ARKCODEX
Act V, Scene 3
1The forest.
2Enter Touchstone and Audrey.
3TouchstoneTo-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; to-morrow will we be married.
4AudreyI do desire it with all my heart; and I hope it is no dishonest desire to desire to be a woman of the world. Here comes two of the banished duke’s pages.
5Enter two Pages.
6First PageWell met, honest gentleman.
7TouchstoneBy my troth, well met. Come, sit, sit, and a song.
8Second PageWe are for you: sit i’ the middle.
9First PageShall we clap into’t roundly, without hawking or spitting or saying we are hoarse, which are the only prologues to a bad voice?
10Second PageI’faith, i’faith; and both in a tune, like two gipsies on a horse.
11Song.
12It was a lover and his lass,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o’er the green corn-field did pass
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
Between the acres of the rye,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino
These pretty country folks would lie,
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
This carol they began that hour,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that a life was but a flower
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino;
For love is crowned with the prime
In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding:
Sweet lovers love the spring.
13TouchstoneTruly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untuneable.
14First PageYou are deceived, sir: we kept time, we lost not our time.
15TouchstoneBy my troth, yes; I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish song. God be wi’ you; and God mend your voices! Come, Audrey. Exeunt.