  The only rope trick I have ever seen performed by an Indian conjuror, is that of "The cut string restored," as it is called in England. The idea is to get one of the audience to cut a piece of string or rope ostensibly in half and by magic to restore it, without the use of knots. The explanation of this trick is given in many books for beginners in Magic. The author of "Modern Magic"—the best work to my mind on Elementary conjuring—says of it "This trick is of such venerable antiquity, that we should not have ventured to allude to it, were it not After offering the rope for thorough examination Shah Mahommed took the two ends and manipulated the rope in such a manner that when it was held out to be cut it was in this wise:— Held at A by the left hand and at B by the right. It was cut at x and consequently was in two pieces not of equal length, but of which one was practically the whole length of the rope while the other was the piece AX, or possibly some six To go into details and to give the "drill" as to how to get the string or rope into the required position would be tedious and difficult to understand. The illustration, I trust, explains sufficiently clearly the secret of the trick, and if one tries to get it into this position it will be found quite easy to do, "chacun À son gout." Shah Mahommed made quite a feature of the trick, using two assistants for it, one to hold the rope occasionally and the other to cut it. The first time I remember seeing it was when Uncle George showed it to me on my fourth birthday, many long weary years ago. The string (as shewn in the above illustration) being held for the audience to cut at x. |
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