Witches Chant from Macbeth

1st Witch:

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.2nd Witch:

Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.3rd

Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time! 1st Witch:

Round about the cauldron go:

In the poisoned entrails throw.

Toad, that under cold

Days and nights has

Sweated venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first in the charmed pot.

All:

Double,double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.2nd 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 blindworm's sting,

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing.

For charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

All:

Double,double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and couldron bubble.3rd Witch:

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,

Witch's mummy, maw and

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

Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse;

Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips;

Finger of birth-strangled

Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,-Make the gruel thick and slab:

Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,

For ingredients of our cauldron.

All:

Double,double toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron bubble. 2nd Witch:

Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.   Visit the Shakespeare Glossary for vocabulary questions!

In actual performance each stanza is spoken by a different witch and the last two lines of each

Double,double toil and trouble,

Fire burn and cauldron intoned by all three in unison.