CHAPTER TWELVE
“That’s perfect! I would never discover any trickery!” Oliver exclaimed and turned to Raja. “You’ve promised to explain to me the “The Colored Sugar Trick”! Do you remember?”
“What is it? The Colored Sugar Trick? Did I miss something?” Amita said joyfully.
“Where have you been?” Raja asked.
“I watched the street jugglers’ performance. Look what I’ve got!” she said, and showed them the new green and red clubs. “I must get ready for my performance when we come back to Jaipur. Oliver, will you toss these clubs to me in turn!”
Amita was juggling clubs gracefully.
“Take the red club over there,” she asked Oliver.
“I can’t. I’ve got only four paws,” the lizard said. Then he made a quick move with the tail and got the club.
“You’re so agile and quick! Your tail seems to have grown!”
“Really?” Oliver felt very excited.
“I’m sure. Let’s check the length of your tail with the measuring tape!” the juggler insisted.
“Don’t you know that lizards can grow their tails again after they’d lost them?” the old fakir smirked.
“Are you kidding? That’s impossible!” the lizard said and shook his head in disbelief.
“He came to Agra to find a magician who could make his tail grow. But we haven’t found one yet!” Raja explained.
“I mean what I say,” the fakir said in a soft voice. “I read about it in my school textbook in biology when I was a kid.”
He wrinkled his forehead and added, “Maybe, you don’t need a magician anymore! You’d better grab the book urgently to meet the lacks in your education!”
“My tail has become longer! Thank you!” the happy lizard hopped with joy. “I knew that the magician would help me!”
“Let me ask you about “The Colored Sugar Trick”. There is one part that eludes me.” Raja frowned.
“What part?” The fakir was interested.
“How does he hide the sugar cubes?”
“To accomplish this trick, the fakir had secretly prepared beforehand six small packages, each containing one of the colored sugars. He secreted them in his mouth, three in each cheek, in a prearranged order.”
“Why didn’t the sugar cubes dissolve in his mouth?”
“These cubes were enclosed in thin, waterproof edible fabric! The fakir could easily reach any of these packets with his tongue, bring it to the front of the mouth, break the fabric by pressing it against his teeth. He blew the sugar cube out in a perfectly dry condition!”
“If some skeptical spectator wishes to examine the fakir's mouth… What is he going to do?” Raja asked.
“He merely swallows the colorful sugar left.”
“That was one of the most interesting days of my life!” Oliver the Lizard exclaimed. “I’ll never forget it!”
“Me too! What if I actually learned some magic tricks?” Raja said and looked at Amita the Juggler.
“Have you seen Lucky the Snake Charmer among those magicians and fakirs?” Oliver asked the juggler.
“I saw him and his king cobra. Lucky was performing, playing the flute.”
“Do flutes work on snakes?” Raja asked doubtfully.
“No. Snakes are known to have poor hearing. The charm has nothing to do with the music,” the fakir said, “My name is Darvanda. By the way, it means the hood of a cobra!”
“Sorry, Darvanda, we have been so impolite not to ask your name…at the beginning of our talk!” Oliver felt ashamed. “May I ask you why snakes can’t hear the music?”