Stop it, I order you. The next person to strike again dies. What's going on here?
REGAN
45
The messengers from our sister and the king.
REGAN
These are the messengers from my sister and the king.
CORNWALL
What is your difference? Speak.
CORNWALL
What are you fighting about? Tell me.
OSWALD
I am scarce in breath, my lord.
OSWALD
I'm out of breath, sir.
KENT
No marvel, you have so bestirred your valor. You cowardly
rascal, nature disclaims in thee. A tailor made thee.
KENT
No wonder, with all your exertions, you cowardly rascal. You're not worth being called a man. The only thing manly about you are your clothes. A tailor made you.
CORNWALL
50
Thou art a strange fellow. A tailor make a man?
CORNWALL
That's an odd thing to say. How can a tailor make a person?
KENT
Ay, a tailor, sir. A stone-cutter or painter could not have
made him so ill though they had been but two years o' th'
trade.
KENT
Definitely a tailor, sir. A sculptor or a painter couldn't have screwed him up as bad as that, even as an apprentice.
CORNWALL
Speak yet. How grew your quarrel?
CORNWALL
But tell me what you're fighting about.
OSWALD
55
This ancient ruffian, sir, whose life I have spared at suit of
his gray beard—
OSWALD
This old ruffian here, whom I didn't kill because he's so old—
KENT
Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter!—My lord, if
you will give me leave, I will tread this unbolted villain into
mortar and daub the wall of a jakes with him.—Spare my
60
gray beard, you wagtail?
KENT
You useless bastard—you're like the letter “z,” a totally unnecessary addition to the alphabet.—My lord, please let me grind this lumpy lowlife into a powder and use it to plaster up the bathroom walls.—You didn't kill me because I'm so old, you fawning dog?
CORNWALL
Peace, sirrah!
You beastly knave, know you no reverence?
CORNWALL
Calm down. Don't you have any manners, you savage?
