milan, of whose renown I have
heard so much, but never saw him till now: of him I have received a
new life: he has made himself to me a second father, giving me this
dear lady.'

'Then I must be her father,' said the king; 'but oh! how oddly will it
sound, that I must ask my child forgiveness.'

'No more of that,' said Prospero: 'let us not remember our troubles
past, since they so happily have ended.' And then Prospero embraced
his brother, and again assured him of his forgiveness; and said that a
wise overruling Providence had permitted that he should be driven
from his poor dukedom of Milan, that his daughter might inherit the
crown of Naples, for that by their meeting in this desert island, it had
happened that the king's son had loved Miranda.

These kind words which Prospero spoke, meaning to comfort his
brother, so filled Antonio with shame and remorse, that he wept and
was unable to speak; and the kind old Gonzalo wept to see this joyful
reconciliation, and prayed for blessings on the young couple.

Prospero now told them that their ship was safe in the harbour, and
the sailors all on board her, and that he and his daughter would
accompany them home the next morning. 'In the meantime,' says he,
'partake of such refreshments as my poor cave affords; and for your
evening's entertainment I will relate the history of my life from my
first landing in this desert island.' He then called for Caliban to
prepare some food, and set the cave in order; and the company were
astonished at the uncouth form and savage appearance of this ugly
monster, who (Prospero said) was the only attendant he had to wait
upon him.

Before Prospero left the island, he dismissed Ariel from his service, to
the great joy of that lively little spirit; who, though he had been a
faithful servant to his master, was always longing to enjoy his free
liberty, to wander uncontrolled in the air, like a wild bird, under green
trees, among pleasant fruits, and sweet-smelling flowers. 'My quaint
Ariel,' said Prospero to the little sprite when he made him free, 'I shall
miss you; yet you shall have your freedom.' 'Thank you, my dear
master,' said Ariel; 'but give me leave to attend your ship home with
prosperous gales, before you bid farewell to the assistance of your
faithful spirit; and then, master, when I am free, how merrily I shall
live!' Here Ariel sung this pretty song:

Where the bee sucks there suck I;
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I crouch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily.
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.'

Prospero then buried deep in the earth his magical books and wand,
for he was resolved never more to make use of the magic art. And
having thus overcome his enemies. and being reconciled to his brother
and the king of Naples, nothing now remained to complete his
happiness, but to revisit his native land, to take possession of his
dukedom, and to witness the happy nuptials of his daughter and Prince
Ferdinand, which the king said should be instantly celebrated with
great splendour on their return to Naples. At which place, under the
safe convoy of the spirit Ariel, they, after a pleasant voyage, soon
arrived.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

There was a law in the city of Athens which gave to its citizens the
power of compelling their daughters to marry whomsoever they
pleased; for upon a daughter's refusing to marry the man her father
had chosen to be her husband, the father was empowered by this law
to cause her to be put to death; but as fathers do not often desire the
death of their own daughters, even though they do happen to prove a
little refractory, this law was seldom or never put in execution, though
perhaps the young ladies of that city were not unfrequently threatened
by their parents with the terrors of it.

There was one instance, however, of an old man, whose name was
Egeus, who actually did come before Theseus (at that time the
reigning duke of Athens), to complain that his daughter Hermia,
whom he had commanded to marry Demetrius, a young man of a
noble Athenian family, refused to obey him, because she loved
another young Athenian, named Lysander. Egeus demanded justice of
Theseus, and desired that this cruel law might be put in force against
his daughter.

Hermia pleaded in excuse for her disobedience, that Demetrius had
formerly professed love for her dear friend Helena, and that Helena
loved Demetrius to distraction; but this honourable reason, which
Hermia gave for not obeying her father's command, moved not the
stern Egeus.

Theseus, though a great and merciful prince, had no power to alter the
laws of his country; therefore he could only give Hermia four days to
consider of it: and at the end of that time, if she still refused to marry
Demetrius, she was to be put to death.

When Hermia was dismissed from the presence of the duke, she went
to her lover Lysander, and told him the peril she was in, and that she
must either give him up and marry Demetrius, or lose her life in four
days.

Lysander was in great affliction at hearing these evil tidings; but
recollecting that he had an aunt who lived at some distance from
Athens, and that at the place where she lived the cruel law could not
be put in force against Hermia (this law not extending beyond the
boundaries of the city), he proposed to Hermia that she should steal
out of her father's house that night, and go with him to his aunt's
house, where he would marry her. 'I will meet you,' said Lysander, 'in
the wood a few miles without the city; in that delightful wood where
we have so often walked with Helena in the pleasant month of May.'

To this proposal Hermia joyfully agreed; and she told no one of her
intended flight but her friend Helena. Helena (as maidens will do
foolish things for love) very ungenerously resolved to go and tell this
to Demetrius, though she could hope no benefit from betraying her
friend's secret, but the poor pleasure of following her faithless lover to
the wood; for she well knew that Demetrius would go thither in
pursuit of Hermia.

The wood in which Lysander and Hermia proposed to meet was the
favourite haunt of those little beings known by the name of Fairies.

Oberon the king, and Titania the queen of the fairies, with all their
tiny train of followers, in this wood held their midnight revels.

Between this little king and queen of sprites there happened, at this
time, a sad disagreement; they never met by moonlight in the shady
walks of this pleasant wood, but they were quarrelling, till all their
fairy elves would creep into acorn-cups and hide themselves for fear.

The cause of this unhappy disagreement was Titania's refusing to give
Oberon a little changeling boy, whose mother had been Titania's
friend; and upon her death the fairy queen stole the child from its
nurse, and brought him up in the woods.

The night on which the lovers were to meet in this wood, as Titania
was walking with some of her maids of honour, she met Oberon
attended by his train of fairy courtiers.

'I'll met by moonlight, proud Titania,' said the fairy king. The queen
replied: 'What, jealous Oberon, is it you? Fairies, skip hence; I have
foresworn his company.' 'Tarry, rash fairy,' said Oberon; 'am not I thy
lord? Why does Titania cross her Oberon? Give me your little
changeling boy to be my page.'

