Act III, Scene 3

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 1490
  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 1495
  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. 1500

• Antigonus. 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:
  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 1510
  So like a waking. To me comes a creature,
  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 1515
  My cabin where I lay; thrice bow'd before me,
  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, 1520
  Hath made thy person for the thrower-out
  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, 1525
  I prithee, call't. For this ungentle business
  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 1530
  This was so and no slumber. Dreams are toys:
  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 1535
  Of King Polixenes, it should here be laid,
  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, 1540
  And still rest thine. The storm begins; poor wretch,
  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! 1545
  The day frowns more and more: thou'rt like to have
  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. 1550

[Exit, pursued by a bear]

[Enter a Shepherd]

• Old Shepherd. I would there were no age between sixteen and
  three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the
  rest; for there is nothing in the between but 1555
  getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry,
  stealing, fighting—Hark you now! Would any but
  these boiled brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty
  hunt this weather? They have scared away two of my
  best sheep, which I fear the wolf will sooner find 1560
  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
  pretty barne! A boy or a child, I wonder? A
  pretty one; a very pretty one: sure, some 'scape: 1565
  though I am not bookish, yet I can read
  waiting-gentlewoman in the 'scape. This has been
  some stair-work, some trunk-work, some
  behind-door-work: they were warmer that got this
  than the poor thing is here. I'll take it up for 1570
  pity: yet I'll tarry till my son come; he hallooed
  but even now. Whoa, ho, hoa!

[Enter Clown]

• Clown. Hilloa, loa!

• Old Shepherd. What, art so near? If thou'lt see a thing to talk 1575
  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
  sky: betwixt the firmament and it you cannot thrust 1580
  a bodkin's point.

• Old 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
  point. O, the most piteous cry of the poor souls! 1585
  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
  land-service, to see how the bear tore out his 1590
  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
  sea mocked them; and how the poor gentleman roared 1595
  and the bear mocked him, both roaring louder than
  the sea or weather.

• Old Shepherd. Name of mercy, when was this, boy?

• Clown. Now, now: I have not winked since I saw these
  sights: the men are not yet cold under water, nor 1600
  the bear half dined on the gentleman: he's at it
  now.

• Old Shepherd. Would I had been by, to have helped the old man!

• Clown. I would you had been by the ship side, to have
  helped her: there your charity would have lacked footing. 1605

• Old 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
  child! look thee here; take up, take up, boy; 1610
  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
  are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold! all gold! 1615

• Old 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
  boy, the next way home. 1620

• 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
  it. 1625

• Old 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.

• Old Shepherd. 'Tis a lucky day, boy, and we'll do good deeds on't. 1630

[Exeunt]