Prospero and Miranda lived for years on the island. During this time her father took care of Miranda and educated her. Now the island was an enchanted island which had been placed under a spell by a witch called Sycorax, who had died shortly before Prospero and Miranda came to the island, leaving a son who was a misshapen dwarf called Caliban. Prospero found this dwarf, and tried to teach him how to speak and how to do useful work, but Caliban was not able to learn much. Perhaps he was not very willing to learn. The witch Sycorax, before she died, had imprisoned in trees on the island many good spirits, because they would not obey her commands; since they were gentle spirits and Sycorax had tried to get them to do cruel and wicked deeds. Prospero found these good spirits and released them from their prisons. The chief of these spirits was Ariel. You will love Ariel very much when you read about him in the play. Now we have the island, Prospero and Miranda, Ariel and a host of other gentle spirits, and Caliban, whose only idea of God was that there was something more powerful than he was himself. But Caliban thought his god must be cruel, hard and unkind as well as strong, since he did not know any better. This idea he had of a god he called Setebos. Prospero was able to work magic. Three hundred years ago some people believed in magic. Prospero, since he was a good man, never wanted to work anything but good with his magic; and he used Ariel and the other gentle spirits whom he had released from prison to carry out his {37} commands. _The Tempest_, you will understand by this time, is a good deal like what we call a fairy tale. But fairy tales are lovely things. The King of Naples, his son Ferdinand, Antonio, who had usurped his brother's place as Duke of Milan, and a number of noblemen, including kind Gonzalo, when the play begins had been on a voyage on a ship. Prospero by his magic raised a great storm, and commanded Ariel to bring the ship to the island where it was to be shipwrecked, but everyone on board was to be brought to shore safe and unharmed.