The Winter’s Tale

Name: The Winter’s Tale
Author: William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

free · 26,029 words · 2 h 56 m audiobook, read by volunteers for LibriVox · first published 1623

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Dramatis Personae

Leontes, king of Sicilia
Mamillius, young prince of Sicilia
Camillo, lord of Sicilia
Antigonus, lord of Sicilia
Cleomenes, lord of Sicilia
Dion, lord of Sicilia
Polixenes, king of Bohemia
Florizel, prince of Bohemia
Archidamus, a lord of Bohemia
Old shepherd, reputed father of Perdita
Clown, his son
Autolycus, a rogue
A mariner
A gaoler
Hermione, queen to Leontes
Perdita, daughter to Leontes and Hermione
Paulina, wife to Antigonus
Emilia, a lady attending on Hermione
Mopsa, shepherdess
Dorcas, shepherdess
Other lords and gentlemen, ladies, officers, and servants, shepherds, and shepherdesses
Time, as chorus

Scene: Sicilia, and Bohemia.

Act I

Scene I

Antechamber in Leontes’ palace.

	Enter Camillo* and Archidamus.*
Archidamus	If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.
Camillo	I think, this coming summer, the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.
Archidamus	Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves; for indeed—
Camillo	Beseech you—
Archidamus	Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence—in so rare—I know not what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.
Camillo	You pay a great deal too dear for what’s given freely.
Archidamus	Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.
Camillo	Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!
Archidamus	I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius: it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note.
Camillo	I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that indeed physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they that went on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man.
Archidamus	Would they else be content to die?
Camillo	Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.
Archidamus	If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. Exeunt.

restoring your place…

fetching the rest…

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.
All’s Well That Ends Well
Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.
Antony and Cleopatra
These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.

Dramatis Personae

Leontes, king of Sicilia

Mamillius, young prince of Sicilia

Camillo, lord of Sicilia

Antigonus, lord of Sicilia

Cleomenes, lord of Sicilia

Dion, lord of Sicilia

Polixenes, king of Bohemia

Florizel, prince of Bohemia

Archidamus, a lord of Bohemia

Old shepherd, reputed father of Perdita

Clown, his son

Autolycus, a rogue

A mariner

A gaoler

Hermione, queen to Leontes

Perdita, daughter to Leontes and Hermione

Paulina, wife to Antigonus

Emilia, a lady attending on Hermione

Mopsa, shepherdess

Dorcas, shepherdess

Other lords and gentlemen, ladies, officers, and servants, shepherds, and shepherdesses

Time, as chorus

Scene: Sicilia, and Bohemia.

Act I

Scene I

Antechamber in Leontes’ palace.

	Enter Camillo* and Archidamus.*
Archidamus	If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.
Camillo	I think, this coming summer, the King of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.
Archidamus	Wherein our entertainment shall shame us we will be justified in our loves; for indeed—
Camillo	Beseech you—
Archidamus	Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence—in so rare—I know not what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks, that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.
Camillo	You pay a great deal too dear for what’s given freely.
Archidamus	Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me and as mine honesty puts it to utterance.
Camillo	Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities and royal necessities made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attorneyed with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!
Archidamus	I think there is not in the world either malice or matter to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius: it is a gentleman of the greatest promise that ever came into my note.
Camillo	I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that indeed physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they that went on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to see him a man.
Archidamus	Would they else be content to die?
Camillo	Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.
Archidamus	If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. Exeunt.

More by William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

You get a play that keeps changing its mind about love, from the quarrelling lovers in the forest to Bottom blundering through his amateur performance. The language is playful and slippery, and Puck gives the whole thing a mischievous sense that human beings are never quite in control.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Helena chases a man who plainly doesn't deserve her, and the play knows it, which is what makes it interesting. If you like your comedies uneasy, with a bed trick and an ending that only half convinces, this one will stick with you.

Antony and Cleopatra

These two aren't young lovers, they're middle-aged, vain, magnificent messes who keep wrecking empires over each other, and you half want to shake them. Stay for Enobarbus, the dry-eyed friend whose barge speech about Cleopatra is worth the whole play.