Athens. The Palace of THESEUS.
 Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, LORDS, and ATTENDANTS.

Hippolyta	'Tis strange, my Theseus, that these lovers speak of.

Theseus	More strange than true. I never may believe
	These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.
	Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
	Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
	More than cool reason ever comprehends.
	The lunatic, the lover, and the poet,
	Are of imagination all compact.
	One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,
	That is the madman. The lover, all as frantic,
	Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt.
	The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,
	Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;
	And as imagination bodies forth
	The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen
	Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing
	A local habitation and a name.
	Such tricks hath strong imagination
	That if it would but apprehend some joy,
	It comprehends some bringer of that joy;
	Or in the night, imagining some fear,
	How easy is a bush supposed a bear!

Hippolyta	But all the story of the night told over,
	And all their minds transfigured so together,
	More witnesseth than fancy's images,
	And grows to something of great constancy;
	But, howsoever, strange and admirable.

              Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA.

Theseus	Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.
	Joy, gentle friends; joy and fresh days of love
	Accompany your hearts!

Lysander							More than to us
	Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!

Theseus	Come now; what masques, what dances shall we have
	To wear away this long age of three hours
	Between our after-supper and bed-time?
	Where is our usual manager of mirth?
	What revels are in hand? Is there no play
	To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
	Call Philostrate.

Philostrate						Here, mighty Theseus.

Theseus	Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?
	What masque, what music? How shall we beguile
	The lazy time, if not with some delight?

Philostrate	There is a brief how many sports are ripe.
											[Giving a paper.
	Make choice of which your highness will see first.

Theseus	[Reading.]-"The battle with the Centaurs," to be sung
	By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.-
	We'll none of that. That have I told my love
	In glory of my kinsman, Hercules.
	-"The Riot of the Tipsy Bacchanals,
	Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage."-
	That is an old device, and it was played
	When I from Thebes came last a conqueror.
	-"The thrice three Muses mourning for the death
	Of learning, late deceased in beggary."-
	That is some satire, keen and critical,
	Not sorting with a nuptial ceremony.
	-"A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus
	And his love Thisbe," very tragical mirth.-
	Merry and tragical! Tedious and brief!
	That is hot ice and wondrous strange snow.
	How shall we find the concord of this discord?

Philostrate	A play there is, my lord, some ten words long,
	Which is as 'brief' as I have known a play;
	But by ten words, my lord, it is too long,
	Which makes it 'tedious'; for in all the play
	There is not one word apt, one player fitted.
	And 'tragical', my noble lord, it is,
	For Pyramus therein doth kill himself;
	Which when I saw the play rehearsed I must confess
	Made mine eyes water; but more 'merry' tears
	The passion of loud laughter never shed.

Theseus	What are they that do play it?

Philostrate	Hard-handed men that work in Athens here,
	Which never laboured in their minds till now;
	And now have toiled their unbreathed memories
	With this same play against your nuptial.

Theseus	And we will hear it.

Philostrate							No, my noble lord;
	It is not for you. I have heard it over,
	And it is nothing, nothing in the world;
	Unless you can find sport in their intents,
	Extremely stretched and conned with cruel pain,
	To do you service.

Theseus							I will hear that play;
	For never anything can be amiss
	When simpleness and duty tender it.
	Go, bring them in; and take your places, ladies.
											[Exit PHILOSTRATE.

Hippolyta	I love not to see wretchedness o'ercharged,
	And duty in his service perishing.

Theseus	Why, gentle sweet, you shall see no such thing.

Hippolyta	He says they can do nothing in this kind.

Theseus	The kinder we, to give them thanks for nothing.
	Our sport shall be to take what they mistake;
	And what poor duty cannot do, noble respect
	Takes it in might, not merit.
	Where I have come, great clerks have purposd
	To greet me with premeditated welcomes;
	Where I have seen them shiver and look pale,
	Make periods in the midst of sentences,
	Throttle their practised accent in their fears,
	And in conclusion dumbly have broke off,
	Not paying me a welcome. Trust me, sweet,
	Out of this silence yet I picked a welcome;
	And in the modesty of fearful duty
	I read as much as from the rattling tongue
	Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
	Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity
	In least speak most to my capacity.

                          Re-enter PHILOSTRATE.

