<h2><SPAN name="chap03"></SPAN>THE WINTER’S TALE</h2>
<p>Leontes, King of Sicily, and his queen, the beautiful and virtuous
Hermione, once lived in the greatest harmony together. So happy was
Leontes in the love of this excellent lady that he had no wish
ungratified, except that he some times desired to see again and to present
to his queen his old companion and schoolfellow, Polixenes, King of
Bohemia. Leontes and Polixenes were brought up together from their
infancy, but being, by the death of their fathers, called to reign over
their respective kingdoms, they had not met for many years, though they
frequently interchanged gifts, letters, and loving embassies.</p>
<p>At length, after repeated invitations, Polixenes came from Bohemia to the
Sicilian court, to make his friend Leontes a visit.</p>
<p>At first this visit gave nothing but pleasure to Leontes. He recommended
the friend of his youth to the queen’s particular attention, and
seemed in the presence of his dear friend and old companion to have his
felicity quite completed. They talked over old times; their school-days
and their youthful pranks were remembered, and recounted to Hermione, who
always took a cheerful part in these conversations.</p>
<p>When, after a long stay, Polixenes was preparing to depart, Hermione, at
the desire of her husband, joined her entreaties to his that Polixenes
would prolong his visit.</p>
<p>And now began this good queen’s sorrow; for Polixenes, refusing to
stay at the request of Leontes, was won over by Hermione’s gentle
and persuasive words to put off his departure for some weeks longer. Upon
this, although Leontes had so long known the integrity and honorable
principles of his friend Polixenes, as well as the excellent disposition
of his virtuous queen, he was seized with an ungovernable jealousy. Every
attention Hermione showed to Polixenes, though by her husband’s
particular desire and merely to please him, increased the unfortunate king’s
jealousy; and from being a loving and a true friend, and the best and
fondest of husbands, Leontes became suddenly a savage and inhuman monster.
Sending for Camillo, one of the lords of his court, and telling him of the
suspicion he entertained, he commanded him to poison Polixenes.</p>
<p>Camillo was a good man, and he, well knowing that the jealousy of Leontes
had not the slightest foundation in truth, instead of poisoning Polixenes,
acquainted him with the king his master’s orders, and agreed to
escape with him out of the Sicilian dominions; and Polixenes, with the
assistance of Camillo, arrived safe in his own kingdom of Bohemia, where
Camillo lived from that time in the king’s court and became the
chief friend and favorite of Polixenes.</p>
<p>The flight of Polixenes enraged the jealous Leontes still more; he went to
the queen’s apartment, where the good lady was sitting with her
little son Mamillius, who was just beginning to tell one of his best
stories to amuse his mother, when the king entered and, taking the child
away, sent Hermione to prison.</p>
<p>Mamillius, though but a very young child, loved his mother tenderly; and
when he saw her so dishonored, and found she was taken from him to be put
into a prison, he took it deeply to heart and drooped and pined away by
slow degrees, losing his appetite and his sleep, till it was thought his
grief would kill him.</p>
<p>The king, when he had sent his queen to prison, commanded Cleomenes and
Dion, two Sicilian lords, to go to Delphos, there to inquire of the oracle
at the temple of Apollo if his queen had been unfaithful to him.</p>
<p>When Hermione had been a short time in prison she was brought to bed of a
daughter; and the poor lady received much comfort from the sight of her
pretty baby, and she said to it, “My poor little prisoner, I am as
innocent as you are.”</p>
<p>Hermione had a kind friend in the noble-spirited Paulina, who was the wife
of Antigonus, a Sicilian lord; and when the lady Paulina heard her royal
mistress was brought to bed she went to the prison where Hermione was
confined; and she said to Emilia, a lady who attended upon Hermione,
“I pray you, Emilia, tell the good queen, if her Majesty dare trust
me with her little babe, I will carry it to the king, its father: we do
not know how he may soften at the sight of his innocent child.”</p>
<p>“Most worthy madam,” replied Emilia, “I will acquaint
the queen with your noble offer. She was wishing to-day that she had any
friend who would venture to present the child to the king.”</p>
<p>“And tell her,” said Paulina. “that I will speak boldly
to Leontes in her defense.”</p>
<p>“May you be forever blessed,” said Emilia, “for your
kindness to our gracious queen!”</p>
<p>Emilia then went to Hermione, who joyfully gave up her baby to the care of
Paulina, for she had feared that no one would dare venture to present the
child to its father.</p>
<p>Paulina took the new-born infant and, forcing herself into the king’s
presence, notwithstanding her husband, fearing the king’s anger,
endeavored to prevent her, she laid the babe at its father’s feet;
and Paulina made a noble speech to the king in defense of Hermione, and
she reproached him severely for his inhumanity and implored him to have
mercy on his innocent wife and child. But Paulina’s spirited
remonstrances only aggravated Leontes’s displeasure, and he ordered
her husband Antigonus to take her from his presence.</p>
<p>When Paulina went away she left the little baby at its father’s
feet, thinking when he was alone with it he would look upon it and have
pity on its helpless innocence.</p>
<p>The good Paulina was mistaken, for no sooner was she gone than the
merciless father ordered Antigonus, Paulina’s husband, to take the
child and carry it out to sea and leave it upon some desert shore to
perish.</p>
<p>Antigonus, unlike the good Camillo, too well obeyed the orders of Leontes;
for he immediately carried the child on shipboard, and put out to sea,
intending to leave it on the first desert coast he could find.</p>
<p>So firmly was the king persuaded of the guilt of Hermione that he would
not wait for the return of Cleomenes and Dion; whom he had sent to consult
the oracle of Apollo at Delphos, but before the queen was recovered from
her lying-in, and from the grief for the loss of her precious baby, he had
her brought to a public trial before all the lords and nobles of his
court. And when all the great lords, the judges, and all the nobility of
the land were assembled together to try Hermione, and that unhappy queen
was standing as a prisoner before her subjects to receive their judgment,
Cleomenes and Dion entered the assembly and presented to the king the
answer of the oracle, sealed up; and Leontes commanded the seal to be
broken, and the words of the oracle to be read aloud, and these were the
words:</p>
<p>“Hermione is innocent, Polixenes blameless, Camillo a true subject,
Leontes a jealous tyrant, and the king shall live without an heir if that
which is lost be not found.”</p>
<p>The king would give no credit to the words of the oracle. He said it was a
falsehood invented by the queen’s friends, and be desired the judge
to proceed in the trial of the queen; but while Leontes was speaking a man
entered and told him that the Prince Mamillius, hearing his mother was to
be tried for her life, struck with grief and shame, had suddenly died.</p>
<p>Hermione, upon hearing of the death of this dear, affectionate child, who
had lost his life in sorrowing for her misfortune, fainted; and Leontes,
pierced to the heart by the news, began to feel pity for his unhappy
queen, and he ordered Paulina, and the ladies who were her attendants, to
take her away and use means for her recovery. Paulina soon returned and
told the king that Hermione was dead.</p>
<p>When Leontes heard that the queen was dead he repented of his cruelty to
her; and now that he thought his ill-usage had broken Hermione’s
heart, he believed her innocent; and now he thought the words of the
oracle were true, as he knew “if that which was lost was not found,”
which he concluded was his young daughter, he should be without an heir,
the young Prince Mamillius being dead; and he would give his kingdom now
to recover his lost daughter. And Leontes gave himself up to remorse and
passed many years in mournful thoughts and repentant grief.</p>
<p>The ship in which Antigonus carried the infant princess out to sea was
driven by a storm upon the coast of Bohemia, the very kingdom of the good
King Polixenes. Here Antigonus landed and here he left the little baby.</p>
<p>Antigonus never returned to Sicily to tell Leontes where he had left his
daughter, for, as he was going back to the ship, a bear came out of the
woods and tore him to pieces; a just punishment on him for obeying the
wicked order Leontes.</p>
<p>The child was dressed in rich clothes and jewels; for Hermione had made it
very fine when she sent it to Leontes, and Antigonus had pinned a paper to
its mantle, and the name of “Perdita” written thereon, and
words obscurely intimating its high birth and untoward fate.</p>
<p>This poor, deserted baby was found by a shepherd. He was a humane man, and
so he carried the little Perdita home to his wife, who nursed it tenderly.
But poverty tempted the shepherd to conceal the rich prize be had found;
therefore he left that part of the country, that no one might know where
he got his riches, and with part of Perdita’s jewels be bought herds
of sheep and became a wealthy shepherd. He brought up Perdita as his own
child, and she knew not she was any other than a shepherd’s
daughter.</p>
<p>The little Perdita grew up a lovely maiden; and though she had no better
education than that of a shepherd’s daughter, yet so did the natural
graces she inherited from her royal mother shine forth in her untutored
mind that no one, from her behavior, would have known she had not been
brought up in her father’s court.</p>
<p>Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, had an only son, whose name was Florizel.
As this young prince was hunting near the shepherd’s dwelling he saw
the old man’s supposed daughter; and the beauty, modesty, and
queenlike deportment of Perdita caused him instantly to fall in love with
her. He soon, under the name of Doricles, and in the disguise of a private
gentleman, became a constant visitor at the old shepherd’s house.
Florizel’s frequent absences from court alarmed Polixenes; and
setting people to watch his son, he discovered his love for the shepherd’s
fair daughter.</p>
<p>Polixenes then called for Camillo, the faithful Camillo, who had preserved
his life from the fury of Leontes, and desired that he would accompany him
to the house of the shepherd, the supposed father of Perdita. Polixenes
and Camillo, both in disguise, arrived at the old shepherd’s
dwelling while they were celebrating the feast of sheep-shearing; and
though they were strangers, yet at the sheep-shearing, every guest being
made welcome, they were invited to walk in and join in the general
festivity.</p>
<p>Nothing but mirth and jollity was going forward. Tables were spread and
fit great preparations were making for the rustic feast. Some lads and
lasses were dancing on the green before the house, while others of the
young men were buying ribands, gloves, and such toys of a peddler at the
door.</p>
<p>While this busy scene was going forward Florizel and Perdita sat quietly
in a retired corner, seemingly more pleased with the conversation of each
other than desirous of engaging in the sports and silly amusements of
those around them.</p>
<p>The king was so disguised that it was impossible his son could know him.
He therefore advanced near enough to hear the conversation. The simple yet
elegant manner in which Perdita conversed with his son did not a little
surprise Polixenes. He said to Camillo:</p>
<p>“This is the prettiest low-born lass I ever saw; nothing she does or
says but looks like something greater than herself, too noble for this
place.”</p>
<p>Camillo replied, “Indeed she is the very queen of curds and cream.”</p>
<p>“Pray, my good friend,” said the king to the old shepherd,
“what fair swain is that talking with your daughter?”</p>
<p>“They call him Doricles,” replied the shepherd. “He says
he loves my daughter; and, to speak truth, there is not a kiss to choose
which loves the other best. If young Doricles can get her, she shall bring
him that he little dreams of,” meaning the remainder of Perdita’s
jewels; which, after he had bought herds of sheep with part of them, he
had carefully hoarded up for her marriage portion.</p>
<p>Polixenes then addressed his son. “How now, young man!” said
he. “Your heart seems full of something that takes off your mind
from feasting. When I was young I used to load my love with presents; but
you have let the peddler go and have bought your lass no toy.”</p>
<p>The young prince, who little thought he was talking to the king his
father, replied, “Old sir, she prizes not such trifles; the gifts
which Perdita expects from me are locked up in my heart.” Then
turning to Perdita, he said to her, “Oh, hear me, Perdita, before
this ancient gentleman, who it seems was once himself a lover; he shall
hear what I profess.” Florizel then called upon the old stranger to
be a witness to a solemn promise of marriage which be made to Perdita,
saying to Polixenes, “I pray you, mark our contract.”</p>
<p>“Mark your divorce, young sir,” said the king, discovering
himself. Polixenes then reproached his son for daring to contract himself
to this low-born maiden, calling Perdita “shepherd’s brat,
sheep-hook,” and other disrespectful names, and threatening if ever
she suffered his son to see her again, he would put her, and the old
shepherd her father, to a cruel death.</p>
<p>The king then left them in great wrath, and ordered Camillo to follow him
with Prince Florizel.</p>
<p>When the king had departed, Perdita, whose royal nature was roused by
Polixenes’s reproaches, said, “Though we are all undone, I was
not much afraid; and once or twice I was about to speak and tell him
plainly that the selfsame sun which shines upon his palace hides not his
face from our cottage, but looks on both alike.” Then sorrowfully
she said, “But now I am awakened from this dream, I will queen it no
further. Leave me, sir. I will go milk my ewes and weep.”</p>
<p>The kind-hearted Camillo was charmed with the spirit and propriety of
Perdita’s behavior; and, perceiving that the young prince was too
deeply in love to give up his mistress at the command of his royal father,
he thought of a way to befriend the lovers and at the same time to execute
a favorite scheme he had in his mind.</p>
<p>Camillo had long known that Leontes, the King of Sicily, was become a true
penitent; and though Camillo was now the favored friend of King Polixenes,
he could not help wishing once more to see his late royal master and his
native home. He therefore proposed to Florizel and Perdita that they
should accompany him to the Sicilian court, where he would engage Leontes
should protect them till, through his mediation, they could obtain pardon
from Polixenes and his consent to their marriage.</p>
<p>To this proposal they joyfully agreed; and Camillo, who conducted
everything relative to their flight, allowed the old shepherd to go along
with them.</p>
<p>The shepherd took with him the remainder of Perdita’s jewels, her
baby clothes, and the paper which he had found pinned to her mantle.</p>
<p>After a prosperous voyage, Florizel and Perdita, Camillo and the old
shepherd, arrived in safety at the court of Leontes. Leontes, who still
mourned his dead Hermione and his lost child, received Camillo with great
kindness and gave a cordial welcome to Prince Florizel. But Perdita, whom
Florizel introduced as his princess, seemed to engross all Leontes’s
attention. Perceiving a resemblance between her and his dead queen
Hermione, his grief broke out afresh, and he said such a lovely creature
might his own daughter have been if he had not so cruelly destroyed her.</p>
<p>“And then, too,” said he to Florizel, “I lost the
society and friendship of your brave father, whom I now desire more than
my life once again to look upon.”</p>
<p>When the old shepherd heard how much notice the king had taken of Perdita,
and that he had lost a daughter who was exposed in infancy, he fell to
comparing the time when he found the little Perdita with the manner of its
exposure, the jewels and other tokens of its high birth; from all which it
was impossible for him not to conclude that Perdita and the king’s
lost daughter were the same.</p>
<p>Florizel and Perdita, Camillo and the faithful Paulina, were present when
the old shepherd related to the king the manner in which he had found the
child, and also the circumstance of Antigonus’s death, he having
seen the bear seize upon him. He showed the rich mantle in which Paulina
remembered Hermione had wrapped the child; and he produced a jewel which
she remembered Hermione had tied about Perdita’s neck; and he gave
up the paper which Paulina knew to be the writing of her husband. It could
not be doubted that Perdita was Leontes’s own daughter. But, oh, the
noble struggles of Paulina, between sorrow for her husband’s death
and joy that the oracle was fulfilled, in the king’s heir, his
long-lost daughter being found! When Leontes heard that Perdita was his
daughter, the great sorrow that he felt that Hermione was not living to
behold her child made him that he could say nothing for a long time but
“Oh, thy mother, thy mother!”</p>
<p>Paulina interrupted this joyful yet distressful scene with saying to
Leontes that she had a statue newly finished by that rare Italian master,
Julio Romano, which was such a perfect resemblance of the queen that would
his Majesty be pleased to go to her house and look upon it, be would be
almost ready to think it was Hermione herself. Thither then they all went;
the king, anxious to see the semblance of his Hermione, and Perdita
longing to behold what the mother she never saw did look like.</p>
<p>When Paulina drew back the curtain which concealed this famous statue, so
perfectly did it resemble Hermione that all the king’s sorrow was
renewed at the sight; for a long time he had no power to speak or move.</p>
<p>“I like your silence, my liege,” said Paulina; “it the
more shows your wonder. Is not this statue very like your queen?”</p>
<p>At length the king said: “Oh, thus she stood, even with such
majesty, when I first wooed her. But yet, Paulina, Hermione was not so
aged as this statue looks.”</p>
<p>Paulina replied: “So much the more the carver’s excellence,
who has made the statue as Hermione would have looked had she been living
now. But let me draw the curtain, sire, lest presently you think it moves.”</p>
<p>The king then said: “Do not draw the curtain. Would I were dead!
See, Carmillo, would you not think it breathed? Her eye seems to have
motion in it.”</p>
<p>“I must draw the curtain, my liege,” said Paulina. “You
are so transported, you will persuade yourself the statue lives.”</p>
<p>“Oh, sweet Pauline,” said Leontes, “make me think so
twenty years together! Still methinks there is an air comes from her. What
fine chisel could ever yet cut breath? Let no man mock me, for I will kiss
her.”</p>
<p>“Good my lord, forbear!” said Paulina. “The ruddiness
upon her lip is wet; you will stain your own with oily painting. Shall I
draw the curtain?”</p>
<p>“No, not these twenty years,” said Leontes.</p>
<p>Perdita, who all this time bad been kneeling and beholding in silent
admiration the statue of her matchless mother, said now, “And so
long could I stay here, looking upon my dear mother.”</p>
<p>“Either forbear this transport,” said Paulina to Leontes,
“and let me draw the curtain or prepare yourself for more amazement.
I can make the statue move indeed; aye, and descend from off the pedestal
and take you by the hand. But then you will think, which I protest I am
not, that I am assisted by some wicked powers.”</p>
<p>“What you can make her do,” said the astonished king, “I
am content to look upon. What you can make her speak I am content to hear;
for it is as easy to make her speak as move.”</p>
<p>Paulina then ordered some slow and solemn music, which she had prepared
for the purpose, to strike up; and, to the amazement of all the beholders,
the statue came down from off the pedestal and threw its arms around
Leontes’s neck. The statue then began to speak, praying for
blessings on her husband and on her child, the newly found Perdita.</p>
<p>No wonder that the statue hung upon Leontes’s neck and blessed her
husband and her child. No wonder; for the statue was indeed Hermione
herself, the real, the living queen.</p>
<p>Paulina had falsely reported to the king the death of Hermione’
thinking that the only means to preserve her royal mistress’s life;
and with the good Paulina Hermione had lived ever since, never choosing
Leontes should know she was living till she heard Perdita was found; for
though she had long forgiven the injuries which Leontes had done to
herself, she could not pardon his cruelty to his infant daughter.</p>
<p>His dead queen thus restored to life, his lost daughter found, the
long-sorrowing Leontes could scarcely support the excess of his own
happiness.</p>
<p>Nothing but congratulations and affectionate speeches were heard on all
sides. Now the delighted parents thanked Prince Florizel for loving their
lowly seeming daughter; and now they blessed the good old shepherd for
preserving their child. Greatly did Camillo and Paulina rejoice that they
had lived to see so good an end of all their faithful services.</p>
<p>And as if nothing should be wanting to complete this strange and
unlooked-for joy, King Polixenes himself now entered the palace.</p>
<p>When Polixenes first missed his son and Camillo, knowing that Camillo had
long wished to return to Sicily, he conjectured he should find the
fugitives here; and, following them with all speed, he happened to just
arrive at this the happiest moment of Leontes’s life.</p>
<p>Polixenes took a part in the general joy; he forgave his friend Leontes
the unjust jealousy he had conceived against him, and they once more loved
each other with all the warmth of their first boyish friendship. And there
was no fear that Polixenes would now oppose his son’s marriage with
Perdita. She was no “sheep-hook” now, but the heiress of the
crown of Sicily.</p>
<p>Thus have we seen the patient virtues of the long-suffering Hermione
rewarded. That excellent lady lived many years with her Leontes and her
Perdita, the happiest of mothers and of queens.</p>
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