STAGE MAGIC

 Muffs was glad when her mother slipped into the empty seat that Mary had left. She looked beautiful with her face turned up toward the stage. She wasn’t paying any attention to Muffs, only to the Bramble Bush Man standing¹ there in the blue shadows. Mary stood beside him. Muffs had always thought of Mary as a big girl but now she looked very, very small. Could people shrink, Muffs wondered. Could they grow so small they couldn’t be seen and then grow big again? Alice in Wonderland did but, of course, that was only a story. Muffs couldn’t think of any other way that a girl could disappear. She wiggled and turned in her seat. It was impossible for her to sit still when she was so excited.

 

Oh! Mary was climbing up onto the long table! The Bramble Bush Man was telling her to lie down!

 

“It doesn’t hurt to disappear, does it, Mary?” he was asking.

 

Mary laughed and said, “Of course not,” in a very happy voice. Nobody seemed worried. Even Muffs’ mother who had been afraid sat there watching just as if she felt sure everything would be all right.

 

“He isn’t going to put up a screen the way most magicians do,” she said almost to herself. “He would be different. The dear man!”

 

100 There

was that same flash of light and then—Boom!

“What did you say, Mother?” Muffs asked.

 

“I said he was different,” her mother replied quickly. “Watch, darling! He’s doing this for us.”

 

Muffs wondered why her mother said that. But there wasn’t much time to wonder. The Bramble Bush Man was chanting something and waving his wand over Mary. There was that same flash of light and then—Boom!

 

“She’s gone!” cried Muffs but nobody heard her because at the same time exclamations² of surprise went up from everyone else in the audience. The table top was empty. The magician had done what he said he would do. He had made a girl vanish right there on the stage.

 

“That’s magic,” he said, beaming. “But it wouldn’t be real magic if I couldn’t bring the girl back again. Have you101 ever heard of Mistress Mary Quite Contrary? Would you like to see how her garden grows?”

 

The clapping below the stage showed that everybody did want to see it so the Bramble Bush Man, still holding his wand, walked over to the edge of the platform where the large vase that Muffs thought she had broken stood on its stand.

 

“We have to say a few magic words first,” he explained, “and then wave the wand and presto³! Up comes a rose bush. Why, hello, Mary! There you are. I thought you disappeared a while ago.”

 

Right out of the vase, if it wasn’t some strange dream, grew first the rose bush and then Mary herself smiling through the parted branches.

 

“They’re real roses too,” declared the magician, “not wooden like the egg. Here they are! Catch this one! And this one!”

 

He and Mary were throwing all the roses out to the children who were watching. Muffs’ mother caught one but instead of giving it to Muffs she kissed it and put it away in her purse.

 

Soon the vase was as empty as it had been before the Bramble Bush Man waved his wand over it.

 

“Ah, there!” he said. “I’ve given away all my flowers.”

 

“Grow some more,” Mary told him. She was still standing on the stage and looked very lovely indeed for she had kept one of the roses and fastened it in her hair.

 

“Grow a lily,” somebody in the audience shouted.

 

Almost immediately a tall, slender lily sprang up out of the pot.

 

“Who asked for the lily?”

 

“I did,” said a tall, gawky boy in the audience.

 

102 He came up on the stage to get it and everybody laughed as he took the lily, sniffed⁴ it and some of the yellow pollen⁵ came off on the end of his nose.

 

Tommy nudged Muffs and whispered, “He’s wondrous⁶ wise all right if he can grow anything you tell him. Grow a Bramble Bush!” he shouted.

 

“Yes! Yes!” called several other children. “Grow a Bramble Bush.”

 

“That’s right,” the magician answered. “If I can’t grow a Bramble Bush and scratch my eyes out in it I’m not the real Bramble Bush Man.”

 

“Gee! He can’t really scratch his eyes out!” Tommy exclaimed.

 

“He can so,” said Mary who had come down from the stage and squeezed in the chair between Muffs and Tommy. “He can do anything!”

 

“Can he, Mother?” Muffs asked.

 

“Yes, dear,” she replied. “I think he can.”

 

The children were growing more excited now. They were standing up in their chairs and calling when, all at once, everything became quiet. The magician was saying his magic words and slowly, slowly, out of the flower pot a real bramble bush spread its branches. It was bigger than the rose bush and taller than the lily and it was covered with berries which the Bramble Bush Man passed around for the children to taste. All the time they kept watching him, wondering if he really meant to scratch out his eyes.

 

They had not long to wonder. Soon the berries were gone from the bush and the magician stood beside it again.

 

“Hokus! Mokus! Pokus!” he said in a mysterious voice.103 Then he gave one leap and the bush seemed to leap toward him. The vase was empty once more and the Bramble Bush Man was caught in a tangle⁷ of briars. Laughter and squeals⁸ filled the room while he struggled to free himself and then—it happened! He hadn’t any eyes.

 

“Don’t worry, folks,” he said cheerfully. “All I need to do is grow another bush and scratch them in again.”

 

The audience was clapping now. Clap! Clap! Clap! went a hundred pair of hands. Perhaps some of them guessed that the magician had only closed his eyes so tightly that they appeared not to be there. Whether they did or not, they knew it was the trick they had been waiting for. None of them expected the surprise.

 

The Bramble Bush Man had turned around, jumped into the other bush and scratched his eyes in again. He had scratched his eyes in again but—he had scratched off his moustache. His black robe with the gold stars was gone too and he not only looked like but he was the headless man.

 

“Headless man! Headless man!” a few of the children who had chased him began to call.

 

He put up his hand. “Not any more. From now on I want to be known as The Bramble Bush Man. Have I earned the title?”

 

“Yes! Yes!” shouted a great many voices and almost at once as many questions were shouted up from the audience:

 

“How did you stretch the hair? How did you make the bramble bush grow? Where did Mary go when she vanished?”

 

There were others too, but Tommy asked the most baffling question of all:

 

“How did your house disappear?”

1 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

2 exclamations   

n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词

参考例句：

• The visitors broke into exclamations of wonder when they saw the magnificent Great Wall. 看到雄伟的长城，游客们惊叹不已。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After the will has been read out, angry exclamations aroused. 遗嘱宣读完之后，激起一片愤怒的喊声。 来自辞典例句

3 presto   

adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的

参考例句：

• With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
• I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。

4 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 pollen   

n.[植]花粉

参考例句：

• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。

6 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

7 tangle   

n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱

参考例句：

• I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
• If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你，我就不跟他们争吵。

8 squeals   

n.长而尖锐的叫声( squeal的名词复数 )v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• There was an outburst of squeals from the cage. 铁笼子里传来一阵吱吱的叫声。 来自英汉文学
• There were squeals of excitement from the children. 孩子们兴奋得大声尖叫。 来自辞典例句