A midsummer Nights Dream

PART FOUR

The Donkey and the Queen

Bottom and his friends had met in another part of the wood, and they were

busy  with  the  rehearsal  for  their  play.  Their  rehearsal  was  not  going  smoothly,

however, and they had some problems to resolve.

'Friends,' said Bottom, 'there are some things in this play that I don't like - I

don't like them at all. For instance,' he went on, 'Pyramus has to kill himself with

a sword. I think the ladies in the audience will be frightened if he does that.'

'You're right,' agreed Snout. 'We can't frighten the ladies. Why don't we get

rid of that part?'

'We don't have to do that.' Bottom argued. 'Why don't we add a prologue to

the  play?  We  could  explain  that  Pyramus  isn't  really  killed  at  all  and  we  could

also  say  that  I  am  not  really  Pyramus,  that  I'm  really  Bottom.  Then  the  ladies

wouldn't be frightened. What do you think?'

'I  think  you're  right.'  Quince  told  him.  'We'll  put  in  a  prologue  to  explain

that part of the play.'

'What  about  the  lion?'  asked  Snout.  'Won't  the  ladies  be  frightened  of  the

lion, as well?'

'A lion is a very terrifying creature, you know,' Bottom pointed out.

'Let's  have  a  second  prologue.'  Snout  suggested.  'We  can  explain  that  it

isn't a real lion at all.'

'Yes,'  said  Bottom.  'And  when  you  play  the  part,'  he  said  to  Snug,  'you

should show your real face. And then you could speak in your own voice. You

could  say:  "Ladies,  don't  he  frightened.  I'm  really  Snug,  I'm  not  a  lion  at  all."

Then they wouldn't be scared.'

'I agree,' said Quince. 'We don't want to frighten the ladies, that would be a

terrible thing. But there's something else that worries me. What about the moon?

It says that Pyramus and Thisbe meet in the moonlight. How are we going to put

moonlight into the play?'

'We need an almanac,' cried Bottom. 'Get an almanac!' he cried excitedly.

Quince opened the almanac at the date of Theseus's wedding. He read the

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details carefully.

'It's all right!' he told them. 'There is a good moon that night.'

'Then it's easy.' Bottom said. 'We leave a window open in the room where

we're playing. Everyone will see the moonlight.'

'Or  one  of  us  could  carry  a  lantern,'  Quince  suggested.  'He  could  explain

that he represents the moon.'

The actors were happy. They thought they were solving all their difficulties

very cleverly.

'But what about the wall?' Quince asked. 'It says in the play that Pyramus

and  Thisbe  talk  to  each  other  through  a  hole  in  the  wall.  How  are  we  going  to

show the wall?'

Everybody looked thoughtful for a moment, and then Bottom spoke again.

'One of us must represent the wall,' he said. 'He can carry a brick, to show

what he is.'

'Good, that's settled then,' said Quince. 'Let's begin, shall we? You go over

there.  Bottom,  and  when  I  call  you,  you  come  on  the  stage.  All  right,

everybody?'

Everybody said they were ready, and Bottom went a little distance away.

Puck  had  heard  the  voices  of  Bottom  and  his  friends,  and  he  had  hidden

behind a tree to see what they were doing. At first, he did not understand what

Bottom and his friends were doing. Their behaviour was very strange. Then he

realised what they were doing.

'They must be actors!' he said to himself. 'Of course they are - but they're

surely the worst actors in the world. I think I'll play a trick on them.'

He saw that Bottom was out of sight of his friends, and he used his magic

to  change  Bottom's  head  into  the  head  of  a  donkey.  Bottom  felt  nothing,  so  he

did not notice the trick that had been played on him.

The other actors were now ready to begin.

'Bottom!' cried Quince. 'Where are you, Bottom? You're supposed to be on

stage now!'

Bottom stepped forward, ready to speak his lines.

'If you loved me, Thisbe -' he began.

---

'Run!' cried the actors. 'There's a monster! Run away, everybody!'

Bottom could not understand why the actors had run away.

'What's the matter with them?' he wondered. 'Where have they gone?'

He waited for them to return, but no one came back.

'Now I understand!' Bottom thought. 'They want to frighten me, that's all it

is. Well, I won't be frightened. I'll stay here - I'm not scared!'

Bottom began to walk up and down, and to sing one of his favourite

songs. He sang very loudly. His singing woke Titania. She looked at Bottom, and

the  magic  flower  worked  on  her  immediately.  The  fact  that  he  now  had  a

donkey's head made no difference at all. She fell in love with him straight away.

'Your  singing  is  wonderful,  sir.'  she  told  him.  'And  you  are  beautiful,  as

well. I'm in love with you!' she confessed.

She called all her servants, and told them that she was in love with Bottom.

She  ordered  them  to  take  very  good  care  of  him,  and  to  do  exactly  what  he

wanted.

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