| |
| QUEEN MAB 1 and all her Fairy fry, | |
| Dance on a pleasant molehill high: | |
| With fine straw pipes sweet music’s pleasure, | |
| They make and keep just time and measure. | |
| All hand in hand, around, around, | 5 |
| They dance upon the Fairy ground. | |
| And when she leaves her dancing-hall | |
| She doth for her attendants call, | |
| To wait upon her to a bower, | |
| Where she doth sit beneath a flower, | 10 |
| To shade her from the moonshine bright; | |
| And gnats do sing for her delight. | |
| The whilst the bat doth fly about | |
| To keep in order all the rout. | |
| She on a dewy leaf doth bathe, | 15 |
| And as she sits the leaf doth wave: | |
| Like a new fallen flake of snow | |
| All her white limbs in beauty show. | |
| Her garments fair her maids put on, | |
| Made of the pure light from the sun, | 20 |
| From whence such colours she inshades | |
| In every object she invades. | |
| Then to her dinner she goes straight, | |
| Where all her imps in order wait. | |
| Upon a mushroom there is spread | 25 |
| A cover fine of spiders web; | |
| And for her stool a thistle-down; | |
| And for her cup an acorn’s crown, | |
| Wherein strong nectar there is filled, | |
| That from sweet flower is distilled. | 30 |
| Flies of all sorts both fat and good, | |
| For snipe, quail, partridge are her food. | |
| Omelettes made of ant eggs new— | |
| Of such high meats she eats but few. | |
| Her milk is from the dormouse udder, | 35 |
| Which makes her cheese and cream and butter: | |
| This they do mix in many a knack, | |
| And fresh laid ants’ eggs therein crack:— | |
| Both pudding, custard and seed-cake, | |
| Her skilled cook well knows how to bake. | 40 |
| To sweeten them the bee doth bring | |
| Pure honey gathered by her sting: | |
| But for her guard serves grosser meat— | |
| They of the stall-fed dormouse eat. | |
| When dined she calls, to take the air, | 45 |
| Her coach which is a nutshell fair; | |
| Lined soft it is and rich within, | |
| Made of a glistening adders skin, | |
| And there six crickets draw her fast, | |
| When she a journey takes in haste: | 50 |
| Or else two serve to pace a round, | |
| And trample on the Fairy ground. | |
| To hawk sometimes she takes delight, | |
| Her bird a hornet swift for flight, | |
| Whose horns do serve for talons strong, | 55 |
| To gripe the partridge-fly among. | |
| But if she will a hunting go, | |
| The lizard answers for a doe; | |
| It is so swift and fleet in chase, | |
| That her slow coach cannot keep pace; | 60 |
| Then on the grasshopper she’ll ride | |
| And gallop in the forest wide. | |
| Her bow is of a willow branch, | |
| To shoot the lizard on the haunch: | |
| Her arrow sharp, much like a blade, | 65 |
| Of a rosemary leaf is made. | |
| Then home she’s summoned by the cock, | |
| Who gives her warning what’s o’clock, | |
| And when the moon doth hide her head, | |
| Her day is done, she goes to bed. | 70 |
| Meteors do serve, when they are bright, | |
| As torches do, to give her light, | |
| Glow-worms for candles are lit up, | |
| Set on the table while she sup. | |
| But women, the inconstant kind, | 75 |
| Ne’er in one place content their mind, | |
| She calls her chariot and away | |
| To upper earth—impatient of long stay. | |
| |
| The stately palace in which the Queen dwells | |
| Is a fabric built of hodmandod shells: | 80 |
| The hangings thereof a rainbow that’s thin, | |
| Which shew wondrous fine as you enter in; | |
| The chambers are made of amber that’s clear | |
| Which gives a sweet smell when fire is near: | |
| Her bed is a cherry-stone carvèd throughout | 85 |
| And with a bright butterfly’s wing hung about: | |
| Her sheets are made of dove’s eyes skin— | |
| Her pillow’s a violet bud laid therein: | |
| The doors of her chamber are transparent glass, | |
| Where the Queen may be seen as within she doth pass. | 90 |
| The doors are locked fast with silver pins; | |
| The Queen is asleep and now man’s day begins. | |
