Original: Out, alas!
Modern: Oh no!

Original: You’d be so lean, that blasts of January
Modern: You’d be so thin that the cold winds of January

Original: Would blow you through and through.
Modern: Would blow right through you.

Original: Now, my fair’st friend,
Modern: Now, my dearest friend,

Original: I would I had some flowers o’ the spring that might
Modern: I wish I had some spring flowers that would

Original: Become your time of day; and yours, and yours,
Modern: Be perfect for your youth; and yours, and yours,

Original: That wear upon your virgin branches yet
Modern: You who still carry on your innocent lives

Original: Your maidenheads growing: O Proserpina,
Modern: Your purity intact: Oh Proserpina,

Original: For the flowers now, that frighted thou let’st fall
Modern: I wish I had the flowers that you dropped in fear

Original: From Dis’s waggon! daffodils,
Modern: From Pluto’s chariot! Daffodils,

Original: That come before the swallow dares, and take
Modern: That bloom before the swallows dare to return, and capture

Original: The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
Modern: The March winds with their beauty; soft violets,

Original: But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes
Modern: But sweeter than the eyelids of the goddess Juno

Original: Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses
Modern: Or Venus’s breath; pale primroses

Original: That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Modern: That die as virgins, before they can see

Original: Bight Phoebus in his strength—a malady
Modern: The bright sun god in his full power—a sickness

Original: Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
Modern: That often strikes young maidens; bold oxlips and

Original: The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
Modern: The crown imperial; lilies of every type,

Original: The flower-de-luce being one! O, these I lack,
Modern: Including the iris! Oh, I don’t have these flowers,

Original: To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
Modern: To make flower crowns for you, and my sweet friend,

Original: To strew him o’er and o’er!
Modern: To scatter all over him!

In Act IV, Scene vi of “The Winter’s Tale” (noting that different editions may number this as Act IV, Scene iv), the sheep-shearing festival in Bohemia reaches its climactic moments. Florizel, the prince of Bohemia disguised as a shepherd named Doricles, declares his love for Perdita, the supposed shepherdess who is actually the lost princess of Sicilia. Their romantic exchange is interrupted when King Polixenes and Camillo arrive in disguise to observe the festivities. When Polixenes reveals his identity and furiously forbids his son’s relationship with a lowly shepherdess, threatening both Perdita and the Old Shepherd who raised her, the young lovers are forced to flee.

Camillo, sympathetic to the lovers and seeing an opportunity to return to his homeland of Sicilia, helps Florizel and Perdita escape by providing them with a ship and suggesting they seek refuge with King Leontes. The Clown and the Old Shepherd, terrified of Polixenes’ wrath and believing they will be executed for their role in harboring what they think is a shepherdess who has bewitched the prince, decide to reveal Perdita’s true origins by showing the bundle of clothes and gold that was found with her as an infant. Autolycus, the roguish peddler, intercepts them and, through various deceptions, learns of their secret while planning to profit from the information.

The Winter’s Tale begins in Sicilia, where King Leontes hosts his childhood friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia. When Leontes asks his pregnant wife Hermione to persuade Polixenes to extend his visit, her success in convincing him to stay triggers Leontes’ sudden and violent jealousy. He becomes convinced that Hermione and Polixenes are having an affair and that her unborn child is illegitimate. Despite protests from his courtiers, Leontes orders Polixenes’ death, but Camillo, the lord commanded to poison Polixenes, instead warns him and they both flee to Bohemia.

Leontes publicly accuses Hermione of adultery and imprisons her. She gives birth to a daughter in prison, and Leontes orders the baby to be abandoned in the wilderness. When Hermione is brought to trial, the Oracle of Delphi declares her innocent, but Leontes rejects this divine judgment. Immediately after, news arrives that their young son Mamillius has died from grief, and Hermione collapses and is reported dead. Stricken with remorse, Leontes vows to spend his life repenting. Meanwhile, the baby is abandoned on the coast of Bohemia, where a shepherd finds and raises her, naming her Perdita.

Sixteen years pass. Perdita, now a beautiful young shepherdess unaware of her royal birth, falls in love with Prince Florizel, son of King Polixenes. Polixenes, disguised with Camillo, discovers his son’s romance with a shepherd’s daughter and angrily forbids the match. The young lovers flee to Sicilia with Camillo’s help, accompanied by the shepherd and his son, who carry the tokens that were left with Perdita as a baby. In Sicilia, these tokens reveal Perdita’s true identity as Leontes’ lost daughter, leading to joyful reunions and Polixenes’ forgiveness when he arrives in pursuit of his son. The play concludes when Paulina, Hermione’s loyal friend, reveals that she has kept a statue of the dead queen. In a miraculous moment, the statue comes to life—Hermione has been hidden away for sixteen years, waiting for her daughter’s return. The royal family is reunited, Florizel and Perdita are betrothed with both fathers’ blessings, and Leontes encourages Paulina to marry Camillo.