Obvious, because very well known, but since I’m annotating all the other Shakespeare references, I might as well point out here that Felmet’s attempts to wash the blood from his hands echo Lady Macbeth’s actions in Macbeth after the killing of Duncan in act 5, scene 1: “Out, damned spot!”, etc.“I am a harmless old seller of apples," she said, in a voice more appropriate for the opening of hostilities in a middle-range war. If he could wash the blood off, he told himself, it wouldn’t have happened. Matters in hand! He’d tried to wash the blood off his hand. Had there been a hiss of shocked breath, down in the darkness of the hall? He’d been certain they were alone. If he closed his eyes he could see the body tumbling down the steps. ‘Of course, there would appear to be many witches, and it might be difficult to find the three that were on the moor.’ But killing a kinsman rather stuck in the throat or-he recalled-the liver. He didn’t, on the whole, object to killing people, or at least ordering them to be killed and then watching it happen. It was clearly in the interests of the species,’ said the duchess. ‘That was how your family used to run a kingdom, was it? You had a positive duty to kill your cousin. The chamberlain gave him a brief nod of relief and scuttled crabwise from the hall. We never felt, that is, the old king didn’t think … Well, they just don’t.’ ‘Well, it’s more that they don’t pay, you see. ‘Not, exactly pay taxes, my lord,’ said the chamberlain.
‘I trust,’ he said, ‘that they do pay taxes?’ I trust your tax gatherers know where to find them?’ You will furnish us with their addresses.’ ‘And we don’t propose to allow them here.
‘Where I come from, we don’t allow witches,’ said the duchess sternly. ‘They smooth out life’s little humps and bumps,’ he said. The last time he had resorted to a witch it had been because certain rectal problems had turned the privy into a daily torture chamber, and the jar of ointment she had prepared had turned the world into a nicer place. ‘It’s considered good luck to have a witch living in your village. ‘Oh, indeed,’ said the chamberlain happily. ‘And people don’t do anything about them?’ said the duchess.
He stood and squirmed under the gaze of Lady Felmet. It was cold and draughty in the Great Hall of Lancre Castle, and the new chamberlain’s bladder wasn’t getting any younger. *** - Wyrd Sisters (Terry Pratchett) | Read books online free without registration and downloading Terry Pratchett « Wyrd Sisters» Subject: Comic Fantasy/Science-fiction ***
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