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

by Arthur Ainslie

Pick up the empty bowl and show it to the audience. Fill it about half full with rice and stand it on the table. Place the faked bowl on the top of it and, holding the hands round the bowls, get them exactly "together"—an easy thing to do because the bowls are the same size.

Keeping the hands in the same position round the bowls pick up both bowls together and reverse them, so that the faked bowl is now underneath. Obviously, there must be some excuse for doing this; that will be provided for in the "patter." The rice naturally falls on to the top of the celluloid disc, and when the top bowl is lifted the rice seems to have increased in quantity.

Hold the empty bowl in both hands and scoop off some of the rice, letting it fall on to the tray. Repeat the operation, taking a little more rice away. In taking still a little more rice away get a finger nail under the edge of the disc, and in apparently scooping off a little more rice lift the disc under the bowl and place it on the tray; as the disc with the rice on it is placed over the loose rice which fell on the tray in the first instance it is not noticed. The latter part of this "move" must be done fairly quickly, especially if one is performing at close quarters, and the empty bowl is at once placed on the top of the other bowl which now contains only water. To show the final effect is, therefore, an easy matter. The top bowl is lifted with the right hand, the other with the left hand, and the water is poured from bowl to bowl.

Fig. 8

Now for the "variations" of the trick. The weak point of the trick is at the beginning; only one bowl is shown to be empty. Is it not possible that some of the very attentive members of your audience will notice this fact and will say to themselves: "He showed us only one empty bowl—wonder what's in the other?" Of course, people ought not to think in this way, and some conjurers believe that they do not, but my experience tells me that there are always some persons in every audience who do not miss much when it comes to judging a trick and trying to find out the method of the conjurer.

Theoretically, when the conjurer picks up the faked bowl and holds it upside down he convinces the audience that the bowl is empty. How can there be anything in a bowl which is held upside down? Still, I think you will admit that if you can show the interiors of both bowls at the beginning of the performance you make it a much "stronger" trick than if you show only one bowl and let the state of the other be taken for granted. Besides, being an enthusiastic magician you will naturally want to make your performance as nearly perfect as possible, and therefore you will want to begin this trick by showing "two empty bowls." How are you to do it?

Obviously, one bowl has to be exchanged for the faked bowl, and that means that the faked bowl has to be hidden at the beginning of the trick. Here is a simple way of getting over that difficulty.

Have a fairly large bag of rice. Place the faked bowl near the back of the tray and the bag of rice in front of it; the bag can be shaped round the bowl. You will also need a "servante" at the back of your table; this can be either a small shelf or, better still, a bag with the mouth slightly stiffened with a strip of whalebone. The "servante" is hidden from the audience by the tablecloth, which hangs down in front of the table.

Proceed in this way. At the beginning of the trick stand on the left-hand side of your table. Pick up a bowl in each hand, show the bowls to the audience, put the one in the left hand on the table and apparently put the other on the table behind the bag of rice; of course, you really drop it into the bag or place it on the shelf at the back of the table. Continue the movement of the arm until your right hand is resting against the faked bowl which is hidden behind the bag of rice. At the same moment pick up the bag of rice with the left hand. The audience see two bowls on the table and naturally think that they are the two bowls which you have just shown to them. One of the bowls has not left their sight, and if you make the "change" skilfully no one will suspect you of having made it.