[A heath. Thunder. Enter the three Witches meeting the goddess Hecate]
First Witch
Why how now Hecate, you look angerly?
Hecate
Have I not reason, beldams, as you are
saucy and overbold? How did you dare
To trade and traffic with Macbeth
In riddles and affairs of death,
And I, the mistress of your charms,
The close contriver of all harms,
Was never called to bear my part,
Or show the glory of our art?
And which is worse, all you have done
Hath been but for a wayward son,
Spiteful and wrathful who, as others do,
Loves for his own ends, not for you.
But make amends now: get you gone,
And at the pit of Acheron
Meet me i'th' morning; thither he
Will come, to know his destiny.
Your vessels, and your spells, provide,
Your charms, and everything beside—
I am for th' air: this night I'll spend
Unto a dismal and a fatal end;
Great business must be wrought ere noon.
Upon the corner of the moon
There hangs a vaporous drop, profound.
I'll catch it ere it come to ground.
And that, distilled by magic sleights,
Shall raise such artificial sprites,
As by the strength of their illusion,
Shall draw him on to his confusion.
He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear.
And you all know security
Is mortals' chiefest enemy.
[Music and a song offstage]
Hark, I am called. My little spirit, see,
Sits in a foggy cloud and stays for me.
[Exit]
First Witch
Come, let's make haste; she'll soon be back again.
[Exit]
