MALCOLM, old SIWARD and his SON, MACDUFF, MENTEITH, CAITHNESS, ANGUS, LENNOX, ROSS, and SOLDIERS enter marching, with a drummer and flag..
MALCOLM
Kinsmen, I hope the time is coming when people will be safe in their own bedrooms.
MENTEITH
We don't doubt it.
SIWARD
What's the name of this forest behind us?
MENTEITH
Birnam Wood.
MALCOLM
Tell every soldier to break off a branch and hold it in front of him. That way we can conceal how many of us there are, and Macbeth's spies will give him inaccurate reports.
SOLDIERS
We'll do it.
SIWARD
We have no news except that the overconfident Macbeth is still in Dunsinane and will allow us to lay siege to the castle.
MALCOLM
He wants us to lay siege. Wherever his soldiers have an opportunity to leave him, they do, whatever rank they are. No one fights with him except men who are forced to, and their hearts aren't in it..
MACDUFF
We shouldn't make any judgments until we achieve our goal. Let's go fight like hardworking soldiers.
SIWARD
Soon we'll find out what's really ours and what isn't. It's easy for us to get our hopes up just sitting around thinking about it, but the only way this is really going to be settled is by violence. So let's move our armies forward.
They exit, marching.