Sometimes a thousand twangling instrumentsWill hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,
That, if I then had wak’d after long sleep,
Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,
The clouds methought would open and show riches
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I wak’d,
I cried to dream again.
STEPHANO. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing.
CALIBAN.
When Prospero is destroyed.
STEPHANO.
That shall be by and by: I remember the story.
TRINCULO. The sound is going away: let’s follow it, and after do our work.
STEPHANO. Lead, monster: we’ll follow.—I would I could see this taborer! he lays it on. Wilt come?
TRINCULO.
I’ll follow, Stephano.
[Exeunt]
SCENE III. Another part of the island
[Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO, and OTHERS.]
GONZALO.
By’r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here’s a maze trod, indeed,
Through forthrights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.
ALONSO.
Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach’d with weariness
To th’ dulling of my spirits: sit down, and rest.
Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it
No longer for my flatterer: he is drown’d
Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
ANTONIO.
[Aside to SEBASTIAN] I am right glad that he’s
so out of hope.
Do not, for one repulse, forgo the purpose
That you resolv’d to effect.
SEBASTIAN.
[Aside to ANTONIO] The next advantage
Will we take throughly.
ANTONIO.
[Aside to SEBASTIAN] Let it be tonight;
For, now they are oppress’d with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.
SEBASTIAN.
[Aside to ANTONIO] I say, tonight: no more.
[Solemn and strange music: and PROSPERO above, invisible. Enter several strange Shapes, bringing in a banquet: they dance about it with gentle actions of salutation; and inviting the KING, &c., to eat, they depart.]
ALONSO.
What harmony is this? my good friends, hark!
GONZALO.
Marvellous sweet music!
ALONSO.
Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?
SEBASTIAN.
A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne; one phoenix
At this hour reigning there.
ANTONIO.
I’ll believe both;
And what does else want credit, come to me,
And I’ll be sworn ‘tis true: travellers ne’er did lie,
Though fools at home condemn them.
GONZALO.
If in Naples
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,—
For, certes, these are people of the island,—
Who, though, they are of monstrous shape, yet, note,
Their manners are more gentle-kind than of
Our human generation you shall find
Many, nay, almost any.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] Honest lord,
Thou hast said well; for some of you there present
Are worse than devils.
ALONSO.
I cannot too much muse
Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing,—
Although they want the use of tongue,—a kind
Of excellent dumb discourse.
PROSPERO.
[Aside] Praise in departing.
FRANCISCO.
They vanish’d strangely.
SEBASTIAN.
No matter, since
They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.—
Will’t please you taste of what is here?
ALONSO.
Not I.
GONZALO.
Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
Dewlapp’d like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them
