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Grumio

Lend thine ear.    

Curtis

Here.

Grumio

[Striking him] There.

Curtis

This is to feel a tale, not to hear a tale!

Grumio

And therefore 'tis called a sensible tale, and this    
cuff was but to knock at your ear and beseech listening.     

Curtis

By this reckoning, he is more shrew than she.    

Grumio

Ay, and that thou and the proudest of you all shall
find when he comes home. But what talk I of this? Call
forth Nathaniel, Joseph, Nicholas, Philip, Walter, Sugarsop
and the rest. Let their heads be slickly combed, their
blue coats brushed, and their garters of an indifferent     
knit. Let them curtsy with their left legs, and not presume
to touch a hair of my master's horse-tail till they kiss their
hands. Are they all ready?

Curtis

I prithee, good Grumio, tell me how goes the world?

Grumio

A cold world, Curtis, in every office but thine,     
and therefore, fire. Do thy duty, and have thy duty, for
my master and mistress are almost frozen to death.

Curtis

There's fire ready, and therefore, good Grumio, the news.    

Curtis

I prithee, good Grumio, tell me how goes the world?

Grumio

A cold world, Curtis, in every office but thine,     
and therefore, fire. Do thy duty, and have thy duty, for
my master and mistress are almost frozen to death.

Curtis

There's fire ready, and therefore, good Grumio, the news.    

Grumio

Why, 'Jack, boy, ho boy!' and as much news as wilt thou.    

Curtis

There's fire ready, and therefore, good Grumio, the news.    

Grumio

Why, 'Jack, boy, ho boy!' and as much news as wilt thou.    

Curtis

Come, you are so full of cony-catching.    

Curtis

Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported?    

Grumio

She was, good Curtis, before this frost. But thou
knowest winter tames man, woman and beast; for it hath
tamed my old master, and my new mistress, and myself,
fellow Curtis.

Curtis

Away, you three-inch fool! I am no beast.    

Curtis

Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported?    

Grumio

She was, good Curtis, before this frost. But thou
knowest winter tames man, woman and beast; for it hath
tamed my old master, and my new mistress, and myself,
fellow Curtis.

Curtis

Away, you three-inch fool! I am no beast.    

Grumio

Am I but three inches? Why, thy horn is a foot,     
and so long am I at the least. But wilt thou make a fire,

Curtis

Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported?    

Grumio

She was, good Curtis, before this frost. But thou
knowest winter tames man, woman and beast; for it hath
tamed my old master, and my new mistress, and myself,
fellow Curtis.
[Petruchio’s home outside Verona. The weather is cold. Petruchio’s rascally servant Grumio has just arrived, having been sent ahead to ensure that everything is in order for the arrival of Petruchio and his new wife Katherina. It will help to appreciate the humor in this scene if you imagine that the actor playing Grumio is rather small, which was the case at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater.]

Grumio

Fie, fie on all tired jades, on all mad masters, and all     
foul ways! Was ever man so beaten? Was ever man so    
rayed? Was ever man so weary? I am sent before to make     
a fire, and they are coming after to warm them. Now, were     
not I a little pot and soon hot, my very lips might freeze
to my teeth, my tongue to the roof of my mouth, my heart
in my belly, ere I should come by a fire to thaw me. But    
I with blowing the fire shall warm myself, for, considering
the weather, a taller man than I will take cold. Holla, ho, Curtis!

Grumio

the weather, a taller man than I will take cold. Holla, ho, Curtis!
[Enter Curtis, the head of the household staff]

Curtis

Who is that calls so coldly?

Grumio

A piece of ice. If thou doubt it, thou mayst slide from

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