The Witches' Spell

The Witches’ Spell

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

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

1 WITCH.  Thrice the brinded 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. .