Shakespeare Tales: Macbeth

By Terry Deary

From the bestselling author of Horrible Histories, named 'the outstanding children's non-fiction author of the 20th century' by Books For Keeps
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Ideal for readers aged 7+

Orphaned pot-girl Mary has buckets of stage blood to clear up under the horrible gaze of Master 'Foulbrew'. Can she find a way to escape her revolting master? Meanwhile, on stage, Lady Macbeth wants to be queen but old King Duncan is on the throne. The witches say Lord Macbeth will rule, so ghosts, treason and blood are bound to follow.

Terry Deary's Shakespeare Tales explore the fascinating world of William Shakespeare through the eyes of children who could have lived at the time. Join master storyteller Terry Deary for a trip back in time to Shakespeare's England and a gripping adventure. This edition features notes for the reader to help extend learning and exploration of the historical period.
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'Bubbling with wit, language play and robust dialogue....just the right mix of ingredients to trigger young readers' interest in all things historical' - Books For Keeps

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Apr 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781472917812

Terry Deary

Terry Deary is the author of over 200 fiction and non-fiction books, which have been published in 32 languages. His historical fiction for older children Tudor Terror has been praised as "a marvellous blend of fact and fiction" (School Librarian). His non-fiction has been consistently in the best-seller lists since 1994. His Horrible Histories celebrated their 15th anniversary in 2008, having sold over 10 million copies worldwide and been adapted as television series, theatre tours and museum exhibitions. Terry Deary was voted "Outstanding children's non-fiction author of the 20th Century" by Books for Keeps magazine.

Book preview

Prologue

The pot-girl’s tale

So much blood. It was splashed across the stage when the actors showed the play they called ‘Macbeth’. It splattered on the walls and the costumes, the swords and the shoes. It even hit one of the watching women in the eye one evening. (How she screamed. How I laughed.)

It was pig’s blood of course. They kept it in a bucket by the side of the stage and dipped their daggers in it before each scene to make the fights look real. (I mean they kept the blood in a bucket … not a pig. Sorry. This writing is much harder than I thought. But I need to tell you my story.)

The audience loved all the stabbing and the fighting. But no one stopped to ask one question. ‘Who clears up the blood?’ I’m sure Master Shakespeare never thought about that when he wrote the play.

I could have told them, ‘It’s me. It’s not really my job. I am Mary, a pot-girl at the White Swan Inn. I gather the empty ale pots and wine cups from the wooden tables. Then I fill them and take them to the rowdy drinkers with bad teeth and worse breath. Sometime they give me a penny or two. Mostly they ignore me like the sawdust on the floor. The sawdust I had to sweep up every night with the spilled beer and spit.

But once a year the players came to the White Swan. They set up a stage in the stable-yard and the customers took their ale out to watch the plays. They were the most exciting thing