|
| | 

Enter FALSTAFF and MISTRESS
QUICKLY
| FALSTAFF
|
Prithee, no more prattling; go. I'll hold. This is
the third time; I hope good luck lies in odd
numbers. Away I go. They say there is divinity in
odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death. Away! |
| MISTRESS QUICKLY
|
I'll provide you a chain; and I'll do what I can to
get you a pair of horns. |
| FALSTAFF
|
Away, I say; time wears: hold up your head, and mince.
|
| |
[Exit MISTRESS QUICKLY]
|
| |
[Enter FORD] |
| |
How now, Master Brook! Master Brook, the matter
will be known to-night, or never. Be you in the
Park about midnight, at Herne's oak, and you shall
see wonders. |
| FORD |
Went you not to her yesterday, sir, as you told me
you had appointed? |
| FALSTAFF
|
I went to her, Master Brook, as you see, like a poor
old man: but I came from her, Master Brook, like a
poor old woman. That same knave Ford, her husband,
hath the finest mad devil of jealousy in him,
Master Brook, that ever governed frenzy. I will tell
you: he beat me grievously, in the shape of a
woman; for in the shape of man, Master Brook, I fear
not Goliath with a weaver's beam; because I know
also life is a shuttle. I am in haste; go along
with me: I'll tell you all, Master Brook. Since I
plucked geese, played truant and whipped top, I knew
not what 'twas to be beaten till lately. Follow
me: I'll tell you strange things of this knave
Ford, on whom to-night I will be revenged, and I
will deliver his wife into your hand. Follow.
Strange things in hand, Master Brook! Follow. |
| |
[Exeunt] |
Enter PAGE, SHALLOW, and SLENDER
| PAGE |
Come, come; we'll couch i' the castle-ditch till we
see the light of our fairies. Remember, son Slender,
my daughter. |
| SLENDER
|
Ay, forsooth; I have spoke with her and we have a
nay-word how to know one another: I come to her in
white, and cry 'mum;' she cries 'budget;' and by
that we know one another. |
| SHALLOW
|
That's good too: but what needs either your 'mum'
or her 'budget?' the white will decipher her well
enough. It hath struck ten o'clock. |
| PAGE |
The night is dark; light and spirits will become it
well. Heaven prosper our sport! No man means evil
but the devil, and we shall know him by his horns.
Let's away; follow me. |
| |
[Exeunt] |
Enter MISTRESS PAGE,
MISTRESS FORD, and
DOCTOR CAIUS
| MISTRESS PAGE
|
Master doctor, my daughter is in green: when you
see your time, take her by the band, away with her
to the deanery, and dispatch it quickly. Go before
into the Park: we two must go together. |
| DOCTOR CAIUS
|
I know vat I have to do. Adieu.
|
| MISTRESS PAGE
|
Fare you well, sir. |
| |
[Exit DOCTOR CAIUS] |
| |
My husband will not rejoice so much at the abuse of
Falstaff as he will chafe at the doctor's marrying
my daughter: but 'tis no matter; better a little
chiding than a great deal of heart-break. |
| MISTRESS FORD
|
Where is Nan now and her troop of fairies, and the
Welsh devil Hugh? |
| MISTRESS PAGE
|
They are all couched in a pit hard by Herne's oak,
with obscured lights; which, at the very instant of
Falstaff's and our meeting, they will at once
display to the night. |
| MISTRESS FORD
|
That cannot choose but amaze him.
|
| MISTRESS PAGE
|
If he be not amazed, he will be mocked; if he be
amazed, he will every way be mocked. |
| MISTRESS FORD
|
We'll betray him finely.
|
| MISTRESS PAGE
|
Against such lewdsters and their lechery
Those that betray them do no treachery. |
| MISTRESS FORD
|
The hour draws on. To the oak, to the oak!
|
| |
[Exeunt] |
To see other scenes in
the show:
|
Full
Text |
Act III, Scene 4
A room in Page's house. |
|
Act I, Scene 1
Windsor before Page's house. |
Act III, Scene 5
A room in the Garter Inn. |
|
Act I, Scene 2
The Same./Act I, Scene 3 A
room in the Garter Inn. |
Act IV, Scene 1
A street. |
|
Act I, Scene 4 A
room in Dr. Caius' house. |
Act IV, Scene 2
A room in Ford's house. |
|
Act II, Scene 1
Before Page's house. |
Act IV, Scene 3
A room in the Garter Inn./Act IV, Scene 4
A room in Ford's house. |
|
Act II, Scene 2
A room in the Garter Inn. |
Act IV, Scene 5 A room in the Garter
Inn. |
|
Act II, Scene 3
A field near Windsor. |
Act IV, Scene 6
Another room in the Garter Inn |
|
Act III, Scene 1
A field near Frogmore. |
Act V, Scene 1 A
room in the Garter Inn./Act V, Scene 2
Windsor Park/Act V, Scene 3 A
street leading to the Park |
|
Act III, Scene 2
A street. |
Act V, Scene 4
Windsor Park/Act V, Scene 5 Another Part of the Park |
|
Act III, Scene 3
A room in Ford's house. |
|
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