## 1. The Law of Athens and the Flight of Lovers

If you walk out into a forest on a warm summer night, when the moon is a silver crescent and shadows dance between the trees, you might feel a sudden tingling shiver on the back of your neck.
That is the edge of another world.
More than 400 years ago, around the year 1595, a playwright named William Shakespeare wrote a play about that very feeling, called A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Today, we are stepping directly inside his story, leaving our world behind for the marble streets of ancient Athens and the wild whispering woods that lie just beyond its gates.
Our story begins in the bright, sharp sunlight of Athens.
The orderly city is preparing for a grand celebration. Theseus, the Duke of Athens, is about to marry Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons.
But amid the hanging banners, a young woman named Hermia is miserable. She is fiercely in love with a sweet, poetic nobleman named Lysander.
In ancient Athens, however, a daughter did not get to choose her husband. That choice belonged entirely to her father.
Hermia's stern father, Egeus, marches into the Duke's palace with a dark cloud over his face, dragging along another young man named Demetrius.
Demetrius is wealthy, arrogant, and determined to have Hermia for his wife. Egeus demands the ancient cruel law of Athens.
If Hermia refuses to marry Demetrius, she must either be put to death or vow to live forever in a cold, silent temple, never to speak to another man again.
Duke Theseus gives Hermia until the next new moon to make her choice.
Left alone, Hermia collapses into Lysander's arms, weeping.
Lysander holds her tight, whispering, "The course of true love never did run smooth."
But Lysander is also a man of action. He whispers a secret plan into her ear. He has an aunt who lives far outside Athens, beyond the reach of the city's harsh laws.
"If we can steal away tomorrow night," he says, "we can fly to her house and be married.
Meet me in the great wood, a league outside the town, where the wild hawthorn grows."
Hermia eagerly agrees, swearing by all the vows of love to meet him there.
Just then, Hermia's oldest and dearest friend, Helena, enters the garden.
Helena is miserable because she is hopelessly, desperately in love with Demetrius.
Before Demetrius saw Hermia, he had promised his love to Helena, but now he has cast her aside like a withered flower.
The more he rejects her, the more she dotes on him.
To comfort her weeping friend, Hermia decides to share their secret.
"Take comfort, Helena," Hermia whispers. "Tomorrow night, Lysander and I are fleeing Athens. We shall meet in the woods and escape, and Demetrius will be yours again."
After the lovers depart, Helena stands alone in the garden.
A desperate, foolish idea takes hold of her aching heart.
If she tells Demetrius of the lovers' flight, he will surely pursue Hermia into the woods tomorrow night. And if he goes, Helena can follow him.
Even if he curses her, she will have the painful joy of walking by his side under the stars.
It is a plan born of a broken heart, but love makes fools of the wisest minds.
Helena hurries off to find Demetrius, setting in motion a chain of events that will lead them all into a night of absolute madness.
## 2. The Wood by Night

The wood outside Athens was not an ordinary forest. By day, shepherds watched their flocks there. But by night, when the silver moon looked down, the forest belonged to the fairies.
These were not the tiny, delicate fairies of modern storybooks, but ancient, powerful spirits, woven from moonlight and shadow.
And on this midsummer night, their kingdom was in a state of civil war.
At the forest's center stood Oberon, the fairy king, and Titania, the fairy queen. They were glaring at one another, and their anger was so intense that it had curdled the seasons in the human world, bringing fogs, floods, and winter frost to summer roses.
The cause of their quarrel was a lovely mortal boy, whom Titania had taken as her ward. Titania loved him dearly, but Oberon wanted the boy for himself, to make him a knight of his own court.
"Give me that boy," Oberon growled, "and I will go with thee."
"Not for all your fairy kingdom," Titania declared, sweeping away with her train of fairies.
Angry, Oberon whispered, "Thou shalt not leave this grove till I torment thee for this injury."
He turned and called for Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, a clever, shape-shifting sprite who loved playing tricks on unsuspecting mortals.
Oberon reminded Puck of a western flower, struck by Cupid's arrow, now purple with love's wound, and called love-in-idleness.
"Fetch me that flower," Oberon commanded. "Its juice, when laid upon sleeping eyelids, makes a person madly dote upon the next live creature they see.
