No Fear Shakespeare

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

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Act 4, Scene 1

Original Text

Modern Text

A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. Enter the three WITCHES.
A cavern. In the middle, a boiling cauldron. Thunder. The three WITCHES enter.

FIRST WITCH
Thrice the brinded cat hath mewed.
FIRST WITCH
The tawny cat has meowed three times.

SECOND WITCH
Thrice, and once the hedge-pig whined.
SECOND WITCH
Three times. And the hedgehog has whined once.

THIRD WITCH
Harpier cries, “'Tis time, ’tis time.”
THIRD WITCH
My spirit friend, Harpier, is yelling, “It’s time, it’s time!”


5



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' th' charmèd pot.
FIRST WITCH
Dance around the cauldron and throw in the poisoned entrails. (holding up a toad) You’ll go in first—a toad that sat under a cold rock for a month, oozing poison from its pores.

10
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.




15



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.
SECOND WITCH
(holding something up) We’ll boil you in the cauldron next—a slice of swamp snake. All the rest of you in too: a newt’s eye, a frog’s tongue, fur from a bat, a dog’s tongue, the forked tongue of an adder, the stinger of a burrowing worm, a lizard’s leg, an owl’s wing. (speaking to the ingredients) Make a charm to cause powerful trouble, and boil and bubble like a broth of hell.

20
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

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