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The Winter's Tale: Act 3 Scene 3

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.

ANTIGONUS

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.

ANTIGONUS

Go thou away:

I'll follow instantly.

MARINER

I am glad at heart

To be so rid o' the business.

[Exit]

ANTIGONUS

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]

SHEPHERD

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]