Shakespeare’s words in MacBeth are dotted with herbal lore. Here are some of the ‘translations’ of what the ‘witches’ might have put in their cauldron:
Eye of Newt – any of the ‘eye’ flowers such as daisy, horehound, bachelor’s buttons, etc.
Toe of Frog – buttercup
Wool of Bat – holly leaves
Tongue of Dog – houndstongue
Lizard’s Leg – a creeping plant such as ivy
Scale of Dragon – leaf of dragonwort, tarragon
Tooth of Wolf – leaf of wolfsbane
Gall of Goat – honeysuckle or st. John’s wort
Nose of Turtle – turtle’s cap
Adder’s Fork – bistort
Tiger’s Chaundron – lady’s mantle
from: The Magical Almanac, 1993, Scott Cunningham
The Witches Chant from Macbeth
Round about the couldron go:
In the poisones entrails throw.
Toad,that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Sweated venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first in the charmed pot.
Double,double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
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.
Double,double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and couldron bubble.
Scale of dragon,tooth of wolf,
Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg’d in the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat; andslips of yew
silver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by the drab,-
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For ingrediants of our cauldron.
Double,double toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
