then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies midwife, and she comes In shape no bigger than an agate stone On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomies Over mens noses as they lie asleep; Her wagon spokes made of long spinners legs, The cover, of the wings of grasshoppers; Her traces, of the smallest spider web; Her collars, of the moonshines watry beams; Her whip, of crickets bone; the lash, of film; Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat, Not half so big as a round little worm Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid; Her chariot is an empty hazelnut, Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, Time out o mind the fairies coachmakers. And in this state she gallops night by night Through lovers brains, and then they dream of love; Oer courtiers knees, that dream on curtsies straight; Oer lawyers fingers, who straight dream on fees; Oer ladies lips, who straight on kisses dream, Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are. Sometimes she gallops oer a courtiers nose, And then dreams he of smelling out a suit; And sometimes comes she with a tithe-pigs tail Tickling a parsons nose as a lies asleep, Then dreams he of another benefice. Sometimes she driveth oer a soldiers neck, And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats, Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades, Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes, And being thus frighted, swears a prayer or two And sleeps again. This is that very Mab That plats the manes of horses in the night And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs, Which once untangled much misfortune bodes. This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, That presses them and learns them first to bear, Making them women of good carriage. This is she!
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 16:41:17 +0000
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