The Tempest by William Shakespeare (classic romance novels txt) 📕
Mir. Would I might But ever see that man!
Pros. Now I arise: [Resumes his mantle. Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. 170 Here in this island we arrived; and here Have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit Than other princesses can, that have more time For vainer hours, and tutors not so careful.
Mir. Heavens thank you for't! And now, I pray you, sir, 175 For still 'tis beating in my mind, your reason For raising this sea-storm?
Pros. Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune, Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies Brought to this shore; and by my prescience 180 I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions: Thou art inclined to sleep; 'tis a good dulness, 185 And give it way: I know thou canst not choose
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Trin. Your lieutenant, if you list; he’s no standard.
Ste. We’ll not run, Monsieur Monster.
Trin. Nor go neither; but you’ll lie, like dogs, and yet say nothing neither.
20 Ste. Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf.
Cal. How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe. I’ll not serve him, he is not valiant.
Trin. Thou liest, most ignorant monster: I am in case III. 2. 25 to justle a constable. Why, thou debauched fish, thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster?
Cal. Lo, how he mocks me! wilt thou let him, my lord?
30 Trin. ‘Lord,’ quoth he! That a monster should be such a natural!
Cal. Lo, lo, again! bite him to death, I prithee.
Ste. Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head: if you prove a mutineer,—the next tree! The poor monster’s my 35 subject, and he shall not suffer indignity.
Cal. I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased to hearken once again to the suit I made to thee?
Ste. Marry, will I: kneel and repeat it; I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.
Enter Ariel, invisible.40 Cal. As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.
Ari. Thou liest.
Cal.
Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou:
I would my valiant master would destroy thee!
I do not lie.
45 Ste. Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in’s tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.
Trin. Why, I said nothing.
Ste. Mum, then, and no more. Proceed.
Cal. I say, by sorcery he got this isle;
III. 2. 50 From me he got it. If thy greatness will
Revenge it on him,—for I know thou darest,
But this thing dare not,—
Ste. That’s most certain.
Cal. Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee.
55 Ste. How now shall this be compassed? Canst thou bring me to the party?
Cal. Yea, yea, my lord: I’ll yield him thee asleep,
Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
Ari. Thou liest; thou canst not.
60 Cal. What a pied ninny’s this! Thou scurvy patch!
I do beseech thy Greatness, give him blows,
And take his bottle from him: when that’s gone,
He shall drink nought but brine; for I’ll not show him
Where the quick freshes are.
65 Ste. Trinculo, run into no further danger: interrupt the monster one word further, and, by this hand, I’ll turn my mercy out o’ doors, and make a stock-fish of thee.
Trin. Why, what did I? I did nothing. I’ll go farther off.
70 Ste. Didst thou not say he lied?
Ari. Thou liest.
Ste. Do I so? take thou that. [Beats him.] As you like this, give me the lie another time.
Trin. I did not give the lie. Out o’ your wits, and III. 2. 75 hearing too? A pox o’ your bottle! this can sack and drinking do. A murrain on your monster, and the devil take your fingers!
Cal. Ha, ha, ha!
Ste. Now, forward with your tale.—Prithee, stand farther 80 off.
Cal. Beat him enough: after a little time, I’ll beat him too.
Ste. Stand farther. Come, proceed.
Cal. Why, as I told thee, ’tis a custom with him
I’ th’ afternoon to sleep: there thou mayst brain him,
85 Having first seized his books; or with a log
Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake,
Or cut his wezand with thy knife. Remember
First to possess his books; for without them
He’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath not
90 One spirit to command: they all do hate him
As rootedly as I. Burn but his books.
He has brave utensils,—for so he calls them,—
Which, when he has a house, he’ll deck withal.
And that most deeply to consider is
95 The beauty of his daughter; he himself
Calls her a nonpareil: I never saw a woman,
But only Sycorax my dam and she;
But she as far surpasseth Sycorax
As great’st does least.
Ste.
Is it so brave a lass?
III. 2. 100 Cal. Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant,
And bring thee forth brave brood.
