Page 1389 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

GAOLER

But why all this haste, sir?

WOOER
I’ll tell you quickly. As I late was angling
In the great lake that lies behind the palace,
From the far shore, thick-set with reeds and sedges,

As patiently I was attending sport, [55]
I heard a voice, a shrill one; and attentive
I gave my ear, when I might well perceive
’Twas one that sung, and by the smallness of it

A boy or woman. I then left my angle
To his own skill, came near, but yet perceived not [60]
Who made the sound, the rushes and the reeds
Had so encompassed it. I laid me down

And listened to the words she sung, for then,
Through a small glade cut by the fishermen,
I saw it was your daughter.

GAOLER
Pray go on, sir. [65]

WOOER
She sung much, but no sense; only I heard her

Repeat this often: ‘Palamon is gone,
Is gone to th’wood to gather mulberries;
I’ll find him out tomorrow.’

FIRST FRIEND
Pretty soul!

WOOER
‘His shackles will betray him; he’ll be taken, [70]

And what shall I do then? I’ll bring a bevy,
A hundred black-eyed maids, that love as I do
With chaplets on their heads of daffadillies,
With cherry lips and cheeks of damask roses,

And all we’ll dance an antic ’fore the Duke, [75]