Chapter Winds to Winter's Tale of W by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Winter Bird (The), the woodcock.

How nobler to the winter bird to say,
“Poor stranger, welcome from thy stormy way …
The food and shelter of my valleys share.”
   —Peter Pindar [Dr. Wolcot]: Island of Innocence (1809).

Winter King (The), Frederick V., the rival of Ferdinand II. of Germany. He married Elizabeth daughter of James I. of England, and was king of Bohemia for just one winter, the end of 1619 and the beginning of 1620 (1596–1632). (See Snow King, p. 1023.)

Winter Queen (The), Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England, and wife of Frederick V. “The Winter King.” (See Snow Queen, p. 1023.)

Winter’s Tale (The), by Shakespeare (1604). Leontê s king of Sicily invites his friend Polixenês to visit him. During this visi t the king becomes jealous of him, an d commands Camillo to poison him; but Camillo only warns Polixenês of the danger, and flees with him to Bohem ia. When Leo ntês hears thereof, his rage is unbounded; and he casts his queen Hermionê into prison, where she gives birth to a daughter, which Leontês gave direction should be placed on a desert shore to perish. In the mean time, he is told that Hermionê, the queen, is dead. The vessel containing the infant daughter being storm-driven to Bohemia, the child is left there, and is brought up by a shepherd, who calls it Perdita. One day, in a hunt, prince Florizel sees Perdita and falls in love with her; but Polixenês, his father, tells her that she and the shepherd shall be put to death if she encourages the foolish suit. Florizel and Perdita now flee to Sicily, and being introduced to Leontês, it is soon discovered that Perdita is his lost daughter. Polixenês tracks his son to Sicily, and being told of the discovery, gladly consents to the union he had before forbidden. Paulina now invites the royal party to inspect a statue of Hermionê in her house, and the statue turns out to be the living queen.

(The plot of this drama is borrowed from the tale of Pandosto or The Triumph of Time, by Robert Greene, 1583.)

We should have him back
Who told the Winter’s Tale to do it for us.
   —Tennyson: Prologue of The Princess.