THE WITCHES' SPELL

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Act IV, Scene 1 from MACBETH (1606) by William Shakespeare

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A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

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1 WITCH: Thrice the binded cat hath mew'd.

2 WITCH: Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.

3 WITCH: Harpier cries:--'tis time! 'tis time!

1 WITCH: Round about the caldron go;

In the poison'd entrails throw.--

Toad, that under cold stone,

Days and nights has thirty-one;

Swelter'd venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first I' the charmed pot!

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH: Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake;

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,--

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

3 WITCH: Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;

Witches' mummy; maw and gulf

Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;

Root of hemlock digg'd i the dark;

Liver of blaspheming Jew;

Gall of goat, and slips of yew

Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;

Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;

Finger of birth-strangled babe

Ditch-deliver'd by a drab --

Make the gruel thick and slab;

Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,

For the ingrediants of our caldron.

ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2 WITCH: Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.