William Shakespeare - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Or ere your pulse twice beat.

[Exit]

GONZALO.

All torment, trouble, wonder and amazement

Inhabits here. Some heavenly power guide us

Out of this fearful country!

PROSPERO.

Behold, sir king,

The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero.

For more assurance that a living prince

Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body;

And to thee and thy company I bid

A hearty welcome.

ALONSO.

Whe’er thou be’st he or no,

Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me,

As late I have been, I not know: thy pulse

Beats, as of flesh and blood; and, since I saw thee,

Th’ affliction of my mind amends, with which,

I fear, a madness held me: this must crave,—

An if this be at all—a most strange story.

Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat

Thou pardon me my wrongs.—But how should Prospero

Be living and be here?

PROSPERO.

First, noble friend,

Let me embrace thine age; whose honour cannot

Be measur’d or confin’d.

GONZALO.

Whether this be

Or be not, I’ll not swear.

PROSPERO.

You do yet taste

Some subtleties o’ the isle, that will not let you

Believe things certain.—Welcome, my friends all:—

[Aside to SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO] But you, my brace of

lords, were I so minded,

I here could pluck his highness’ frown upon you,

And justify you traitors: at this time

I will tell no tales.

SEBASTIAN.

[Aside] The devil speaks in him.

PROSPERO.

No.

For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother

Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive

Thy rankest fault; all of them; and require

My dukedom of thee, which, perforce, I know

Thou must restore.

ALONSO.

If thou beest Prospero,

Give us particulars of thy preservation;

How thou hast met us here, whom three hours since

Were wrack’d upon this shore; where I have lost,—

How sharp the point of this remembrance is!—

My dear son Ferdinand.

PROSPERO.

I am woe for’t, sir.

ALONSO.

Irreparable is the loss, and patience

Says it is past her cure.

PROSPERO.

I rather think

You have not sought her help; of whose soft grace,

For the like loss I have her sovereign aid,

And rest myself content.

ALONSO.

You the like loss!

PROSPERO.

As great to me, as late; and, supportable

To make the dear loss, have I means much weaker

Than you may call to comfort you, for I

Have lost my daughter.

ALONSO.

A daughter?

O heavens! that they were living both in Naples,

The king and queen there! That they were, I wish

Myself were mudded in that oozy bed

Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?

PROSPERO.

In this last tempest. I perceive, these lords

At this encounter do so much admire

That they devour their reason, and scarce think

Their eyes do offices of truth, their words

Are natural breath; but, howsoe’er you have

Been justled from your senses, know for certain

That I am Prospero, and that very duke

Which was thrust forth of Milan; who most strangely

Upon this shore, where you were wrack’d, was landed

To be the lord on’t. No more yet of this;

For ‘tis a chronicle of day by day,

Not a relation for a breakfast nor

Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir:

This cell’s my court: here have I few attendants

And subjects none abroad: pray you, look in.

My dukedom since you have given me again,

I will requite you with as good a thing;

At least bring forth a wonder, to content ye

As much as me my dukedom.

[The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers

FERDINAND and MIRANDA playing at chess.]

MIRANDA.

Sweet lord, you play me false.

FERDINAND.

No, my dearest love,

I would not for the world.

MIRANDA.

Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle,

And I would call it fair play.

ALONSO.

If this prove

A vision of the island, one dear son

Shall I twice lose.

SEBASTIAN.

A most high miracle!

FERDINAND.

Though the seas threaten, they are merciful:

I have curs’d them without cause.

[Kneels to ALONSO.]

ALONSO.

Now all the blessings

Of a glad father compass thee about!

Arise, and say how thou cam’st here.

MIRANDA.

O, wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there here!

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world

That has such people in’t!

PROSPERO.

‘Tis new to thee.

ALONSO.

What is this maid, with whom thou wast at play?

Your eld’st acquaintance cannot be three hours:

Is she the goddess that hath sever’d us,

And brought us thus together?

FERDINAND.

Sir, she is mortal;

But by immortal Providence she’s mine.

I chose her when I could not ask my father

For his advice, nor thought I had one. She

Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan,

Of whom so often I have heard renown,

But never saw before; of whom I have

Receiv’d a second life: and second father

This lady makes him to me.

ALONSO.

I am hers:

But, O! how oddly will it sound that I

Must ask my child forgiveness!

PROSPERO.

There, sir, stop:

Let us not burden our remembrances with

A heaviness that’s gone.

GONZALO.

I have inly wept,

Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you gods,

And on this couple drop a blessed crown;

For it is you that have chalk’d forth the way

Which brought us hither.

ALONSO.

I say, Amen, Gonzalo!

GONZALO.

Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue

Should become kings of Naples? O, rejoice

Beyond a common joy, and set it down

With gold on lasting pillars. In one voyage

Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis,

And Ferdinand, her brother, found a wife

Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom

In a poor isle; and all of us ourselves,

When no man was his own.

ALONSO.

[To FERDINAND and MIRANDA] Give me your hands:

Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart

That doth not wish you joy!

GONZALO.

Be it so. Amen!

[Re-enter ARIEL, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following.]

O look, sir! look, sir! Here are more of us.

I prophesied, if a gallows were on land,

This fellow could not drown.—Now, blasphemy,

That swear’st grace o’erboard, not an oath on shore?

Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?

BOATSWAIN.

The best news is that we have safely found

Our king and company: the next, our ship,—

Which but three glasses since we gave out split,—

Is tight and yare, and bravely rigg’d as when

We first put out to sea.

ARIEL.

[Aside to PROSPERO] Sir, all this service

Have I done since I went.

PROSPERO.

[Aside to ARIEL] My tricksy spirit!

ALONSO.

These are not natural events; they strengthen

From strange to stranger—Say, how came you hither?

BOATSWAIN.

If I did think, sir, I were well awake,

I’d strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep,

And,—how, we know not,—all clapp’d under hatches,

Where, but even now, with strange and several noises

Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains,

And mo diversity of sounds, all horrible,

We were awak’d; straightway, at liberty:

Where we, in all her trim, freshly beheld

Our royal, good, and gallant ship; our master

Cap’ring to eye her: on a trice, so please you,

Even in a dream, were we divided from them,