To meet at Ninus' tomb, there, there to woo.140
This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name,
The trusty Thisby, coming first by night,
Did scare away, or rather did affright;
And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall,144
Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall,
And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain:
Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade,148
He bravely broach'd his boiling bloody breast;
And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade,
His dagger drew, and died. For all the rest,
Let Lion, Moonshine, Wall, and lovers twain,152
At large discourse, while here they do remain.
Exeunt all but Wall.
The. I wonder, if the lion be to speak.
Dem. No wonder, my lord: one lion may,
when many asses do.156
Wall. In this same interlude it doth befall
That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;
And such a wall, as I would have you think,
That had in it a crannied hole or chink,160
Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,
Did whisper often very secretly.
This loam, this rough-cast, and this stone doth show
That I am that same wall; the truth is so;164
And this the cranny is, right and sinister,
Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.
The. Would you desire lime and hair to speak
better?168
Dem. It is the wittiest partition that ever I
heard discourse, my lord.
The. Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!
141 hight: is called
144 fall: let fall
146 tall: goodly
165 sinister: left
