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Hello, I'm Tim.
Today's story was written as a play hundreds of years ago,
and it's sometimes known as the Scottish Play.
It involves fighting witches and a man called Macbeth.
We begin with three cackling witches who are meeting Macbeth,
a Scottish nobleman who's been out fighting in a great battle.
The witches predict that he will become Thane of Cordor and King of Scotland,
and that the descendants of his friend Banquo will become kings.
What a prediction!
Banquo thinks this is a joke, but Macbeth is excited by the idea, and guess what?
Macbeth is actually made Thane of Cordor by King Duncan as a reward for his bravery.
Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth, who's back at home, hears of the news,
and decides to set out to help him become King too by any means she can.
Firstly, she persuades him to kill King Duncan.
Macbeth does this by stabbing him in his sleep.
Nobody else knows who committed this murder, and so Macbeth is crowned King of Scotland.
So two out of the three witches' predictions have come true,
but he's worried that the third prediction about Banquo's descendants becoming kings will also become true.
So cruelly he attempts to kill his friend Banquo's son.