Ari. Safely in harbour Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew From the still-vex'd Bermoothes,24 there she's hid: The mariners all under hatches stow'd; Whom, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour, I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet, Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd, Pro. Ariel, thy charge Exactly is perform'd; but there's more work : What is the time o' the day? Ari. Past the mid season. Pro. At least two glasses: The time 'twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously. Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou must give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd, Pro. What is't thou canst demand? Ari. How now! moody? My liberty. Pro. Before the time be out? no more. I prithee, 14 The epithet here applied to the Bermudas will be best understood by those who have seen the chafing of the sea over the rugged rocks by which they are surrounded, and which renders access to them so difficult. It was then the current opinion that the Bermudas were inhabited by monsters and devils. i. e. wave, or the sea. Flot, FR. Remember, I have done thee worthy service; Pro. Thou dost; and think'st it much, to tread the ooze Of the salt deep; To run upon the sharp wind of the north; Ari. I do not, sir. Pro. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot The foul witch, Sycorax, who, with age and envy, Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her? Once in a month, recount what thou hast been, Thou know'st, was banish'd: for one thing she did, Pro. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave, 26 The old English name of Algiers As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant : And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands, groans, she died, As fast as mill-wheels strike: Then was this island (Save for the son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honour'd with Ari. Yes; Caliban her son. Pro. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban, Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st What torment I did find thee in: thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of ever-angry bears: It was a torment To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax Could not again undo: it was mine art, When I arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape The pine, and let thee out. Ari. I thank thee, master. Pro. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails, till Thou hast howl'd away twelve winters. Ari. Pardon, master: I will be correspondent to command, And do my spriting gently. Pro. I will discharge thee. Do so; and after two days 27 Behests, commands Ari. What shall I do That's my noble master! say what: what shall I do? Pro. Go, make thyself like a nymph o' the sea be subject To no sight but thine and mine; invisible To every eyeball else. Go, take this shape, And hither come in't: go; hence, with diligence. [Exit ARIEL Awake, dear heart, awake! thou hast slept well; Awake! Mira. The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me. Pro. Shake it off: Come on: We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never Yields us kind answer. Mira. I do not love to look on. Pro. "Tis a villain, sir, But, as 'tis, We cannot miss 28 him: he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices That profit us. What ho! slave! Caliban ! Thou earth, thou! speak. Cal. [Within.] There's wood enough within. Pro. Come forth, I say there's other business for thee: Come forth, thou tortoise! when? 29 Re-enter ARIEL, like a Water-nymph. Fine apparition! My quaint 30 Ariel, Ari. My lord, it shall be done. [Ext. 28 i. e. we cannot do without him. The phrase is still common in the midland counties. * This is a common expression of impatience. 20 Quaint here means brisk, from the French cointe. Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth! Enter CALIBAN. Cal. As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd With raven's feather from unwholesome fen Drop on you both! a south-west blow on ye, And blister you all o'er! Pro. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins31 Shall, for that vast 3 of night that they may work, All exercise on thee: thou shalt be pinch'd As thick as honey-combs, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made them. Cal. I must eat my dinner This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest first, Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; would'st give me Water with berries in't; and teach me how The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile : Urchins were fairies of a particular class. Hedgehogs were also called urchins; and it is probable that the sprites were so named, because they were of a mischievous kind, the urchin being anciently deemed a very noxious animal. In the phrase still current, a little urchin," the idea of the fairy still remains. 32 So in Hamlet, Act i. sc. 2, "in the dead vast and middle of the night;" meaning the silent void or vacancy of night, when spirits were anciently supposed to walk abroad on errands of love, or sport, or mischief. H |