Читать книгу Water Wizardry - Arthur Wellesley Pain - Страница 14

I know of four ways of doing this trick, but we need not take any notice of the first because you are not likely to trouble to learn it; it consists in actually doing what you profess to do—balance the glass. It can be done, but you need a very steady hand and long practice.

The second way is by the aid of a specially prepared card. This is made of two cards, fastened together.

Fold a card lengthways in half. Stick one-half to the back of another card and then fold back the half which is not stuck so that the back of the prepared card may appear to be the back of an ordinary card.

Now, if you hold up this card by the sides you can easily fold the loose half back a little when you are putting the glass on the edge of the card, and thus you get a firm standing place for the glass. If you wish to be able to throw this card down on the table without giving away the secret (because there will naturally be a little curve in the part which you folded back) you must make a little spring hinge by means of a strip of india-rubber down the card. A card prepared in this way can be bought at a conjuring shop. The trick is quite a good one when done in this way, but, of course, it has this drawback. If you are performing at a friend's house and you are using borrowed cards it is more than probable that the backs of the borrowed cards will not match the back of the trick card. Well, you can do the trick without the use of a specially prepared card, and this brings us to the third method.

Take any card and fold it in halves lengthways. Then fold it back again and put it on the top of the pack. Of course, if you are performing with a borrowed pack of cards you will have to seize your opportunity to do this when the attention of the audience is directed to another trick, or you can do it before your performance begins.

Now, pick up the two top cards together and hold them in the right hand in the way described, with the face of the lower card towards the audience. You will understand, of course, that to the audience these two cards must appear to be one card. When you take the glass with your left hand and try to balance it on the top of the card the back of the left hand is towards the audience and the hand nearly covers the whole of the card. This gives you the chance of bending back the top card to make a firm resting-place for the glass. The bending is done with the right first finger. To assist you in keeping the cards nicely squared up while you are bending back the top one place the right little finger under the lower edge of the cards and the left middle finger and thumb at the sides, the left thumb being just above the right thumb. Of course, the left hand is held in this position for only a few moments while you are balancing the glass.

After you have done the trick in this way casually return the two cards to the pack and shuffle the cards, thus getting the bent card out of sight.

The fourth method is, to my mind, the best of the lot, because you use only one card. Hold it in the way described and bend it slightly, the convex side being towards the audience. Now, in the act of balancing the glass on the edge with your left hand just stick your right first finger straight up behind the card and rest the glass partly on the edge of the card and partly on the tip of your finger which, of course, is hidden by the card. It will be necessary to hold the card up fairly high so that no one can get a glimpse over the top of it. The trick is over so quickly that no one notices that the first finger is concealed behind the card.