Original: Over hill, over dale,
Modern: Over hills and through valleys,

Original: Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Modern: Through bushes and thorny brambles,

Original: Over park, over pale,
Modern: Across parks and over fences,

Original: Thorough flood, thorough fire,
Modern: Through floods and through fire,

Original: I do wander everywhere,
Modern: I travel everywhere,

Original: Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
Modern: Faster than the moon moves across the sky;

Original: And I serve the fairy queen,
Modern: And I serve the fairy queen,

Original: To dew her orbs upon the green.
Modern: To sprinkle dew on her fairy rings in the grass.

Original: The cowslips tall her pensioners be:
Modern: The tall cowslip flowers are her royal guards:

Original: In their gold coats spots you see;
Modern: You can see spots on their golden petals;

Original: Those be rubies, fairy favours,
Modern: Those spots are rubies, gifts from the fairies,

Original: In those freckles live their savours:
Modern: In those speckles live their sweet scents:

Original: I must go seek some dewdrops here
Modern: I must go find some dewdrops here

Original: And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
Modern: And place a pearl of dew in every cowslip flower.

Original: Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I’ll be gone:
Modern: Goodbye, you clumsy spirit; I must leave:

Original: Our queen and all our elves come here anon.
Modern: Our queen and all our elves are coming here soon.

Act II, Scene i of A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens in a forest near Athens, where a fairy and Robin Goodfellow — also known as Puck — encounter one another. Puck reveals that he serves Oberon, the King of the Fairies, and the two exchange information about the current state of affairs in the fairy realm. Puck describes his mischievous nature and the pranks he delights in playing on mortals. The fairy reveals that Titania, the Fairy Queen, will soon arrive in this part of the forest with her attendants. Puck warns that Oberon is also on his way, and that the King and Queen are at odds with one another. When Oberon and Titania arrive and meet, their conflict becomes clear: Titania has in her possession a young Indian boy whom Oberon desires as his knight and attendant, but Titania refuses to give him up, explaining that the boy’s mother was a devoted follower of hers who died in childbirth, and that she intends to raise the child in her memory.

After Titania departs with her fairies, Oberon broods over the quarrel and plots his revenge. He dispatches Puck to find a particular flower — hit long ago by one of Cupid’s arrows — whose juice, when applied to a sleeping person’s eyelids, causes that person to fall in love with the first living creature they see upon waking. Oberon intends to use this enchanted flower on Titania in order to distract her and thereby claim the Indian boy for himself. Before Puck departs on his errand, Oberon watches unseen as Demetrius and Helena enter the forest. Demetrius, who is pursuing Hermia, harshly rebuffs Helena’s declarations of love and attempts to drive her away, but Helena refuses to leave him. After they exit, Oberon tells Puck to also apply some of the flower’s juice to the eyes of the disdainful young Athenian man — meaning Demetrius — so that he will come to love the woman who so devotedly follows him.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows multiple interconnected plots that unfold over the course of a single midsummer night in Athens and the nearby enchanted forest. The play opens with Duke Theseus of Athens preparing to marry Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Meanwhile, Egeus brings his daughter Hermia before Theseus, demanding she marry Demetrius according to his wishes. Hermia refuses because she loves Lysander, and Theseus gives her until his wedding day to decide between marrying Demetrius, becoming a nun, or facing death. Hermia and Lysander plan to elope by meeting in the forest, and they confide in Hermia’s friend Helena, who is desperately in love with Demetrius despite his rejection of her.

In the forest, the fairy king Oberon and queen Titania are feuding over custody of a changeling boy. Oberon instructs his mischievous servant Puck to fetch a magical flower whose juice, when applied to sleeping eyes, makes the person fall in love with the first creature they see upon waking. Oberon plans to use this on Titania to humiliate her into giving up the boy, and he also orders Puck to help Helena by making Demetrius fall in love with her. However, Puck mistakenly applies the juice to Lysander’s eyes instead, causing him to fall in love with Helena when he awakens. Meanwhile, a group of Athenian craftsmen rehearsing a play in the forest becomes entangled in the magical chaos when Puck transforms their leader Bottom’s head into that of a donkey, and the enchanted Titania falls in love with him.

The romantic confusion deepens when Oberon discovers Puck’s error and applies the love juice to Demetrius’s eyes as well, causing both young men to pursue Helena, who believes they are mocking her. Hermia becomes confused and angry when Lysander rejects her for Helena. Oberon orders Puck to separate the four lovers and fix the situation. After obtaining the changeling boy from the distracted Titania, Oberon releases her from the spell and restores Bottom to his normal form. Puck leads the exhausted lovers through the forest until they fall asleep, then applies an antidote to Lysander’s eyes so he will love Hermia again upon waking. Theseus discovers the four lovers in the forest the next morning, and since Demetrius now truly loves Helena, the duke overrules Egeus and declares a triple wedding. The play concludes with the three couples’ wedding celebration, where the craftsmen perform their comically inept play, followed by the fairies blessing the palace and its inhabitants.