Ste. Monster, I will kill this man: his daughter and I will be king and queen,—save our Graces!—and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys. Dost thou like the plot, 105 Trinculo?
Trin. Excellent.
Ste. Give me thy hand: I am sorry I beat thee; but, while thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head.
Cal. Within this half hour will he be asleep:
Wilt thou destroy him then?
Ste.
110 Ay, on mine honour.
Ari. This will I tell my master.
Cal. Thou makest me merry; I am full of pleasure:
Let us be jocund: will you troll the catch
You taught me but while-ere?
115 Ste. At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason. —Come on. Trinculo, let us sing. Sings.
Flout ’em and scout ’em, and scout ’em and flout ’em;
Thought is free.
Cal. That’s not the tune.
Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe.
120 Ste. What is this same?
Trin. This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of Nobody.
Ste. If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy likeness: if thou beest a devil, take’t as thou list.
III. 2. 125 Trin. O, forgive me my sins!
Ste. He that dies pays all debts: I defy thee. Mercy upon us!
Cal. Art thou afeard?
Ste. No, monster, not I.
130 Cal. Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,
135 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 waked,
I cried to dream again.
Ste. This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I 140 shall have my music for nothing.
Cal. When Prospero is destroyed.
Ste. That shall be by and by: I remember the story.
Trin. The sound is going away; let’s follow it, and after do our work.
145 Ste. Lead, monster; we’ll follow. I would I could see this taborer; he lays it on.
Trin. Wilt come? I’ll follow, Stephano. Exeunt.
III. 3 Scene III. Another part of the island. Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others.Gon. By’r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here’s a maze trod, indeed,
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.
Alon.
Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
5 Who am myself attach’d with weariness,
To the 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
10 Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
Ant. [Aside to Seb.] I am right glad that he’s so out of hope.
Do not, for one repulse, forego the purpose
That you resolved to effect.
Seb. [Aside to Ant.]
The next advantage
Will we take throughly.
Ant. [Aside to Seb.]
Let it be to-night;
15 For, now they are oppress’d with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.
Seb. [Aside to Ant.]
I say, to-night: no more.
Solemn and strange music.
Alon. What harmony is this?—My good friends, hark!
Gon. Marvellous sweet music!
Enter 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.20 Alon. Give us kind keepers, heavens!—What were these?
Seb. A living drollery. Now I will believe
That there are unicorns; that in Arabia
There is one tree, the phœnix’ throne; one phœnix
At this hour reigning there.
Ant.
I’ll believe both;
III. 3. 25 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 ’em.
Gon.
If in Naples
I should report this now, would they believe me?
If I should say, I saw such islanders,—
30 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.
Pros. [Aside]
Honest lord,
35 Thou hast said well; for some of you there present
Are worse than devils.
Alon.
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.
Pros. [Aside]
Praise in departing.
Fran. They vanish’d strangely.
Seb.
40 No matter, since
They have left their viands behind; for we have stomachs.—
Will’t please you taste of what is here?
Alon.
Not I.
Gon. Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys,
Who would believe that there were mountaineers
45 Dew-lapp’d like bulls, whose throats had hanging at ’em
Wallets of flesh? or that there were such men
Whose heads stood in their breasts? which now we find
Each putter-out of five for one will bring us
Good warrant of.
Alon.
I will stand to, and feed,
III. 3. 50 Although my last: no matter, since I feel
The best is past. Brother, my lord the duke,
Stand to, and do as we.
Thunder and lightning. Enter Ariel, like a harpy; claps his wings upon the table; and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes.Ari. You are three men of sin, whom Destiny,—
That hath to instrument this lower world
55 And what is in’t,—the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up you; and on this island,
Where man doth not inhabit,—you ’mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And even with such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves. Alon., Seb. &c. draw their swords.
60 You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of Fate: the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper’d, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock’d-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
65 One dowle that’s in my plume: my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be uplifted. But remember,—
For that’s my business to you,—that you three
70 From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incensed the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
III. 3. 75 Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me:
Lingering perdition—worse than any death
Can be at once—shall step by
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