Set your heart at rest,' answered the queen; 'your whole fairy kingdom
buys not the boy of me.' She then left her lord in great anger. 'Well, go
your way,' said Oberon 'before the morning dawns I will torment you
for this injury.'

Oberon then sent for Puck, his chief favourite and privy counsellor.

Puck (or as he was sometimes called, Robin Goodfellow) was a
shrewd and knavish sprite, that used to play comical pranks in the
neighbouring villages; sometimes getting into the dairies and
skimming the milk, sometimes plunging his light and airy form into
the butter-churn, and while he was dancing his fantastic shape in the
churn, in vain the dairymaid would labour to change her cream into
butter: nor had the village swains any better success; whenever Puck
chose to play his freaks in the brewing copper, the ale was sure to be
spoiled. When a few good neighbours were met to drink some
comfortable ale together, Puck would jump into the bowl of ale in the
likeness of a roasted crab, and when some old goody was going to
drink he would bob against her lips, and spill the ale over her withered
chin; and presently after, when the same old dame was gravely seating
herself to tell her neighbours a sad and melancholy story, Puck would
slip her three-legged stool from under her, and down toppled the poor
old woman, and then the old gossips would hold their sides and laugh
at her, and swear they never wasted a merrier hour.

'Come hither, Puck,' said Oberon to this little merry wanderer of the
night; 'fetch me the flower which maids call Lore in Idleness; the juice
of that little purple flower laid on the eyelids of those who sleep, will
make them, when they awake, dote on the first thing they see. Some
of the juice of that flower I will drop on the eyelids of my Titania
when she is asleep; and the first thing she looks upon when she opens
her eyes she will fall in love with, even though it be a lion or a bear, a
meddling monkey, or a busy ape; and before I will take this charm
from off her sight, which I can do with another charm I know of, I will
make her give me that boy to be my page.'

Puck, who loved mischief to his heart, was highly diverted with this
intended frolic of his master, and ran to seek the flower; and while
Oberon was waiting the return of Puck, he observed Demetrius and
Helena enter the wood: he overheard Demetrius reproaching Helena
for following him, and after many unkind words on his part, and
gentle expostulations from Helena, reminding him of his former love
and professions of true faith to her, he left her (as he said) to the
mercy of the wild beasts, and she ran after him as swiftly as she could.

The fairy king, who was always friendly to true lovers, felt great
compassion for Helena; and perhaps, as Lysander said they used to
walk by moonlight in this pleasant wood, Oberon might have seen
Helena in those happy times when she was beloved by Demetrius.
However that might be, when Puck returned with the little purple
flower, Oberon said to his favourite: 'Take a part of this flower; there
has been a sweet Athenian lady here, who is in love with a disdainful
youth; if you find him sleeping, drop some of the love-juice in his
eyes, but contrive to do it when she is near him, that the first thing he
sees when he awakes may be this despised lady. You will know the
man by the Athenian garments which he wears.' Puck promised to
manage this matter very dexterously: and then Oberon went,
unperceived by Titania, to her bower, where she was reparing to go to
rest. Her fairy bower was a bank, where grew wild thyme, cowslips,
and sweet violets, under a canopy of wood-bine, musk-roses, and
eglantine. There Titania always slept some part of the night; her
coverlet the enamelled skin of a snake, which, though a small mantle,
was wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

He found Titania giving orders to her fairies, how they were to
employ themselves while she slept. 'Some of you,' said her majesty,
'must kill cankers in the musk-rose buds, and some wage war with the
bats for their leathern wings, to make my small elves coats; and some
of you keep watch that the clamorous owl, that nightly hoots, come
not near me: but first sing me to sleep.' Then they began to sing this
song:

'You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen
Newts and blind-worms do no wrong
Come not near our Fairy Queen.
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby
Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby;
Never harm, nor spell, nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So good night with lullaby.'

When the fairies had sung their queen asleep with this pretty lullaby,
they left her to perform the important services she had enjoined them.
Oberon then softly drew near his Titania, and dropped some of the
love-juice on her eyelids, saying:

'What thou seest when thou wake
Do it for thy true-love take.'

But to return to Hermia, who made her escape out of her father's
house that night, to avoid the death she was doomed to for refusing to
marry Demetrius. When she entered the wood, she found her dear
Lysander waiting for her, to conduct her to his aunt's house; but before
they had passed half through the wood, Hermia was so much fatigued,
that Lysander, who was very careful of this dear lady, who had proved
her affection for him even by hazarding her life for his sake,
persuaded her to rest till morning on a bank of soft moss, and lying
down himself on the ground at some little distance, they soon fell fast
asleep. Here they were found by Puck, who, seeing a handsome young
man asleep, and perceiving that his clothes were made in the Athenian
fashion, and that a pretty lady was sleeping near him, concluded that
this must be the Athenian maid and her disdainful lover whom Oberon
had sent him to seek; and he naturally enough conjectured that, as
they were alone together, she must be the first thing he would see
when he awoke; so, without more ado, he proceeded to pour some of
the juice of the little purple flower into his eyes. But it so fell out, that
Helena came that way, and, instead of Hermia, was the first object
Lysander beheld when he opened his eyes; and strange to relate, so
powerful was the love-charm, all his love for Hermia vanished away,
and Lysander fell in love with Helena.

Had he first seen Hermia when he awoke, the blunder Puck
committed would have been of no consequence, for he could not love
that faithful lady too well; but for poor Lysander to be forced by a
fairy love-charm to forget his own true Hermia, and to run after
another lady, and leave Hermia asleep quite alone in a wood at
midnight, was a sad chance indeed.

