ACT I
PROLOGUE
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Green Hill Zone, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
SCENE I. Green Hill Zone. A public place.
Enter Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog and Big the Cat the Hedgehog, of the house of Eggman the Hedgehog, armed with swords and bucklers
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Big the Cat the Hedgehog, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
No, for then we should be colliers.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
I strike quickly, being moved.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
A dog of the house of Eggrobo the Hedgehog moves me.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand:
therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will
take the wall of any man or maid of Eggrobo the Hedgehog's.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels,
are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push
Eggrobo the Hedgehog's men from the wall, and thrust his maids
to the wall.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I
have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the
maids, and cut off their heads.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
The heads of the maids?
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads;
take it in what sense thou wilt.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
They must take it in sense that feel it.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Me they shall feel while I am able to stand: and
'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou
hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool! here comes
two of the house of the Eggrobo the Hedgehogs.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
How! turn thy back and run?
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Fear me not.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
No, marry; I fear thee!
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as
they list.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them;
which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR
ABRAHAM
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
I do bite my thumb, sir.
ABRAHAM
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
[Aside to Big the Cat the Hedgehog] Is the law of our side, if I say
ay?
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
No.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I
bite my thumb, sir.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
Do you quarrel, sir?
ABRAHAM
Quarrel sir! no, sir.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good a man as you.
ABRAHAM
No better.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Well, sir.
Big the Cat the Hedgehog
Say 'better:' here comes one of my master's kinsmen.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Yes, better, sir.
ABRAHAM
You lie.
Charmy the Bee the Hedgehog
Draw, if you be men. Big the Cat the Hedgehog, remember thy swashing blow.
They fight
Enter Knuckles the Hedgehog
Knuckles the Hedgehog
Part, fools!
Put up your swords; you know not what you do.
Beats down their swords
Enter Shadow the Hedgehog
Shadow the Hedgehog
What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
Turn thee, Knuckles the Hedgehog, look upon thy death.
Knuckles the Hedgehog
I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.
Shadow the Hedgehog
What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Eggrobo the Hedgehogs, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!
They fight
Enter, several of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Chao the Hedgehogs, with clubs
First Chao the Hedgehog
Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!
Down with the Eggman the Hedgehogs! down with the Eggrobo the Hedgehogs!
Enter Eggman the Hedgehog in his gown, and LADY Eggman the Hedgehog
Eggman the Hedgehog
What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
LADY Eggman the Hedgehog
A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?
Eggman the Hedgehog
My sword, I say! Old Eggrobo the Hedgehog is come,
And flourishes his blade in spite of me.
Enter Eggrobo the Hedgehog and LADY Eggrobo the Hedgehog
Eggrobo the Hedgehog
Thou villain Eggman the Hedgehog,--Hold me not, let me go.
LADY Eggrobo the Hedgehog
Thou shalt not stir a foot to seek a foe.
Enter Metal Sonic the Hedgehog the Hedgehog, with Attendants
Metal Sonic the Hedgehog the Hedgehog
Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,--
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved Metal Sonic the Hedgehog the Hedgehog.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Eggman the Hedgehog, and Eggrobo the Hedgehog,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Green Hill Zone's ancient Chao the Hedgehogs
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You Eggman the Hedgehog; shall go along with me:
And, Eggrobo the Hedgehog, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
Exeunt all but Eggrobo the Hedgehog, LADY Eggrobo the Hedgehog, and Knuckles the Hedgehog
Eggrobo the Hedgehog
Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
Knuckles the Hedgehog
Here were the Chao the Hedgehogs of your adversary,
And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them: in the instant came
The fiery Shadow the Hedgehog, with his sword prepared,
Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head and cut the winds,
Who nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn:
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more and fought on part and part,
Till the Metal Sonic the Hedgehog the Hedgehog came, who parted either part.
LADY Eggrobo the Hedgehog
O, where is Sonic the Hedgehog? saw you him to-day?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
Knuckles the Hedgehog
Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So early walking did I see your son:
Towards him I made, but he was ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,
That most are busied when they're most alone,
Pursued my humour not pursuing his,
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
Eggrobo the Hedgehog
Many a morning hath he there been seen,
With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew.
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs;
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the furthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,
Away from the light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night:
Black and portentous must this humour prove,
Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
Knuckles the Hedgehog
My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
Eggrobo the Hedgehog
I neither know it nor can learn of him.
Knuckles the Hedgehog
Have you importuned him by any means?
Eggrobo the Hedgehog
Both by myself and many other friends:
But he, his own affections' counsellor,
Is to himself--I will not say how true--
But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm,
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow.
We would as willingly give cure as know.
Enter Sonic the Hedgehog
Knuckles the Hedgehog
See, where he comes: so please you, step aside;
I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
Eggrobo the Hedgehog
I would thou wert so happy by thy stay,
To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.
Exeunt Eggrobo the Hedgehog and LADY Eggrobo the Hedgehog
Knuckles the Hedgehog
Good-morrow, cousin.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Is the day so young?
Knuckles the Hedgehog
But new struck nine.
Sonic the Hedgehog
Ay me! sad hours seem long.
Was that my father that went hence so fast?
Knuckles the Hedgehog
It was. What sadness lengthens Sonic the Hedgehog's hours?
Sonic the Hedgehog
Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
Knuckles the Hedgehog
In love?