Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/138

126 A woman balances a ladder on the palms of her hands, then a child threads each rung up and turns over the top and threads its way down again head downward. This is called fan fei yün t‘i (番飛雲梯).

A bare table is covered with a cloth; after beating of drums and burning of incense and paper, the actor will ask if the guests have all come, and on being assured that they have arrived, the table-cloth is removed and there is displayed a fine, hot, ready-cooked feast.

A flower-pot is covered with a cloth and after some music and incantations the cloth is removed and a fine flowering orchid exposed to view. The same kind of trick is also done with a pot of earth in which a melon seed is sown.

The wooden frame which holds the fire basin is put down and covered with a cloth ; and after music and incantations the cloth is removed, when a hot fire on the fire basin is exposed to view. Many are willing to pay large sums of money for instruction in this art.

An empty wine-glass is held in one hand and an empty jar in another and after a few motions and incantations wine is found emptied from the jar into the wine cup, and people are invited to drink.

A woman's embroidered shoe is manipulated in the hand, and it suddenly becomes a rabbit, pigeon, rat or other creature. The conjurer after a little seizes the animal and knocks it on the back of the head and it becomes a shoe once again in his hand.

A wisp of straw becomes changed into a rat. This is very much the same as the last.

Coloured paper is cut into strips and covered with a cloth. When the cloth is removed the strips of paper have been transformed into pretty lanterns already lighted.

A fan is torn to shreds. The conjurer then makes various motions with his hands and the fan is produced and opened up as good as new.

Paper is torn into small pieces and covered with a cloth; when the cloth is removed a swarm of hornets fly