Page 2561 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

Buckled below fair knighthood’s bending knee: [70]
Fairies use flowers for their charactery.
Away, disperse; but till ’tis one o’clock,
Our dance of custom round about the oak

Of Herne the hunter, let us not forget.

EVANS
Pray you, lock hand in hand; yourselves in order set; [75]
And twenty glow-worms shall our lanterns be
To guide our measure round about the tree.

But, stay, I smell a man of middle earth!

FALSTAFF

Heavens defend me from that Welsh fairy, lest he transform me to a piece of
cheese! [80]

PISTOL
Vile worm, thou wast o’erlook’d even in thy birth.

QUICKLY
With trial-fire touch me his finger-end:
If he be chaste, the flame will back descend,

And turn him to no pain; but if he start,
It is the flesh of a corrupted heart. [85]

PISTOL
A trial, come.

EVANS
Come, will this wood take fire?
[They burn him with their tapers.]

FALSTAFF

Oh, oh, oh!

QUICKLY

Corrupt, corrupt, and tainted in desire!