Act I, Scene 3

A heath near Forres.

[Thunder. Enter the three Witches]

• First Witch. Where hast thou been, sister?

• Second Witch. Killing swine.

• Third Witch. Sister, where thou? 100

• First Witch. A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
  And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:—
  'Give me,' quoth I:
  'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries.
  Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger: 105
  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. 110

• 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' the shipman's card. 115
  I will drain him dry as hay:
  Sleep shall neither night nor day
  Hang upon his pent-house lid;
  He shall live a man forbid:
  Weary se'nnights nine times nine 120
  Shall he dwindle, peak and pine:
  Though his bark cannot be lost,
  Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
  Look what I have.

• Second Witch. Show me, show me. 125

• First Witch. Here I have a pilot's thumb,
  Wreck'd as homeward he did come.

[Drum within]

• Third Witch. A drum, a drum!
  Macbeth doth come. 130

• All. 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. 135
  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 call'd to Forres? What are these
  So wither'd and so wild in their attire, 140
  That look not like the inhabitants o' the 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 chappy finger laying
  Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, 145
  And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
  That you are so.

• Macbeth. 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! 150

• Third Witch. All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!

• Banquo. Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
  Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,
  Are ye fantastical, or that indeed
  Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner 155
  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, 160
  Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
  Your favours nor your hate.

• First Witch. Hail!

• Second Witch. Hail!

• Third Witch. Hail! 165

• 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! 170

• 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, 175
  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.

[Witches vanish]

• Banquo. The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,
  And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd?

• Macbeth. Into the air; and what seem'd corporal melted
  As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!

• Banquo. Were such things here as we do speak about? 185
  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? 190

• Banquo. To the selfsame 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' fight, 195
  His wonders and his praises do contend
  Which should be thine or his: silenced with that,
  In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day,
  He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
  Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make, 200
  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 pour'd them down before him.

• Angus. We are sent 205
  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: 210
  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 borrow'd robes? 215

• Angus. Who was the thane lives yet;
  But under heavy judgment 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 220
  He labour'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
  But treasons capital, confess'd and proved,
  Have overthrown him.

• Macbeth. [Aside] Glamis, and thane of Cawdor!
  The greatest is behind. 225
  [To ROSS and ANGUS]
  Thanks for your pains.
  [To BANQUO]
  Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
  When those that gave the thane of Cawdor to me 230
  Promised no less to them?

• Banquo. That trusted home
  Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
  Besides the thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange:
  And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, 235
  The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
  Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
  In deepest consequence.
  Cousins, a word, I pray you.

• Macbeth. [Aside]. Two truths are told, 240
  As happy prologues to the swelling act
  Of the imperial theme.—I thank you, gentlemen.
  [Aside] This supernatural soliciting]
  Cannot be ill, cannot be good: if ill,
  Why hath it given me earnest of success, 245
  Commencing in a truth? I am thane of Cawdor:
  If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
  Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
  And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
  Against the use of nature? Present fears 250
  Are less than horrible imaginings:
  My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
  Shakes so my single state of man that function
  Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
  But what is not. 255

• Banquo. Look, how our partner's rapt.

• Macbeth. [Aside] If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me,
  Without my stir.

• Banquo. New horrors come upon him,
  Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould 260
  But with the aid of use.

• Macbeth. [Aside] Come what come may,
  Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

• Banquo. Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

• Macbeth. Give me your favour: my dull brain was wrought 265
  With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
  Are register'd where every day I turn
  The leaf to read them. Let us toward the king.
  Think upon what hath chanced, and, at more time,
  The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak 270
  Our free hearts each to other.

• Banquo. Very gladly.

• Macbeth. Till then, enough. Come, friends.

[Exeunt]