| ACT I SCENE V | Court before the same. | |
| [Enter KING LEAR, KENT, and Fool] |
| KING LEAR | Go you before to Gloucester with these letters. |
| Acquaint my daughter no further with any thing you |
| know than comes from her demand out of the letter. |
| If your diligence be not speedy, I shall be there afore you. |
| KENT | I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered | 5 |
| your letter. |
| [Exit] |
| Fool | If a man's brains were in's heels, were't not in |
| danger of kibes? |
| KING LEAR | Ay, boy. |
| Fool | Then, I prithee, be merry; thy wit shall ne'er go | 10 |
| slip-shod. |
| KING LEAR | Ha, ha, ha! |
| Fool | Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee kindly; |
| for though she's as like this as a crab's like an |
| apple, yet I can tell what I can tell. | 15 |
| KING LEAR | Why, what canst thou tell, my boy? |
| Fool | She will taste as like this as a crab does to a |
| crab. Thou canst tell why one's nose stands i' |
| the middle on's face? |
| KING LEAR | No. | 20 |
| Fool | Why, to keep one's eyes of either side's nose; that |
| what a man cannot smell out, he may spy into. |
| KING LEAR | I did her wrong-- |
| Fool | Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell? |
| KING LEAR | No. | 25 |
| Fool | Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a house. |
| KING LEAR | Why? |
| Fool | Why, to put his head in; not to give it away to his |
| daughters, and leave his horns without a case. |
| KING LEAR | I will forget my nature. So kind a father! Be my | 30 |
| horses ready? |
| Fool | Thy asses are gone about 'em. The reason why the |
| seven stars are no more than seven is a pretty reason. |
| KING LEAR | Because they are not eight? |
| Fool | Yes, indeed: thou wouldst make a good fool. | 35 |
| KING LEAR | To take 't again perforce! Monster ingratitude! |
| Fool | If thou wert my fool, nuncle, I'ld have thee beaten |
| for being old before thy time. |
| KING LEAR | How's that? |
| Fool | Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst | 40 |
| been wise. |
| KING LEAR | O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven |
| Keep me in temper: I would not be mad! |
[Enter Gentleman] |
| How now! are the horses ready? |
| Gentleman | Ready, my lord. | 45 |
| KING LEAR | Come, boy. |
| Fool | She that's a maid now, and laughs at my departure, |
| Shall not be a maid long, unless things be cut shorter. |
| [Exeunt] |
King Lear Overview