Thus this misfortune happened. Helena, as has been before related,
endeavoured to keep pace with Demetrius when he ran away so rudely
from her; but she could not continue this unequal race long, men
being always better runners in a long race than ladies. Helena soon
lost sight of Demetrius; and as she was wandering about, dejected and
forlorn, she arrived at the place where Lysander was sleeping. 'Ah!'
said she, 'this is Lysander lying on the ground: is he dead or asleep?'
Then, gently touching him, she said: 'Good sir, if you are alive,
awake.' Upon this Lysander opened his eyes, and (the love-charm
beginning to work) immediately addressed her in terms of extravagant
love and admiration; telling her she as much excelled Hermia in
beauty as a dove does a raven, and that he would run through fire for
her sweet sake; and many more such lover-like speeches. Helena,
knowing Lysander was her friend Hermia's lover, and that he was
solemnly engaged to marry her, was in the utmost rage when she
heard herself addressed in this manner; for she thought (as well she
might) that Lysander was making a jest of her. 'Oh!' said she, 'why was
I born to be mocked and scorned by every one? Is it not enough, is it
not enough, young man, that I can never get a sweet look or a kind
word from Demetrius; but you, sir, must pretend in this disdainful
manner to court me? I thought, Lysander, you were a lord of more true
gentleness.' Saying these words in great anger, she ran away; and
Lysander followed her, quite forgetful of his own Hermia, who was
still asleep.

When Hermia awoke, she was in a sad fright at finding herself alone.
She wandered about the wood, not knowing what was become of
Lysander, or which way to go to seek for him. In the meantime
Demetrius, not being able to find Hermia and his rival Lysander, and
fatigued with his fruitless search, was observed by Oberon fast asleep.
Oberon had learnt by some questions he had asked of Puck, that he
had applied the love-charm to the wrong person's eyes; and now
having found the person first intended, he touched the eyelids of the
sleeping Demetrius with the love-juice, and he instantly awoke; and
the first thing he saw being Helena, he, as Lysander had done before,
began to address love-speeches to her; and just at that moment
Lysander, followed by Hermia (for through Puck's unlucky mistake it
was now become Hermia's turn to run after her lover) made his
appearance; and then Lysander and Demetrius, both speaking
together, made love to Helena, they being each one under the
influence of the same potent charm.

The astonished Helena thought that Demetrius, Lysander, and her
once dear friend Hermia, were all in a plot together to make a jest of
her.

Hermia was as much surprised as Helena; she knew not why Lysander
and Demetrius, who both before loved her, were now become the
lovers of Helena; and to Hermia the matter seemed to be no jest.

The ladies, who before had always been the dearest of friends, now
fell to high words together.

'Unkind Hermia,' said Helena, 'it is you have set Lysander on to vex
me with mock praises; and your other lover Demetrius, who used
almost to spurn me with his foot, have you not bid him call me
Goddess, Nymph, rare, precious, and celestial? He would not speak
thus to me, whom he hates, if you did not set him on to make a jest of
me. Unkind Hermia, to join with men in scorning your poor friend.
Have you forgot our school-day friendship? How often, Hermia, have
we two, sitting on one cushion, both singing one song, with our
needles working the same flower, both on the same sampler wrought;
growing up together in fashion of a double cherry, scarcely seeming
parted! Hermia, it is not friendly in you, it is not maidenly to join with
men in scorning your poor friend.'

I am amazed at your passionate words,' said Hermia: I scorn you not;
it seems you scorn me.' 'Ay, do,' returned Hermia, 'persevere,
counterfeit serious looks, and make mouths at me when I turn my
back; then wink at each other, and hold the sweet jest up. If you had
any pity, grace, or manners, you would not use me thus.'

While Helena and Hermia were speaking these angry words to each
other, Demetrius and Lysander left them, to fight together in the wood
for the love of Helena.

When they found the gentlemen had left them, they departed, and
once more wandered weary in the wood in search of their lovers.

As soon as they were gone, the fairy king, who with little Puck had
been listening to their quarrels, said to him: 'This is your negligence,
Puck; or did you do this wilfully?' 'Believe me, king of shadows,'
answered Puck, 'it was a mistake; did not you tell me I should know
the man by his Athenian garments? However, I am not sorry this has
happened, for I think their jangling makes excellent sport.' 'You
heard,' said Oberon, 'that Demetrius and Lysander are gone to seek a
convenient place to fight in. I command you to overhang the night
with a thick fog, and lead these quarrelsome lovers so astray in the
dark, that they shall not be able to kind each other. Counterfeit each of
their voices to the other, and with bitter taunts provoke them to follow
you, while they think it is their rival's tongue they hear. See you do
this, till they are so weary they can go no farther; and when you find
they are asleep, drop the juice of this other flower into Lysander's
eyes, and when he awakes he will forget his new love for Helena, and
return to his old passion for Hermia; and then the two fair ladies may
each one be happy with the man she loves, and they will think all that
has passed a vexatious dream. About this quickly, Puck, and I will go
and see what sweet love my Titania has found.'

Titania was still sleeping, and Oberon seeing a clown near her, who
had lost his way in the wood, and was likewise asleep: 'This fellow,'
said he, 'shall be my Titania's true love'; and clapping an ass's head
over the clown's, it seemed to fit him as well as if it had grown upon
his own shoulders. Though Oberon fixed the ass's head on very gently,
it awakened him, and rising up, unconscious of what Oberon had done
to him, he went towards the bower where the fairy queen slept.

'Ah! what angel is that I see?' said Titania, opening her eyes, and the
juice of the little purple flower beginning to take effect: 'are you as
wise as you are beautiful?'

'Why, mistress,' said the foolish clown, 'if I have wit enough to find
the way out of this wood, I have enough to serve my turn.'

'Out of the wood do not desire to go,' said the enamoured queen. 'I am
a spirit of no common rate. I love you. Go with me, and I will give
you fairies to attend upon you.'

She then called four of her fairies: their names were, Pease-blossom,
Cobweb, Moth, and Mustard-seed.

'Attend,' said the queen, 'upon this sweet gentleman; hop in his walks,
and gambol in his sight; feed him with grapes and apricots, and steal
for him the honey-bags from the bees. Come, sit with me,' said she to
the clown, 'and let me play with your amiable hairy cheeks, my
beautiful ass! and kiss your fair large ears, my gentle joy!'

'Where is Pease-blossom?' said the ass-headed clown, not much
regarding the fairy queen's courtship, but very proud of his new
attendants.

'Here, sir,' said little Pease-blossom.

'Scratch my head,' said the clown. 'Where is Cobweb?'

'Here, sir,' said Cobweb.