While Titania sleeps, I will drop it in her eyes. The next thing she looks upon, be it a lion, bear, or meddling monkey, she shall pursue with love.
And before I take the charm away, I will make her give me the boy."
"I'll put a girdle round about the earth in 40 minutes!" Puck cried, vanishing into the night.
While Oberon waited in the darkness, he heard voices approaching and made himself invisible, blending into an ancient tree.
It was Demetrius, searching for Hermia, with Helena stumbling behind him.
"I love thee not! Therefore pursue me not!" Demetrius shouted. "Where is Lysander and fair Hermia? Get thee gone and follow me no more!"
"You draw me to you, you hard-hearted magnet!" Helena cried, scratched by thorns. "I am your spaniel, Demetrius. The more you beat me, the more I will fawn on you. Only give me leave to follow you."
"I am sick when I do look on thee!" Demetrius sneered, running into the deeper darkness. Helena cried out and chased after him.
Watching from the shadows, Oberon felt a rare pang of pity.
"Fare thee well, nymph," he murmured. "Before he leaves this grove, thou shalt fly him, and he shall seek thy love."
Just then, Puck returned with the glowing purple flower.
Oberon took some of it and handed a portion back.
"A sweet Athenian lady is in love with a disdainful youth," Oberon said. "Search the grove. You will know him by his Athenian garments.
Anoint his eyes when the maiden is sleeping nearby, so that when he wakes, she is the first thing he sees.
Do this with care, and meet me before the first cock crows."
"Fear not, my lord," Puck grinned. "Your servant shall do it."
## 3. Puck Anoints the Wrong Athenian

Deep in another part of the forest, Hermia and Lysander were wandering.
They had walked for hours, losing their way in the maze of silver trees. The ground was damp, the air was cool, and Hermia's feet were sore.
Lysander, putting a gentle arm around her, admitted he had forgotten the path. He suggested they rest until morning.
Full of youthful love, he proposed they share a single mossy bank as a pillow, but Hermia, a proper Athenian maiden, gently insisted he sleep further off.
Lysander respected her wishes, lying down under a neighboring bush, and soon both fell fast asleep.
Not long after, Puck came skimming through the trees, frustrated that he had found no Athenians.
Suddenly, his bright eyes caught a flash of color. He dropped from the branches and found Lysander sleeping.
Seeing his Athenian clothes, and Hermia sleeping a short distance away, Puck was absolutely certain he had found his target.
He assumed they slept apart because this lack-love despised the maid.
With a mischievous grin, Puck squeezed the purple flower, letting a glowing drop of juice fall onto Lysander's eyelids.
"When thou wakest, let love forbid sleep to thy eyelids," Puck whispered, before vanishing into the night.
A few moments later, Helena came running through the clearing, out of breath and weeping, because Demetrius had outrun her.
"The more I pray, the lesser is my grace," she sighed, leaning against a tree.
As she walked blindly through the shadows, she stumbled upon Lysander lying on the ground. Fearing he might be dead, she knelt and gently shook his shoulder.
"Lysander, if you are alive, awake!" she cried.
The magic of the flower was instantaneous. Lysander's eyes flew open, and the very first thing he saw was Helena.
The spell surged through his veins like wildfire. He sat up, his eyes shining with mad devotion.
"And I will run through fire for thy sweet sake!" he cried, grabbing her hands. He declared his love for her, calling her transparent and beautiful, and asked where Demetrius was so he could slay him.
Helena froze in utter bewilderment, reminding him that Hermia still loved him.
But Lysander laughed a wild, strange laugh. He claimed he repented every minute spent with Hermia, declaring that his reason now led him to Helena.
Helena felt a sharp sting in her chest. Already heartbroken, she believed Lysander was playing a cruel, mocking joke on her.
"When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?" she cried, fleeing into the dark with angry tears.
Lysander, looking at his sleeping fiancee with sudden disgust, ran after Helena, abandoning Hermia in the woods.
A few minutes passed before Hermia began to toss and turn, waking with a terrified shriek.
"Help me, Lysander!" she cried, sitting up with her heart pounding. She had dreamed a terrible nightmare, that a crawling serpent was eating her heart while Lysander sat by and smiled.
