SCENE III. Bohemia. A desert country near the sea.
Enter ANTIGONUS with a Child, and a Mariner
Antigonus
Thou art perfect then, our ship hath touch'd 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.
Anti.
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' the land: 'tis like to be loud weather;
Besides, this place is
famous for the creatures
Of prey that keep upon't.
Anti.
Go thou away:
I'll follow
instantly.
Mariner
I am glad at heart
To be so rid o' the
business.
Exit
Anti.
Come, poor
babe:
I have heard, but not believed,
the spirits o' the dead
May walk again: if such thing be, thy
mother
Appear'd 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 fill'd and so becoming: in pure white robes,
Like very
sanctity, she did approach
My cabin where I lay; thrice bow'd 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 suffer'd 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!
There lie, and there thy character: 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 enjoin'd 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. A
savage clamour!
Well may I get aboard! This is the chase:
I am gone for ever.
Exit, pursued by a bear
Enter a
Shepherd
Shepherdbr>
I would there were no age between
sixteen 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--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 any where I have them, 'tis by
the seaside, browsing of ivy. Good luck, an't be thy
will 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
ailest 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 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'ld thrust a
cork into a hogshead. 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 mettest with things
dying, I with things
newborn. 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 mayest 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' the ground.
Shepherd
'Tis a
lucky day, boy, and we'll do good deeds on't.
Exeunt
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