'Good Mr. Cobweb,' said the foolish clown, 'kill me the red humble
bee on the top of that thistle yonder; and, good Mr. Cobweb, bring me
the honey-bag. Do not fret yourself too much in the action, Mr.
Cobweb, and take care the honey-bag break not; I should be sorry to
have you overflown with a honey-bag. Where is Mustard-seed?'

'Here, sir,' said Mustard-seed: 'what is your will?'

'Nothing,' said the clown, 'good Mr. Mustard-seed, but to help Mr.
Pease-blossom to scratch; I must go to a barber's, Mr. Mustard-seed,
for methinks I am marvellous hairy about the face.'

'My sweet love,' said the queen, 'what will you have to eat? I have a
venturous fairy shall seek the squirrel's hoard, and fetch you some new
nuts.'

'I had rather have a handful of dried pease,' said the clown, who with
his ass's head had got an ass's appetite. 'But, I pray, let none of your
people disturb me, for I have a mind to sleep.'

'Sleep, then,' said the queen, 'and I will wind you in my arms. O how I
love you! how I dote upon you!'

When the fairy king saw the clown sleeping in the arms of his queen,
he advanced within her sight, and reproached her with having lavished
her favours upon an ass.

This she could not deny, as the clown was then sleeping within her
arms, with his ass's head crowned by her with flowers.

When Oberon had teased her for some time, he again demanded the
changeling boy; which she, ashamed of being discovered by her lord
with her new favourite, did not dare to refuse him.

Oberon, having thus obtained the little boy he had so long wished for
to be his page, took pity on the disgraceful situation into which, by his
merry contrivance, he had brought his Titania and threw some of the
juice of the other flower into her eyes; and the fairy queen
immediately recovered her senses, and wondered at her late dotage,
saying how she now loathed the sight of the strange monster.

Oberon likewise took the ass's head from off the clown, and left him
to finish his nap with his own fool's head upon his shoulders.

Oberon and his Titania being now perfectly reconciled, he related to
her the history of the lovers, and their midnight quarrels; and she
agreed to go with him and see the end of their adventures.

The fairy king and queen found the lovers and their fair ladies, at no
great distance from each other, sleeping on a grass-plot; for Puck, to
make amends for his former mistake, had contrived with the utmost
diligence to bring them all to the same spot, unknown to each other:
and he had carefully removed the charm from off the eyes of Lysander
with the antidote the fairy king gave to him.

Hermia first awoke, and finding her lost Lysander asleep so near her,
was looking at him and wondering at his strange inconstancy.
Lysander presently opening his eyes, and seeing his dear Hermia,
recovered his reason which the fairy charm had before clouded, and
with his reason, his love for Hermia; and they began to talk over the
adventures of the night, doubting if these things had really happened,
or if they had both been dreaming the same bewildering dream.

Helena and Demetrius were by this time awake; and a sweet sleep
having quieted Helena's disturbed and angry spirits, she listened with
delight to the professions of love which Demetrius still made to her,
and which, to her surprise as well as pleasure, she began to perceive
were sincere.

These fair night-wandering ladies, now no longer rivals, became once
more true friends; all the unkind words which had passed were
forgiven, and they calmly consulted together what was best to be done
in their present situation. It was soon agreed that, as Demetrius had
given up his pretensions to Hermia, he should endeavour to prevail
upon her father to revoke the cruel sentence of death which had been
passed against her. Demetrius was preparing to return to Athens for
this friendly purpose, when they were surprised with the sight of
Egeus, Hermia's father, who came to the wood in pursuit of his
runaway daughter.

When Egeus understood that Demetrius would not now marry his
daughter, he no longer opposed her marriage with Lysander, but gave
his consent that they should be wedded on the fourth day from that
time, being the same day on which Hermia had been condemned to
lose her life; and on that same day Helena joyfully agreed to marry her
beloved and now faithful Demetrius.

The fairy king and queen, who were invisible spectators of this
reconciliation, and now saw the happy ending of the lovers' history,
brought about through the good offices of Oberon, received so much
pleasure, that these kind spirits resolved to celebrate the approaching
nuptials with sports and revels throughout their fairy kingdom.

And now, if any are offended with this story of fairies and their
pranks, as judging it incredible and strange, they have only to think
that they have been asleep and dreaming, and that all these adventures
were visions which they saw in their sleep: and I hope none of my
readers will be so unreasonable as to be offended with a pretty
harmless Midsummer Night's Dream.

THE WINTER'S TALE

Leontes, king of Sicily, and his queen, the beautiful and virtuous
Hermione, once lived in the greatest harmony together. So happy was
Leontes in the love of this excellent lady, that he had no wish
ungratified, except that he sometimes desired to see again, and to
present to his queen, his old companion and school-fellow, Polixenes,
king of Bohemia. Leontes and Polixenes were brought up together
from their infancy, but being, by the death of their fathers, called to
reign over their respective kingdoms, they had not met for many years,
though they frequently interchanged gifts, letters, and loving
embassies.

At length, after repeated invitations, Polixenes came from Bohemia to
the Sicilian court, to make his friend Leontes a visit.

At first this visit gave nothing but pleasure to Leontes. He
recommended the friend of his youth to the queen's particular
attention, and seemed in the presence of his dear friend and old
companion to have his felicity quite completed. They talked over old
times; their schooldays and their youthful pranks were remembered,
and recounted to Hermione, who always took a cheerful part in these
conversations.

When, after a long stay, Polixenes was preparing to depart, Hermione,
at the desire of her husband, joined her entreaties to his that Polixenes
would prolong his visit.

And now began this good queen's sorrow; for Polixenes refusing to
stay at the request of Leontes, was won over by Hermione's gentle and
persuasive words to put off his departure for some weeks longer.
Upon this, although Leontes had so long known the integrity and
honourable principles of his friend Polixenes, as well as the excellent
disposition of his virtuous queen, he was seized with an ungovernable
jealousy. Every attention Hermione showed to Polixenes, though by
her husband's particular desire, and merely to please him, increased
the unfortunate king's jealousy; and from being a loving and a true
friend, and the best and fondest of husbands, Leontes became
suddenly a savage and inhuman monster. Sending for Camillo, one of
the lords of his court, and telling him of the suspicion he entertained,
he commanded him to poison Polixenes.

