Macbeth Act 4, Scene 1
[A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three Witches]
First Witch: Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
Second Witch: Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.
Third Witch: Harpier cries, 'Tis time, 'tis time.
First Witch:
Round about the cauldron go;
In the poisoned entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one:
Sweltered venom, sleeping got.
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
All:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron 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 cauldron bubble.
Third Witch:
Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravined salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digged i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Slivered in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
All:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Second Witch:
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
[Enter Hecate, goddess of witchcraft]
Hecate:
O well done. I commend your pains,
And every one shall share i' the gains.
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.
[Music and a song, Hecate retires]
Second Witch:
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks.
William Shakespeare
