PUCK  If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended:

That you have but slumbered here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

If you pardon, we will mend.            (5.1.413-420)

In some ways this is a conventional exculpatory epilogue: hope you liked the show, and if we annoyed anyone, sorry about that, please forgive us. But the dream frame makes it just different enough; it has a charm, and a profundity, all of its own. If we shadows have offended—if anything that we’ve done has upset you, we fairies, we actors, these insubstantial shape-shifters you’ve been watching, think but this and all is mended. You just need to remember ONE thing, and everything will be alright, no harm done, equilibrium restored: remember that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear. Just think—just remember—that it’s all been a dream, of no consequence at all. And this weak and idle theme, this silly story, this trivial subject, a mere pastime, a diversion, no more yielding than a dream, of no more consequence at all, gentles, do not reprehend. Please, your honours, ladies and gentlemen, don’t be mad at us! Don’t condemn our play, or reproach us for it. If you pardon, we will mend. If you forgive us, give us a second chance, we’ll fix the bits you don’t like, and do better next time. (And mend is the word used for the re-writing and fixing-up of plays, as well as suggesting improvement in general, especially moral improvement and reformation.)

The play, which I started writing about on 1 January 2026, will end tomorrow…