The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (190 page)

Katharine

Dat is as it shall please de roi mon pere.

If it pleases my father, the king.

King

Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall please him, Kate.

It will please him well, Kate. It will definitely please him.

Katharine

Den it sall also content me.

Then, it also pleases me.

King

Upon that I kiss your hand, and call you my queen.

Then, I will kiss your hand and call you my queen.

Katharine

Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez! Ma foi, je ne veux point que vous abaissez votre grandeur en baisant la main d'une indigne serviteur. Excusez-moi, je vous supplie, mon tres-puissant seigneur.

No! Please stop! I can’t let you lower yourself by kissing the hand of one of your humble servants. Please pardon me, mighty king.

King

Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.

Then, I will kiss your lips, Kate.

Katharine

Les dames et demoiselles pour etre baisees devant leur noces, il n'est pas la coutume de France.

It is not customary for French girls to kiss before they are married.

King

Madame my interpreter, what says she?

What did she say, madam?

Alice

Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France,--I cannot tell wat is baiser en Anglish.

It is not appropriate for ladies of France. I don’t know the English word for “baiser.”

King

To kiss.

Kiss.

Alice

Your Majestee entendre bettre que moi.

You understand better than me.

King

It is not a fashion for the maids in France to kiss before they are married, would she say?

It is not appropriate for ladies in France to kiss before they are married, right?

Alice

Oui, vraiment.

Yes.

King

O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a country's fashion. We are the makers of manners, Kate; and the liberty that follows our places stops the mouth of all find-faults, as I will do yours, for upholding the nice fashion of your country in denying me a kiss; therefore, patiently and yielding.

Oh Kate, nice customs bow before great kings. Dear Kate, you and I can’t be restrained by a list of a country’s customs. We set the customs, Kate, and the freedom goes with our positions to silence any who would criticize, like me when I silence you for upholding the old tradition of refusing me a kiss.

Kisses her.

You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate; there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the French council; and they should sooner persuade Harry of England than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes your father.

Your lips are magical, Kate. There is more eloquence in one touch of them than in all the tongues of the French council. You could persuade Harry of England better than a king. Here comes your father.

Re-enter the French King and his Queen, Burgundy, and other Lords.

Burgundy

God save your Majesty! My royal cousin, teach you our princess English?

God save the king! Are you teaching our princess, English?

King

I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how perfectly I love her; and that is good English.

I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how much I love her. That is good English.

Burgundy

Is she not apt?

How does she feel?

King

Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition is not smooth; so that, having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness.

Our language barrier is rough, cuz, and I not a smooth man. So, having neither the voice nor the art of flattery in me, I can’t bring about the spirit of love in her.

Burgundy

Pardon the frankness of my mirth, if I answer you for that. If you would conjure in her, you must make a circle; if conjure up Love in her in his true likeness, he must appear naked and blind. Can you blame her then, being a maid yet ros'd over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked seeing self? It were, my lord, a hard condition for a maid to consign to.

Pardon me, but if you want to make her love you by Cupid’s bow, he must come naked. Since she is just a maiden and a modest virgin, you can’t blame her for not wanting him to come. It’s hard for a young lady to resign herself to loving a man.

King

Yet they do wink and yield, as love is blind and enforces.

Yet, young girls wink and act coy all the time while love is brewing.

Burgundy

They are then excus'd, my lord, when they see not what they do.

Then they are excused for not knowing what they do, my lord.

King

Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent winking.

Then teach your cousin, my lord.

Burgundy

I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if you will teach her to know my meaning; for maids, well summer'd and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on.

I will give her a wink to consent, my lord, if you will teach her my meaning. Young girls are like flies at Bartholomew’s Eve, when they are blind they are easily handled.

King

This moral ties me over to time and a hot summer; and so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, in the latter end, and she must be blind too.

This moral is to give it time and wait until summer. Then, she must still be blinded by my love for me to catch her.

