jest’s prosperity lies in the ear
Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it; then if sickly ears,
Deaf’d with the clamors of their own dear groans,
Will hear your idle scorns, continue then,
And I will have you and that fault withal;
But if they will not, throw away that spirit,
And I shall find you empty of that fault,
Right joyful of your reformation.
Ber.
A twelvemonth? Well, befall what will befall,
I’ll jest a twelvemonth in an hospital.
Prin. [To the King.]
Ay, sweet my lord, and so I take my leave.
King.
No, madam, we will bring you on your way.
Ber.
Our wooing doth not end like an old play:
Jack hath not Gill. These ladies’ courtesy
Might well have made our sport a comedy.
King.
Come, sir, it wants a twelvemonth an’ a day,
And then ’twill end.
Ber.
That’s too long for a play.
Enter Braggart [Armado].
Arm. Sweet Majesty, vouchsafe me—
Prin. Was not that Hector?
Dum. The worthy knight of Troy.
Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave. I am a votary; I have vow’d to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three year. But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled in praise of the owl and the cuckoo? It should have followed in the end of our show.
King. Call them forth quickly, we will do so.
Arm. Holla! approach.
Enter all.
This side is Hiems, Winter; this Ver, the Spring; the one maintained by the owl, th’ other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin.
The Song
[Spring.]
When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then on every tree
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
“Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo”—O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,
And merry larks are ploughmen’s clocks;
When turtles tread, and rooks and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then on every tree
Mocks married men; for thus sings he,
“Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo”—O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
Winter.
When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;
When blood is nipp’d, and ways be [foul],
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
“Tu-whit, to-who!”—
A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson’s saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian’s nose looks red and raw;
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
“Tu-whit, to-who!”—
A merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.
[Arm.] The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. [You that way; we this way.]
[Exeunt omnes.]
¶
William Shakespeare
A MIDSUMMER
NIGHT’S DREAM
( 1595–1596 )
Quarto, 1600; First Folio, 1623.
midsummer
¶
Act I
Sc. I Sc. II
Act II
Sc.
