THE HANDKERCHIEF AND EGG TRICK.

This is a modification of the above.

An egg is passed round for free examination. A handkerchief is held up in the performer’s hands by any two of its corners, and flourished to and fro to prove its innocency. It is then spread out on the table, the egg laid in its centre, and the handkerchief taken by its four ends, so that the audience cannot doubt that the “hen-fruit” is really in the middle.

Fig. 33.

The Magician undertakes to fling the egg by this impromptu sling farther than David did the stone that slew the giant, and, what is more, make it alight in any place previously searched and found empty.

Then, taking the handkerchief by one corner, it is shaken about, and the egg, mysteriously vanished, is found in the designated spot.

Explanation.—The egg is a small one, hard-boiled. There are two handkerchiefs alike sewn together at the edge all round. The one considered as the outside has a slit in the middle, through which the egg glides as into a bag, when the handkerchief is lifted with it in the middle. The egg is let slip into one corner, which is that held by the performer, while the handkerchief is shaken in the air, and thus proven to be empty. A second egg is presently deposited in the place where one was to be found.