the Goodreads Team
asked
Ian Doescher:
Can you a come up with a deleted scene from your favorite Shakespeare play?
Ian Doescher
From The Tempest, Act I, Scene 2
(the missing 67 lines before line 1)
Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.
Miranda:
O, father kind, methinks I heard a sound—
A shaking of the sea as ne’er was heard
By human ears ere now. What can this be?
Prospero:
[Aside:] Alas, ’tis mine enchantment o’er the ship,
Which here doth cut her senses to the quick.
[To Miranda:] My daughter, peace, ’tis naught to trouble thee.
I’d see thee comforted, thy heart at ease.
Miranda:
Wilt thou, dear Sir—to calm my wayward heart—
At present ply thy storyteller’s trade?
Wilt thou, with lyre made not of strings, but words,
Speak music through a tale of wondrous charm?
For verily, thy voice is symphony,
Thy language is a melody sublime,
Thy paragraphs compos’d of harmony.
Prospero:
I make no claim to music such as this,
Yet will give satisfaction to thy wish.
What manner of a tale dost thou desire?
Some drama, fill’d with pain and agony?
Belike a comedy to make thee laugh?
Or mayhap history, a song of old?
Perhaps a fantasy would suit thy whim?
Miranda:
O, let it be some portent of a time
That is to come, a future still unseen
Prospero:
So shall it be, Miranda. Pray, attend:
Full many years—e’en centuries—from now,
There shall arise, upon the riven Earth,
Two varied faiths, each with their own beliefs.
The first shall be a people who profess
To know a history of long ago,
Within a galaxy far, far away.
These shall give worship to a sky walker—
No god, indeed, but man of valor brave,
Who fought the darkness and o’ercame its pull,
Who, high above the stars, did find his fame,
Who first was student, then a teacher wise.
This sky walker shall stir devoted souls
Unto obedience beyond belief:
To see him, they would wait for hours and days,
Array themselves as him an ’twere they could
By imitation hold him closer still.
These, then, are the adherents of the first.
Miranda:
O, father, then how strange the Earth shall be!
What of the subsequent religion, Sir?
Prospero:
I come anon to them; with patience, wait.
The second group believe that on the Earth,
E’en further centuries beyond their time,
Shall rise a star fleet with a mission just,
As follows: to explore some strange, new worlds,
To seek new life, new civilization,
To boldly go where none have gone before.
These people shall give faith unto a kirk:
A kirk rais’d in a humble native land,
A kirk who ris’d unto a lofty height,
A kirk who did command profuse respect.
Miranda:
Two odd and errant systems of belief.
I bid thee, tell me father, who prevails?
Those who are bound unto the sky walker,
Or those who bow unto the mighty kirk?
Prospero:
My dear, e’en one as powerful as I
Cannot see how this star-cross’d tale shall end.
The question, thus, unanswer’d doth remain,
An ’twere a person hanging on a cliff
Not knowing what next scene their fate shall write.
Miranda:
Dear Sir, thy tale engageth all my heart,
So not a bit of it is left in fear.
Yet now, beyond the waters I can see
The storm that breweth rages terribly.
If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them…
(the missing 67 lines before line 1)
Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA.
Miranda:
O, father kind, methinks I heard a sound—
A shaking of the sea as ne’er was heard
By human ears ere now. What can this be?
Prospero:
[Aside:] Alas, ’tis mine enchantment o’er the ship,
Which here doth cut her senses to the quick.
[To Miranda:] My daughter, peace, ’tis naught to trouble thee.
I’d see thee comforted, thy heart at ease.
Miranda:
Wilt thou, dear Sir—to calm my wayward heart—
At present ply thy storyteller’s trade?
Wilt thou, with lyre made not of strings, but words,
Speak music through a tale of wondrous charm?
For verily, thy voice is symphony,
Thy language is a melody sublime,
Thy paragraphs compos’d of harmony.
Prospero:
I make no claim to music such as this,
Yet will give satisfaction to thy wish.
What manner of a tale dost thou desire?
Some drama, fill’d with pain and agony?
Belike a comedy to make thee laugh?
Or mayhap history, a song of old?
Perhaps a fantasy would suit thy whim?
Miranda:
O, let it be some portent of a time
That is to come, a future still unseen
Prospero:
So shall it be, Miranda. Pray, attend:
Full many years—e’en centuries—from now,
There shall arise, upon the riven Earth,
Two varied faiths, each with their own beliefs.
The first shall be a people who profess
To know a history of long ago,
Within a galaxy far, far away.
These shall give worship to a sky walker—
No god, indeed, but man of valor brave,
Who fought the darkness and o’ercame its pull,
Who, high above the stars, did find his fame,
Who first was student, then a teacher wise.
This sky walker shall stir devoted souls
Unto obedience beyond belief:
To see him, they would wait for hours and days,
Array themselves as him an ’twere they could
By imitation hold him closer still.
These, then, are the adherents of the first.
Miranda:
O, father, then how strange the Earth shall be!
What of the subsequent religion, Sir?
Prospero:
I come anon to them; with patience, wait.
The second group believe that on the Earth,
E’en further centuries beyond their time,
Shall rise a star fleet with a mission just,
As follows: to explore some strange, new worlds,
To seek new life, new civilization,
To boldly go where none have gone before.
These people shall give faith unto a kirk:
A kirk rais’d in a humble native land,
A kirk who ris’d unto a lofty height,
A kirk who did command profuse respect.
Miranda:
Two odd and errant systems of belief.
I bid thee, tell me father, who prevails?
Those who are bound unto the sky walker,
Or those who bow unto the mighty kirk?
Prospero:
My dear, e’en one as powerful as I
Cannot see how this star-cross’d tale shall end.
The question, thus, unanswer’d doth remain,
An ’twere a person hanging on a cliff
Not knowing what next scene their fate shall write.
Miranda:
Dear Sir, thy tale engageth all my heart,
So not a bit of it is left in fear.
Yet now, beyond the waters I can see
The storm that breweth rages terribly.
If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them…
More Answered Questions
Lancelot Schaubert
asked
Ian Doescher:
So I planted about 100 red oak trees in a nearby cemetery from the acorns I harvested from said cemetery and I never stopped to think about the effect of dead people on agronomy and agroforestry. What's the over-under on me accidentally raising up a crop of really pissed off Tree Ents?
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more
Jun 04, 2018 12:26PM · flag
Aug 15, 2020 09:06PM · flag