Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

--I see their knavery: tis is to make an ass of me: to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir from this place, do what they can: I will walk up and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear I am not afraid.            [Sings]

-Bottom

A Midsummer Night’s Dream       Act III Scene i, Line 121

 

Bottom’s head has just been transformed into a donkey’s head (I don’t think he realizes this yet), and his friends have all run away from him.

And so, he begins to sing, and it’s a song about birds: ousel-cocks, throstles, wren, finch, sparrow, lark, and cuckoo. Don’t ask me what an ousel-cock is.

        The ousel-cock so black of hue,

        With orange-tawny bill,

        The throstle with his note so true,

        The wren with little quill,

        The finch, the sparrow and the lark,

        The plain-song cuckoo gray,

        Whose note full many a man doth mark,

        And dares not answer nay;

 Birds; it’s for the birds, eh?

Okay, these are purple finch. This is a pic I took of plate 402 from my Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio. It's a reproduction, of sorts, of Audubon's original Birds of America. No need to thank me.