Page 374 - Brion Toss - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

panic. You move your arms first one way, then the pick up another piece of string, and prepare to tie an
other, painfully indecisive. “The ring will come out Overhand Knot without letting go of an end, some-
on my, uh, left, which is your right, right?” And you thing which is also impossible, so you’re going to do
finally bring the string back out and, sure enough, it three different ways. One of these is ingenious, the
the ring is on your left now because, of course, you second cheating, and the third is by-God-actual-in-
switched it while it was hidden, either by turning it explicable Magic.
over or by simply changing hands.
Before anyone can comment on this obvious, OVERHAND KNOT
obvious move, you say, “I know, it’s amazing, but WITHOUT LETTING GO
there’s more.” You put it behind your back again
and say, “Now I’ll make it return to your right. No, First, demonstrate that one must indeed let go the
I mean to my, I’ll make, uh. . . .” And while panic end in order to reach around to pass it through
returns, you appear to be moving your arms inde- the loop; not letting go means, by definition, that
cisively again and the audience is thinking, “This is no knot will result. But have someone else hold the
funny—is he really that dyslexic?” But while they’re ends, fold your arms, pick up the ends, then unfold
laughing, you are quickly and smoothly tying a your arms, and an Overhand Knot appears in the
fourth overhand knot, a hand’s-breadth past the middle of the line (Figure 11-6).
third one. It takes only a little practice to be able That was the ingenious solution. Now explain
to do this in the right place without fumbling. The you’re going to use the second method, the one in
string should need to be out of sight for only four or which you cheat. Be very clear on this point, then
five seconds. immediately explain that you are bound by sacred
When you bring the string out again, having oath as a member of the FSA (Future Saints of
once more end-for-ended it, the ring has indeed America) to never, ever, cheat, so to preclude any
jumped back to the original side. Your short-end possibility of deception you are going to move very
hand covers the new knot—thumb and index finger slowly, holding the ends in plain view in your fin-
are all you need. You appear to be very pleased with
yourself, and more than a little relieved.
At this point, particularly if your audience con- Figure 11-6. An Overhand Knot Without Letting
tains small children or other snide know-it-alls, Go, First Method. Cross your arms, grasp an end in
someone will proclaim that it’s rilly, y’know, a stupid each hand, and uncross your arms. Presto! An Over-
trick, that you just turned the string around when it hand Knot.
was hidden.
You are shocked. You are insulted. You are
dumbfounded. “How could you think I would
do anything so simplistic, so obvious, so easy, so
unmagical? You think I just turned it around? Okay
then, this time I’ll make the ring jump to the mid-
dle knot.” And with that you whip the string behind
your back, grab it by the first-tied knot, and whip it
right back out, with no pause at all. This time when
you hold it up, the new knot is exposed, and the ring
is hanging in the middle.
You have just gone from buffoon to miracle
worker. Before your audience can recover, give a
wicked smile, stuff string and ring into a pocket,

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