The witch rose from her chair and hobbled up to the kettle, helping herself along with a long-handled stick. She leaned over the kettle, looking down into it for a moment or two, then, waving her stick, commenced to sing in a high, shrill voice. It sounded at first as if she were singing the multiplication table. George remembered bits of it, and this is what he said she sang:
"Twice times one is two,
Bubble, bubble brew!
Water boil and fire burn,
Turn around and turn and turn.
Up and down, and down and up,
Fill the pot and fill the cup.
Blood of toad and juice of nettle
Stew and stew within the kettle.
Stir about with witch's stick.