Philostrate	So please your grace, the Prologue is addressed.

Theseus	Let him approach.
											[Flourish of trumpets.

                      Enter QUINCE for the Prologue.

Prologue	If we offend, it is with our good will.
		That you should think we come not to offend
	But with good will. To show our simple skill,
		That is the true beginning of our end.
	Consider then we come but in despite.
		We do not come as minding to content you,
	Our true intent is. All for your delight
		We are not here. That you should here repent you
	The actors are at hand; and, by their show
	You shall know all that you are like to know.

Theseus	This fellow doth not stand upon points.

Lysander	He hath rid his prologue like a rough colt; he knows not 
	the stop. A good moral, my lord: it is not enough to speak, 
	but to speak true.

Hippolyta	Indeed, he hath played on his prologue like a child on a 
	recorder - a sound, but not in government.

Theseus	His speech was like a tangled chain - nothing impaired, but 
	all disordered. Who is next?

                    Enter, with TRUMPETER before them,
             PYRAMUS (Bottom), THISBE (Flute), WALL (Snout),
                 MOONSHINE (Starveling), and LION (Snug).

Prologue	Gentles, perchance you wonder at this show;
		But wonder on, till truth make all things plain.
	This man is Pyramus, if you would know;
		This beauteous lady Thisbe is, certain.
	This man with lime and rough-cast doth present
		Wall, that vile wall which did these lovers sunder;
	And through Wall's chink, poor souls, they are content
		To whisper. At the which let no man wonder.
	This man with lantern, dog, and bush of thorn,
		Presenteth Moonshine; for, if you will know,
	By moonshine did these lovers think no scorn
		To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.
	This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
		The trusty Thisbe, coming first by night,
		Did scare away, or rather did affright;
	And as she fled her mantle she did fall,
		Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
	Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
		And finds his trusty Thisbe's mantle slain;
	Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade,
		He bravely broached his boiling bloody breast;
	And Thisbe, tarrying in mulberry shade,
		His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
	Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain,
		At large discourse while here they do remain.
											[Exeunt PROLOGUE, PYRAMUS,
											THISBE, LION and MOONSHINE.

Theseus	I wonder if the lion be to speak.

Demetrius	No wonder, my lord. One lion may when many asses do.

Wall	In this same interlude it doth befall
	That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
	And such a wall as I would have you think
	That had in it a crannied hole or chink,
	Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisbe,
	Did whisper often, very secretly.
	This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone, doth show
	That I am that same wall; the truth is so;
	And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
	Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

Theseus	Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?

Demetrius	It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, 
	my lord.

                            Re-enter PYRAMUS.

Theseus	Pyramus draws near the wall. Silence!

Pyramus	O grim-looked night! O night with hue so black!
		O night which ever art when day is not!
	O night, O night, alack, alack, alack,
		I fear my Thisbe's promise is forgot!
	And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,
		That stand'st between her father's ground and mine;
	Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,
		Show me thy chink to blink through with mine eyne.
											[WALL holds up his fingers.
	Thanks, courteous wall. Jove shield thee well for this!
		But what see I? No Thisbe do I see.
	O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss;
		Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!

Theseus	The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

Pyramus	No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me' is 
	Thisbe's cue. She is to enter now, and I am to spy her 
	through the wall. You shall see, it will fall pat as I told 
	you. Yonder she comes.

                             Re-enter THISBE.

Thisbe	O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,
		For parting my fair Pyramus and me!
	My cherry lips have often kissed thy stones,
		Thy stones with lime and hair knit up in thee.

Pyramus	I see a voice; now will I to the chink,
		To spy an I can hear my Thisbe's face.
	Thisbe!

Thisbe			My love! Thou art my love, I think?

Pyramus		Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover' grace;
	And like Limander am I trusty still.

Thisbe	And I like Helen, till the fates me kill.

Pyramus	Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.

Thisbe	As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

Pyramus	O, kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!

Thisbe	I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.

Pyramus	Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?

Thisbe	Tide life, tide death, I come without delay.
											[Exeunt PYRAMUS and THISBE.

Wall	Thus have I, Wall, my part dischargd so;
	And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.
											[Exit.

Theseus	Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

Demetrius	No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear 
	without warning.

Hippolyta	This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.

