A fairy tale on the printed page excites a child's wonder and stretches his imagination. Drama is added when it is read or told by a good storyteller. Magic adds an extra dimension. A magic trick, well presented, is a fairy tale come alive. The magician is himself a storyteller and the wonders he relates appear to happen. This is why all children are fascinated by magic.

If you can do even one trick that is really magical you can command any child's instant attention. If you can do several, you are Superman, Merlin, and a fairy godmother all in one. It is a sure-fire way to make friends of, and influence, children.

A question which all magicians hear constantly from par­ents, grandparents, and teachers, from leaders of Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Campfire Girls, from anyone who has or who works with children is this, "Are there a few simple tricks I could learn to do for my kids?" And they usually add, "Of course, my fingers are all thumbs and I couldn't learn any sleight of hand."

We have good news. Magic consists in doing or appearing to do the impossible. This sounds difficult and magicians are careful not to contradict this notion. On the contrary, be­cause it is good showmanship, they pretend that all tricks, even easy ones, require great skill. But all magic is not as difficult as it may look. Sometimes the most difficult-appear­ing tricks are actually accomplished by very simple means. And often a trick which the spectators believe must require difficult sleight of hand uses some quite different method and may require little or no manual dexterity at all.

We have more good news. The phrase sleight of hand im­plies manual dexterity, but sleight of hand does not always require a special talent and long hours of practice. Some of it can be done by anyone who can accomplish such simple actions as tying a knot or shuffling a deck of cards.

Magicians have long pretended that the hand is quicker than the eye. This is another red herring to mislead audi­ences. The hand is not quicker than the eye; it does not need to be. The real secret is more subtle. The important prin­ciples of deception are more psychological than visual. The magician is more concerned with misdirecting the mind than fooling the eye. He induces his audience to make false as­sumptions, think illogically, and draw wrong conclusions, so that they end by believing that something happened which did not happen. And you do not need to have a degree as a psychologist to accomplish this. Some tricks are so designed that the psychological misdirection is built in and works automatically. These are the tricks you will find here.

Some of the tricks that follow are so nearly automatic that you will be able to do them as soon as you have read the instructions. These have been placed at the beginning of each chapter and, if you have not previously done any magic, these are the tricks you should learn first. Concentrate on one or two at a time; don't complicate things by trying to learn too many all at once. Begin by learning a few, and then expand your repertoire gradually.

Remember that reading the instructions and learning the secret of a trick does not make you a magician. Magic is a performing art and is best learned by doing. But don't step out in front of a dozen or more children and attempt for the first time a trick you have just learned. Use your family as a rehearsal audience; try it on them first. This will give you the confidence you will need to perform before other and larger audiences. Confidence is all important. A magician who is unsure of himself is a contradiction in terms, and his pretense of having magic powers is less than convincing.

Since there is no real magic, a magician is an actor pre­tending to be a magician. And, like any actor, he acquires the confidence and facility he needs through practice and rehearsal. You won't need to spend long hours in acquiring digital dexterity to perform the tricks you find here, but you should rehearse them enough so that you can present them smoothly and without a hitch.

Since the magician is an actor, a magic trick is a short dramatic sketch, and the instructions for doing a trick are his acting script. At least they should be. Trick instructions for the beginner are often so abbreviated that only part of the script is given. The mechanics of the trick, the secret of what makes it work are explained, but little or nothing is said about a much more important matter: how the trick should be performed.

An old and very true maxim among professional magicians is, "It is not so much what you do as how you do it." A be­ginner who has learned a trick from instructions that neglect to tell him how to present it may manage to fool his audi­ence, but the trick is never as effective nor as entertaining as it could be. He discovers this when he sees a professional perform the same trick and get far more applause. The dif­ference is that the beginner has gone through all the motions and only managed to present the bare bones of the trick. He has simply propounded a puzzle which could, properly pre­sented, have been transformed into a feat that seems really magical and far more interesting to watch.

We have tried here to supply complete acting scripts which give not only the mechanics but also the dramatic presentations that add the interest and suspense and humor which will make your magic entertaining.

Learn the mechanics first. Study the instructions with the necessary props in hand. This is especially important with card tricks. If you have the cards in hand and perform each action as you read, directions which at first glance may seem complicated become not only much easier to follow but are much more quickly memorized.

After you have learned the physical action, study the presentation. Learn your lines. These are set in italic both to emphasize their importance and as an aid to study. Don't try to improvise your lines as you perform. They are too im­portant. They are what make the trick entertaining, and it is also in what you say and how you say it that much of the misdirection lies on which your deception depends. Later, when you have had more experience, you may want to fit different words to the music, but at the beginning stick to the script; it's safer.

You can be fully confident of one thing at the start. When you perform for children you have a willing and eager audi­ence. You should be warned that kids en masse are some­times too helpful. Don't ever ask for a volunteer when you need an assistant. They are all so eager to get into the act that you may be trampled by the thundering herd. Go into the audience, pick out the child you want, and bring him back.

Even this sometimes creates an uproar as they all shout offers of assistance. Counter this with, "I never use noisy as­sistants; only quiet ones." This usually restores some measure of order to the proceedings.

You should, perhaps, be warned about Cub Scouts. They are the world's noisiest audience. They whistle loudly and continuously. Don't try to raise your voice above this pande­monium; it isn't possible. Stop, put your hands over your ears, and wait. Eventually they get the idea that the show isn't going to proceed under these conditions and the hulla­baloo dies down. An announcement at this point that you will award a special merit badge to the quietest Scout often helps. Then, once or twice after a trick, make good on this offer and pay off with a nickel or dime.

Both the kind of tricks that you do and the length of your program should be determined by the age level of your au­dience. If most of the group are too young to be able to tell one card from another omit the card tricks. For small chil­dren three or four tricks at one time may be sufficient. As they get older and their attention span lengthens you can do more. But don't stay on too long; always stop while they are still asking for more. Formal programs for groups of some size can run longer, but it is always best to stop too soon rather than too late.

Make sure that you have rehearsed each trick you do suf­ficiently, so that it goes off smoothly and without a hitch. This is even more important when performing for children than adults, because a child who sees something you didn't intend him to see can't resist saying so promptly in a loud voice. This draws everyone's attention to the mistake. Adults, more inhibited, are much less likely to do this. They are also aware that your magic powers are pretended and that you are acting a part, and they don't feel that they must try to expose you. Children, more literal minded, take your claim to be a wonder-worker at face value and are disillusioned if they see anything that contradicts this. They are also dis­appointed. They prefer to believe in Santa Claus; they want the magic to be real. Don't let them down.

If you like kids you will have a lot of fun doing the magic in this book. No matter how much time and effort you put into it you will be repaid many times over by the wide-eyed enchantment on their faces and the excited wonder in their eyes as the magic happens.

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