Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked,
And his great person perish.

Pros.

Ariel, thy charge

Exactly is performed; but there's more work:
What is the time o' the day?

Ari.

Past the mid season.

Pros. At least two glasses. The time 'twixt six and

now

Must by us both be spent most preciously.

Ari. Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promised,

Which is not yet performed me.

Pros.

What is't thou canst demand?

Ari.

How now? moody?

My liberty.

Pros. Before the time be out? No more!

Ari.

I prithee,

Remember I have done thee worthy service;
Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served
Without or grudge or grumblings: thou didst promise
To bate me a full year.

Pros.

Dost thou forget

From what a torment I did free thee?

Ari.

Pros. Thou dost; and think'st

No.

It much to tread the ooze of the salt deep,
To run upon the sharp wind of the north,
To do me business in the veins o' the earth,
When it is baked with frost.

Ari.

I do not, sir.

Pros. Thou liest, malignant thing! Hast thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who, with age and envy,

Was grown into a hoop? hast thou forgot her?

1 Two runnings of the hourglass.

Ari. No, sir.

Pros.

Thou, my slave,

As thou report'st thyself, wast then her servant:
And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate
To act her earthy and abhorred commands,
Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee,
By help of her more potent ministers,
And in her most unmitigable rage,
Into a cloven pine; within which rift
Imprisoned, thou did'st painfully remain.

A dozen years; within which space she died,

And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans,
As fast as mill wheels strike. Then was this island
(Save for the son that she did litter here,

A freckled whelp, hag-born) not honored with
A human shape.

Ari.

Yes; Caliban, her son.

Pros. Dull thing, I say so; he, that Caliban,
Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know'st
What torment I did find thee in: thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts
ever-angry bears; it was a torment

Of

To lay upon the damned, which Sycorax
Could not again undo; it was mine art,
When I arrived, and heard thee, that made gape
The pine, and let thee out.

Ari.
I thank thee, master.
Pros. If thou more murmur'st, I will rend an oak,
And peg thee in his knotty entrails till

Thou hast howled away twelve winters.

Ari.

I will be correspondent to command,
And do my spiriting gently.

Pardon, master:

230

Pros.

Do so; and after two days

I will discharge thee.

STUDY HINTS

Notice the active scene on board the ship. Why does the boatswain answer the men so curtly? At what point does he become most exasperated with Gonzalo? Can you blame him? Does Gonzalo realize the peril as fully as the boatswain? How is Miranda affected by the storm? What had Prospero to do with it? How does Prospero comfort her? What proof have you that Ariel is a spirit, not a mortal? Look for this also in his exquisite song (p. 182). Read carefully his description of the effect he had upon the company on the ship. What comfort does he bring to Miranda? What does he owe to Prospero? What humor can you find in this selection?

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS

As You Like It. William Shakespeare.

The Merchant of Venice. William Shakespeare.
Much Ado About Nothing. William Shakespeare.
A Midsummer Night's Dream. William Shakespeare.
Master Skylark. John Bennett.

Judith Shakespeare. William Black.

Shakespeare the Boy. William Rolfe.

In the Days of Elizabeth. Eva March Tappan.

For the teacher to read to the class:

Selections from Ulysses and Nero, Stephen Phillips.

PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL JAMES 1

BRET HARTE

Francis Bret Harte (1839-1902) was born in Albany, New York, but spent the early part of his life in California. As in the case of O. Henry, he lived in many places, and had many experiences which he has perpetuated in excellent short stories. His stories of pioneer life in California are inimitable. The Heathen Chinee, which is the popular title for the poem given below, made him famous. The swing of the verse is pleasing, and the humor infectious. Truthful James was a real character living in California and highly respected in his own community. See also:

Halleck's History of American Literature, pp. 345-349, 365.
H. C. Merwin's The Life of Bret Harte.

Boynton's Bret Harte.

WHICH I wish to remark,

And my language is plain,

That for ways that are dark

And for tricks that are vain,
The heathen Chinee is peculiar,
Which the same I would rise to
explain.

Ah Sin was his name;

And I shall not deny,

In regard to the same,

1 From Poetical Works.

What that name might imply;

Used by permission of, and by arrangement with, Houghton Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of Bret Harte's works.

232

But his smile it was pensive and childlike,
As I frequent remarked to Bill Nye.

It was August the third,

And quite soft was the skies;
Which it might be inferred

That Ah Sin was likewise;

Yet he played it that day upon William
And me in a way I despise.

Which we had a small game,
And Ah Sin took a hand.

It was euchre. The same

He did not understand;

But he smiled as he sat by the table,

With the smile that was childlike and bland.

Yet the cards they were stocked

In a way that I grieve,

And my feelings were shocked

At the state of Nye's sleeve,

Which was stuffed full of aces and bowers,
And the same with intent to deceive.

But the hands that were played

By that heathen Chinee,
And the points that he made,

Were quite frightful to see,

Till at last he put down a right bower,
Which the same Nye had dealt unto me.

Then I looked up at Nye,

And he gazed upon me;

And he rose with a sigh,

And said, "Can this be?

We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor," -
And he went for that heathen Chinee.