7. Literature: William Shakespeare wrote a play featuring the fairies Pease-blossom and Mustard-seed, a group of actors, and some very confused couples. Which play is this?
From Quiz Pass The Mustard, Please!
Answer:
A Midsummer Night's Dream
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a Shakespeare comedy which takes place in Athens and features three different groups of characters: the fairies, a group of actors (one of whom is Nick Bottom, a weaver whose head is transformed into that of a donkey), and a group of young Athenians. Hermia, who is supposed to marry Demetrius, loves Lysander; Lysander loves Hermia; and Demetrius loves Hermia at first, but ends up falling in love with Helena, who has the hots for him. Oberon, the fairy king, orders his servant Puck anoint Demetrius' eyes with a love potion that will make him fall in love with the first person he sees, and chaos ensues after Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius. Peaseblossom, Mustardseed, Moth and Cobweb are all servants of the fairy queen Titania, another victim of the love juice, who falls in love with Bottom.
Random mustard factoid: the first people to use mustard as a condiment in Europe were the Romans, who mixed grape juice with ground mustard seeds imported from India. In fact, mustard gets its name from the Latin 'mustum ardens', which means 'burning must' ('must' is a type of grape juice made in the early stages of winemaking).