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.
