A Quick Summary for Kids

The story takes place in Athens, Greece. The play starts in the courtroom of Duke Theseus. A man named Egeus is having trouble with his daughter so he brings her to the duke for help. Egeus’s daughter, Hermia, doesn’t want to marry Demetrius ‐ the man her father has promised to her. Instead, Hermia wants to marry a poet called Lysander. Duke Theseus reminds Hermia that the law allows fathers to make their daughters do anything. He tells her that her only other choice is to become a nun and never marry anyone.
Since the duke gives them little choice, Lysander and Hermia decide to run away from Athens. They
run into the woods to make plans. While they are in the woods, they run into Helena. Helena is
Hermia’s best friend. She is sad because she loves Demetrius. Hermia wishes Demetrius would love
Helena back ‐ then Hermia could marry Lysander and their problem would be solved!
The fairies that live in the woods are also having problems. Oberon, the king of fairies, is angry at his
queen, Titania. She is taking care of a little human boy and Oberon is jealous. He wants to take the boy
to be his servant. Titania won’t let him so Oberon decides to play a trick on her. He asks his helper,
Puck, to find a magical flower. The flower’s juices are supposed to make someone fall in love with the
first thing they see. Oberon wants Puck to use the flower on Titania.
As night begins to fall, the lovers from Athens are all lost in the woods. Lysander and Hermia are still
trying to run away. Demetrius chases them while Helena follows, begging him to love her back.
Demetrius is mean to Helena and swears he will never love her. Oberon sees this and feels sorry for
Helena. He decides to help her by using the magic flower on Demetrius too.
In another part of the woods, a group of actors are practising a play to perform for Duke Theseus on his wedding day. They are very funny and silly characters. Nick Bottom is the loudest and funniest of them all. He is also very bossy and wants to play all the play’s parts. Puck sees Nick Bottom and thinks it would be funny to make Queen Titania fall in love with him. While Titania is sleeping, Puck drops the magic juices into her eyes. Then Puck makes the joke even funnier by turning Nick Bottom’s head into a donkey head. All of the mechanicals are scared when they see Nick Bottom with a donkey head. They run away screaming and wake up Titania. She instantly falls in love with Nick Bottom.
On his way back to King Oberon, Puck finds Lysander and Hermia sleeping. Puck thinks that Lysander is
the man who needs the love drops. He is wrong! Puck accidentally makes Lysander fall in love with
Helena. Helena is very confused, and Hermia is very mad. She thinks her best friend has stolen her
boyfriend. Puck tries to fix things by putting the drops into Demetrius’s eyes. Now Demetrius loves
Helena too! Helena is angry and thinks the men are teasing her. Hermia tries to fight Helena. Oberon is
mad at Puck for making so many mistakes. He makes Puck stay up all night and fix the mess.
When the lovers wake up in the morning, Lysander loves Hermia and Demetrius loves Helena. Everyone
is happy and they go back to Athens to tell Egeus and Duke Theseus. Everything is better in the fairy
kingdom too. Oberon reverses the spell on Titania and Nick Bottom. Oberon and Titania stop fighting
and Puck apologizes for all his mistakes.