’Twas one that sung, and by the smallness of it
A boy or woman. I then left my angle
To his own skill, came near, but yet perceived not
Who made the sound, the rushes and the reeds
Had so encompassed it. I laid me down
And listened to the words she sung, for then,
Through a small glade cut by the fishermen,
I saw it was your daughter.
JAILER
Pray go on, sir.
WOOER
She sung much, but no sense; only I heard her
Repeat this often—‘Palamon is gone,
Is gone to th’ wood to gather mulberries;
I’ll find him out tomorrow.’
FIRST FRIEND
Pretty soul!
WOOER
‘His shackles will betray him—he’ll be taken,
And what shall I do then? I’ll bring a bevy,
A hundred black-eyed maids that love as I do,
With chaplets on their heads of daffodillies,
With cherry lips and cheeks of damask roses,
And all we’ll dance an antic fore the Duke
And beg his pardon.’ Then she talked of you, sir—
That you must lose your head tomorrow morning,
And she must gather flowers to bury you,
And see the house made handsome. Then she sung
Nothing but ‘willow, willow, willow’, and between
Ever was ‘Palamon, fair Palamon’,
And ‘Palamon was a tall young man’. The place
Was knee-deep where she sat; her careless tresses
A wreath of bull-rush rounded; about her stuck
Thousand freshwater flowers of several colours—
That she appeared, methought, like the fair nymph
That feeds the lake with waters, or as Iris
Newly dropped down from heaven. Rings she made
Of rushes that grew by, and to ‘em spoke
The prettiest posies—‘Thus our true love’s tied’,
‘This you may lose, not me’, and many a one.
And then she wept, and sung again, and sighed—
And with the same breath smiled and kissed her
hand.
SECOND FRIEND
Alas, what pity it is!
WOOER
I made in to her:
She saw me and straight sought the flood—I saved
her,
And set her safe to land, when presently
She slipped away and to the city made,
With such a cry and swiftness that, believe me,
She left me far behind her. Three or four
I saw from far off cross her—one of ’em
I knew to be your brother, where she stayed
And fell, scarce to be got away. I left them with her,
Enter the Jailer’s Brother, the Jailer’s Daughter, and others
And hither came to tell you—here they are.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER (sings)
‘May you never more enjoy the light ...’—
Is not this a fine song?
JAILER’S BROTHER O, a very fine one.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
I can sing twenty more.
JAILER’S BROTHER I think you can.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
Yes, truly can I—I can sing ‘The Broom’
And ‘Bonny Robin’—are not you a tailor?
JAILER’S BROTHER
Yes.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER Where’s my wedding gown?
JAILER’s BROTHER
I’ll bring it tomorrow.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
Do, very rarely—I must be abroad else,
To call the maids and pay the minstrels,
For I must lose my maidenhead by cocklight,
‘Twill never thrive else. (Sings) ‘O fair, O sweet ...’
JAILER’S BROTHER ⌈to the jailer⌉
You must e’en take it patiently.
JAILER
’Tis true.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
Good ev’n, good men. Pray, did you ever hear
Of one young Palamon?
JAILER Yes, wench, we know him.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
Is’t not a fine young gentleman?
JAILER
’Tis, love.
JAILER’S BROTHER
By no mean cross her, she is then distempered
Far worse than now she shows.
FIRST FRIEND (to the Jailer’s Daughter)
Yes, he’s a fine man.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
O, is he so? You have a sister.
FIRST FRIEND Yes.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
But she shall never have him, tell her so,
For a trick that I know. You’d best look to her,
For if she see him once, she’s gone—she’s done
And undone in an hour. All the young maids
Of our town are in love with him, but I laugh at
’em
And let ’em all alone. Is’t not a wise course?
FIRST FRIEND
Yes.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
There is at least two hundred now with child by him,
There must be four; yet I keep close for all this,
Close as a cockle; and all these must be boys—
He has the trick on’t—and at ten years old
They must be all gelt for musicians
And sing the wars of Theseus.
SECOND FRIEND
This is strange.
⌈JAILER’S BROTHER⌉
As ever you heard, but say nothing.
FIRST FRIEND
No.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
They come from all parts of the dukedom to him.
I’ll warrant ye, he had not so few last night
As twenty to dispatch. He’ll tickle’t up
In two hours, if his hand be in.
JAILER
She’s lost
Past all cure.
JAILER’S BROTHER Heaven forbid, man!
JAILER’S DAUGHTER (to the Jailer)
Come hither—you are a wise man.
FIRST FRIEND
Does she know him?
SECOND FRIEND
No—would she did.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER You are master of a ship?
JAILER
Yes.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER Where’s your compass?
JAILER
Here.
JAILER’S DAUGHTER
Set it to th’ north.
And now direct your course to th’ wood where
Palamon
Lies longing for me. For the tackling,
Let me alone. Come, weigh, my hearts, cheerly all.
Uff, uff, uff! ’Tis up. The wind’s fair. Top the bowline.