Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
The pirate who had made Marina his prize carried her to Mitylene, and
sold her for a slave, where, though in that humble condition, Marina
soon became known throughout the whole city of Mitylene for her beauty
and her virtues; and the person to whom she was sold became rich by the
money she earned for him. She taught music, dancing, and fine
needleworks, and the money she got by her scholars she gave to her
master and mistress; and the fame of her learning and her great
industry came to the knowledge of Lysimachus, a young nobleman who was
governor of Mitylene, and Lysimachus went himself to the house where
Marina dwelt, to see this paragon of excellence, whom all the city
praised so highly. Her conversation delighted Lysimachus beyond
measure, for though he had heard much of this admired maiden, he did
not expect to find her so sensible a lady, so virtuous, and so good, as
he perceived Marina to be; and he left her, saying, he hoped she would
persevere in her industrious and virtuous course, and that if ever she
heard from him again it should be for her good. Lysimachus thought
Marina such a miracle for sense, fine breeding, and excellent
qualities, as well as for beauty and all outward graces, that he wished
to marry her, and notwithstanding her humble situation, he hoped to
find that her birth was noble; but ever when they asked her parentage
she would sit still and weep.
Meantime, at Tarsus, Leonine, fearing the anger of Dionysia, told her
he had killed Marina; and that wicked woman gave out that she was dead,
and made a pretended funeral for her, and erected a stately monument;
and shortly after Pericles, accompanied by his royal minister
Helicanus, made a voyage from Tyre to Tarsus, on purpose to see his
daughter, intending to take her home with him: and he never having
beheld her since he left her an infant in the care of Cleon and his
wife, how did this good prince rejoice at the thought of seeing this
dear child of his buried queen! but when they told him Marina was dead,
and showed the monument they had erected for her, great was the misery
this most wretched father endured, and not being able to bear the sight
of that country where his last hope and only memory of his dear Thaisa
was entombed, he took ship, and hastily departed from Tarsus. From the
day he entered the ship a dull and heavy melancholy seized him. He
never spoke, and seemed totally insensible to everything around him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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