Camillo was a good man; and he, well knowing that the jealousy of
Leontes had not the slightest foundation in truth, instead of poisoning
Polixenes, acquainted him with the king his master's orders, and
agreed to escape with him out of the Sicilian dominions; and
Polixenes, with the assistance of Camillo, arrived safe in his own
kingdom of Bohemia, where Camillo lived from that time in the king's
court, and became the chief friend and favourite of Polixenes.

The flight of Polixenes enraged the jealous Leontes still more; he
went to the queen's apartment, where the good lady was sitting with
her little son Mamillius, who was just beginning to tell one of his best
stories to amuse his mother, when the king entered, and taking the
child away, sent Hermione to prison.

Mamillius, though but a very young child, loved his mother tenderly;
and when he saw her so dishonoured, and found she was taken from
him to be put into a prison, he took it deeply to heart, and drooped and
pined away by slow degrees, losing his appetite and his sleep, till it
was thought his grief would kill him.

The king, when he had sent his queen to prison, commanded
Cleomenes and Dion, two Sicilian lords, to go to Delphos, there to
inquire of the oracle at the temple of Apollo, if his queen had been
unfaithful to him. When Hermione had been a short time in prison,
she was brought to bed of a daughter; and the poor lady received
much comfort from the sight of her pretty baby, and she said to it: 'My
poor little prisoner, I am as innocent as you are.'

Hermione had a kind friend in the noble-spirited Paulina, who was the
wife of Antigonus, a Sicilian lord; and when the lady Paulina heard
her royal mistress was brought to bed, she went to the prison where
Hermione was confined; and she said to Emilia, a lady who attended
upon Hermione: 'I pray you, Emilia, tell the good queen, if her majesty
dare trust me with her little babe, I will carry it to the king, its father;
we do not know how he may soften at the sight of his innocent child.'
'Most worthy madam,' replied Emilia, 'I will acquaint the queen with
your noble offer; she was wishing to-day that she had any friend who
would venture to present the child to the king.' 'And tell her,' said
Paulina, 'that I will speak boldly to Leontes in her defence.' 'May you
be for ever blessed,' said Emilia, 'for your kindness to our gracious
queen!' Emilia then went to Hermione, who joyfully gave up her baby
to the care of Paulina, for she had feared that no one would dare
venture to present the child to its father.

Paulina took the new-born infant, and forcing herself into the king's
presence, notwithstanding her husband, fearing the king's anger,
endeavoured to prevent her, she laid the babe at its father's feet, and
Paulina made a noble speech to the king in defence of Hermione, and
she reproached him severely for his inhumanity, and implored him to
have mercy on his innocent wife and child. But Paulina's spirited
remonstrances only aggravated Leontes' displeasure, and he ordered
her husband Antigonus to take her from his presence.

When Paulina went away, she left the little baby at its father's feet,
thinking when he was alone with it, he would look upon it, and have
pity on its helpless innocence.

The good Paulina was mistaken: for no sooner was she gone than the
merciless father ordered Antigonus, Paulina's husband, to take the
child, and carry it out to sea, and leave it upon some desert shore to
perish.

Antigonus, unlike the good Camillo, too well obeyed the orders of
Leontes; for he immediately carried the child on ship-board, and put
out to sea, intending to leave it on the first desert coast he could find.

So firmly was the king persuaded of the guilt of Hermione, that he
would not wait for the return of Cleomenes and Dion, whom he had
sent to consult the oracle of Apollo at Delphos; but before the queen
was recovered from her lying-in, and from her grief for the loss of her
precious baby, he had her brought to a public trial before all the lords
and nobles of his court. And when all the great lords, the judges, and
all the nobility of the land were assembled together to try Hermione,
and that unhappy queen was standing as a prisoner before her subjects
to receive their judgement Cleomenes and Dion entered the assembly,
and presented to the king the answer of the oracle, sealed up; and
Leontes commanded the seal to be broken, and the words of the oracle
to be read aloud, and these were the words: 'Hermione is innocent,
Polixenes blameless,-Camillo a true subject, Leontes a jealous tyrant,
and the king shall live without an heir if that which is lost be not
found.' The king would give no credit to the words of the oracle: he
said it was a falsehood invented by the queen's friends, and he desired
the judge to proceed in the trial of the queen; but while Leontes was
speaking, a man entered and told him that the prince Mamillius,
hearing his mother was to be tried for her life, struck with grief and
shame, had suddenly died.

Hermione, upon hearing of the death of this dear affectionate child,
who had lost his life in sorrowing for her misfortune, fainted; and
Leontes, pierced to the heart by the news, began to feel pity for his
unhappy queen, and he ordered Paulina, and the ladies who were her
attendants, to take her away, and use means for her recovery. Paulina
soon returned, and told the king that Hermione was dead.

When Leontes heard that the queen was dead, he repented of his
cruelty to her; and now that he thought his ill-usage had broken
Hermione's heart, he believed her innocent; and now he thought the
words of the oracle were true, as he knew 'if that which was lost was
not found,' which he concluded was his young daughter, he should be
without an heir, the young prince Mamillius being dead; and he would
give his kingdom now to recover his lost daughter: and Leontes gave
himself up to remorse, and passed many years in mournful thoughts
and repentant grief.

The ship in which Antigonus carried the infant princess out to sea was
driven by a storm upon the coast of Bohemia, the very kingdom of the
good king Polixenes. Here Antigonus landed, and here he left the little
baby.

Antigonus never returned to Sicily to tell Leontes where he had left
his daughter, for as he was going back to the ship, a bear came out of
the woods, and tore him to pieces; a just punishment on him for
obeying the wicked order of Leontes.

The child was dressed in rich clothes and jewels; for Hermione had
made it very fine when she sent it to Leontes, and Antigonus had
pinned a paper to its mantle, and the name of Perdita written thereon,
and words obscurely intimating its high birth and untoward fate.

This poor deserted baby was found by a shepherd. He was a humane
man, and so he carried the little Perdita home to his wife, who nursed
it tenderly; but poverty tempted the shepherd to conceal the rich prize
he had found: therefore he left that part of the country, that no one
might know where he got his riches, and with part of Perdita's jewels
he bought herds of sheep, and became a wealthy shepherd. He brought
up Perdita as his own child, and she knew not she was any other than
a shepherd's daughter.

