Of the salt deep, To run upon the sharp wind of the north, When it is baked with frost. Ari. I do not, sir. Pros. 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? Ari. No, sir. Thou hast. Where was she born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier. Pros. O, was she so? I must Thou know'st, was banished: for one thing she did Pros. This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child 260 And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave, 270 To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands, 261. Argier, Algiers. 266. for one thing she did. What this one thing was has excited much needless speculation. The only object of the narrative was to account for Sycorax's arrival in the island; she was banished for her crimes and spared death in consideration of some service; what the specific ground of mercy was is as irrelevant as the specific ground of condemnation, and may have entered as little into Shakespeare's mind. 269. blue-eyed, (probably) with blue or livid eyelids, then a reputed sign of pregnancy (Wright). By help of her more potent ministers A dozen years; within which space she died groans 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. Pros. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban Ari. I thank thee, master. Pros. 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 Pros. I will discharge thee. Ari. Do so, and after two days That's my noble master! What shall I do? say what; what shall I do? Pros. Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea : be subject To no sight but thine and mine, invisible 280 300 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! Mir. The strangeness of your story put We cannot miss him he does make our fire, That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban! Cal. [Within] There's wood enough within. Pros. Come forth, I say! there's other business for thee: Come, thou tortoise! when? Re-enter ARIEL like a water-nymph. Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel, Hark in thine ear. Ari. My lord, it shall be done. [Exit. Pros. 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 311. miss, do without. of impatience. 317. quaint, dainty. 310 320 And blister you all o'er! Pros. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up; urchins Cal. I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, first, Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me 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 loved thee And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile : Cursed be I that did so! All the charms Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you! sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me Pros. Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee 326. urchins, hobgoblins. 327. for that vast of night, for that desolate period of night in which they were permitted to work. 330 340 333. strokedst and madest, Ff strok'st and made. 334. berries, perhaps coffee, already known by report as an Eastern drink. In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate Cal. O ho, O ho! would't had been done! Pros. Abhorred slave, Which any print of goodness wilt not take, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage, like A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes race, But thy vile Though thou didst learn, had that in 't which good natures 350 Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou 360 Deservedly confined into this rock, Who hadst deserved more than a prison. Cal. You taught me language; and my profit Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you Pros. Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel; and be quick, thou 'rt best, To answer other business. Shrug'st thou, malice? If thou neglect'st or dost unwillingly What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps. 351-62. Assigned by Ff to Miranda. It was restored to Prospero by Theobald. 358. race, hereditary nature, strain. 364. red plague. Plagues were currently classified according to the colour of the sores they produced, as 'red,' 'yellow,' and 'black.' 364. rid, destroy. 369. old, intense, 'rare.' |