Act V, Scene III: Another Part of the Forest

by William Shakespeare

　　[Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY.]TOUCHSTONETo-morrow is the joyful day, Audrey; to-morrow will we be married.AUDREYI 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 come two of the banished duke's pages.[Enter two Pages.]FIRST PAGEWell met, honest gentleman.TOUCHSTONEBy my troth, well met. Come sit, sit, and a song.SECOND PAGEWe are for you: sit i' the middle.FIRST PAGEShall we clap into't roundly, without hawking, or spitting, or saying we are hoarse, which are the only prologues to a bad voice?SECOND PAGEI'faith, i'faith; and both in a tune, like two gipsies on a horse.SONG I. It 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. II. 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. III. 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. IV. And therefore take the present time, With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, For love is crownèd 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. TOUCHSTONETruly, young gentlemen, though there was no great matter in the ditty, yet the note was very untimeable.FIRST PAGEYou are deceived, sir; we kept time, we lost not our time.TOUCHSTONEBy my troth, yes; I count it but time lost to hear such a foolish song. God be with you; and God mend your voices! Come, Audrey.[Exeunt.]