BOTTOM Your name, I beseech you, sir?
MUSTARDSEED Mustardseed.
BOTTOM Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well. That same cowardly giantlike Ox-beef hath devoured many a gentleman of your house. I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. I desire you more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed.
TITANIA Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower.
The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye;
And when she weeps, weeps every little flower,
Lamenting some enforced chastity.
Tie up my lover’s tongue, bring him silently. [Exeunt.] (3.1.180-192)
Continuing with the introductions: your name, I beseech you, sir? asks Bottom. And this is MUSTARDSEED! Good Master Mustardseed, I know your patience well, Bottom continues, I know all about you, the suffering you cause, and everything that you have to put up with! That same cowardly giantlike Ox-beef hath devoured many a gentlemen of you house. Yes, roast beef and mustard, oooo, delicious (for all the mock sympathy), I promise you, your kindred hath made my eyes water ere now. Good and hot! I desire you more acquaintance, good Master Mustardseed, we’ll get to know each other better, yes. (And Bottom is transformed, still good-natured, but he’s reined it in to a whimsical politeness to these little fairies, small scale, jolly, rather than overbearing. Still a tendency to talk a lot, though.)
Enough of the formalities, though, Titania’s ready to take this to the next level. Come, wait upon him; lead him to my bower, in a little procession. (But also making sure that he gets there.) The moon, methinks, looks with a watery eye; and when she weeps, weeps every little flower, lamenting some enforced chastity. Just like that, the poetry soars heavenward again, up to the moon, and then descending again, as delicate dewdrops, to ornament the flowers below, the cowslips, perhaps? But dewdrops can be a sign of the morning, and the morning means daylight, and an end to a night of love—so there’s no time to waste. Tie up my lover’s tongue—poetry only goes so far with Titania, she doesn’t want him rambling on too much, charming though he can be—and bring him silently. There is no question as to who’s in charge here, and in that bower…
