The trick may be introduced as follows:
“Most of you, I dare say, have seen the little natural curiosity known
as the Jumping Bean. To all appearance these are just like other beans;
but if you spread a dozen or so of them on the table and watch them
carefully, you presently see one or more of them turn over, or even make
a little jump. A young and lively bean will sometimes hop as far as half
an inch.
“Scientific gentlemen tell us that their agility is caused by a little
insect inside the bean. When he wags his tail, or scratches himself with
his hind leg, it causes the bean to turn over, or to make a hop. That
seems to me rather a lame explanation because there is no hole in the
bean that the insect could possibly have got in at. I believe myself,
that they are in truth magic beans, and I have been trying to train some
beans of my own to do the same thing on a larger scale, and in such a way
that you can all see them do it.
“Here are my beans.” (Show those on tray.) “Examine them as much as
you like. The more you examine them, the more you won’t find anything
particular about them. You won’t notice any difference between them
and any other beans, but as a matter of fact they are a good deal more
energetic than beans of the ordinary kind, and when they get to know and
love you, they will do all sorts of remarkable things.
“I will pour a few of them into this glass.” (The front compartment
of the mirror glass is filled to about two-thirds of its height.) “To
prevent their getting out again without your knowing it I will press them
down with a handful of these pretty paper shavings.”
This is also done, the quantity of paper being so regulated, in
accordance with previous experiment, that when pressed down it shall come
half an inch or so below the brim of the glass.
“To make matters still more secure I will ask the loan of a lady’s
handkerchief to cover the glass with.”
The handkerchief is taken in the right hand, the left meanwhile raising
the glass a little way to meet it. In covering and lowering it again to
the table the needful half-turn is made.
“I will not touch the glass again until the experiment is finished.
Meanwhile I want to call your attention to these two tubes. You will
observe that one of them is slightly larger than the other. A gentleman
told me the other evening that I was wrong in saying so. He maintained
that the one was smaller than the other. I didn’t argue with him. I
never do with that sort of man. It is just a question of the point of
view. Anyhow, I had the one made larger, or the other one smaller,
whichever way it is, so that the one can go comfortably over the other,
like this.”
A, first carelessly moved about so as to show clearly that it is empty,
is brought down over B and lifted off again, carrying off within it C and
its load; after which B is in turn shown to be empty.
“Now I am going to order the beans to jump out of the glass and into one
or other of these empty tubes, at your own choice. Right? or left? Which
shall it be?”
Performer asks the question standing behind his table, and by means of
the familiar equivoque (“my” or “your” left or right) interprets the
answer to mean A.
“And now I have only to pronounce the proper magic spell. The trouble
is to remember the right one. They are rather confusing, and if you
happen to pronounce the wrong one, or even pronounce the right one the
wrong way, the consequences may be serious. But I think I know this one
pretty well. ‘Peripatetico-paticocorum.’ I fancy I have got it right.
I don’t know quite what it means myself, and nobody seems to be able
to tell me. A Japanese gentleman told me he thought it was Spanish,
but a Spaniard said he felt sure it was Welsh. Somebody else suggested
that I should ‘ask a pleeceman.’ I did ask a policeman, and he said,
‘Go to--’ somewhere I won’t mention, but I don’t think he meant it as
a translation. My own idea is that it is a bit of Esperanto. Anyhow,
it has the desired effect; for you see the beans have left the glass”
(uncovering it and showing it empty), “and they have jumped into this
tube, which is what I wanted them to do.”
The beans are poured from the tube into the vacant portion, now to the
front, of the mirror glass, with due care that the coil at bottom shall
not be seen.
“But there’s something wrong here. I must have made some little mistake
in the pronunciation of the magic spell, for the paper seems to have
disappeared as well as the beans. There is certainly no room for it in
the tube. Here it is, though, or some of it.”
The paper is unwound, and when it comes to an end the wand is passed
through A and C (now bottomless) together, again proving (?) that the
former which is always shown to the spectators could not possibly have
contained the beans in any natural way. A moment or two later the inner
tube can easily be got rid of behind the mass of paper ribbon.
[9] The little dishes of paper pulp sold for picnic purposes will be
found to answer this and similar purposes excellently and have the
further advantage of being exceptionally portable.