Two sets of pictures of five different animals are needed. Paste five different Animal pictures on five blank visiting cards and put the name of each animal underneath the pictures. Put some sort of secret marks on the back of each card to mark them 1 through 5, so that you can identify each animal without seeing the picture. This is the first set. Cut the other set of five pictures in halves through the middle of the animals and paste each piece on ten double blank visiting cards. Now take two cards bearing two halves of an animal and write the name in two parts as follows: If the picture is of a LION, write ‘LI’ on the card below the picture bearing front or head half of the Lion and ‘ON’ below rear half on the card. Do the same with all the other cards. Memorise the following chart, for transfer of cards : - Number - Move 1. - Move one card from top to face (bottom) of the pack. 2. - Move two cards from face (bottom) to top of the pack. 3. - Leave the stack (pack) of cards as it is. 4. - Move two cards from top to face (bottom) of the pack. 5. - Move one card from face (bottom) to top. Set Up: Stack the cards of second set with two halves of each animal in pairs. The pair bearing the code number ‘one’ should be the first pair of the face down stack, followed by the pair with serial no.2 and so on. Put this stack of cards inside a wallet with the First set of Five cards over it. Presentation: Remove the cards from the wallet, separate the first set from the rest of the cards, and place the half animal set on the table. Fan the cards in hand and show the complete animal set. Turning the cards face down, mix them and request a spectator to pick any card but not to see the face. However, you note the secret code number on the back of the selected animal card. Leaving the other cards in hand aside, you now take the second set of cards lying on the table. Lifting the cards in pairs, you show that each animal is cut into halves. Count the cards to show that there are ten pieces of five animals. Then casually shift the required number of cards according to the code number of selected animal card. Suppose, the number on the selected card is 4, you shift two cards from top to bottom of the stack of cards.Do this very casually, and do not draw their attention by making it a big move. Next, take the top five cards in right hand from the rest in left without disturbing the order of both groups. Place the two piles side by side on the table. State that you will spell the sentence “JOIN ANIMALS BY MAGIC” and transfer a card for each letter from top to bottom of either pile, as indicated by the spectator. You will then discard the top cards of each pile as a pair after completion of the spelling of each word. This is done until the spelling of the sentence is complete. Finally, the spectator is requested to show his selected animal by turning over his original selected card. You now turn the cards discarded in pairs to show that only one pair has the matching halves, and it matches the spectator’s selected animal. Ed. Note. The effect and can be immediately repeated by openly arranging the cut animals in pairs. Since the other five animal cards’ backs are marked these does not require any set up rather it is wise to mix them well at the outset.
