Exactly what the title says it is.
This is adapted from Monsters and Villains of the Movies and Literature by Gerrie McCall, Dragons: Fearsome Monsters from Myth and Fiction by Gerrie McCall, and Mythical Monsters by Chris McNab.
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FACES: Withered and wild-looking, the three witches all have skinny faces with large, bent noses and warts. MOUTHS: Thin lips stretch across rotting teeth that give off a foul odor. The witches' terrible, cackling laughter echoes across the moors and turns peaceful dreams into nightmares. CLOTHING: Their dark, ragged clothing and pointed hats identify the wicked hags as witches. HANDS: Storms and spirits are raised are raised by their clawed hands. They stir their cauldron and summon apparitions that awaken a thirst for power in Macbeth and give him false hope.
Macbeth, who is the Thane (Bane) of Glamis, and his general Banquo encounter three witches. They tell Banquo that he will father a line of kings. To his surprise, they call Macbeth "Thane of Cawdor" and tell him he will be king. Soon thereafter, Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor. Their prediction has come true, and he now begins to think of being king. He kills King Duncan to secure the throne and hires assassins to kill Banquo and his family, but Banquo's son escapes. Banquo's ghost haunts Macbeth, and Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth, goes insane from the guilt.
Macbeth approaches the witches again. The weird sisters gather around a cauldron, where they conjure three spirits with three warnings. The first apparition is a head equipped with weapons that warns him to beware of Macduff. The second spirit is a bloody child, who says that no one born of a woman shall harm Macbeth. The witches third awful vision is a child wearing a crown and holding a branch in his hand. The crowned child says that Macbeth shall never be defeated until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill.
DID YOU KNOW? Soldiers under Macduff's command cut large branches from trees in Birnam Wood. They use these as a disguise to conceal the size of their army as they march against Macbeth in the castle on Dunsinane Hill.
Macbeth is killed by Macduff despite the spirit's prediction that Macbeth cannot be harmed by anyone born of a woman. This is possible because Macduff was born by cesarean section rather than natural childbirth.
True to the apparition's prediction, Banquo's descendants go on to become rulers of England.
The evil broth in the witches' cauldron contains eye of newt, toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog. Pieces of snake, toad, lizard, and owl are added into the mixture as well.