The little Perdita grew up a lovely maiden; and though she had no
better education than that of a shepherd's daughter, yet so did the
natural graces she inherited from her royal mother shine forth in her
untutored mind, that no one from her behaviour would have known
she had not been brought up in her father's court.

Polixenes, the king of Bohemia, had an only son, whose name was
Florizel. As this young prince was hunting near the shepherd's
dwelling, he saw the old man's supposed daughter; and the beauty,
modesty, and queen-like deportment of Perdita caused him instantly
to fall in love with her. He soon, under the name of Doricles, and in
the disguise of a private gentleman, became a constant visitor at the
old shepherd's house. Florizel's frequent absences from court alarmed
Polixenes; and setting people to watch his son, he discovered his love
for the shepherd's fair daughter.

Polixenes then called for Camillo, the faithful Camillo, who had
preserved his life from the fury of Leontes, and desired that he would
accompany him to the house of the shepherd, the supposed father of
Perdita.

Polixenes and Camillo, both in disguise, arrived at the old shepherd's
dwelling while they were celebrating the feast of sheep-shearing; and
though they were strangers, yet at the sheep-shearing every guest
being made welcome, they were invited to walk in, and join in the
general
festivity.

Nothing but mirth and jollity was going forward. Tables were spread,
and great preparations were making for the rustic feast. Some lads and
lasses were dancing on the green before the house, while others of the
young men were buying ribands, gloves, and such toys, of a pedlar at
the door.

While this busy scene was going forward, Florizel and Perdita sat
quietly in a retired corner, seemingly more pleased with the
conversation of each other, than desirous of engaging in the sports and
silly amusements of those around them.

The king was so disguised that it was impossible his son could know
him: he therefore advanced near enough to hear the conversation. The
simple yet elegant manner in which Perdita conversed with his son did
not a little surprise Polixenes: he said to Camillo: 'This is the prettiest
low-born lass I ever saw; nothing she does or says but looks like
something greater than herself, too noble for this place.'

Pamillo replied: 'Indeed she is the very queen of curds and cream.'

'Pray, my good friend,' said the king to the old shepherd, ' what fair
swain is that talking with your daughter?' 'They call him Doricles,'
replied the shepherd. 'He says he loves my daughter; and, to speak
truth, there is not a kiss to choose which loves the other best. If young
Doricles can get her, she shall bring him that he little dreams of';
meaning the remainder of Perdita's jewels; which, after he had bought
herds of sheep with part of them, he had carefully hoarded up for her
marriage portion.

Polixenes then addressed his son. 'How now, young man!' said he:
'your heart seems full of something that takes off your mind from
feasting. When I was young, I used to load my love with presents; but
you have let the pedlar go, and have bought your lass no toy.'

The young prince, who little thought he was talking to the king his
father, replied: 'Old sir, she prizes not such trifles; the gifts which
Perdita expects from me are locked up in my heart.' Then turning to
Perdita, he said to her: 'O hear me, Perdita, before this ancient
gentleman, who it seems was once himself a lover; he shall hear what
I profess.' Florizel then called upon the old stranger to be a witness to
a solemn promise of marriage which he made to Perdita, saying to
Polixenes: 'I pray you, mark our contract.'

'Mark your divorce, young sir,' said the king, discovering himself.
Polixenes then reproached his son for daring to contract himself to
this low-born maiden, calling Perdita 'shepherd's brat, sheep-hook,'
and other disrespectful names; and threatening, if ever she suffered
his son to see her again, he would put her, and the old shepherd her
father, to a cruel death.

The king then left them in great wrath, and ordered Camillo to follow
him with prince Florizel.

When the king had departed, Perdita, whose royal nature was roused
by Polixenes' reproaches, said: 'Though we are all undone, I was not
much afraid; and once or twice I was about to speak, and tell him
plainly that the selfsame sun which shines upon his palace, hides not
his face from our cottage, but looks on both alike.' Then sorrowfully
she said: 'But now I am awakened from this dream, I will queen it no
further. Leave me, sir; I will go milk my ewes and weep.'

The kind-hearted Camillo was charmed with the spirit and propriety
of Perdita's behaviour; and perceiving that the young prince was too
deeply in love to give up his mistress at the command of his royal
father, he thought of a way to befriend the lovers, and at the same
time to execute a favourite scheme he had in his mind.

Camillo had long known that Leontes, the king of Sicily, was become
a true penitent; and though Camillo was now the favoured friend of
king Polixenes, he could not help wishing once more to see his late
royal master and his native home. He therefore proposed to Florizel
and Perdita that they should accompany him to the Sicilian court,
where he would engage Leontes should protect them, till, through his
mediation, they could obtain pardon from Polixenes, and his consent
to their marriage.

To this proposal they joyfully agreed; and Camillo, who conducted
everything relative to their flight, allowed the old shepherd to go
along with them.

The shepherd took with him the remainder of Perdita's jewels, her
baby clothes, and the paper which he had found pinned to her mantle.

After a prosperous voyage, Florizel and Perdita, Camillo and the old
shepherd, arrived in safety at the court of Leontes. Leontes, who still
mourned his dead Hermione and his lost child, received Camillo with
great kindness, and gave a cordial welcome to prince Florizel. But
Perdita, whom Florizel introduced as his princess, seemed to engross
all Leontes' attention: perceiving a resemblance between her and his
dead queen Hermione, his grief broke out afresh, and he said, such a
lovely creature might his own daughter have been, if he had not so
cruelly destroyed her. 'And then, too,' said he to Florizel, 'I lost the
society and friendship of your grave father, whom I now desire more
than my life once again to look upon.'

When the old shepherd heard how much notice the king had taken of
Perdita, and that he had lost a daughter, who was exposed in infancy,
he fell to comparing the time when he found the little Perdita, with the
manner of its exposure, the jewels and other tokens of its high birth;
from all which it was impossible for him not to conclude that Perdita
and the king's lost daughter were the same.

