act4 scene 1- Oberon

I just love Oberon and Puck- they are like the Shakespear version of Laurel and Hardy-neither have a clue at times...I chose act IV scene I, Oberon launches into this speech.....Welcome, good Robin.See'st thou this sweet sight?Her dotage now I do begin to pity:For, meeting her of late behind the wood,Seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool,I did upbraid her and fall out with her;For she his hairy temples then had roundedWith a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers;And that same dew, which sometime on the budsWas wont to swell like round and orient pearls,Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyesLike tears that did their own disgrace bewail.When I had at my pleasure taunted herAnd she in mild terms begg'd my patience,I then did ask of her her changeling child;Which straight she gave me, and her fairy sentTo bear him to my bower in fairy land.And now I have the boy, I will undoThis hateful imperfection of her eyes:And, gentle Puck, take this transformed scalpFrom off the head of this Athenian swain;That, he awaking when the other do,May all to Athens back again repairAnd think no more of this night's accidentsBut as the fierce vexation of a dream.But first I will release the fairy queen.Be as thou wast wont to be;See as thou wast wont to see:Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flowerHath such force and blessed power.Now, my Titania; wake you, my sweet queen.
The version that doesn't make your brain swim on a Monday morning is that Oberon saw Tatianna in the woods and kind of taunted her about being in love with an ass or at least someone with the head of an ass ( so many places to go with this....) she promises to give Oberon the child in exchange for the spells being reversed. Oberon carries through and she is amazed when she wakes up and discovers she'd been sleeping with an ass more or less-Puck is left to clean up the rest of Oberons' mess, because now that she has come to her senses, shes in love with Oberon again- she traded one ass for another but to cover the whole nights misadventures- they are told/decide that the night must have been a dream( shades of Dallas here) and they go on from there. Like I said- its "who's on first" in olde English...anyway.
the language is what it is for the time, its like listening to political speeches- you know there's a point, if you can just shovel enough junk out of the way to get to it.
I think Oberon likes to blame the ills of his world on everyone except him, but there's something about the chutzpah of his chacter that one has to admire.