William Shakespeare: The Tempest

ACT 5 1. SCENE I. Before the cell of PROSPERO. (continued)

[ARIEL re-enters, singing, and helps to attire PROSPERO.]

ARIEL
Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
In a cowslip's bell I lie;
There I couch when owls do cry.
On the bat's back I do fly
After summer merrily:
Merrily, merrily shall I live now
Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

PROSPERO.
Why, that's my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee;
But yet thou shalt have freedom;--so, so, so.--
To the king's ship, invisible as thou art:
There shalt thou find the mariners asleep
Under the hatches; the master and the boatswain
Being awake, enforce them to this place,
And presently, I prithee.

ARIEL.
I drink the air before me, and return
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.