The Winter's Tale: ACT III
Introduction ACT I ACT II ACT III SCENE I. A sea-port in Sicilia. SCENE II. A court of Justice. SCENE III. Bohemia. A desert country near the sea. ACT IV ACT V About the Play Feedback			Search: All the plays Hamlet Coriolanus Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Richard II Richard III Titus Andronicus Antony and Cleopatra Timon of Athens Henry IV Part 1 Henry IV Part 2 Henry the Fifth Henry VI Part 1 Henry VI Part 2 Henry VI Part 3 Henry VIII King John Pericles Troilus and Cressida All's Well... As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline A Midsummer... Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merry Wives... Much Ado about Nothing The Merchant of Venice Twelfth Night The Taming of... The Tempest The Two Gentlemen... The Winter's Tale    for: 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 5     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 10    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 15    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: 20    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, 25    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, 30    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 35    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 40    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: 45    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, 50    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, 55    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 60    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 65    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 70    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 75    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 80    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 85    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 90    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 95    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 100   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 105   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 110   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 115   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 120   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 125   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 130   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 135   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 140   'Tis a lucky day, boy, and we'll do good deeds on't. Exeunt Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene