T here was a law in the city of Athens, which gave to its citizens the power of compelling their daughters to marry whomever they pleased, her failure to comply being punishable by death. But as fathers do not often desire the death of their own daughters, this law was seldom or never put in execution．

There was one instance, however, of an old man, whose name was Egeus, who actually did come before Theseus (the Duke of Athens at the time), to complain that his daughter,Hermia, whom he had commanded to marry Demetrius, a young man of a noble Athenian family, refused to obey him,because she loved another young Athenian, named Lysander.Egeus demanded justice of Theseus, and desired that this cruel law might be put in force against his daughter．

Hermia pleaded in excuse for her disobedience that Demetrius had formerly professed love for her dear friend Helena, and that Helena loved Demetrius to distraction; but this moved not the stern Egeus．

Theseus, having no power to alter the laws of his country,could only give Hermia four days to consider of it; and at the end of that time, if she still refused to marry Demetrius, she was to be put to death．

When Hermia told Lysander of the peril she was in he suggested going to his aunt’s home. There, beyond the city boundaries, they could marry without punishment．

“Tonight I will meet you,” said Lysander, “in the wood a few miles outside the city.”

To this proposal Hermia joyfully agreed; and she told no one of her intended flight but her friend Helena. Helena,although she could hope no benefit from betraying her friend’s secret, told Demetrius．

The wood in which Lysander and Hermia proposed to meet was the favorite haunt of those little beings known by the name of “fairies”．

Oberon the king, and Titania the queen of the fairies, with all their tiny train of followers, in this wood held their midnight festivities．

Between this little king and queen of fairies there happened, at this time, a sad disagreement over Titania’s refusal to give as a servant to Oberon a little half-human boy,whose mother had been Titania’s friend until recently deceased．

The night on which the lovers were to meet in this wood,Oberon sent for Puck, his chief favorite counselor．

“Fetch me the flower which maids call ‘Love in Idleness’;for the juice of that little purple flower I intend to lay upon the eyelids of Titania while she sleeps, so that when she awakens, she will fall in love with the first thing she sees; and before I take this charm from off her sight, I will make her give me that boy to be my servant.”

Puck, who loved mischief to his heart, was highly diverted with this task, and ran to seek the flower; and while Oberon was waiting the return of Puck he observed Demetrius and Helena enter the wood. He overheard Demetrius reproaching Helena for following him, and saw him leave her alone in the forest. The fairy king, who was always friendly to true lovers, felt great compassion for Helena．

When Puck returned with the little purple flower, Oberon said to him, “Take a part of this flower; there has been a sweet Athenian lady here, who is in love with a cruel boy; if you find him sleeping, drop some of the love-juice in his eyes. You will know the man by his Athenian garments.”

Puck promised to manage this matter very skillfully, and then Oberon went to Titania’s resting place, where he found her sound asleep. Drawing near, he dropped some of the love-juice on her eyelids, saying, “What you see when you wake, do it for your true-love take.”

Meanwhile, Hermia, who had escaped out of her father’s house that night, entered the wood and found her dear Lysander waiting for her. They began their way to his aunt’s home, but before long Hermia was so much fatigued that she and Lysander had to stop and rest a while. Thus they lay down and slept. Here they were found by Puck, who, seeing a handsome young man in Athenian fashion sleeping not far from a pretty lady,proceeded to pour some of the juice of the little purple flower into the man’s eyes．

Helena, at this time, was trying to find Demetrius. In her search, she eventually arrived at the place where Lysander was sleeping. Thinking him alone, she gently awakened him. Upon this Lysander opened his eyes, and, the love-charm beginning to work, immediately addressed her in terms of extravagant love and admiration．

Helena, knowing Lysander was her friend Hermia’s lover,was in the utmost rage when she heard herself addressed in this manner. “Oh!” said she, “I thought, Lysander, you were a lord of more true gentleness.” Saying these words in great anger, she ran away; and Lysander followed her, quite forgetful of his own Hermia, who was still asleep．

When Hermia awoke she was in a sad fright at finding herself alone. She wandered about the wood, not knowing what was become of Lysander, or which way to go to seek for him. In the meantime, Oberon had come upon the sleeping person of Demetrius, who, having run so quickly from Helena, had stopped to rest for a time. Oberon had learned from Puck that he had applied the love-juice to the wrong person’s eyes; and now, having found the person first intended, he touched the eyelids of the sleeping Demetrius with the juice, and he instantly awoke; and the first

thing he saw being Helena, he began to address love-speeches to her; and just at that moment Lysander, followed by Hermia,made his appearance; and then Lysander and Demetrius, both speaking together, made love to Helena, they being each one under the influence of the same potent charm．

The astonished Helena thought that Demetrius,Lysander, and her once dear friend Hermia were all making a joke of her．

Hermia was as much surprised as Helena. And the ladies,who before had always been the dearest of friends, now fell to high words together．

“Unkind, Hermia,” said Helena. “It is not maidenly in you to join with men in scorning your poor friend.”

“I am amazed at your passionate words,” said Hermia, “I scorn you not; it seems you scorn me.”

While Helena and Hermia were speaking these angry words to each other, Demetrius and Lysander left them in order to fight together in the wood for the love of Helena．

Finding the gentlemen had left them, the two ladies departed, and once more wandered weary in the wood in search of their lovers．

As soon as they were gone, the fairy king, who with little Puck had been listening to their quarrels, said to him, “I command you to overhang the night with a thick fog, and lead these quarrelsome lovers away from one another. When they grow tired and again fall asleep, use this juice to counter the love-potion. Go about this quickly, Puck, and I will go and see what sweet love my Titania has found.”

Titania was still sleeping, and Oberon, seeing a clown near her who had lost his way in the wood and was likewise asleep,clapped an ass’s head over the clown’s, and woke both he and the queen up．

“Ah! What angel is that I see?” said Titania, opening her eyes, and the juice of the little purple flower beginning to take effect. “I love you. Go with me, and I will give you fairies to attend upon you, for I am a queen here.”

“That sounds very nice,” said the clown, “but, I pray, let none of your people disturb me at the moment, for I have a mind to sleep.”

“Sleep, then,” said the queen, “and I will hold you in my arms. Oh, how I love you!”

When the fairy king saw the clown sleeping in the arms of his queen, he advanced within her sight, and reproached her with having lavished her favors upon an ass. He again demanded the half-human boy, which she, ashamed of being discovered by her lord with her new favorite, did not dare to refuse him．

Oberon, having thus obtained the little boy, took pity on the disgraceful situation he had brought his Titania, and threw some of the juice of the other flower into her eyes; and the fairy queen immediately recovered her senses, and wondered at her late love affair．

Oberon likewise took the ass’s head from off the clown, and left him to finish his nap with his own fool’s head upon his shoulders．

Oberon and his Titania being now perfectly reconciled,he related to her the history of the lovers and their midnight quarrels, and she agreed to go with him and see the end of their adventures．

The fairy king and queen found the lovers and their fair ladies, at no great distance from one another, sleeping on the ground; for Puck, to make amends for his former mistake, had contrived with the utmost diligence to bring them all to the same spot; and he had carefully removed the charm from off the eyes of Lysander with the other juice the fairy king gave to him．

Hermia first awoke, and finding her lost Lysander asleep so near her, was looking at him and wondering at his strange behavior．

Lysander presently opening his eyes, and seeing his dear Hermia, recovered his reason and his love for Hermia; and they began to talk over the adventures of the night, doubting if these things had really happened, or if they bad both been dreaming the same bewildering dream．

Helena and Demetrius were by this time awake; and a sweet sleep having quieted Helena’s disturbed and angry spirits,she listened with delight to the professions of love which Demetrius still made to her, and which, to her surprise as well as pleasure, she began to perceive were sincere．

These fair night-wandering ladies, now no longer rivals,became once more true friends, and then calmly consulted together what was best to be done in their present situation.It was soon agreed that, as Demetrius had given up his love for Hermia, he should endeavor to prevail upon her father to withdraw her cruel punishment. Demetrius was preparing to return to Athens for this friendly purpose, when they were surprised with the sight of Egeus, Hermia ’s father, who came to the wood in pursuit of his runaway daughter．

When Egeus understood that Demetrius would not now marry his daughter, he no longer opposed her marriage with Lysander, but gave his consent that they should be wedded on the fourth day from that time. On that same day Helena joyfully agreed to marry her beloved and now faithful Demetrius．

And now, if any are offended with this story of fairies and their jokes, as judging it incredible and strange, they have only to think that they have been asleep and dreaming a pretty,harmless Midsummer Night’s Dream．

Athens /ˈæθənz/ n. 雅典。原是古希腊伊奥尼亚人于公元前八世纪建立的雅典奴隶制城邦。公元前五世纪曾出现西至意大利南部、北至黑海、东至埃及的“雅典帝国”，被誉为欧洲文明的发源地之一。虽多次被外族占领，一直是古今希腊政治、经济、文化的中心

compel /kəmˈpel/ vt. 迫使

mile /maɪl/ n . 英里（1英里=1.609344公里）

eyelid /ˈaɪlɪd/ n. 眼皮

fatigued /fəˈti:ɡd/ adj . 疲惫的；精疲力竭的

passionate /ˈpæʃənɪt/ adj . 狂热的；热情的

weary /ˈwɪərɪ/ adj. 疲惫的，令人厌烦的

counter /ˈkaʊntə/ vt. 抵消；抗衡

clown /klaʊn/ n. 农民，乡下人

diligence /ˈdɪlɪdʒəns/ n. 努力，勤勉

bewildering /bɪˈwɪldərɪŋ/ adj . 令人迷惑的

consult /kənˈsʌlt/ vt. 商量

consent /kənˈsent/ n. 同意；准许 VpbEuRz+M3/OWOd4PL22AoXMAK63mjx7ROhPTMikxGmVt4QyH3so559urQUOQlMm