They were both so pleased that they acted it three times over from beginning to end before they sat down in the unthistly centre of the Ring to eat eggs and Bath Olivers . This was when they heard a whistle among the alders on the bank , and they jumped . The bushes parted . In the very spot where Dan had stood as Puck they saw a small , brown , broad-shouldered , pointy-eared person with a snub nose , slanting blue eyes , and a grin that ran right across his freckled face . He shaded his forehead as though he were watching Quince , Snout , Bottom , and the others rehearsing Pyramus and Thisbe , and , in a voice as deep as Three Cows asking to be milked , he began : ` What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here , So near the cradle of our fairy Queen ? ' He stopped , hollowed one hand round his ear , and , with a wicked twinkle in his eye , went on : ` What , a play toward ? I 'll be auditor ; An actor , too , perhaps , if I see cause . ' The children looked and gasped . The small thing -- he was no taller than Dan 's shoulder -- stepped quietly into the Ring . ` I 'm rather out of practice , ' said he ; ` but that 's the way my part ought to be played . ' Still the children stared at him -- from his dark-blue cap , like a big columbine flower , to his bare , hairy feet . At last he laughed . ` Please do n't look like that . It is n't my fault . What else could you expect ? ' he said . ` We did n't expect any one , ' Dan answered , slowly . ` This is our field . ' ` Is it ? ' said their visitor , sitting down .
` Then what on Human Earth made you act Midsummer Night 's Dream three times over , on Midsummer Eve , in the middle of a Ring , and under -- XXXXX under one of my oldest hills in Old England ?
Olivers Puck Pyramus Queen Thisbe alders columbine homespuns right snub