Florizel and Perdita, Camillo and the faithful Paulina, were present
when the old shepherd related to the king the manner in which he had
found the child, and also the circumstance of Antigonus' death, he
having seen the bear seize upon him. He showed the rich mantle in
which Paulina remembered Hermione had wrapped the child; and he
produced a jewel which she remembered Hermione had tied about
Perdita's neck, and he gave up the paper which Paulina knew to be the
writing of her husband; it could not be doubted that Perdita was
Leontes' own daughter: but oh! the noble struggles of Paulina,
between sorrow for her husband's death, and joy that the oracle was
fulfilled, in the king's heir, his long-lost daughter being found. When
Leontes heard that Perdita was his daughter, the great sorrow that he
felt that Hermione was not living to behold her child, made him that
he could say nothing for a long time, but 'O thy mother, thy mother!'

Paulina interrupted this joyful yet distressful scene, with saying to
Leontes, that she had a statue newly finished by that rare Italian
master, Julio Romano, which was such a perfect resemblance of the
queen, that would his majesty be pleased to go to her house and look
upon it, he would be almost ready to think it was Hermione herself.
Thither then they all went; the king anxious to see the semblance of
his Hermione, and Perdita longing to behold what the mother she
never saw did look like.

When Paulina drew back the curtain which concealed this famous
statue, so perfectly did it resemble Hermione, that all the king's
sorrow was renewed at the sight: for a long time he had no power to
speak or move.

'I like your silence, my liege,' said Paulina, 'it the more shows your
wonder. Is not this statue very like your queen?'

At length the king said: 'O, thus she stood, even with such majesty,
when I first wooed her. But yet, Paulina, Hermione was not so aged as
this statue looks.' Paulina replied: 'So much the more the carver's
excellence, who has made the statue as Hermione would have looked
had she been living now. But let me draw the curtain, sire, lest
presently you think it moves.'

The king then said: 'Do not draw the curtain; would I were dead! See,
Camillo, would you not think it breathed? Her eye seems to have
motion in it.' 'I must draw the curtain, my liege,' said Paulina. 'You are
so transported, you will persuade yourself the statue lives.' 'O, sweet
Paulina,' said Leontes, 'make me think so twenty years together! Still
methinks there is an air comes from her. What fine chisel could ever
yet cut breath? Let no man mock me, for I will kiss her.' 'Good my
lord, forbear!' said Paulina. 'The ruddiness upon her lip is wet; you
will stain your own with oily painting. Shall I draw the curtain?' 'No,
not these twenty years,' said Leontes.

Perdita, who all this time had been kneeling, and beholding in silent
admiration the statue of her matchless mother, said now: 'And so long
could I stay here, looking upon my dear mother.'

'Either forbear this transport,' said Paulina to Leontes, 'and let me
draw the curtain; or prepare yourself for more amazement. I can make
the statue move indeed; ay, and descend from off the pedestal, and
take you by the hand. But then you will think, which I protest I am
not, that I am assisted by some wicked powers.'

'What you can make her do,' said the astonished king, 'I am content to
hear; for it is as easy to make her speak as move.'

Paulina then ordered some slow and solemn music, which she had
prepared for the purpose, to strike up; and, to the amazement of all the
beholders, the statue came down from off the pedestal, and threw its
arms around Leontes' neck. The statue then began to speak, praying
for blessings on her husband, and on her child, the newly-found
Perdita.

No wonder that the statue hung upon Leontes' neck, and blessed her
husband and her child. No wonder; for the statue was indeed
Hermione herself, the real, the living queen.

Paulina had falsely reported to the king the death of Hermione,
thinking that the only means to preserve her royal mistress's life; and
with the good Paulina, Hermione had lived ever since, never choosing
Leontes should know she was living, till she heard Perdita was found;
for though she had long forgiven the injuries which Leontes had done
to herself, she could not pardon his cruelty to his infant daughter.

His dead queen thus restored to life, his lost daughter found, the long-
sorrowing Leontes could scarcely support the excess of his own
happiness.

Nothing but congratulations and affectionate speeches were heard on
all sides. Now the delighted parents thanked prince Florizel for loving
their lowly-seeming daughter; and now they blessed the good old
shepherd for preserving their child. Greatly did Camillo and Paulina
rejoice that they had lived to see so good an end of all their faithful
services.

And as if nothing should be wanting to complete this strange and
unlooked-for joy, king Polixenes himself now entered the palace.

When Polixenes first missed his son and Camillo, knowing that
Camillo had long wished to return to Sicily, he conjectured he should
find the fugitives here; and, following them with all speed, he
happened to just arrive at this, the happiest moment of Leontes' life.

Polixenes took a part in the general joy; he forgave his friend Leontes
the unjust jealousy he had conceived against him, and they once more
loved each other with all the warmth of their first boyish friendship.
And there was no fear that Polixenes would now oppose his son's
marriage with Perdita. She was no 'sheep-hook' now, but the heiress of
the crown of Sicily.

Thus have we seen the patient virtues of the long-suffering Hermione
rewarded. That excellent lady lived many years with her Leontes and
her Perdita, the happiest of mothers and of queens.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

There lived in the palace at Messina two ladies, whose names were
Hero and Beatrice. Hero was the daughter, and Beatrice the niece, of
Leonato, the governor of Messina.

Beatrice was of a lively temper, and loved to divert her cousin Hero,
who was of a more serious disposition, with her sprightly sallies.
Whatever was going forward was sure to make matter of mirth for the
light-hearted Beatrice.

At the time the history of these ladies commences some young men of
high rank in the army, as they were passing through Messina on their
return from a war that was just ended, in which they had distinguished
themselves by their great bravery, came to visit Leonato. Among these
were Don Pedro, the prince of Arragon; and his friend Claudio, who
was a lord of Florence; and with them came the wild and witty
Benedick, and he was a lord of Padua.

These strangers had been at Messina before, and the hospitable
governor introduced them to his daughter and his niece as their old
friends and acquaintance.

