O' the dreadful thunder-claps, more moment

ary

And sight-outrunning were not: the fire and cracks

[tune Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty NepSeem'd to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble,

Yea, his dread trident shake.

Pro.

My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason?

Ari.

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad, and play'd
Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners
Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the

vessel,
[dinand,
Then all a-fire with me: the king's son, Fer-
With hair up-staring-then like reeds, not

hair,

[empty, Was the first man that leap'd; cried, Hell is And all the devils are here.

Pro.

But was not this nigh shore?
Ari.

Why, that's my spirit !

Close by, my master.

Not a hair perish'd;

Pro. But are they, Ariel, safe?
Ari.

On their sustaining garments not a blemish,
But fresher than before: and, as thou bad'st

me,

[isle.
In troops I have dispersed them 'bout the
The king's son have I landed by himself;
Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs
In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting,

210

220

230

His arms in this sad knot.

Pro.

Of the king's ship

The mariners, say how thou hast disposed,
And all the rest o' the fleet.

Ari.

Safely in harbor Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where

once

Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's
hid:

The mariners all under hatches stow'd;
Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd

labor,

[fleet
I have left asleep and for the rest o' the
Which I dispersed, they all have met again
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,
Bound sadly home for Naples,

[wreck'd Supposing that they saw the king's ship And his great person perish.

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

240 Must by us both be spent most preciously. Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost

give me pains,

[ised, Let me remember thee what thou hast promWhich is not yet perform'd me.

Pro.

How now ? moody?

What is't thou canst demand?

Ari.

My liberty.

·Pro. Before the time be out? no more! Ari. I pr'ythee, Remember I have done thee worthy service; Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, served Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise

To bate me a full year.

Pro.

Dost thou forget

No. 250

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari.

Pro. Thou dost; and think'st it much to

tread the ooze

Of the salt deep,

To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the veins o' the earth
When it is baked with frost.

Ari.
I do not, sir.
Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast

thou forgot

[envy The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and 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 260 Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Which thou forgett'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

had

They would not take her life. Is not this

true?

Ari. Ay, sir.

Pro. This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child,

And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my

slave,

[vant : 270 As thou report'st thyself, wast then her serAnd, for thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine
thee,

By help of her more potent ministers
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd, thou didst painfully remain
A dozen years; within which space she died
And left thee there; where thou didst vent

thy groans

[island280 As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp hag-born—not honor'd with
A human shape.

Ari.

Yes, Caliban her son.
Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban
Whom now I keep in service. Thou best
know'st

What torment I did find thee in: thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the
breasts

Of ever-angry bears: it was a torment

To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax 290 Could not again undo; it was mine art,

When I arrived 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.

Ari.

Pardon, master:

I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spriting gently.

Pro.

Do so; and after two days

I will discharge thee.

Ari.
That's my noble master!
What shall I do? say what: what shall I

do?

Pro. Go make thyself like to a nymph o'

the sea;

Be subject to no sight but mine; invisible
To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape,
And hither come in't: hence with diligence.
[Exit ARIEL.

Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept

well;

Awake!

Mira. [waking.] The strangeness of your

We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

Mira.

I do not love to look on.

Come on;

'Tis a villain, sir,

300