Burgundy

As love is, my lord, before it loves.

Like love, my lord, before it learns to love.

King

It is so; and you may, some of you, thank love for my blindness, who cannot see many a fair French city for one fair French maid that stands in my way.

Okay. Some of you may wish to thank me because I can’t see one fair French city with one fair French maid in my way.

French King

Yes, my lord, you see them perspectively, the cities turn'd into a maid; for they are all girdled with maiden walls that war hath [never] ent'red.

Oh yes you do, my lord. You see cities that appear like maidens because they haven’t been touched.

King

Shall Kate be my wife?

Will Kate be my wife?

French King

So please you.

If it pleases you.

King

I am content, so the maiden cities you talk of may wait on her; so the maid that stood in the way for my wish shall show me the way to my will.

I am content to wait upon the cities as long as she comes with them. She is the obstacle and the device to achieving my goals.

French King

We have consented to all terms of reason.

We have agreed to all the reasonable terms.

King

Is't so, my lords of England?

Is it true, my lords of England?

Westmoreland

The king hath granted every article;


His daughter first, and then in sequel all,


According to their firm proposed natures.

The king has agreed to every article. His daughter first, and then in sequence according to their purposes.

Exeter

Only he hath not yet subscribed this: where your Majesty demands, that the King of France, having any occasion to write for matter of grant, shall name your Highness in this form and with this addition, in French, Notre tres-cher fils Henri, Roi d'Angleterre, Heritier de France; and thus in Latin, Praeclarissimus filius noster Henricus, Rex Angliae et Haeres Franciae.

Although, he has not agreed to call you by your French title, Notre tres cher fils Henri, Roi d’Angleterre, Hertier de France.

French King

Nor this I have not, brother, so denied


But our request shall make me let it pass.

I am willing to agree to this if you demand it.

King

I pray you then, in love and dear alliance,


Let that one article rank with the rest;


And thereupon give me your daughter.

Then, I ask you to accept it like the rest and give me your daughter.

French King

Take her, fair son, and from her blood raise up


Issue to me; that the contending kingdoms


Of France and England, whose very shores look pale


With envy of each other's happiness,


May cease their hatred; and this dear conjunction


Plant neighbourhood and Christian-like accord


In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance


His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair France.

Take her, my son, and give me grandchildren to look after the contending kingdoms of France and England. I hope it ends the hatred and brings about peace so, we may never fight again.

All

Amen!

Amen!

King

Now, welcome, Kate; and bear me witness all,


That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen.

Now, welcome, Kate, and everyone be my witness that I kiss her as my sovereign queen.

Trumpet sounds.

Queen Isabel

God, the best maker of all marriages,


Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one!


As man and wife, being two, are one in love,


So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal,


That never may ill office, or fell jealousy,


Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage,


Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms,


To make divorce of their incorporate league;


That English may as French, French Englishmen,


Receive each other. God speak this Amen!

May God, the best marriage maker, combine your hearts as one and your realms! As man and wife are one in love, may also your kingdoms, so they may never have discord again. May English and French receive each other in good will. Amen!

All

Amen!

Amen!

King

Prepare we for our marriage; on which day,


My Lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath,


And all the peers', for surety of our leagues,


Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me;


And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be!

Let’s prepare for our wedding. On that day, I’ll take your oath of loyalty, my Lord Burgundy and all my peers. I will swear to Kate and you to me, and may they uphold and prosper.

Exit.

Epilogue

Enter Chorus.

Chorus

Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen,


Our bending author hath pursu'd the story,


In little room confining mighty men,


Mangling by starts the full course of their glory.


Small time, but in that small most greatly lived


This star of England. Fortune made his sword,


By which the world's best garden he achieved,


And of it left his son imperial lord.


Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd King


Of France and England, did this king succeed;


Whose state so many had the managing,


That they lost France and made his England bleed:


Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake,


In your fair minds let this acceptance take.