Prospero's Books Page #5

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on prosper fall, and make him

By inch-meal a disease!

His devils hear me,

and yet I needs must curse.

... yet I needs must curse.

But they'll nor pinch, Fright me with

urchin-shows, pitch me i' th' mire,

nor lead me, like a firebrand, in the dark

Out of my way, unless he bid 'em;

but For every trifle are

they set upon me;

Sometime like apes that mow and

chatter at me, And after bite me;

then like hedgehogs which Lie

tumbling in my barefoot way,

and mount Their pricks

at my footfall;

sometime am I all wound with adders,

who with cloven tongues

do hiss me into madness.

Here's neither bush nor shrub

to bear off any weather at all,

I know not where to hide my head.

What have we here?

A man or a fish?

This is no fish, but an islander, that

hath lately suffered by thunderbolt.

Alas, the storm is come again! My best

way is to creep under his gaberdine;

Have we devils here?

I have not scap'd drowning to

be afeard now of your four legs;

This is some monster of

the isle with four legs,

who hath got, as I take it, an ague.

Stephano.

Four legs and two voices;

a most delicate monster!

Stephano! If thou beest Stephano,

and speak to me; for I am Trinculo

If thou beest Trinculo, come forth;

if any be Trinculo's legs, these are they.

Thou art very Trinculo indeed!

Misery acquaints a man

with strange bed-fellows.

That's a brave god, and

bears celestial liquor.

I will kneel to him.

How now, moon-calf!

How does thine ague?

Hast thou not dropp'd from heaven?

- Out o' th' moon, I do assure thee;

I was the Man i' th' Moon,

when time was.

I have seen thee in her,

and I do adore thee.

My mistress show'd me thee,

and thy dog and thy bush.

I'll show thee every fertile inch

o' th' island; and will kiss thy foot.

I prithee be my god.

I'll show thee the best springs;

I'll pluck thee berries;

I'll fish for thee,

and get thee wood enough.

A plague upon the tyrant that I serve!

I'll bear him no more sticks, but follow

thee, thou wondrous man.

A most ridiculous monster,

to make a wonder of a poor drunkard!

I prithee let me bring

thee where crabs grow;

And I with my long nails

will dig thee pig-nuts;

Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee

how to snare the nimble marmoset;

I'll bring thee to clust'ring filberts,

and sometimes I'll get thee young

scamels from the rock.

Wilt thou go with me?

I prithee now, lead the way

without any more talking.

Trinculo, the King and all

our company else being drown'd,

we will inherit here.

No more dams I'll make for fish;

Nor fetch in firing At requiring,

Nor scrape trenchering,

nor wash dish.

'Ban 'Ban, Ca-Caliban,

Has a new master

Get a new man.

There be some sports are painful,

and their labour delight in them sets off;

some kinds of baseness are nobly undergone,

and most poor matters point to rich ends.

This my mean task would be

as heavy to me as odious,

but the mistress which

I serve quickens what's dead,

and makes my labours pleasures.

work not so hard;

I would the lightning had burnt up

those logs that you are enjoin'd to pile.

My father Is hard at study;

pray, now, rest yourself;

He's safe for these three hours.

If you'll sit down,

I'll bear your logs the while;

No, precious creature; I had rather

crack my sinews, break my back,

than you should such dishonour undergo,

While I sit lazy by.

Full many a lady

I have ey'd with best regard;

and many a time th' harmony of their tongues

hath into bondage brought my too diligent ear;

for several virtues have I lik'd

several women, but you,

O you, so perfect and so peerless,

are created of every creature's best!

I do beseech you, chiefly that

I might set it in my prayers,

what is your name?

Miranda.

Admir'd Miranda!

indeed the top of admiration

Fair encounter of two

most rare affections!

Heavens rain grace on that

which breeds between 'em!

Do you love me?

O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound,

I, beyond all limit of what else i' th' world,

do love, prize, honour you.

I am a fool to weep at what I am glad of.

I am your wife, if you will marry me;

If not, I'll die your maid.

My mistress, dearest;

And I thus humble ever.

My husband, then?

Ay, with a heart as willing

as bondage e'er of freedom.

So glad of this as they I cannot be,

who are surpris'd withal;

but my rejoicing at nothing can be more.

An antiquarian's handbook, a checklist of the

ancient world for the Renaissance humanist

Full of maps and plans of the archaeological sites of the world,

an essential volume for the melancholic

historian who knows that nothing endures.

As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, sorcerer,

that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.

I say, by sorcery he got this isle;

From me he got it.

If thy greatness will revenge it on him-

for I know thou dar'st,

Thou shalt be lord of it, and I'll serve thee.

How now shall this be compass'd?

Canst thou bring me to the party?

Yea, yea, my lord; I'll yield him thee asleep,

Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.

'tis a custom with him I' th' afternoon to sleep;

there thou mayst brain him,

having first seiz'd 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 one spirit to command;

they all do hate him As rootedly as I.

Burn but his books.

And that most deeply to consider

is 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.

Is it so brave a lass?

- Ay, lord; she will become thy bed, I warrant,

and bring thee forth brave brood.

Monster, I will kill this man;

his daughter and I will be King and Queen

and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys.

Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo?

- Excellent.

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 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.

This will prove a brave kingdom to me,

where I shall have my music for nothing.

When Prospero is destroy'd.

he is drown'd Whom thus we stray to find,

and the sea mocks

Our frustrate search on land.

Well, let him go.

Now I will believe that there are unicorns;

travellers ne'er did lie, though fools at home condemn 'em.

If in Naples I should report this now,

would they believe me?

Will't please you taste of what is here?

- Not I.

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 'em Wallets of flesh?

or that there were such men

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