Clever Bird
Here is where you display your skills as a bird trainer.
But not the average magician’s dove, you train plastic
birds!
Show everyone a length of thick cord with 3 knots tied
in it at approximately equal distances apart. The knot at
your left has a bangle suspended from it and in there
sits your favorite pet, Percy the Prestidigitorial
peregrine, 100% plastic but smart enough to fool any
audience with your expert help.
You say that Percy will not only jump to the other end
of the cord but he will take his perch with him (you have
to keep the budget down so can only supply one
bangle!).
But Percy needs his privacy so you quickly move the
whole set-up behind your back for a moment.
Of course, you reverse the ends of the cord while it is
behind your back so this time the bangle and the "bird"
is at your right.
Your audience will probably display slight indications of
disapproval here, so you say that tonight, just for them,
Percy has agreed to try an even more difficult feat. He
will travel with his perch to the center knot. Everyone
knows this is impossible, unless you cheat.
Well, you and Percy do it. And yes, you do have a little
up your sleeve. Well, it is really the extra knot in the
cord that is hidden in your hand through the early parts
of the routine which makes this miracle possible.
You start the routine with the extra knot in your left
hand, about the same distance from the knot with the
bangle as that knot is from the next knot which is the
one the audience think is the centre knot.
When you do the first switch of ends, you make sure
the hidden knot is smoothly exchanged from your left
hand to your right so there is no apparent change as far
as the audience is concerned.
But the next time you put the set-up behind your back,
your right hand releases the hidden knot and your left
moves along so the rope and covers what had been the
visible knot at that end of the rope.
Now, you only have to bring the set-up to the front
again and Percy can get his deserved applause!
Here is where you display your skills as a bird trainer.
But not the average magician’s dove, you train plastic
birds!
Show everyone a length of thick cord with 3 knots tied
in it at approximately equal distances apart. The knot at
your left has a bangle suspended from it and in there
sits your favorite pet, Percy the Prestidigitorial
peregrine, 100% plastic but smart enough to fool any
audience with your expert help.
You say that Percy will not only jump to the other end
of the cord but he will take his perch with him (you have
to keep the budget down so can only supply one
bangle!).
But Percy needs his privacy so you quickly move the
whole set-up behind your back for a moment.
Of course, you reverse the ends of the cord while it is
behind your back so this time the bangle and the "bird"
is at your right.
Your audience will probably display slight indications of
disapproval here, so you say that tonight, just for them,
Percy has agreed to try an even more difficult feat. He
will travel with his perch to the center knot. Everyone
knows this is impossible, unless you cheat.
Well, you and Percy do it. And yes, you do have a little
up your sleeve. Well, it is really the extra knot in the
cord that is hidden in your hand through the early parts
of the routine which makes this miracle possible.
You start the routine with the extra knot in your left
hand, about the same distance from the knot with the
bangle as that knot is from the next knot which is the
one the audience think is the centre knot.
When you do the first switch of ends, you make sure
the hidden knot is smoothly exchanged from your left
hand to your right so there is no apparent change as far
as the audience is concerned.
But the next time you put the set-up behind your back,
your right hand releases the hidden knot and your left
moves along so the rope and covers what had been the
visible knot at that end of the rope.
Now, you only have to bring the set-up to the front
again and Percy can get his deserved applause!