Trembling, she reached out for his hand, but her fingers found only cold, empty moss.
"Lysander? Lord? What? No word?" she called into the darkness, but only the rustling leaves answered.
Weeping, Hermia stood up and ran into the dark to find her love, completely unaware that he was already chasing her best friend.
## 4. A Beast Among the Fairies

While the young lovers were tangling themselves in the forest, another group of Athenians had entered the woods.
These were not nobles, but simple, hard-working craftsmen: Peter Quince, the carpenter, Snug, the joiner, Flute, the bellows mender, Snout, the tinker, Starveling, the tailor, and Nick Bottom, the weaver.
They had gathered in the quiet woods to rehearse a play, "The Most Lamentable Comedy and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe," which they hoped to perform for Duke Theseus on his wedding night to earn a comfortable pension.
Nick Bottom, the weaver, was the soul of the group. He was a man of boundless energy, immense self-confidence, and absolutely no self-awareness.
As Quince tried to hand out the roles, Bottom kept interrupting, eager to play every single part. He wanted to play the lover Pyramus with tragic tears, the lady Thisbe in a monstrous little squeaking voice, and even the lion.
When Quince worried a realistic roar might frighten the ladies, Bottom promised to roar as gently as any sucking dove or nightingale.
Eventually, Quince convinced him to stick to Pyramus, and they set up their rehearsal in a grassy clearing, using a hawthorn break as their dressing room.
Unbeknownst to them, Puck was sitting in a nearby oak tree, watching with great amusement.
When Bottom marched into the bushes to wait for his next cue, Puck saw his chance for mischief.
With a wave of his hand and a whisper of fairy magic, he transformed Bottom's head.
When the weaver proudly stepped back onto the grass to deliver his line, he had no idea that his human head had been replaced with the huge, hairy, long-eared head of a donkey.
The craftsmen turned, froze, and gasped. "We are haunted!" Quince shrieked, his hair standing on end.
Screaming in terror, they scattered in every direction, scrambling over logs and briars, leaving Bottom all alone.
Confused, Bottom assumed his friends were playing a silly trick to frighten him. To prove he wasn't afraid, he began to pace up and down, braying a loud, out-of-tune song about blackbirds and thrushes.
This very clearing was right next to the secret bower where Titania, the fairy queen, lay sleeping under the influence of Oberon's magic love juice.
The harsh, braying song woke her. She opened her eyes, and the very first thing she saw was the ridiculous, donkey-headed weaver.
To the spellbound queen, he was the most beautiful creature in the universe.
"I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again," Titania pleaded, her voice like a silver flute. "Thy virtue's force perforce doth move me on the first view to say, to swear, I love thee."
Bottom was surprised, but he was not a man easily shaken by the supernatural. He took a moment to think, and sagely remarked that reason and love keep little company together nowadays.
Titania gasped with delight, declaring him as wise as he was beautiful, and commanded him to remain in the forest with her.
She summoned her fairy court: Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed.
She ordered them to feed him purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries, and to lead him to her bower.
Bottom, thoroughly enjoying himself, politely greeted the tiny spirits, joking about using cobweb for a cut finger and teasing Mustardseed.
And so, the enchanted fairy queen led her new, long-eared love into her secret bower, showering him with kisses and flowers, while Puck watched from the branches, laughing until his sides ached.
## 5. The Tangle at its Worst

A few hours later, Oberon stood in a quiet glade, wondering how his plan had fared.
"I wonder if Titania be awaked," he mused, "and what it was that next came in her eye."
Puck appeared through the trees, still giggling. "My mistress with a monster is in love," he reported.
He explained how he had found a crew of actors rehearsing, and how he had fixed an ass's head upon a weaver's shoulders.
"And at that very moment, the queen awaked and straightway loved an ass."
Oberon laughed, a rich, dark sound, but then asked if Puck had anointed the Athenian's eyes with the love juice, as commanded.
Puck proudly claimed he had done so while the youth slept beside his lady.
Just then, the sound of angry voices echoed through the trees. Demetrius and Hermia entered the clearing.
Hermia, furious and terrified, accused Demetrius of murdering her missing Lysander.
"If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep, then slay me too!" she cried.