Theseus	The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst are no 
	worse, if imagination amend them.

Hippolyta	It must be your imagination then, and not theirs.

Theseus	If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves, 
	they may pass for excellent men. Here come two noble beasts 
	in, a moon and a lion.

                       Re-enter LION and MOONSHINE.

Lion	You, ladies, you whose gentle hearts do fear
		The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,
	May now perchance both quake and tremble here,
		When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
	Then know that I as Snug the joiner am
	A lion fell, nor else no lion's dam;
	For if I should as lion come in strife
	Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.

Theseus	A very gentle beast, and of good conscience.

Demetrius	The very best at a beast, my lord, that e'er I saw.

Lysander	This lion is a very fox for his valour.

Theseus	True; and a goose for his discretion.

Demetrius	Not so, my lord; for his valour cannot carry his 
	discretion, and the fox carries the goose.

Theseus	His discretion, I am sure, cannot carry his valour; for the 
	goose carries not the fox. It is well. Leave it to his 
	discretion, and let us listen to the moon.

Moonshine	This lantern doth the hornd moon present-

Demetrius	He should have worn the horns on his head.

Theseus	He is no crescent, and his horns are invisible within the 
	circumference.

Moonshine	This lantern doth the hornd moon present;
	Myself the man i'th' moon do seem to be.

Theseus	This is the greatest error of all the rest; the man should 
	be put into the lantern. How is it else the man i'th' moon?

Demetrius	He dares not come there for the candle; for, you see, it is 
	already in snuff.

Hippolyta	I am weary of this moon. Would he would change!

Theseus	It appears, by his small light of discretion, that he is in 
	the wane; but yet, in courtesy, in all reason, we must stay 
	the time.

Lysander	Proceed, Moon.

Moonshine	All that I have to say is to tell you that the lantern is 
	the moon; I the man i'th' moon, this thorn-bush my thorn-
	bush, and this dog my dog.

Demetrius	Why, all these should be in the lantern; for all these are 
	in the moon. But silence; here comes Thisbe.

                             Re-enter THISBE.

Thisbe	This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?

Lion	[Roaring.] O!
											[THISBE runs off.

Demetrius	Well roared, Lion.

Theseus	Well run, Thisbe.

Hippolyta	Well shone, Moon. Truly, the moon shines with a good grace.
					  [The LION tears Thisbe's mantle, and exit.

Theseus	Well moused, Lion.

Demetrius	And then came Pyramus.

Lysander	And so the lion vanished,

                            Re-enter PYRAMUS.

Pyramus	Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
		I thank thee, Moon, for shining now so bright;
	For by thy gracious, golden, glittering gleams,
		I trust to take of truest Thisbe sight.
				But stay, O spite!
				But mark, poor knight,
			What dreadful dole is here?
				Eyes, do you see?
				How can it be?
			O dainty duck! O dear!
				Thy mantle good,
				What, stained with blood!
			Approach, ye Furies fell!
				O Fates, come, come,
				Cut thread and thrum,
			Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!

Theseus	This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would go near 
	to make a man look sad.

Hippolyta	Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man.

Pyramus	O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame,
		Since lion vile hath here deflowered my dear?
	Which is - no, no - which was the fairest dame
	That lived, that loved, that liked, that looked with cheer.
				Come, tears, confound;
				Out, sword, and wound
			The pap of Pyramus.
				Ay, that left pap,
				Where heart doth hop.
			Thus die I, thus, thus, thus.
											[Stabbing himself.
				Now am I dead,
				Now am I fled;
			My soul is in the sky.
				Tongue, loose thy light;
				Moon, take thy flight.
											[Exit MOONSHINE.
			Now die, die, die, die, die.
											[Dies.

Demetrius	No die, but an ace for him; for he is but one.

Lysander	Less than an ace, man; for he is dead; he is nothing.

Theseus	With the help of a surgeon he might yet recover, and prove 
	an ass.

Hippolyta	How chance Moonshine is gone before Thisbe comes back and 
	finds her lover?

Theseus	She will find him by starlight. Here she comes; and her 
	passion ends the play.

                             Re-enter THISBE.

Hippolyta	Methinks she should not use a long one for such a Pyramus. 
	I hope she will be brief.

