Luc.
At last, though long, our jarring notes agree:
And time it is, when raging war is
done,
To smile at scapes and perils overblown.
My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,
5
While I with self-same kindness welcome thine.
And thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow,
Feast with the
best, and welcome to my house:
My
banquet is to close our stomachs up,
After our great good cheer. Pray you, sit down;
For now we sit to chat, as well as eat.
Pet. Nothing but sit and sit, and eat
and eat!
Bap. Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.
Pet. Padua affords
nothing but what is kind.
15
Hor. For both our sakes, I would that word were true.
Pet. Now, for my life, Hortensio fears his widow.
Wid. Then never trust me, if I be afeard.
I mean, Hortensio is afeard of you.
20
Wid. He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.
Kath. Mistress, how mean you that?
Pet. Conceives by me! How likes Hortensio that?
Hor. My widow says, thus she conceives her tale.
25
Pet. Very well mended. Kiss him for that, good widow.
Kath. 'He that is giddy thinks the world turns round:'
I pray you, tell me what you
meant by that.
Wid. Your husband, being troubled with a shrew,
Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe:
30
And now you know my meaning.
Kath. A very mean meaning.
Kath. And I am mean, indeed, respecting you.
35
Pet. A hundred marks, my Kate
does put her down.
Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks?
40
Bian. Head, and butt! an hasty-witted body
Would say your head and butt were head and horn.
Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you?
Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.
Pet. Nay, that you shall not: since you have begun,
45
Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush;
And then pursue me as you draw
your bow.
You are welcome all.
Pet. She hath prevented me. Here, Signior Tranio,
50
This bird you aim'd at, though you hit
her not;
Therefore a health to all that shot and miss'd.
Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his greyhound,
Which runs himself, and catches for his master.
Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish.
55
Tra. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself:
'Tis thought your deer does hold you at a bay.
Bap. O ho, Petruchio! Tranio hits you now.
Luc. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio.
Hor. Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here?
60
Pet. A' has a little gall'd me, I confess;
And, as the jest did glance away from me,
'Tis ten to one it maim'd you
two outright.
Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio,
I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.
65
And he whose wife is most obedient
To come
at first when he doth send for her,
Pet. Twenty crowns!
I'll venture so much
of my hawk or hound,
But twenty times so much upon my wife.
75
Go, Biondello, bid your mistress come to me.
Luc. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself.
80
Bion. Sir, my mistress sends you word
Gre. Ay, and a kind one too:
Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse.
Hor. Sirrah Biondello, go and entreat my wife
To come to me forthwith. [Exit Biondello.
Hor. I am afraid, sir,
Do what you can, yours will not be entreated.
Bion. She says you have some goodly jest in hand:
She will not come; she bids you come to her.
Pet. Worse and worse; she will not come! O vile,
Intolerable, not to be endured!
95
Sirrah Grumio, go to your mistress;
Say, I command her
come to me.
[Exit Grumio.
Pet. The fouler fortune mine, and
there an end.
Bap. Now, by my holidame, here comes
Katharina!
100
Kath. What is your will, sir, that you send for me?
Pet. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife?
Kath. They sit conferring by the parlour fire.
Pet. Go, fetch them hither: if they deny to come,
Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands:
105
Away, I say, and bring
them hither straight.
[Exit Katharina.
Hor. And so it is: I wonder what it bodes.
Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,
110
And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and happy?
Bap. Now, fair befal thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,
115
For she is changed, as she had never been.
Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet,
See where she comes and brings your froward wives
120
As prisoners to her womanly persuasion.
Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not:
Off with that bauble, throw it under-foot.
Wid. Lord, let me never have a cause to sigh,
Till I be brought to such a silly pass!
125
Bian. Fie, what a foolish duty call you this?
Luc. I would your duty were as foolish too:
The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca,
Bian. The more fool you, for laying on my duty.
130
Pet. Katharine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women
What duty they
do owe their lords and husbands.
Wid. Come, come,
you're mocking: we will have no telling.
135
Pet. I say she shall: and first begin with her.
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty as frosts
do bite the meads,
Confounds thy
fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
145
Will deign to sip or touch
one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
150
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
155
Such duty as the subject owes the prince
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when
she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel,
160
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love and obey.
165
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come,
you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart
as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown;
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength
as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming
to be most which we indeed least are.
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready, may it do him ease.
180
Pet. Why, there's a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.
Luc. Well, go thy ways, old lad; for thou shalt ha't.
Vin. 'Tis a good hearing, when children are toward.
Luc. But a harsh hearing, when women are froward.
Pet. Come, Kate, we'll to bed.
185
We
three are married, but you two are sped.
And, being a winner, God give you good night!
Hor. Now, go thy ways; thou hast tamed a curst shrew.
Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will
be tamed so.
[Exeunt.