Saturday, October 4, 2008

15 Minutes : Read It : The Witches' Spell

Who can think of Halloween without thinking of witches? Their black hats, broomsticks and wicked spells are hallmarks in spooky stories for this time of year. But even before we had our traditions of modern-day witchery, William Shakespeare had captured the power, potions and magic that make witches so scary.


So at this time of year, don't forget to read his words out loud to give your family a taste of Halloween fright. And read it with your best scratchy, witch voice too!

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.

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