The Taming of the Shrew Page #2

Spake you not the words plain,

''Knock me here...''?

Sirrah, be gone, or talk not, I advise you.

Signor Petruchio, what happy gale

Blows you to Padua here from old Verona?

You and your trusty, pleasant servant Grumio.

Signor Hortensio, thus it stands with me:

Antonio, my father, is deceas'd,

And I have... thrust myself into this maze,

Haply as best I may to... thrive and wive.

To...?

Thrive and wive.

Wive... saidst thou?

Her father is Baptista Minola,

An affable and courteous gentleman.

Her name is... Katharina Minola.

There.

Petruchio, shall I then come roundly to thee,

And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife?

Thou'dst thank me but a little for my counsel,

And yet I promise thee she shall be rich,

And very rich.

But then, th'art too much my friend,

And I'll not wish thee to her.

O' my word, and she knew him as well as I do,

she'd think scolding would do him little good.

Signor Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we

Few words suffice;

And therefore, if you know

One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife -

Since wealth's the burden of my wooing dance -

Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,

As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd

As Socrates' Xanthippe, or a worse,

She moves me not, or not removes at least

Affection's edge in me,

Were she as rough

As are the swelling Adriatic seas.

I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;

If wealthily, then happily in Padua.

Nay, look you, sir,

he tells you flatly what his mind is.

Why, give him gold enough

and marry him to a puppet,

or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head,

and though she have as many diseases

as two and fifty horses.

Why, nothing comes amiss,

so money comes withal.

Crowns have I in my purse, and goods at home,

And so am come abroad to see the world.

To find a fortune and to woo...

a wife.

And when I came at last to wife

With a heigh-ho

The wind and the rain

By swaggering could I never thrive

For the rain it raineth every day

I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her.

With a heigh-ho

The wind and the rain

For the rain it raineth every

By swaggering

By swaggering could I never thrive

For the rain it raineth every day

When that I was a tiny little boy

With a heigh-ho

The wind and the rain

A foolish thing was but a toy

The rain it raineth

Now, Petruchio.

If I do...

If I do plot thy match with Katharina,

There is a favour I would ask of thee:

To help me woo her younger sister, Bianca.

Ask it, and so it be not gold, 'tis grant'd.

Then shall my friend Petruchio do me grace,

And offer me disguis'd in sober robes

To old Baptista as a schoolmaster.

As a schoolmaster.

Well versed in music, to instruct Bianca,

That so I may by this device at least

Have leave and leisure to make love to her,

And unsuspected woo her by myself.

Unrecognised by ancient Gremio!

'Tis Gremio, the rival of my love.

God save you, Signor Gremio.

And you are well met, Signor Hortensio.

Know you where I am going? To Baptista.

I promis'd to enquire most carefully

About a schoolmaster for fair Bianca,

And by good fortune...

Cambio!

..I have lighted well on this young man.

Go on now.

A proper stripling and an amorous.

'Tis well. And I have here another gentleman,

Signor Petruchio of Verona,

Who will undertake to woo the curst Katharine,

Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.

O sir, such a life with such a wife were strange.

But if you have a stomach to't, a God's name,

You shall have me assisting you in all.

But will you woo this wildcat?

And will I live?

Signor Petruchio.

- I'll mar thee till no man dare look on thee.

- No... No. No!

- No!

- Take that! And that!

Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?

Have I not in my time heard lions roar?

Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds,

Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?

Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,

And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?

Have not I in a pitched battle heard

Loud 'larums, neighing steeds,

and trumpets' clang?

Let me crack thee!

And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,

That gives not half so great a blow to hear

As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?

Rush, tush, fear boys with bugs!

Nay, I will swear so loud.

O, no! Sister, no!

O, good sister, wrong me not,

nor wrong yourself,

To make a bondmaid and a slave of me.

Minion!

Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell

Whom dost thou lov'st best.

Believe me, sister, of all the men alive

I never yet beheld that special face

Which I could fancy more than any other.

Minion, thou liest.

Katharina! Katharina! Bianca!

Daughters! Daughters!

What, in my sight?

Ah, Bianca, get thee in.

Why dost thou wrong her

that did ne'er wrong thee?

When did she cross thee with a bitter word?

Nay, now I see

She is your treasure, she must have a husband,

I must dance barefoot on her wedding-day.

Daughter Katharina, I pray you!

Talk not to me, I will go sit and weep,

Till I can find occasion for revenge.

Katharina! Katharina!

Signor Baptista.

Good morrow, good my neighbour.

Neighbour, I promis'd to enquire most carefully

about a schoolmaster for fair Bianca,

Well read in poetry and other books.

And by good fortune, I have lighted well.

Neighbour, I freely give unto you

this young scholar,

that hath long been studying at Rheims

and other universities

where he has acquir'd his learning;

cunning in Latin...

And Greek... and other languages.

- His name is Cambio. Pray accept his service.

- Master!

A thousand thanks, Signor.

Welcome.

May I be so bold

as to ask the cause of your coming?

Ya! Pardon me, sir, the boldness is mine own,

That, being a stranger in this city here,

Do make myself a suitor to your daughter,

Unto Bianca, fair and virtuous.

- Signor...

- Lucentio is my name.

His name is Litio, born in Mantua.

Lucentio is my name,

And l, this little packet of Greek and Latin...

- Enough!

- Lucentio!

Pray, have you not a daughter

CalI'd Katharina, fair and virtuous?

I have a daughter, sir, calI'd Katharine.

And I, sir, if I get your daughter's love,

What dowry shall I have with her as wife?

Nay, nay! You are too blunt, go to it orderly.

But whence are you?

What may I call your name?

Signor Baptista, my business asketh haste,

And every day I cannot come to woo.

I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,

That hearing of her beauty and her wit,

Her affability and gentle modesty,

Her wondrous qualities and mild behaviour,

Am bold to show myself a forward guest

Within your house,

To make mine eye the witness

Of that report I have so often heard.

Petruchio is my name, Antonio's son,

A man well known throughout all ltaly.

Now, sir... if I get your daughter's love,

What dowry shall I have with her as wife?

After my death...

the one half of my lands,

And in possession...

twenty thousand crowns.

Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray

Let us that are poor petitioners speak too.

And... for that dowry I'll assure her of

Her widowhood, be it that she survive me,

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