Demetrius protested his innocence, but Hermia, refusing to look upon his face, ran off into the forest.
Exhausted and heavy-hearted, Demetrius lay down on a soft bank of earth and fell fast asleep.
Oberon turned to Puck, his face stern. "What hast thou done? Thou hast mistaken quite, and laid the love juice on some true love's sight."
He ordered Puck to fly swifter than the wind, to find Helena of Athens and bring her here, while Oberon knelt and squeezed the purple flower's juice onto Demetrius's eyelids.
Puck soon returned, whispering that Helena was approaching with Lysander, who was pleading for her love.
"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Puck chuckled, settling in to watch the sport.
Lysander entered, weeping vows of love, but Helena bitterly accused him of cruel mockery.
Their loud arguing woke Demetrius. He sat up, blinked, and looked directly at Helena.
Instantly, the magic took hold. "Oh, Helen! Goddess! Nymph! Perfect! Divine!" Demetrius gasped, kneeling before her.
Helena stared at them, her heart aching with humiliation. Both of these men had loved Hermia. Now both were professing their devotion to her.
She was certain they had planned this together to make a fool of her.
"I see you all are bent against me for your merriment!" she cried.
Lysander and Demetrius began to argue, each trying to give up Hermia to the other in exchange for Helena.
Just then, Hermia burst into the clearing. She ran to Lysander, but he coldly pushed her away, declaring his hatred for her and his love for Helena.
Hermia was stunned.
Helena, convinced Hermia was part of the conspiracy, accused her childhood friend of joining the men to bait her with foul derision.
Hermia was utterly bewildered, until Lysander defended Helena by shouting at Hermia, "Get thee gone, thou dwarf! Thou bead! Thou acorn!"
Hermia's insecurity about her height flared into a hot, defensive fury.
"Dwarf!" she shrieked, turning on Helena. "You thief of love! Have you come by night and stolen my love's heart because you are taller, you painted maypole? My nails can still reach unto thine eyes!"
Helena shrank back, terrified of Hermia's fierce temper. Lysander and Demetrius stepped between them, drawing their swords.
They ran off into the deeper forest to duel to the death for Helena's hand.
Helena, crying that her legs were longer to run away, fled from Hermia.
Left completely alone, heartbroken and utterly confused, Hermia sobbed and ran off in the opposite direction.
## 6. Oberon Relents

Oberon stepped out of the shadows, his face dark. He turned to Puck.
"This is thy negligence. Still thou mistakest, or else committ'st thy knaveries willfully."
Puck grinned. "Believe me, King of Shadows, I mistook. Did you not tell me I should know the man by his Athenian garments? Yet, I am glad it fell out so, for this jangling is a sport to me."
"Thou seest these lovers seek a place to fight," Oberon said sternly. "Therefore, Puck, overcast the night with a fog as black as death.
Lead these testy rivals so astray that one may not come near the other."
"How shall I do that, master?" Puck asked.
"Imitate their voices," Oberon instructed. "Speak to Lysander in Demetrius's voice and rail at him. Then speak to Demetrius in Lysander's voice.
Lead them up and down until their legs are heavy with sleep. Then, squeeze this herb into Lysander's eyes."
He handed Puck a green leaf. "This antidote will take all error from his sight. When they awake, all this derision shall seem but a dream. Go, make no delay."
Puck set to work with delight, whipping up a thick, cold, silver fog that swallowed the moonlight.
Lysander came stumbling through the mist, sword drawn, calling for Demetrius. Puck mimicked Demetrius's voice, drawing Lysander away.
Then, using Lysander's voice, he taunted Demetrius. For an hour, Puck led the rivals over rocks and through briars, keeping them completely apart in the thick fog.
Exhausted and bruised, both men finally collapsed onto the damp earth and fell into a deep sleep.
Soon, Helena and Hermia, weeping and weary, stumbled into the same clearing and fell asleep nearby, unaware of the others.
Puck hovered over them, knelt by Lysander and squeezed the green leaf's juice onto his eyes.
"When thou wakest, thou takest true delight in thy former lady's eye," Puck chanted. "Jack shall have Jill, naught shall go ill, and all shall be well."
