The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, January 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific CircleChautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, January 1883: A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Promotion of True Culture.; Organ of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
But to return to Hermia, who made her escape out of her father’s house
that night, to avoid the death she was doomed to for refusing to marry
Demetrius. When she entered the wood, she found her dear Lysander,
waiting for her, to conduct her to his aunt’s house; but before they
had passed half through the wood, Hermia was so much fatigued, that
Lysander, who was very careful of this dear lady, that had proved her
affection for him even by hazarding her life for his sake, persuaded
her to rest till morning on a bank of soft moss; and, lying down
himself on the ground at some little distance, they soon fell fast
asleep. Here they were found by Puck, who, seeing a handsome young
man asleep, and perceiving that his clothes were made in the Athenian
fashion, and that a pretty lady was sleeping near him, concluded that
this must be the Athenian maid and her disdainful lover, whom Oberon
had sent him to seek; and he naturally enough conjectured that, as they
were alone together, she must be the first thing he would see when he
awoke; so without more ado, he proceeded to pour some of the juice of
the little purple flower into his eyes. But it so fell out that Helena
came that way, and, instead of Hermia, was the first object Lysander
beheld when he opened his eyes; and, strange to relate, so powerful was
the love-charm, all his love for Hermia vanished away, and Lysander
fell in love with Helena.
Had he first seen Hermia when he awoke, the blunder Puck committed
would have been of no consequence, for he could not love that faithful
lady too well; but for poor Lysander to be forced by a fairy love-charm
to forget his own true Hermia, and to run after another lady, and leave
Hermia asleep quite alone in a wood at midnight, was a sad chance
indeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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