You thief of love! what, have you come by night, And stol'n my heart's love from him? Hel. Fine, i'faith! Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, No touch of bashfulness? What will you tear Impatient answers from my gentle tongue? Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet you! Her. Puppet! why so? Ay, that way goes the game. Now I perceive that she hath made compare Between our statures, she hath urged her height; And with her personage, her tall personage, Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him. And are you grown so high in his esteem, How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak; But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes. Hel. I pray you, though you mock me, gentleLet her not hurt me: I was never curst; [men, I have no gift at all in shrewishness; I am a right maid for my cowardice; Let her not strike me: You, perhaps, may think, Because she's something lower than myself, That I can match her. Her. Lower! hark, again. Hel. Good Hermia, do not be so bitter with me. I evermore did love you, Hermia, Did ever keep your counsels, never wrong'd you; I told him of your stealth into this wood: Hel. A foolish heart that I leave here behind. Hel. With Demetrius. Lys. Be not afraid she shall not harm thee, Helena. Dem. No, sir; she shall not, though you take her part. [shrewd : Hel. O, when she's angry, she is keen and She was a vixen, when she went to school; And though she be but little, she is fierce. Her. Little again? nothing but low and little?— Why will you suffer her to flout me thus? Let me come to her. Lys. Dem. Take not her part: for if thou dost intend Lys. Dem. Follow? nay, I'll go with thee cheek by jole. [Exeunt LYS. and DEM. Her. You, mistress, all this coil is long of you: Nay, go not back. Hel. I will not trust you, I : Nor longer stay in your curst company. Your hands, than mine, are quicker for a fray; My legs are longer though, to run away. [Exit. Her. I am amaz'd, and know not what to say. [Exit, pursuing HELENA. Obe. This is thy negligence: still thou mistak'st, Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully. As this their jangling I esteem a sport. [fight: Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, I'll to my queen, and beg her Indian boy; peace. Puck. My fairy lord, this must be done with haste; For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all, For fear lest day should look their shames upon, Obe. But we are spirits of another sort: Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams, Here comes one. Enter LYSANDER. Lys. Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now. [art thou? Puck. Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where Lys. I will be with thee straight. Puck. Follow me then To plainer ground. [Exit Lys. as following the voice. Dem. Enter DEMETRIUS. Lysander! speak again. Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled? Speak. In some bush? Where dost thou hide thy head? [stars, Puck. Thou coward, art thou bragging to the Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars, And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child, I'll whip thee with a rod: He is defil'd, That draws a sword on thee. Dem. Yea; art thou there? Puck. Follow my voice; we'll try no manhood here. Re-enter LYSANDER. [Exeunt. Lys. He goes before me, and still dares me on; When I come where he calls, then he is gone. The villain is much lighter heel'd than I: I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly; That fallen am I in dark uneven way, And here will rest me. Come, thou gentle day! [Lies down. For if but once thou show me thy gray light, I'll find Demetrius, and revenge this spite. Re-enter PUCK, and DEMETRIUS. [Sleeps. Puck. Ho, ho! ho, ho! Coward, why com'st thou not? Dem. Abide me, if thou dar'st; for well I wot, Thou runn'st before me shifting every place; And dar'st not stand, nor look me in the face. Where art thou? Puck. Come hither; I am here. Dem. Nay, then thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear. If ever I thy face by day-light see: Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me To measure out my length on this cold bed.By day's approach look to be visited. [Lies down and sleeps. Enter HELENA. Hel. O weary night, O long and tedious night, Abate thy hours: shine comforts from the east; That I may back to Athens by day-light, From these that my poor company detest:And, sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye, Steal me awhile from mine own company. [Sleeps. Thus to make poor females mad. Her. Never so weary, never so in woe, Bedabbled with the dew, and torn with briers; I can no further crawl, no further go; My legs can keep no pace with my desires. Here will I rest me, till the break of day, Heaven shield Lysander, if they mean a fray! Puck. On the ground To your eye, Gentle lover, remedy. [Lies down. [Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eye. When thou wak'st, Thou tak'st True delight In the sight Of thy former lady's eye: And the country proverb known, Nought shall go ill; The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well. [Exit PUCK. DEM. HEL. &c. sleep. |