Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Beware of witches...

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

FIRST WITCH:  Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. 
SECOND WITCH:  Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd. 
THIRD WITCH:  Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time! 
FIRST 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. 

SECOND 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. 

THIRD WITCH:  Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
    Witches' mummy; maw and gulf
    Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark;
    Root of hemlock digg'd in 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 ingredients of our caldron. 

ALL:  Double, double toil and trouble;
    Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 

SECOND WITCH:  Cool it with a baboon's blood,
    Then the charm is firm and good. 


William Shakespeare, MacBeth, act IV, scene 1

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