Chapter: SCENE II.
Athens. QUINCE'S house

Enter QUINCE, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING

  QUINCE. Have you sent to Bottom's house? Is he come home yet?
  STARVELING. He cannot be heard of. Out of doubt he is
transported.
  FLUTE. If he come not, then the play is marr'd; it goes not
    forward, doth it?
  QUINCE. It is not possible. You have not a man in all Athens
able
    to discharge Pyramus but he.
  FLUTE. No; he hath simply the best wit of any handicraft man in
    Athens.
  QUINCE. Yea, and the best person too; and he is a very paramour
for
    a sweet voice.
  FLUTE. You must say 'paragon.' A paramour is- God bless us!- A
    thing of naught.

                           Enter SNUG

  SNUG. Masters, the Duke is coming from the temple; and there is
two
    or three lords and ladies more married. If our sport had gone

    forward, we had all been made men.
  FLUTE. O sweet bully Bottom! Thus hath he lost sixpence a day
    during his life; he could not have scaped sixpence a day. An
the
    Duke had not given him sixpence a day for playing Pyramus,
I'll
    be hanged. He would have deserved it: sixpence a day in
Pyramus,
    or nothing.

                           Enter BOTTOM

  BOTTOM. Where are these lads? Where are these hearts?
  QUINCE. Bottom! O most courageous day! O most happy hour!
  BOTTOM. Masters, I am to discourse wonders; but ask me not
what;
    for if I tell you, I am not true Athenian. I will tell you
    everything, right as it fell out.
  QUINCE. Let us hear, sweet Bottom.
  BOTTOM. Not a word of me. All that I will tell you is, that the
    Duke hath dined. Get your apparel together; good strings to
your
    beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the
palace;
    every man look o'er his part; for the short and the long is,
our
    play is preferr'd. In any case, let Thisby have clean linen;
and
    let not him that plays the lion pare his nails, for they
shall
    hang out for the lion's claws. And, most dear actors, eat no
    onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do
not
    doubt but to hear them say it is a sweet comedy. No more
words.
    Away, go, away!                                       Exeunt

 In this short scene, Quince and Flute are searching for their missing friend, Bottom. They worry that "Pyramus and Thisbe" won't be performed without him. Theseus is known for his generosity, and the actors believe they will potentially be rewarded with a lifelong pension for their stellar performance of this play. As they lament this lost opportunity, Bottom suddenly returns. His friends want to hear his story, but Bottom tells them there isn't time for that now: They must prepare for the play. He warns them to avoid onions and garlic so their breath will be sweet for the "sweet comedy" they will perform.

