The items needed for the presentation of this trick are as follows:
(1) A miniature pagoda of quaint design. It consists of five circular
sections, resting one upon another as illustrated in Fig. 21. The trick
in effect consists of the automatic re-adjustment of these sections after
being taken apart and shown lying apparently haphazard on a Japanese
tray. For drawing-room use the pagoda is about six inches high and the
same diameter across the base. For stage purposes it may be made a trifle
larger.
[Illustration: FIG. 21]
(2) The tray. This, for use with a pagoda of the size above mentioned,
should be not less than twenty inches long by ten or twelve wide,
and fairly heavy, as being less liable to shift in use. It must have
an upright rim; through one corner of which a minute hole is bored,
countersunk and polished on each side of the opening in order to
diminish friction on a thread passing through it.
(3) An electric torch in the shape of a bottle; the light showing itself
at the mouth.
(4) A black dress-hook, sewn point upwards to the lower edge of the
performer’s vest on the right or left side, as may best suit his own
position in working the trick, just where back and front meet.
[Illustration: FIG. 22]
It will be found on examination of the pagoda that each of the parts of
which it consists has a hole bored vertically through its centre. The
topmost portion has in addition a pinhole passing horizontally across
it, about halfway down. Through this a black pin, bent at the head,
passes as shown in Fig. 22. In preparation for the trick a piece about
three feet long of black _plaited_ silk line, with a small wire ring at
one end, is passed by the aid of a needle through the hole in the tray
from the outer side; thence upward through the various sections of the
pagoda, beginning with the undermost, till it finally comes up through
the head. After the needle has been drawn off, the end of the thread is
formed into a loop, which is passed over the cross-pin before mentioned.
The thread is then drawn taut from below, the several segments of the
pagoda resting fairly one upon another in the centre of the tray. The
intermediate portion of the thread is drawn up till the little ring at
the outer end comes close to the tray, and is laid upon it in zigzag
fashion so as prevent the possibility of its fouling at a critical moment.
The introductory patter may run as follows:
“In the course of my travels in Central Africa--you didn’t know that I
had been in Central Africa? Strange, how little the world knows of its
greatest men! But no matter! When I was in Africa I chanced to come upon
the place where the Golliwoggs live.
“It’s a nice place--for those who like that sort of place, but most
people would find it a little too warm. It is so warm there that the
hens lay their eggs hard-boiled, and you dig up potatoes ready baked.
It is too warm for anything but simple life,--the very simple life,
particularly as regards clothing. The ordinary walking dress for a
gentleman Golliwogg is a pair of braces. The king wears two pairs; except
on state occasions, when he wears one of those short shirts instead. You
know the kind I mean--all front. I think they call them ‘dickeys.’
“The ladies are more dressy. They get the fashions from back numbers of
the _Daily Mail_; kimonos and camisoles and corsets all in the latest
style. They are made with green paint and put on with a shaving brush.
There is only one thing that bothers the court dressmakers. They can’t
make a crinoline.”
[If desired to shorten the patter the fashion details may be omitted.]
“I mention these little matters in order to give you an idea of the
place, in case any of you might like to take a week-end trip there. If
you are old and tough, you might risk it. If you are young and tender,
you had better not.
“The special point of interest is a curious pagoda in the centre of
the village. It is seventy-five feet high and is supposed to be the
habitation of Mumbo Jumbo; a sort of deputy devil, much respected in
those parts. This little model is an exact copy of it. You can’t call it
pretty, but there is a very remarkable thing about it. When the king dies
(which happens by accident about once a fortnight), the pagoda is pulled
down, and if the new king is acceptable to Mumbo Jumbo (which depends
upon the amount of his tip to the chief witch doctor) old Mum rebuilds
it himself by magic. You don’t see him do it. The pagoda just sits up
and paws the air, so to speak. If Mumbo does not approve, the proposed
king gets a knock on the head with a cocoa-nut, and some more liberal
Golliwogg is crowned instead.
“I naturally wanted to know how the miracle was worked; and I managed to
buy the secret from one of the witch doctors. He sold it to me for a pair
of sixpenny-half penny sock suspenders. He didn’t wear socks, but that
didn’t matter. He put the suspenders on at once and strutted about, as
proud as a dog with three tails.
“Now, I am going to tell you the secret. Scientists tell us that the sun
throws out three sorts of rays; light-rays, heat-rays, and force-rays.
The artful witch doctors have found out a way of bottling off the force
rays. They are mild at first, but when they get old in the bottle, so to
speak, they become so strong that if you know how to do it you can lift
the heaviest weights with them.
“I managed to get hold of a small bottle of the rays” (show bottle) “and
I will show you, on a very small scale, how the thing is done.
“First, we will take the pagoda to pieces.”
Standing behind the table, the performer moves the pagoda to the corner
of the tray nearest his own left hand; so as to leave space for the
different portions when separated. He then picks up all the parts save
the base, holding them carefully together, and drawing away with them a
length of the thread about equal to the diagonal of the tray. Passing the
undermost section downwards along the thread, he lays it down beside the
base, afterwards treating the other portions in the same way, the several
portions finally resting on the tray somewhat as shown in Fig. 23.
[Illustration: FIG. 23]
If the length of the thread has been properly gauged (this is a matter to
be determined by experiment beforehand), there should be some twelve or
fourteen inches of “slack.” Slipping the ring at the end over the little
hook before mentioned, the performer moves a little away from the table,
so as to draw this portion of the thread all but taut, between his own
body and the tray.
“And now to utilise our force rays.” Holding up the bottle-shaped torch
in his right hand, he turns its light onto the tray, at the same time
edging away farther from the table and moving about behind it so as to
cause a gradual pull upon the thread; the effect being that the severed
parts of the pagoda mount gradually one upon another in due order. It is
probable that they will not rest exactly one upon the other. In any case
the performer affects to notice that they do not. Making a remark to that
effect he steps close to the table to straighten them up, and under cover
of so doing draws with the finger nail the pin in the uppermost portion,
thereby releasing the thread. Stepping back again, as though the better
to judge whether the pagoda is now “plumb,” he thereby draws away the
line, and detaching the ring from the hook, lets it fall to the ground.
This done, he returns to the table, and shifting the restored pagoda to
the centre of the tray, brings all forward, inviting anyone who cares to
do so, to satisfy himself that there has been “no deception.”