Original: These are the forgeries of jealousy:
Modern: These are all lies created by jealousy:

Original: And never, since the middle summer’s spring,
Modern: And ever since the beginning of midsummer,

Original: Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead,
Modern: We haven’t met on hill, in valley, forest or meadow,

Original: By paved fountain or by rushy brook,
Modern: By stone fountains or by reed-covered streams,

Original: Or in the beached margent of the sea,
Modern: Or on the sandy shores of the ocean,

Original: To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,
Modern: To dance in circles to the sound of the wind,

Original: But with thy brawls thou hast disturb’d our sport.
Modern: Without your fighting disturbing our fun.

Original: Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
Modern: So the winds, calling out to us uselessly,

Original: As in revenge, have suck’d up from the sea
Modern: As if getting revenge, have pulled up from the ocean

Original: Contagious fogs; which falling in the land
Modern: Poisonous mists; which when they fall on land

Original: Have every pelting river made so proud
Modern: Have made every small river so swollen with pride

Original: That they have overborne their continents:
Modern: That they have flooded over their banks:

Original: The ox hath therefore stretch’d his yoke in vain,
Modern: So the ox has pulled his plow for nothing,

Original: The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn
Modern: The farmer has wasted his hard work, and the young grain

Original: Hath rotted ere his youth attain’d a beard;
Modern: Has rotted before it could fully mature;

Original: The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
Modern: The animal pen sits empty in the flooded field,

Original: And crows are fatted with the murrion flock;
Modern: And crows have grown fat eating the diseased sheep;

Original: The nine men’s morris is fill’d up with mud,
Modern: The game board is filled up with mud,

Original: And the quaint mazes in the wanton green
Modern: And the clever pathways in the wild grass

Original: For lack of tread are undistinguishable:
Modern: Can’t be seen because no one walks on them:

Original: The human mortals want their winter here;
Modern: The people are missing their proper winter;

Original: No night is now with hymn or carol blest:
Modern: No evening is blessed with songs or carols:

Original: Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Modern: So the moon, who controls the tides,

Original: Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
Modern: Pale with rage, floods the air with moisture,

Original: That rheumatic diseases do abound:
Modern: So that joint diseases are everywhere:

Original: And thorough this distemperature we see
Modern: And because of this disorder we see

Original: The seasons alter: hoary-headed frosts
Modern: The seasons change: gray-white frost

Original: Far in the fresh lap of the crimson rose,
Modern: Sits in the center of the red rose,

Original: And on old Hiems’ thin and icy crown
Modern: And on old Winter’s thin and frozen head

Original: An odorous chaplet of sweet summer buds
Modern: A sweet-smelling wreath of summer flowers

Original: Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
Modern: Is placed there like a cruel joke: spring, summer,

Original: The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Modern: Fertile autumn, and furious winter, all change

Original: Their wonted liveries, and the mazed world,
Modern: Their usual costumes, and the confused world,

Original: By their increase, now knows not which is which:
Modern: Because of their mixed-up growth, can’t tell them apart:

Original: And this same progeny of evils comes
Modern: And all these terrible problems come

Original: From our debate, from our dissension;
Modern: From our argument, from our fighting;

Original: We are their parents and original.
Modern: We are the cause and source of all this.

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 identifies himself as a servant to 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 enjoys playing on mortals. The fairy reveals that Titania, the Fairy Queen, is nearby with her attendants. It is also established that Oberon and Titania are in the midst of a serious quarrel, stemming from Titania’s refusal to give up a young Indian boy to Oberon, whom she has taken under her care as a changeling child. When Oberon and Titania arrive and come face to face, their conflict erupts openly, with each accusing the other of jealousy and interference in mortal affairs.

Oberon demands that Titania surrender the changeling boy to him to serve as his personal attendant, but Titania firmly refuses, explaining that the boy’s mother was a devoted follower of hers who died in childbirth, and out of loyalty to her, Titania intends to raise the child herself. Titania departs with her fairy train, leaving Oberon determined to seek revenge. He summons Puck and instructs him to fetch a particular flower, known as love-in-idleness, whose juice, when applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person, causes that person to fall in love with the first living creature they see upon waking. Oberon plans to use this flower’s magic on Titania as punishment, intending to use her resulting infatuation as leverage to obtain the changeling boy. He also directs Puck to use some of the flower’s juice on a young Athenian man — referring to Demetrius — who has been cruelly dismissing the love of a young Athenian woman, Helena, who follows him devotedly despite his cold rejection of her.

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.