CHAPTER XXVI

CLEVER TRICKS WORTH KNOWING


THE VANISHING KNOTS

For this trick you must use a silk handkerchief. Twisting it, rope-
fashion, and grasping it by the middle with both hands. You must
request one of the spectators to tie the two ends together. He does
so, but you tell him he has not tied them half tight enough, and you
yourself pull them still tighter. A second and a third knot are made
in the same manner, the handkerchief being drawn tighter by yourself
after each knot is made. Finally, take the handkerchief, and covering
the knots with the loose part, you hand it to some one to hold.
Breathing on it, you request him to shake out the handkerchief, when
all the knots are found to have disappeared.

When the performer apparently tightens the knot, he in reality only
strains one end of the handkerchief, grasping it above and below the
knot. This pulls that end of the handkerchief out of its twisted
condition and into a straight line, round which the other end of the
handkerchief remains twisted; in other words, converts the knot into a
slip-knot. After each successive knot he still straightens this same
end of the handkerchief. This end, being thus made straight, would
naturally be left longer than the other, which is twisted round and