Meanwhile, Oberon went to find Titania. He entered her secret bower and found her sleeping on a bed of roses.
Beside her lay Nick Bottom, the donkey-headed weaver, snoring loudly with sweet musk roses garlanded around his hairy ears.
Now that Oberon had obtained the changeling boy, he felt a sudden wave of pity and affection for his queen.
"Her dotage now I do begin to pity," Oberon murmured. Touching her eyes with the green herb, he whispered, "Be as thou wast wont to be. See as thou wast wont to see.
Now, my Titania, awake, my sweet queen."
Titania's eyes fluttered open. She gasped, looking up at her husband. "My Oberon! What visions have I seen? Methought I was enamored of an ass!"
"There lies your love," Oberon said, pointing to the snoring Bottom.
Titania shrank back in horror. "Oh, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!"
"Silence a while," Oberon whispered, pulling her into his arms. "Robin, take off this head."
Puck flew down, and with a swift wave of his hand, removed the donkey head, restoring Bottom's normal human face.
"Come, my queen, take hands with me," Oberon said, his voice warm and joyful. "Now we are at peace again.
Tomorrow midnight, we will dance in Duke Theseus's house and bless it."
The fairy king and queen, reconciled at last, rose into the air and danced away on the morning breeze, leaving the forest quiet as the first gold rays of dawn began to pierce the trees.
## 7. A Question to Keep

The sun rose warm over the forest, burning away the silver fog.
The sharp sound of hunting horns echoed through the trees, as Duke Theseus, Hippolyta, and Egeus rode into the clearing.
"But soft!" Theseus cried, halting his horse. "Who lies upon the ground?"
The guards gently woke the sleeping lovers. Lysander, Demetrius, Hermia, and Helena sat up, blinking in the bright morning light, looking as if they had slept for a hundred years.
Theseus smiled. "How comes this gentle concord in the wood, that hatred is so far from jealousy?"
Lysander rubbed his eyes, explaining half-asleep that he and Hermia had fled Athens.
"Enough!" Egeus shrieked. "I demand the law upon his head!"
But Demetrius stepped forward. "My lord, my love for Hermia is melted like snow. My heart belongs only to Helena. Now like a sickness over, I wish for nothing but her."
Duke Theseus smiled. "Egeus, your will is overborne. In the temple, these couples shall be knit. Come, these lovers shall go with us to Athens."
The royal party rode back, the lovers following hand in hand, wondering if they were awake or still dreaming.
Shortly after they departed, Nick Bottom began to stir. He stretched, yawned, and sat up.
"When my cue comes, call me!" he shouted to the empty woods. He marveled at his strange dream, declaring it had no bottom, and resolved to have Peter Quince write a ballad about it, called "Bottom's Dream."
With that, he marched back to Athens, eager to tell his friends their play was back on.
That night, the grand palace of Athens was filled with light and laughter for a triple wedding.
To pass the time before bed, the Duke chose to watch the play prepared by the craftsmen.
Bottom and his friends performed "Pyramus and Thisbe" with such terrible, hilarious enthusiasm that the court wept with laughter.
Flute squeaked his lines, Snout played a wall with his fingers, and Starveling held a lantern for the moon.
It was wonderfully bad, but filled with so much heart that the Duke praised them and rewarded them with a pension.
At midnight, the lights were put out and the mortals retired to bed. Then, the shadows began to flicker.
Oberon, Titania, and their fairy court swept through the dark halls with glowing lanterns. They danced from room to room, singing a sweet blessing over the three marriages, promising that their children would be happy and no misfortune would ever touch the house of Theseus.
When the court departed, Puck was left alone in the moonlit hall. He turned his bright, mischievous eyes toward us.
"If we shadows have offended," Puck said softly, "think but this, and all is mended. That you have but slumbered here, while these visions did appear."
With a soft "whoosh," he vanished, leaving only the quiet stars.
And so we return to our own world, carrying the memory of that moon-silvered forest.
But as you close your eyes tonight and listen to the wind rustling the leaves outside your window, think of the trickster Puck, the proud fairy king, and the lovers who lost their hearts in the dark.
If our eyes can be fooled so easily, how do you know what is real?
Was it magic or just a dream? That is a question to keep as you drift off into your own midsummer night.