As You Like It

1 Enter Amiens, Jaques and others.
2 AMIENS.
3 [_Sings_.]
4 Under the greenwood tree,
5 Who loves to lie with me
6 And turn his merry note
7 Unto the sweet bird’s throat,
8 Come hither, come hither, come hither!
9 Here shall he see
10 No enemy
11 But winter and rough weather.
12 JAQUES.
13 More, more, I prithee, more.
14 AMIENS.
15 It will make you melancholy, Monsieur Jaques.
16 JAQUES.
17 I thank it. More, I prithee, more. I can suck melancholy out of a song
18 as a weasel sucks eggs. More, I prithee, more.
19 AMIENS.
20 My voice is ragged. I know I cannot please you.
21 JAQUES.
22 I do not desire you to please me; I do desire you to sing. Come, more,
23 another _stanzo_. Call you ’em _stanzos?_
24 AMIENS.
25 What you will, Monsieur Jaques.
26 JAQUES.
27 Nay, I care not for their names. They owe me nothing. Will you sing?
28 AMIENS.
29 More at your request than to please myself.
30 JAQUES.
31 Well then, if ever I thank any man, I’ll thank you; but that they call
32 compliment is like th’ encounter of two dog-apes. And when a man thanks
33 me heartily, methinks I have given him a penny and he renders me the
34 beggarly thanks. Come, sing; and you that will not, hold your tongues.
35 AMIENS.
36 Well, I’ll end the song.—Sirs, cover the while. The Duke will drink
37 under this tree; he hath been all this day to look you.
38 JAQUES.
39 And I have been all this day to avoid him. He is too disputable for my
40 company. I think of as many matters as he, but I give heaven thanks and
41 make no boast of them. Come, warble, come.
42 AMIENS.
43 [_Sings_.]
44 Who doth ambition shun
45 And loves to live i’ th’ sun,
46 Seeking the food he eats
47 And pleased with what he gets,
48 Come hither, come hither, come hither.
49 Here shall he see
50 No enemy
51 But winter and rough weather.
52 JAQUES.
53 I’ll give you a verse to this note that I made yesterday in despite of
54 my invention.
55 AMIENS.
56 And I’ll sing it.
57 JAQUES.
58 Thus it goes:
59 If it do come to pass
60 That any man turn ass,
61 Leaving his wealth and ease
62 A stubborn will to please,
63 Ducdame, ducdame, ducdame;
64 Here shall he see
65 Gross fools as he,
66 An if he will come to me.
67 AMIENS.
68 What’s that “ducdame?”
69 JAQUES.
70 ’Tis a Greek invocation to call fools into a circle. I’ll go sleep if I
71 can; if I cannot, I’ll rail against all the first-born of Egypt.
72 AMIENS.
73 And I’ll go seek the Duke; his banquet is prepared.
74 [_Exeunt severally._]