I have left asleep and for the rest o' the fleet,
Which I dispers'd, they all have met again;
And are upon the Mediterranean flote,
Bound sadly home for Naples;

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

PRO.

Ariel, thy charge

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

What is the time o' the day?

ARI.

Past the mid season.

PRO. At least two glasses: the time 'twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously.

ARI. Is there more toil? since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promis'd,

Which is not yet perform'd me.

PRO.

What is 't thou can'st demand?

ARI.

How now ? moody?

My liberty.

PRO. Before the time be out? no more.

ARI.
Remember, I have done thee worthy service;

Told thee no lies, made no mistakings, serv'd

I pray thee

Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

PRO.

Dost thou forget

No.

From what a torment I did free thee?

ARI.

PRO. 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 bak'd with frost.

PRO. 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.

PRO. Thou hast where was she born? speak; tell me. ARI. Sir, in Argier.

Once in a month, recount what thou hast been,
Which thou forget'st. This vile 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?

ARI. Ay, sir.

PRO. This blue-ey'd hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by the sailors: Thou, my slave,

As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant:
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate

To act her earthly 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,

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

PRO. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban,
Thou best know'st

Whom now I keep in service.

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 arriv'd, and heard thee, that made gape

The pine, and let thee out.

ARI.

I thank thee, master.

PRO. 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?

PRO. Go, make thyself like to a nymph o' th' 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!
MIRA. [awaking] The strangeness of your story put
Heaviness in me.

PRO.

Shake it off. Come on;

We'll visit Caliban, my slave, who never

Yields us kind answer.

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.

CAL. [Within.]

There's wood enough within.

PRO. 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.

PRO. Thou poisonous slave, come forth!

D

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!

PRO. For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps,

Side-stiches 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 honey-comb, each pinch more stinging
Than bees that made them.

CAL.

I must eat my dinner.

This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,

Which thou tak'st from me. When thou camest first,

Thou strok'dst me, and mad'st much of me; would'st give me

Water with berries in in 't; and teach me how

To name the bigger light, and how the less,

That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,

And shew'd thee all the qualities o' the isle,

The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place, and fertile ;

Cursed be I that I did so!-All the charms

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 of the island.

PRO.

Thou most lying slave,

Whom stripes may move, not kindness: I have us'd thee,

Filth as thou art, with human care; and lodg'd thee

In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate

The honour of my child.

CAL. O ho, O ho!-'would it had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else
This isle with Calibans.