Coven Spell Book Page

One page from a witch’s book: the cauldron scene from Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I, lettered in brown ink on scorched parchment with the speakers’ names in red. It’s the prop for the witch who holds a book, the lectern beside the cauldron, or the wall above a potion bar. It goes with our witch coven yard scene guide.

What’s on the Page

• The scene heading from the Project Gutenberg text, “A dark Cave. In the middle, a Cauldron Boiling,” and the stage direction “Thunder. Enter the three Witches.”
• The First and Second Witch’s opening lines about the cat and the hedge-pig
• The First Witch’s verse (“Round about the cauldron go”) and the Second Witch’s (“Fillet of a fenny snake”), each followed by the chorus, “Double, double, toil and trouble; / Fire, burn; and cauldron, bubble.”
• The credit, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I

The text is Project Gutenberg’s, word for word, apostrophes included. The Third Witch’s lines are left out on purpose: her verse includes ethnic slurs, and nothing a trick-or-treater reads off your lawn should.

Which File to Print

• Parchment PDF (the full-color version): the aged page with burnt edges and red rubrics. Print it on plain white stock and it looks old anyway.
• Print-friendly PDF (-print): black ink on white, no stains or background, so it’s cheap on ink. Run it on parchment cardstock for the old-paper look without the toner.
• PNG: the parchment version as a high-resolution image, for a print shop, a larger enlargement or a tablet propped in a figure’s hands.

Putting It in the Scene

Print at 100% on letter paper. For a figure that holds a book, fold the page into a stiff cardstock cover or tape it inside an old hardback, then zip-tie the book to the hands. On a lectern or plant stand next to the cauldron, tilt it toward the path so it reads from where people walk. Outdoors, laminate it first: our outdoor yard signs guide covers why paper fails in the first damp night and how to seal the edges.

A single light aimed down at the page makes it readable after dark. Keep it an LED: the rest of the coven guide explains why there’s no real flame anywhere near a cauldron scene. For more signage, the yard haunt warning signs are in the same laminate-and-stake format.