Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
The sea was no friendly element to unhappy Pericles, for long before
they reached Tyre another dreadful tempest arose, which so terrified
Thaisa that she was taken ill, and in a short space of time her nurse
Lychorida came to Pericles with a little child in her arms, to tell the
prince the sad tidings that his wife died the moment her little babe was
born. She held the babe towards its father, saying, "Here is a thing too
young for such a place. This is the child of your dead queen." No tongue
can tell the dreadful sufferings of Pericles when he heard his wife was
dead. As soon as he could speak, he said, "O you gods, why do you make
us love your goodly gifts, and then snatch those gifts away?" "Patience,
good sir," said Lychorida, "here is all that is left alive of our dead
queen, a little daughter, and for your child's sake be more manly.
Patience, good sir, even for the sake of this precious charge." Pericles
took the new-born infant in his arms, and he said to the little babe,
"Now may your life be mild, for a more blusterous birth had never babe!
May your condition be mild and gentle, for you have had the rudest
welcome that ever prince's child did meet with! May that which follows
be happy, for you have had as chiding a nativity as fire, air, water,
earth, and heaven could make to herald you from the womb! Even at the
first, your loss," meaning in the death of her mother, "is more than all
the joys, which you shall find upon this earth to which you are come a
new visitor, shall be able to recompense."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account