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’ th’ 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’ th’ business.

    ANTIGONUS
                            Come, poor babe.
I have heard, but not believ’d, the spirits o’ th’ 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.’ 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 squar’d 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!

[Laying down the child]

There lie, and there thy character; there these

[Laying down a bundle]

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 expos’d
To loss and what may follow! Weep I cannot,
But my heart bleeds; and most accurs’d 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.    [Noise of hunt within]    A savage clamour!
Well may I get aboard! This is the chase;
I am gone for ever.

    SHEPHERD
I would there were no age between ten 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—    [Horns]    Hark you now! Would any but these boil’d brains of nineteen and two and twenty hunt this weather? They have scar’d 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 sea-side, browsing of ivy. Good luck, an’t be thy will! What have we here?    [Taking up the child]    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 halloo’d but even now. Whoa-ho-hoa!

    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 ail’st 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 to 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 mainmast, and anon swallowed with yeast and froth, as you’d 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-dragon’d it; but first, how the poor souls roared, and the sea mock’d them; and how the poor gentleman roared, and the bear mock’d him, both roaring louder than the sea or weather.

    SHEPHERD
Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

    CLOWN
Now, now; I have not wink’d since I saw these sights; the men are not yet cold under water, nor the bear half din’d on the gentleman; he’s at it now.

    SHEPHERD
Would I had been by to have help’d the old man!

    CLOWN
I would you had been by the ship-side, to have help’d her; there your charity would have lack’d footing.

    SHEPHERD
Heavy matters, heavy matters! But look thee here, boy. Now bless thyself; thou met’st with things dying, I with things new-born. 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 th’ sight of him.

    CLOWN
Marry, will I; and you shall help to put him i’ th’ ground.

    SHEPHERD
’Tis a lucky day, boy; and we’ll do good deeds on’t.