ANTIPHOLUS
Thou seemest to be in a rush, Dromio.
Why dost thou run so fast? Where dost thou go?
DROMIO
I am an ass.
An ass am I.
A woman has claimed me, and made me cry.
She works in the kitchen – she’s oozy and greasy.
To turn her into a lamp would be easy.
Her clothes and the body inside would burn stronger
Than a Flaming Floo-Flibber can burn – and longer!
ANTIPHOLUS
And what of her face?
DROMIO
It’s a filthy disgrace.
My shoe leather’s cleaner, and nicer to smell;
The sweat and the grime are as deep as a well.
ANTIPHOLUS
Some water and soap will mend that in a trice.
DROMIO
No, sir, ‘tis ingrained; Noah’s flood won’t suffice.
ANTIPHOLUS
Her name, pray tell?
DROMIO
She calls herself Nell.
But an ell and three quarters, that’s one meter wide,
Would not reach half the way from her near to far side.
ANTIPHOLUS
So she’s rather full-bodied, to say the thing nicely?
DROMIO
As big as a house, to put it precisely.
You could make twenty circus tents out of her robe.
She’s more round than tall, like a big sweaty globe.
ANTIPHOLUS
On this globe, where is Ireland, green as a frog?
DROMIO
In her buttocks – I found it out by the bogs.
ANTIPHOLUS
What about Scotland? Where does that stand?
DROMIO
Look in the barren, hard palm of her hand.
ANTIPHOLUS
And where does the kingdom of sunny Spain lie?
DROMIO
Felt, but not seen, on her breath, hot and dry.
ANTIPHOLUS
America, the Indies, now where found you those?
DROMIO
Oh, rubies and carbuncles! All over her nose!
ANTIPHOLUS
Where stood the Netherlands, sir, do you know?
DROMIO
Oh, sir, I did not dare to look quite so low!
Original - A Comedy of Errors, III.ii