The Complete Works of William Shakespeare · William Shakespeare
SCENE V. Court before the Duke of Albany’s Palace
Enter Lear, Kent and Fool. LEAR. Go you before to Gloucester with these letters: acquaint my daughter no further with anything you know than comes from her demand out of the letter. If your diligence be not speedy, I shall be there afore you. KENT. I will not sleep, my lord, till I have delivered your letter. [_Exit._] FOOL. If a man’s brains were in’s heels, were’t not in danger of kibes? LEAR. Ay, boy. FOOL. Then I prithee be merry; thy wit shall not go slipshod. LEAR. Ha, ha, ha! FOOL. Shalt see thy other daughter will use thee kindly, for though she’s as like this as a crab’s like an apple, yet I can tell what I can tell. LEAR. What canst tell, boy? FOOL. She’ll taste as like this as a crab does to a crab. Thou canst tell why one’s nose stands i’the middle on’s face? LEAR. No. FOOL. Why, to keep one’s eyes of either side’s nose, that what a man cannot smell out, he may spy into. LEAR. I did her wrong. FOOL. Canst tell how an oyster makes his shell? LEAR. No. FOOL. Nor I neither; but I can tell why a snail has a house. LEAR. Why? FOOL. Why, to put’s head in; not to give it away to his daughters, and leave his horns without a case.
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