Double, Double Toil and Trouble!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) from Macbeth.
Act IV, Scene 1

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

1st WITCH: Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

2nd WITCH: Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.

3rd WITCH: Harpier cries:~ 'tis time! 'tis time!

1st 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 THREE: Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2nd 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 THREE: Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

3rd 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 THREE: Double, double toil and trouble;

Fire burn, and caldron bubble.

2nd WITCH: Cool it with a baboon's blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.

-oOo-
*brinded ~ having obscure dark streaks or flecks on gray
*gulf ~ the throat
*drab ~ prostitute
*chaudron ~ entrails

-oOo-