Bohemia. A Desert Shore.
 Enter ANTIGONUS with the BABE, and a MARINER.

Antigonus	Thou art perfect, then, our ship hath touched upon
	The deserts of Bohemia?

Mariner								Ay, my lord, and fear
	We have landed in ill time; the skies look grimly,
	And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
	The heavens with that we have in hand are angry,
	And frown upon's.

Antigonus	Their sacred wills be done! Go, get aboard;
	Look to thy bark. I'll not be long before
	I call upon thee.

Mariner						Make your best haste, and go not
	Too far i'th' land; 'tis like to be loud weather;
	Besides, this place is famous for the creatures
	Of prey that keep upon't.

Antigonus									Go thou away;
	I'll follow instantly.

Mariner								I am glad at heart
	To be so rid o'th' business.
													[Exit.

Antigonus										Come, poor babe.
	I have heard, but not believed, the spirits o'th' dead
	May walk again. If such thing be, thy mother
	Appeared to me last night; for ne'er was dream
	So like a waking. To me comes a creature,
	Sometimes her head on one side, some another;
	I never saw a vessel of like sorrow,
	So filled, and so becoming; in pure white robes,
	Like very sanctity, she did approach
	My cabin where I lay, thrice bowed before me,
	And, gasping to begin some speech, her eyes
	Became two spouts; the fury spent, anon
	Did this break from her: 'Good Antigonus,
	Since fate, against thy better disposition,
	Hath made thy person for the thrower-out
	Of my poor babe, according to thine oath,
	Places remote enough are in Bohemia,
	There weep and leave it crying; and, for the babe
	Is counted lost for ever, Perdita,
	I prithee call't. For this ungentle business,
	Put on thee by my lord, thou ne'er shalt see
	Thy wife Paulina more.' And so, with shrieks,
	She melted into air. Affrighted much,
	I did in time collect myself, and thought
	This was so, and no slumber. Dreams are toys;
	Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously,
	I will be squared by this. I do believe
	Hermione hath suffered death, and that
	Apollo would, this being indeed the issue
	Of King Polixenes, it should here be laid,
	Either for life or death, upon the earth
	Of its right father. Blossom, speed thee well!
													[Laying down the Babe.
	There lie, and there thy character.
													[Laying down a bundle.
											There these,
	Which may, if fortune please, both breed thee, pretty,
	And still rest thine. The storm begins. Poor wretch,
	That for thy mother's fault art thus exposed
	To loss and what may follow! Weep I cannot,
	But my heart bleeds, and most accursed am I
	To be by oath enjoined to this. Farewell!
	The day frowns more and more. Thou'rt like to have
	A lullaby too rough; I never saw
	The heavens so dim by day.
													[Horns.
									A savage clamour!
	Well may I get aboard. This is the chase;
	I am gone for ever!
													[Exit, pursued by a BEAR.

                          Enter an old SHEPHERD.

Shepherd	I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty, 
	or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing 
	in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the 
	ancientry, stealing, fighting.
													[Horns.
	Hark you now, would any but these boiled-brains of nineteen 
	and two-and-twenty hunt this weather? They have scared away 
	two of my best sheep, which I fear the wolf will sooner find 
	than the master. If anywhere I have them, 'tis by the 
	seaside, browsing of ivy. Good luck, an't be thy will.
													[Seeing the BABE.
	What have we here? Mercy on's, a barne! A very pretty barne. 
	A boy or a child, I wonder? A pretty one, a very pretty one. 
	Sure, some scape. Though I am not bookish, yet I can read 
	waiting-gentlewoman in the scape. This has been some stair-
	work, some trunk-work, some behind-door-work. They were 
	warmer that got this than the poor thing is here. I'll take 
	it up for pity - yet I'll tarry till my son come; he 
	hallooed but even now. Whoa-ho-hoa!

                               Enter CLOWN.

Clown	Hilloa, loa!

Shepherd	What, art so near? If thou'lt see a thing to talk on when 
	thou art dead and rotten, come hither. What ail'st thou man?

Clown	I have seen two such sights by sea and by land! But I am not 
	to say it is a sea, for it is now the sky. Betwixt the 
	firmament and it you cannot thrust a bodkin's point.

Shepherd	Why, boy, how is it?

Clown	I would you did but see how it chafes, how it rages, how it 
	takes up the shore. But that's not to the point. O, the most 
	piteous cry of the poor souls! Sometimes to see 'em, and not 
	to see 'em; now the ship boring the moon with her main-mast, 
	and anon swallowed with yest and froth, as you'd thrust a 
	cork into a hogs-head. And then for the land-service, to see 
	how the bear tore out his shoulder-bone, how he cried to me 
	for help and said his name was Antigonus, a nobleman. But to 
	make an end of the ship, to see how the sea flap-dragoned 
	it; but first, how the poor souls roared, and the sea mocked 
	them; and how the poor gentleman roared, and the bear mocked 
	him, both roaring louder than the sea or weather.

Shepherd	Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

Clown	Now, now; I have not winked since I saw these sights. The 
	men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half dined on 
	the gentleman; he's at it now.

Shepherd	Would I had been by, to have helped the old man!

Clown	I would you had been by the ship side, to have helped her; 
	there your charity would have lacked footing.

Shepherd	Heavy matters, heavy matters. But look thee here, boy. Now 
	bless thyself; thou met'st with things dying, I with things 
	new-born. Here's a sight for thee. Look thee, a bearing-
	cloth for a squire's child! Look thee here; take up, take 
	up, boy, open't. So, let's see - it was told me I should be 
	rich by the fairies: this is some changeling. Open't. What's 
	within, boy?

Clown	You're a made old man. If the sins of your youth are 
	forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! All gold!

Shepherd	This is fairy gold, boy, and 'twill prove so. Up with't, 
	keep it close. Home, home, the next way! We are lucky, boy; 
	and to be so still requires nothing but secrecy. Let my 
	sheep go. Come, good boy, the next way home.

Clown	Go you the next way with your findings. I'll go see if the 
	bear be gone from the gentleman, and how much he hath eaten. 
	They are never curst but when they are hungry. If there be 
	any of him left, I'll bury it.

Shepherd	That's a good deed. If thou mayst discern by that which is 
	left of him what he is, fetch me to the sight of him.

Clown	Marry, will I; and you shall help to put him i'th' ground.

Shepherd	'Tis a lucky day, boy, and we'll do good deeds on't.
													[Exeunt.