Benedick, the moment he entered the room, began a lively
conversation with Leonato and the prince. Beatrice, who liked not to
be left out of any discourse, interrupted Benedick with saying: 'I
wonder that you will still be talking, signior Benedick: nobody marks
you.' Benedick was just such another rattle-brain as Beatrice, yet he
was not pleased at this free salutation; he thought it did not become a
well-bred lady to be so flippant with her tongue; and he remembered,
when he was last at Messina, that Beatrice used to select him to make
her merry jests upon. And as there is no one who so little likes to be
made a jest of as those who are apt to take the same liberty
themselves, so it was with Benedick and Beatrice; these two sharp
wits never met in former times but a perfect war of raillery was kept
up between them, and they always parted mutually displeased with
each other. Therefore when Beatrice stopped him in the middle of his
discourse with telling him nobody marked what he was saying,
Benedick, affecting not to have observed before that she was present,
said: 'What, my dear lady Disdain, are you yet living?' And now war
broke out afresh between them, and a long jangling argument ensued,
during which Beatrice, although she knew he had so well approved his
velour in the late war, said that she would eat all he had killed there:
and observing the prince take delight in Benedick's conversation, she
called trim ' the prince's jester.' This sarcasm sunk deeper into the
mind of Benedick than all Beatrice had said before. The hint she gave
him that he was a coward, by saying she would eat all he had killed,
he did not regard, knowing himself to be a brave man; but there is
nothing that great wits so much dread as the imputation of buffoonery,
because the charge comes sometimes a little too near the truth:
therefore Benedick perfectly hated Beatrice when she called him 'the
prince's jester.'

The modest lady Hero was silent before the noble guests; and while
Claudio was attentively observing the improvement which time had
made in her beauty, and was contemplating the exquisite graces of her
fine figure (for she was an admirable young lady), the prince was
highly amused with listening to the humorous dialogue between
Benedick and Beatrice; and he said in a whisper to Leonato: 'This is a
pleasant-spirited young lady. She were an excellent wife for
Benedick.' Leonato replied to this suggestion: 'O, my lord, my lord, if
they were but a week married, they would talk themselves mad.' But
though Leonato thought they would make a discordant pair, the prince
did not give up the idea of matching these two keen wits together.

When the prince returned with Claudio from the palace, he found that
the marriage he had devised between Benedick and Beatrice was not
the only one projected in that good company, for Claudio spoke in
such terms of Hero, as made the prince guess at what was passing in
his heart; and he liked it well, and he said to Claudio: 'Do you affect
Hero?' To this question Claudio replied: 'O my lord, when I was last at
Messina, I looked upon her with a soldier's eye, that liked, but had no
leisure for loving; but now, in this happy time of peace, thoughts of
war have left their places vacant in my mind, and in their room come
thronging soft and delicate thoughts, all prompting me how fair young
Hero is, reminding me that I liked her before I went to the wars.'
Claudio's confession of his love for Hero so wrought upon the prince,
that he lost no time in soliciting the consent of Leonato to accept of
Claudio for a son-in-law. Leonato agreed to this proposal, and the
prince found no great difficulty in persuading the gentle Hero herself
to listen to the suit of the noble Claudio, who was a lord of rare
endowments, and highly accomplished, and Claudio, assisted by his
kind prince, soon prevailed upon Leonato to fix an early day for the
celebration of his marriage with Hero.

Claudio was to wait but a few days before he was to be married to his
fair lady; yet he complained of the interval being tedious, as indeed
most young men are impatient when they are waiting for the
accomplishment of any event they have set their hearts upon: the
prince, therefore, to make the time seem short to him, proposed as a
kind of merry pastime that they should invent some artful scheme to
make Benedick and Beatrice fall in love with each other. Claudio
entered with great satisfaction into this whim of the prince, and
Leonato promised them his assistance, and even Hero said she would
do any modest office to help her cousin to a good husband.

The device the prince invented was, that the gentlemen should make
Benedick believe that Beatrice was in love with him, and that Hero
should make Beatrice believe that Benedick was in love with her.

The prince, Leonato, and Claudio began their operations first: and
watching upon an opportunity when Benedick was quietly seated
reading in an arbour, the prince and his assistants took their station
among the trees behind the arbour, so near that Benedick could not
choose but hear all they said; and after some careless talk the prince
said: 'Come hither, Leonato. What was it you told me the other day
that your niece Beatrice was in love with signior Benedick? I did
never think that lady would have loved any man.' 'No, nor I neither,
my lord.' answered Leonato. 'It is most wonderful that she should so
dote on Benedick, whom she in all outward behaviour seemed ever to
dislike.' Claudio confirmed all this with saying that Hero had told him
Beatrice was so in love with Benedick, that she would certainly die of
grief, if he could not be brought to love her; which Leonato and
Claudio seemed to agree was impossible, he having always been such
a railer against all fair ladies, and in particular against Beatrice.

The prince affected to hearken to all this with great compassion for
Beatrice, and he said: 'It were good that Benedick were told of this.'
'To what end?' said Claudio; 'he would but make sport of it, and
torment the poor lady worse.' 'And if he should,' said the prince, 'it
were a good deed to hang him; for Beatrice is an excellent sweet lady,
and exceeding wise in everything but in loving Benedick.' Then the
prince motioned to his companions that they should walk on, and
leave Benedick to meditate upon what he had overheard.

Benedick had been listening with great eagerness to this conversation;
and he said to himself when he heard Beatrice loved him: 'Is it
possible? Sits the wind in that corner?' And when they were gone, he
began to reason in this manner with himself: 'This can be no trick!
they were very serious, and they have the truth from Hero, and seem
to pity the lady. Love me! Why it must be requited! I did never think
to marry. But when I said I should die a bachelor, I did not think I
should live to be married. They say the lady is virtuous and fair. She is
so. And wise in everything but loving me. Why, that is no great
argument of her folly. But here comes Beatrice. By this day, she is a
fair lady. I do spy some marks of love in her.' Beatrice now
approached him, and said with her usual tartness: 'Against my will I
am sent to bid you come in to dinner.' Benedick, who never felt
himself disposed to speak so politely to her before, replied: 'Fair
Beatrice, I thank you for your pains': and when Beatrice, after two or
three more rude speeches, left him, Benedick thought he observed a
concealed meaning of kindness under the uncivil words she uttered,
and he said aloud: 'If I do not take pity