Water Wizardry: A collection of tricks in which water is the chief agent

by Arthur Ainslie

The trick is, of course, to make the glass of water and the bottle change places. You pronounce the magical word, lift the covers, and show that your command has been obeyed. Having done that it is as well to raise the glass to let the audience see that there is water in it. Then you cover the glass and the bottle again and cause them to return to their original places, and once more you show that the two covers are empty.

Unknown to the audience the conjurer uses two bottles for this trick and two glasses. The bottles are made of tin and are painted black to resemble dark glass bottles. Neither bottle is quite "ordinary." One of them has no bottom to it, and is therefore a mere shell. The other has the bottom fixed in about half-way down, leaving room for a small glass to be hidden in the bottle under the bottom. Close up against the neck of this bottle there is fixed a tiny tin tube which passes down the neck and then through the centre of the bottom. Therefore, if you merely pour water into the neck of the bottle it remains in the bottle, but if you insert a funnel into the top of the little tube and pour water into the funnel you are really pouring the water into the glass hidden under the bottom of the bottle.

Fig. 7

Of course, both bottles must be exactly alike and the label on one must match the label on the other; it is a good plan to have a little piece "accidentally" torn off the label. At the outset of the trick a glass, similar to the "visible" one, is placed in the small bottle (the one holding the water); the shell bottle is placed over that bottle. To enable the conjurer to pick up the bottles and glass together two small holes are made in the backs of the bottles; the tip of the middle finger passes through both holes and holds the glass against the interior of the bottle. In order to prevent the glass from "talking" (making any sound by knocking against the inside of the bottle) it is a good plan to line the lower half of the bottle with cloth.

The working of the trick will now be clear. Hold the bottle in the right hand and the glass in the left. Pour out the water and stand the bottle down, taking care to keep the side with the hole away from the audience. Then apparently pour some of the water back into the bottle, but by using the funnel you pour it into the glass below. When you are practising the trick you can find out by experiment just how much water to pour back in this way, and if you make a little scratch on the glass you will guard against the fatal mistake of pouring in too much (because you cannot get it back again) or pouring too little. Obviously, the water you pour into the bottle (really into the glass below) should be equal in quantity to that which you leave in the glass.

Having settled this matter to your satisfaction place the glass on the other table or, if you are performing with only one table, keep the bottle and glass as far apart as possible; if they are close together some members of your audience may be confused and forget on which side is the bottle and which the glass.

Now comes the business of handing round the cardboard covers for examination. When you get them back again take care to hold the larger one in the right hand. While pattering to your audience you quietly pass the larger cover over the bottle, raise it, and then put the smaller one over the bottle. In raising the larger cover you should nip it slightly and so get the shell bottle inside it.

A word of caution is here necessary. Do not forget that there is a hole in the back of the bottle; when you place the cover containing the shell bottle over the glass—which you do immediately after you have covered the bottle with the smaller cover—you want to make sure that the hole in the shell bottle is still at the back. Therefore, note carefully the position of the hand when you raise the cover with the shell bottle inside it, and when you place the cover over the glass see that your hand assumes the same position. You will probably find it convenient to stand behind the table and to keep your thumb at the back of the cover.

Now the bottle and the glass are covered, and all you have to do to cause them to change places is to raise both covers; you grip the one on the right rather tightly, thus raising the bottle inside it and disclosing the glass, and you hold the other loosely, thus leaving the bottle in view. Cover the glass and bottle again and to cause them to go back to their original positions first pick up the one on your left—gripping tightly to hold the shell bottle inside it; then walk over to the other and raise it, showing the bottle.