And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drown'd.20
Hen. I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus;
Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;
The sun, that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy,
Thy brother Edward, and thyself the sea,24
Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.
Ah! kill me with thy weapon, not with words.
My breast can better brook thy dagger's point
Than can my ears that tragic history.28
But wherefore dost thou come? is 't for my life?
Rich. Think'st thou I am an executioner?
Hen. A persecutor, I am sure, thou art:
If murth'ring innocents be executing,32
Why, then thou art an executioner.
Rich. Thy son I kill'd for his presumption.
Hen. Hadst thou been kill'd, when first thou didst presume,
Thou hadst not liv'd to kill a son of mine.36
And thus I prophesy: that many a thousand,
Which now mistrust no parcel of my fear,
And many an old man's sigh, and many a widow's,
And many an orphan's water-standing eye,40
Men for their sons', wives for their husbands',
And orphans for their parents' timeless death,
Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born.
The owl shriek'd at thy birth, an evil sign;44
The night-crow cried, aboding luckless time;
Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempest shook down trees!
The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top,
And chattering pies in dismal discords sung.48
Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,
And yet brought forth less than a mother's hope;
38 mistrust no parcel: have no inkling
40 water-standing: flooded with tears
42 timeless: untimely
45 aboding: foreboding
47 rook'd her: squatted
48 pies: magpies
