A Midsummer Night's Dream

Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me,

Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,

And 'tailor'55 cries, and falls into a cough.

And then the whole quire56 hold their hips and laugh,

And waxen in their mirth and neeze57 and swear

A merrier hour was never wasted58 there.

But, room, fairy! Here comes Oberon59.

FAIRY And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!

Enter the King of Fairies [Oberon] at one door with his train, and the Queen [Titania] at another with hers

OBERON Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

TITANIA What, jealous Oberon? Fairies, skip hence.

I have forsworn his bed and company.

OBERON Tarry, rash wanton, am not I thy lord64?

TITANIA Then I must be thy lady65: but I know

When thou hast stol'n away from fairy land,

And in the shape of Corin67 sat all day,

Playing on pipes of corn and versing68 love

To amorous Phillida69. Why art thou here,

Come from the farthest step70 of India?

But that, forsooth, the bouncing71 Amazon,

Your buskined72 mistress and your warrior love,

To Theseus must be wedded; and you come

To give their bed joy and prosperity?

OBERON How canst thou thus for shame, Titania,

Glance at my credit76 with Hippolyta,

Knowing I know thy love to Theseus?

Didst not thou lead him through the glimmering78 night

From Perigenia whom he ravished?

And make him with fair Aegles80 break his faith,

With Ariadne and Antiopa81?