Page 111 - Gibson W.B. "The complete guide to knots"

103
the positions of the rings, cover them
again and work beneath the cloth for
a few moments. When the handker-
chief is removed, the rings have
indeed changed places! To everyones
amazement, the white ring is now on
the lower loop and the black ring on
the upper loop; but the knot between
them is intact. In fact, the knots have
to be untied to remove the rings from
the cord.
Despite its seeming impossibility,
the trick is subtly simple. Underneath
the cloth, you grasp the loops on each
side of the center knot and push them
toward each other. Thanks to the stiff
cord, the knot loosens and you can
run the upper ring along the cord and
through the knot, down to the lower
loop (as shown by the arrows in fig.
3).
Reverse the process with the other
ring, bringing it up through the loo-
sened knot to the upper loop. Then
pull the knot tight again, good and
tight, so no one will realize how you
worked the trick. With a little prac-
tice, this can all be done quite rapidly.

fig. 3