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
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 360
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.

Cal.

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.

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.

So, slave; hence! [Exit Caliban.

370

Re-enter Ariel, invisible, playing and singing;
Ferdinand following.

Come unto these yellow sands,

And then take hands:
Courtsied when you have and kiss'd
The wild waves whist :

Foot it featly here and there;

And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.
Hark, hark!

Burthen [dispersedly]. Bow-wow.

Ari. The watch dogs bark:

Burthen [dispersedly]. Bow-wow.

Ari. Hark, hark! I hear

The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.

380

Fer. Where should this music be? i' th' air or th' earth?
It sounds no more: and, sure, it waits upon
Some god o' th' island. Sitting on a bank,
Weeping again the king my father's wreck,
This music crept by me upon the waters,
Allaying both their fury and my passion
With its sweet air: thence I have follow'd it,

390

Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:

Burthen Ding-dong

Ari. Hark! now I hear them,-Ding-dong, bell.

Fer. The ditty does remember my drown'd father.
This is no mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes:-I hear it now above me.
Pros. The fringed curtains of thine eye advance,
And say what thou seest yond.

Mir.

Lord, how it looks about!

What is 't? a spirit?

400

It carries a brave form. But 'tis a spirit.

Pros. No, wench; it eats and sleeps and hath such senses As we have, such. This gallant which thou seest

Mir.

Pros.

Fer.

Mir.

Fer.

Pros.

Was in the wreck; and, but he's something stain'd
With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou mightst call him
A goodly person: he hath lost his fellows,

And strays about to find 'em.

I might call him

A thing divine; for nothing natural

I ever saw so noble.

[Aside] It goes on, I see,

419

As my soul prompts it. Spirit, fine spirit! I'll free thee
Within two days for this.

Most

sure, the goddess
On whom these airs attend! Vouchsafe my prayer
May know if you remain upon this island;
And that you will some good instruction give
How I may bear me here my prime request,
Which I do last pronounce, is, O you wonder!
If you be maid or no?

But certainly a maid.

No wonder, sir;

My language! heavens!

I am the best of them that speak this speech,
Were I but where 'tis spoken.

What wert thou, if the King of Naples heard thee?

Fer. A single thing, as I am now, that wonders

Mir.

To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me ;
And that he does I weep: myself am Naples,

Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld
The king my father wreck'd.

Alack, for mercy!

Fer. Yes, faith, and all his lords; the Duke of Milan

I'll set thee free for this. [To Fer.] A word, good sir; I fear you have done yourself some wrong: a word. Mir. Why speaks my father so ungently? This

Fer.

Pros.

Is the third man that e'er I saw; the first
That e'er I sigh'd for: pity move my father
To be inclined my way!

O, if a virgin,

And your affection not gone forth, I'll make you
The queen of Naples.

Soft, sir! one word more.

[Aside] They are both in either's powers: but this

swift business

450