Page 1044 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

PROSPERO

Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

Enter Caliban.

CALIBAN
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 [325]
And blister you all o’er!

PROSPERO
For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins

Shall forth at vast of night, that they may work
All exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch’d [330]
As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made ’em.

CALIBAN
I must eat my dinner.

This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first,
Thou strok’st me, and made much of me; wouldst give me [335]

Water with berries in ’t; and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lov’d thee,
And show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile: [340]

Curs'd be I that did so! All the charms
Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,

Which first was mine own King: and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me [345]
The rest o’ th’ island.

PROSPERO