Demetrius	A mote will turn the balance, which Pyramus, which Thisbe, 
	is the better - he for a man, God warrant us; she for a 
	woman, God bless us.

Lysander	She hath spied him already with those sweet eyes.

Demetrius	And thus she means, videlicet:

Thisbe				Asleep, my love?
				What, dead, my dove?
			O Pyramus, arise!
				Speak, speak. Quite dumb?
				Dead, dead? A tomb
			Must cover thy sweet eyes.
				These lily lips,
				This cherry nose,
			These yellow cowslip cheeks,
				Are gone, are gone;
				Lovers, make moan;
			His eyes were green as leeks.
				O Sisters Three,
				Come, come to me,
			With hands as pale as milk;
				Lay them in gore,
				Since you have shore
			With shears his thread of silk.
				Tongue, not a word.
				Come, trusty sword;
			Come, blade, my breast imbrue:
											[Stabs herself.
				And farewell, friends.
				Thus Thisbe ends.
			Adieu, adieu, adieu.
											[Dies.

Theseus	Moonshine and Lion are left to bury the dead.

Demetrius	Ay, and Wall too.

Bottom	[Starting up.] No, I assure you; the wall is down that 
	parted their fathers. Will it please you to see the 
	epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two of our 
	company?

Theseus	No epilogue, I pray you; for your play needs no excuse. 
	Never excuse; for when the players are all dead there need 
	none to be blamed. Marry, if he that writ it had played 
	Pyramus and hanged himself in Thisbe's garter, it would 
	have been a fine tragedy. And so it is, truly; and very 
	notably discharged. But come, your Bergomask; let your 
	epilogue alone.
							[A Dance. Then Exeunt THISBE, PYRAMUS,
								PROLOGUE, MOONSHINE, LION and WALL.

	The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve.
	Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
	I fear we shall outsleep the coming morn,
	As much as we this night have overwatched.
	This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled
	The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.
	A fortnight hold we this solemnity
	In nightly revels and new jollity.
											[Exeunt.

                        Enter PUCK, with a broom.

Puck	Now the hungry lion roars,
		And the wolf behowls the moon;
	Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
		All with weary task foredone.
	Now the wasted brands do glow,
		Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
	Puts the wretch that lies in woe
		In remembrance of a shroud.
	Now it is the time of night
		That the graves, all gaping wide,
	Every one lets forth his sprite,
		In the church-way paths to glide.
	And we fairies, that do run
		By the triple Hecate's team
	From the presence of the sun,
		Following darkness like a dream,
	Now are frolic. Not a mouse
	Shall disturb this hallowed house.
	I am sent with broom before,
	To sweep the dust behind the door.

               Enter OBERON and TITANIA, with their Train.

Oberon	Through the house give glimmering light,
		By the dead and drowsy fire;
	Every elf and fairy sprite
		Hop as light as bird from briar,
	And this ditty, after me,
	Sing and dance it trippingly.

Titania	First, rehearse your song by rote,
	To each word a warbling note;
	Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
	Will we sing, and bless this place.
											[Song and dance.

Oberon	Now, until the break of day,
	Through this house each fairy stray.
	To the best bride-bed will we,
	Which by us shall blessd be;
	And the issue there create
	Ever shall be fortunate.
	So shall all the couples three
	Ever true in loving be;
	And the blots of Nature's hand
	Shall not in their issue stand.
	Never mole, harelip, nor scar,
	Nor mark prodigious, such as are
	Despisd in nativity,
	Shall upon their children be.
	With this field-dew consecrate
	Every fairy take his gait,
	And each several chamber bless
	Through this palace with sweet peace;
	And the owner of it blest,
	Ever shall in safety rest.
	Trip away; make no stay;
	Meet me all by break of day.
								[Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train.

Puck	If we shadows have offended,
	Think but this, and all is mended:
	That you have but slumbered here
	While these visions did appear.
	And this weak and idle theme,
	No more yielding but a dream,
	Gentles, do not reprehend.
	If you pardon, we will mend.
	And, as I am an honest Puck,
	If we have unearnd luck
	Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue
	We will make amends ere long;
	Else the Puck a liar call.
	So, good night unto you all.
	Give me your hands, if we be friends,
	And Robin shall restore amends.
											[Exit.
