Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’th’ Tiger.

But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,

And like a rat without a tail

I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.

SECOND WITCH

I’ll give thee a wind.

FIRST WITCH

Thou’rt kind.

THIRD WITCH

And I another.

FIRST WITCH

I myself have all the other,

And the very ports they blow,

All the quarters that they know

I’th’ shipman’s card.

I’ll drain him dry as hay.

Sleep shall neither night nor day

Hang upon his penthouse lid.

He shall live a man forbid.

Weary sennights nine times nine

Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.

Though his barque cannot be lost,

Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.

Look what I have.

SECOND WITCH

Show me, show me.

FIRST WITCH

Here I have a pilot’s thumb,

Wrecked as homeward he did come.

Drum within

THIRD WITCH

A drum, a drum—

Macbeth doth come.

ALL (dancing in a ring)

The weird sisters hand in hand,

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about,

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

And thrice again to make up nine.

Peace! The charm’s wound up.

Enter Macbeth and Banquo

MACBETH

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

BANQUO

How far is’t called to Forres?—What are these,

So withered, and so wild in their attire,

That look not like th‘inhabitants o’th’ earth

And yet are on’t?—Live you, or are you aught

That man may question? You seem to understand me

By each at once her choppy finger laying

Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,

And yet your beards forbid me to interpret

That you are so.

MACBETH (to the Witches)

Speak, if you can. What are you?

FIRST WITCH

All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.

SECOND WITCH

All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.

THIRD WITCH

All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!

BANQUO

Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear

Things that do sound so fair? (To the Witches) I’th’

name of truth,

Are ye fantastical or that indeed

Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner

You greet with present grace and great prediction

Of noble having and of royal hope,

That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.

If you can look into the seeds of time

And say which grain will grow and which will not,

Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear

Your favours nor your hate.

FIRST WITCH Hail!

SECOND WITCH Hail!

THIRD WITCH Hail!

FIRST WITCH

Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

SECOND WITCH

Not so happy, yet much happier.

THIRD WITCH

Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.

So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

FIRST WITCH

Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

MACBETH

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.

By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis,

But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives,

A prosperous gentleman, and to be king

Stands not within the prospect of belief,

No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence

You owe this strange intelligence, or why

Upon this blasted heath you stop our way

With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you.

The Witches vanish

BANQUO

The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,

And these are of them. Whither are they vanished?

MACBETH

Into the air, and what seemed corporal

Melted as breath into the wind. Would they had stayed.

BANQUO

Were such things here as we do speak about,

Or have we eaten on the insane root

That takes the reason prisoner?

MACBETH

Your children shall be kings.

BANQUO

You shall be king.

MACBETH

And Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so?

BANQUO

To th’ self-same tune and words. Who’s here?

Enter Ross and Angus

ROSS

The King hath happily received, Macbeth,

The news of thy success, and when he reads

Thy personal venture in the rebels’ sight

His wonders and his praises do contend

Which should be thine or his; silenced with that,

In viewing o‘er the rest o’th’ self-same day

He finds thee in the stout Norwegian ranks,

Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,

Strange images of death. As thick as hail

Came post with post, and every one did bear

Thy praises in his kingdom’s great defence,

And poured them down before him.

ANGUS (to Macbeth)

We are sent

To give thee from our royal master thanks;

Only to herald thee into his sight,

Not pay thee.

ROSS

And, for an earnest of a greater honour,

He bade me from him call thee Thane of Cawdor,

In which addition, hail, most worthy thane,

For it is thine.

BANQUO

What, can the devil speak true?

MACBETH

The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me

In borrowed robes?

ANGUS

Who was the thane lives yet,

But under heavy judgement bears that life

Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined

With those of Norway, or did line the rebel

With hidden help and vantage, or that with both

He laboured in his country’s wrack, I know not;