Enter a FAIRY at one door, and PUCK at another.
PUCK How now, spirit, whither wander you?
FAIRY Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere
Swifter than the moon’s sphere,
And I serve the Fairy Queen
To dew her orbs upon the green. (2.1.1-9)
Fairies! Puck! (I’m going with Puck although many current critical editions use Robin, for Robin Goodfellow.) It’s the first time that characters have met on stage, rather than beginning a scene all together, so here’s two fairies; they’re going to look different to the Athenian lovers and the workers too—fantastical, frightening, sparkly? An early modern wardrobe inventory might describe their costumes as antic.
Puck’s greeting can have a slightly accusatory, even menacing tone; this is at the least a request for information as well as a courtesy: how now, spirit, whither wander you? Where are you off to, then? The fairy’s response changes the play’s sound-world, a different metre, breathless, pounding, alliterative: over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough brier, over park, over pale, thorough flood, thorough fire. The impression is of speed, a dashing nimbleness, unbounded, fearless. Nothing stops me, not thickets, or water, or flames. (Or you.) I do wander everywhere swifter than the moon’s sphere. The moon spins, revolves around the earth and I’m faster than that; I get things done by night. (This is the first night-time scene?) And I serve the Fairy Queen to dew her orbs upon the green. That’s my allegiance—that’s part of what Puck is ascertaining—I’m of her household, it’s her bidding I do. (No names yet.) My particular task and responsibility: dew-drop duty.
