< A forest near Sunnydale >

{enter Faith the Fairy at one door, and Robin Whistlefellow at another}

Puck: How now, spirit! Whither wander you?

Faith: Over hill, over dale
Through bush, through brier,
Over park, over pale,
Through flood, through fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green:
The cowslips tall her pensioners be; 
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours,
In their freckles live their saviors:
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cow-slip's ear.
Farewell, thou lob of spirits: I'll be gone;
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.

Puck: The king doth keep his revels here to-night.
Take heed the queen come not within his sight;
For Angelron is passing fell and wrath,
Because that she as her attendant hath
A lovely boy, stol'n from a Canadian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling;
And jealous Angelron would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild;
But she, perforce, refuses to give him the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy.
And now they never meet in grove, or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
But they do argue; that all their elves, for fear,
Creep into acorn-cups and hide there.

Faith: Either I mistake your shape and lack of fashion sense quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Call'd Robin Whistlefellow: are you not he
Who doth mislead night wanderers, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck:
Are you not he?

Puck: Fairy, thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Angelron, and make him smile.
But look out, fairy! Here comes Angelron.

{Enter the King of Fairies, Angelron, at one door with his train; and the Queen, Buffania, at another with hers}

Angelron: Ill met by moonlight, proud Buffania.

Buffania: What! Jealous Angelron. Fairies, skip hence: I have forsworn his bed and company.

Angelron: Tarry, rash wanton! Am I not your lord?

Buffania: Then, I must be thy lady. but I know
When thou hast stol'n away from fairy land
And in the shape of Angelus sat all day,
Playing on pipes of corn, and versing love
To amorous Drusilda. Why art thou here, 
Come from the furthest steep of Canada?
But that, forsooth, the bouncing Technopagan,
Your buskin'd mistress and your computer teacher love,
To Gileseus must be wedded, and you come
To give their bed joy and prosperity.

Angelron: How canst thou thus for shame, Buffania,
Glance at my credit with Jannolyta,
Knowing I know thy love for Gileseus?

Buffania: These are the forgeries of jealousy:
And never, since the middle summer's spring,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,
Or in the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
But with thy arguements thou hast disturb'd our sport.
And as result, all of nature is in chaos.
The spring, the summer, the childing autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
By their increase now knows not which is which.
And this same progeny of evil comes
From our debate, from our dissention.

Angelron: Do you amend it then; for it lies in you.
Why should Buffania cross her Angelron?
I do but beg a little changeling boy,
To be my lackey.

Buffania: Set your heart at rest;
The fairy land buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votaress of my order:
And, in the spiced Canadian air, by night,
Full often hath she gossip'd by my side,
Would fetch me trifles, her womb then rich with my young squire,
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die;
And for her sake I do rear up her boy,
And for her sake I will not part with him.

Buffania: Perchance, till after Gileseus' wedding-day.
If you will patiently dance in our round,
And see our moonlight revels, go with us;
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.

Buffania: Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away! 
We shall start fighting again, if I longer stay.

Angelron: Well, go thy way: thou shalt not from this grove
Till I torment thee for this injury.
My gentle Puck, come hither.
Fetch me that flower that maids call Love-in-idleness; 
The herb I show'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
Will make man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb; and be thou here again
Before a leviathon can swim a league.

{exit Puck}

Angelron: Having once this juice,
I'll watch Buffania when she is asleep,
And drop the liquid of it in her eyes:
The next thing that she waking looks upon,
Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey, or on busy ape,
She shall pursue it with the soul of love:
And ere I take this charm off from her sight,
As I can take it with another herb,
I'll make her render up her page to me.

Angelron: But who comes here? I shall lurk,
And I will overhear their conference.

Ozmetrius: I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.
Where is Lyxander and fair Cormia?
The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.
Thou told'st me they were stol'n into this wood;
And here am I, and wood within this wood,
Because I cannot meet my Cormia.
Hence! Get thee gone, and follow me no more.

Willena: You draw me, you hard-hearted adament:
But yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,
And I shall have no power to follow you.

Ozmetrius: Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I knot in plainest truth
Tell you I do not nor I cannot love you?

Willena: And even for that do I love you the more.
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unowrthy as I am, to follow you.
What worser place can  I beg in your love,
And yet a place of high respect with me,
Than to be used as you use your dog?

Ozmetrius: Tempt not too much the hated of my spirit,
For I am sick when I do look on you.

Ozmetrius: You do impeach your modesty too much,
To leave the city, and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not;
To trust the opportunity of night
And the ill counsel of a desert place
With the rich worth of your virginity.

Willena: Your virtue is my privilege: for that
It is not night when I do see yoru face,
Therefore I think I am not in the night;
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company,
For you in my respect are all the world:
Then how can it be said I am alone,
When all the world is here to look upon me?

Ozmetrius: I'll run from thee and hide me in the bushes,
And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

Willena: The wildest hath not such a heart as you.
Run when you will, the story shall be chang'd;
Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;
The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind
Makes speed to catch the tiger: bootless speed,
When cowardice pursues and valour flies.

Ozmetrius: I will not stay thy questions: let me go;
Or, if thou follow me, do not believe
But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

Willena: Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,
You do me mischief. Fie, Ozmetrius!
Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex.
We cannot fight for love, as men may do;
We should be woo'd and were not meant to woo.

Willena: {continued} I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell, To die upon the hand I love so well.

{Willena exits}

Angelron: {delurking} Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this 
grove,
Thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love.

Angelron: Hast thou the flower? Welcome, wanderer.

Puck: Aye, I have it.

Angelron: I pray thee, give it me.
I know a place where Buffania sleeps some time of the night,
Lull'd in the flowers with dances and delight;
And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,
And make her full of hateful fantasies.
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
A sweet Sunnydalian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady. Thou shalt know the man
By the Sunnydalian garments he hath on.
Effect it with some care, that he may prove
More fond on her than she upon her love.
And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

{Both exit}