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РАRT SIX

Theseus’s Wedding Day

Oberon and Puck went through the wood in search of Titania. The magic juice was still working, and Titania was in love with Bottom. They found her sleeping next to Bottom who was still wearing the donkey’s head. Oberon felt a little ashamed of the trick he had played on his Queen when he saw how much she loved the strange creature. He looked down at the sleeping couple for a little while.

‘It’s time to end this game,’ the King told his servant quietly. ‘My quarrel with the Queen is over, Puck. She has given me the servant boy I wanted. I’ll bring her back to her usual self. You do the same for Bottom. Remove the donkey’s head, and let him sleep for a while. When he wakes, he’ll think everything that happened here was just a dream.’

Oberon poured some magic juice into Titania’s eyes, and she began to wake. She opened her eyes, and smiled at the King.

‘Oberon,’ she said with a tender smile, ‘it’s you! But I’ve had such a strange dream,’ she told him. ‘I thought I was in love with a donkey!’

‘There’s your donkey.’ Oberon told her, and he pointed to Bottom, who was still asleep by her side.

‘How ugly he is!’ the Queen said. She moved away from Bottom. ‘But what’s been happening here - I don’t understand this at all!’

‘Hush,’ said Oberon. ‘I’ll explain everything later. Now we must get ready. Today is Theseus’s wedding day, and we must go to the palace tonight to help in the celebrations.’

He turned to Puck.

‘We’re all going to Athens,’ he told him. ‘Lysander will marry Hermia, and Demetrius will marry Helena - and we’ll be there to make the day a special one for everybody!’

It was now morning, and Theseus and Hippolyta had come into the wood to go hunting. They had many servants with them. Theseus was very proud of his hunting dogs, and he wanted to show Hippolyta how splendid they were.

‘These are the best hunting dogs in the world,’ he told her proudly. ‘Soon we’ll let them run through the wood - it’ll be a splendid sight!’

As Theseus was speaking, he saw something on the ground in front of him. He stepped forward, and then gave a cry of surprise.

‘There are people sleeping here!’ he said. ‘Who can they be, I wonder?’

‘It’s my daughter!’ cried Egeus. ‘And look, there’s Lysander, and Demetrius and Helena. What are they all doing here together?’

‘Perhaps they came into the wood to see the hunting,’ Theseus answered. ‘It’s a good thing we met them here, Egeus. Today is my wedding day. It’s today that Hermia has to make her choice about marrying Demetrius or going into a convent.’

Theseus ordered one of his servants to wake the young people. The servant blew his hunting horn, and all the hounds began to bark. The four young people began to wake. They looked confused, as if they were not sure what was happening. Theseus smiled at them. Then he spoke to Lysander.

‘I’m surprised to see you all together,’ he told him. ‘In Athens you and Demetrius were enemies. What has happened to make you such good friends?’ Lysander hesitated for a moment before replying.

‘I don’t know what to say, sir,’ he began. ‘I don’t really understand what has happened, or why we’re all together here. It’s as if I’ve been dreaming. All I can tell you is that Hermia and I came into the wood together. We wanted to escape from Athens’

’. and from the law, no doubt!’ Egeus interrupted angrily. He turned to Demetrius. ‘Do you hear that, Demetrius? Lysander wanted to run away with Hermia. He would have stolen the girl you’re going to marry! The law should punish him, Theseus.’

Demetrius then spoke.

‘It’s true that Lysander and Hermia ran away from Athens. They told Helena their secret, and I followed them. I was angry with Lysander, and I wanted to stop them. But then… something happened… I can’t describe it… All I know is that my love for Hermia has disappeared… it’s Helena that I love now.’

Demetrius looked at Theseus, then he went on.

‘You know that I was in love with her before I saw Hermia. Now I’m in love with her again. I don’t want to marry Hermia.’

Egeus was very surprised at what Demetrius had said, and he did not know what to say. No one spoke for a while, and then Theseus made a sudden decision.

‘I’ve changed my mind, Egeus.’ he announced. ‘I’m not going to punish Lysander and Hermia, after all. We’ll all be married together. Lysander will marry Hermia, Demetrius will marry Helena, and I will marry Hippolyta. It’ll be a wonderful ceremony! Come on everybody,’ he ordered them, ‘we’ll go back to Athens together. You can tell me everything that happened here in the wood while we’re travelling.’

The four young people went back to the city with Theseus and the others.

When Bottom woke up he found himself alone in the wood. He sat up, and looked around him. He, too, did not understand what had happened to him.

‘What a dream I’ve had!’ he thought. ‘I thought I was. I thought… ‘ He shook his head. ‘I don’t remember it all, but… no one has ever had a dream like that… it was splendid!’ Then he remembered what day it was. ‘Theseus’s wedding!’ he reminded himself. ‘I must get back to the city. We’re performing our play tonight.’

Bottom jumped up, and began to walk quickly through the wood towards Athens.