Ari.

Safely in harbour

Is the king's ship; in the deep nook, where once
Thou call'dst me up at midnight to fetch dew
From the still-vex'd Bermoothes, there she's hid:
The mariners all under hatches stow'd;

Who, with a charm join'd to their suffer'd labour,
I have left asleep: and for the rest o' the fleet
Which I dispersed, they all have met again
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,
Bound sadly home for Naples,

Supposing that they saw the king's ship wreck'd,
And his great person perish.

Pros.

Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is perform'd: but there's more work.

What is the time o' the day?

Ari.

Past the mid season.

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Pros. At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously.

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Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,

Which is not yet perform'd me.

Pros.

What is 't thou canst demand?

Ari.

How now? moody?

My liberty.

Pros. Before the time be out? no more!
Ari.

Remember I have done thee worthy service;

I prithee,

Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

Pros. Thou dost, and think'st it much to tread the ooze Of the salt deep,

To run upon the sharp wind of the north,

To do me business in the veins o' the earth
When it is baked with frost.

Ari. Pros.

I do not, sir.

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.

260

Pros. Thou hast. Where was she born? speak; tell me. Ari. Sir, in Argier.

Pros.

O, was she so? I must Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget'st. This damn'd witch Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible

To enter human hearing, from Argier,

Thou know'st, was banish'd: for one thing she did
They would not take her life. Is not this true?

Pros. This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child

Ari. Ay, sir.

And here was left by the sailors. Thou, my slave,

As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant;

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And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthy and abhorr'd commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprison'd thou didst painfully remain

A dozen years; within which space she died

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And left thee there; where thou didst vent thy 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
A human shape.

Pros. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st

What torment I did find thee in; thy groans
Did make wolves howl and penetrate the breasts
Of ever angry bears: it was a torment
To lay upon the damn'd, which Sycorax
Could not again undo: it was mine art,
When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape
The pine and let thee out.

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.

What shall I do? say what; what shall I do?

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300

Pros. Go make thyself like a nymph o' the sea: be subject

To no sight but thine and mine, invisible

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
Heaviness in me.

Pros.

Shake it off. Come on;

We'll visit Caliban my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

Mir.

I do not love to look on.

Pros.

'Tis a villain, sir,

But, as 'tis,

We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,

Fetch in our wood and serves in offices

That profit us. What, ho! slave! Caliban
Thou earth, thou! speak,

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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.

321

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

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 Shall, for that vast of night that they may work, All exercise on thee; thou shalt be pinch'd As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made 'em.

330

Cal. I must eat my dinner. This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou takest from me. Thou strokedst me and madest much of me, wouldst give me

When thou camest first,

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

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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
The rest o' the island.

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

In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.

Cal. O ho, O ho! would't had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.

Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,

Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes

350

With words that made them known. But thy vile race, Though thou didst learn, had that in 't which good natures Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou

Deservedly confined into this rock,

Who hadst deserved more than a prison.

Cal. You taught me language; and my profit on 't Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!

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,

Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar

That beasts shall tremble at thy din.

Cal.

No, pray thee. [Aside] I must obey: his art is of such power, It would control my dam's god, Setebos,

And make a vassal of him.

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370

Pros.

So, slave; hence! [Exit Caliban.