Page 1668 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

I mean not cuckold-mad,
But sure he is stark mad.
When I desired him to come home to dinner [60]
He asked me for a thousand marks in gold.
‘’Tis dinner-time’, quoth I. ‘My gold’, quoth he.
‘Your meat doth burn’, quoth I. ‘My gold’, quoth he.
‘Will you come home?’ quoth I. ‘My gold’, quoth he.
‘Where is the thousand marks I gave thee, villain?’ [65]
‘The pig’, quoth I, ‘is burned.’ ‘My gold’, quoth he.
‘My mistress, sir -’ quoth I. ‘Hang up thy mistress!
I know not thy mistress. Out on thy mistress!’

LUCIANA

Quoth who?

DROMIO E.

Quoth my master. [70]
‘I know’, quoth he, ‘no house, no wife, no mistress.’
So that my errand, due unto my tongue,
I thank him, I bare home upon my shoulders;
For, in conclusion, he did beat me there.

ADRIANA

Go back again, thou slave, and fetch him home. [75]

DROMIO E.

Go back again and be new-beaten home?
For God’s sake send some other messenger.

ADRIANA

Back, slave, or I will break thy pate across.

DROMIO E.

And he will bless that cross with other beating,
Between you I shall have a holy head. [80]

ADRIANA

Hence, prating peasant, fetch thy master home.

[She beats Dromio.]