side the cave, as in the second
act. SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF runs quickly across the glade, followed by PUCK._

PUCK

Shadow-of-a-Leaf! Shadow-of-a-Leaf! Shadow-of-a-Leaf!
Don't dance away like that; don't hop; don't skip
Like that, I tell you! I'll never do it again,
I promise. Don't be silly now! Come here;
I want to tell you something. Ah, that's right.
Come, sit down here upon this bank of thyme
"While I thine amiable ears"--Oh, no,
Forgive me, ha! ha! ha!

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF

Now, Master Puck,
You'll kindly keep your word! A foxglove spray
In the right hand is deadlier than the sword
That mortals use, and one resounding thwack
Applied to your slim fairyhood's green limbs
Will make it painful, painful, very painful,
Next time your worship wishes to sit down
Cross-legged upon a mushroom.

PUCK

Ha! ha! ha!
Poor Shadow-of-a-Leaf!

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF

You keep your word, that's all!

PUCK

Haven't I kept my word? Wasn't it I
That made you what these poor, dull mortals call
Crazy? Who crowned you with the cap and bells?
Who made you such a hopeless, glorious fool
That wise men are afraid of every word
You utter? Wasn't it I that made you free
Of fairyland--that showed you how to pluck
Fern-seed by moonlight, and to walk and talk
Between the lights, with urchins and with elves?
Is there another fool twixt earth and heaven
Like you--ungrateful rogue--answer me that!

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF

All true, dear gossip, and for saving me
From the poor game of blind man's buff men call
Wisdom, I thank you; but to hang and buzz
Like a mad dragon-fly, now on my nose,
Now on my neck, now singing in my ears,
Is that to make me free of fairyland?
No--that's enough to make the poor fool mad
And take to human wisdom.

PUCK

Yet you love me,
Ha! ha!--you love me more than all the rest.
You can't deny it! You can't deny it! Ha! ha!

SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF

I won't deny it, gossip. E'en as I think
There must be something loves us creatures, Puck,
More than the Churchmen say. We are so teased
With thorns, bullied with briars, baffled with stars.
I've lain sometimes and laughed until I cried
To see the round m