Pickles and Pitch

You’ve probably heard at least part of this quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.”

But did you know that most of these terms were not literal? Eye of newt, for example, just means mustard seed. Shakespeare’s witches weren’t brewing up an unholy mixture of animal parts, but simple plants!