Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love;
On courtiers' knees, that dream on curtsies straight;
O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on
fees;
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O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are.
Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose,
And then dreams he of smelling out a suit.
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And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail
Tickling a parson's nose as he lies asleep,
Then he dreams of another benefice.
Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
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Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five fathom deep, and then anon
Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two
And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
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That plaits the manes of horses in the night
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes.
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That presses them and learns them first to bear,
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Making them women of good carriage.
This is she—
Her chariot is a hazelnut shell. It was made by a carpenter
squirrel or an old grubworm; they've made wagons for the
fairies as long as anyone can remember. In this royal wagon, she
rides every night through the brains of lovers and makes them dream
about love. She rides over courtiers' knees, and they dream
about curtsying. She rides over lawyers' fingers, and right
away, they dream about their fees. She rides over ladies'
lips, and they immediately dream of kisses. Queen Mab often puts
blisters on their lips because their breath smells like candy, which
makes her mad. Sometimes she rides over a courtier's lips,
and he dreams of making money off of someone. Sometimes she tickles
a priest's nose with a tithe-pigs
tail, and he dreams of a large donation. Sometimes she rides
over a soldier's neck, and he dreams of cutting the throats
of foreign enemies, of breaking down walls, of ambushes, of Spanish
swords, and of enormous cups of liquor. And then, drums beat in his
ear and he wakes up. He's frightened, so he says a couple
of prayers and goes back to sleep. She is the same Mab who tangles
the hair in horses' manes at night and makes the tangles
hard in the dirty hairs, which bring bad luck if they're
untangled. Mab is the old hag who gives false sex dreams to virgins
and teaches them how to hold a lover and bear a child.
She's the one—
ROMEO
Peace, peace, Mercutio,
peace!
Thou talk'st of nothing.
ROMEO
Enough, enough! Mercutio, be quiet. You're talking
nonsense.
MERCUTIO
True,
I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
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Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being angered, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.
MERCUTIO
True. I'm talking about dreams, which are the products of
a brain that's doing nothing. Dreams are nothing but silly
imagination, as thin as air, and less predictable than the wind,
which sometimes blows on the frozen north and then gets angry and
blows south.
