I swear to thee by Cupid's strongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the simplicity of Venus doves,
By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage green,
When the false Trojan under sail was seen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever woman spoke,
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.

A scene of homely prose follows. The tradesmen and tinkers of Athens
are planning to turn actors and to play "Pyramus and Thisbe" for the
Duke's wedding feast. It is full of "local hits," which are not lost
upon the audience. In the practical jokes, the melodrama, the ranting
bombast, and Bottom's ambition to play "a tyrant's vein," they
recognise a satire on the amateur theatricals of the trades-guilds,
the clownish horseplay of the "moralities" so-called. These crude
plays, once so popular, have become the jest of an audience who pride
themselves on a drama of higher ideals and greater art.

A sudden fall of the upper curtain, and the lower stage is concealed,
the upper one breaking upon the view of the delighted spectators and
announcing Act II of the play. It is a night scene in a wood near
Athens; mossy banks and green trees; clouds and twinkling stars in the
heavens; forms of fairies sitting about like humming birds, or resting
in nodding fern leaves. They sing in quick, short rhymes, suiting the
tempo to their actions:--

[Illustration: Woods near Stratford

"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."
]

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough 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 fairy Queen and King appear, engaged in a very human quarrel.
Titania, like any mortal woman, is little disposed to yield to the
demands of her lord and master one of her cherished treasures. They
part in anger, and Oberon summons Puck, the arch mischief maker, and
sets on foot the punishment of the rebellious lady. The audience, easy
believers in spells, magic, and witchcraft, are in full sympathy with
Puck's mission to secure the potion