Passing Down the Family Magic

Sam had learned all that he knew about magic from watching his grandfather perform on stage. As a child he had attended several of Grampa Jim’s magic acts and was always amazed at what the old man could do. There was one magic trick in particular that he did not believe possible. It happened with the waving of a wand. An unbelievable image appeared. He really wanted to learn how to do that particular trick. Grampa Jim said that he would first teach Sam the basics of his magic, before he would teach him his most amazing trick. Sam was eager to learn all of his grandfather’s magic tricks. At ten years old, he wanted to become a magician too, despite the fact that his parents were not too crazy about the idea.

By the time that Sam was in his late teens, he and his grandfather would present their magic together. Sam would perform the simpler tricks, while Grampa Jim was gradually reducing what he would do – eventually confining himself to the ‘super trick’ as Sam called it. Sam still could not figure out how it could be done. Grampa Jim told him that he had not learned how to do the trick as long as his great uncle Ralph performed it, and he was confined to doing the simpler magic. Uncle Ralph had only let him learn how to perform the trick once the old man was ready to retire. And the learning came with a long, magical story.

I Have to Tell You a Very Long Story

Sam was in his mid-twenties when Grandpa Jim was ready to retire from public magic. So one Sunday morning he had his grandson come over to his house to have the super trick explained to him,

“Sam, before I show you how the super trick magic is done, I have to tell you a very long long story about our family and its connection to magic. It goes back to at least one thousand years ago. We lived in Europe then, and it was a time when some women were called witches and were often punished with death for being accused of practicing the much feared magic. A female ancestor of ours was just such a person.

Her name was Grezelda, a Germanic name said to mean ‘dark battle’ or ‘gray battle’. The name was quite appropriate for her. She was deemed a witch, and she was eventually burned at the stake for what the people called ‘witchcraft’. She anticipated that this would happen, so she hid her magic wand in a field behind her house. Her wand was the source of her magic. She told her eldest daughter Adelhaid precisely where she could find it. For years she had not told anyone how she got this power, but when she heard that people in authority were talking about her, and not in a good way, she decided to give her wand to Adelhaid, and to tell her a story about what magic could be done with it.

Only a few years later, Adelhaid would give the wand to her son Gregore, thinking that a man might be less persecuted than a woman would for having such a possession. She was right in her assumption. Gregore would eventually hand both wand and story down to his grandson, as others would do likewise over the centuries that passed. Every generation would have someone who would have and use the wand, with a good number of them earning a living as a magician. None of them were killed for the magical power that they had, although a few used the wand’s power for less than noble purposes, like using it for scaring people they did not like.

I am going to give the wand to you now, as I believe that you can be trusted with it and will not use it for evil purposes, as tempting as that may be. I know that I was tempted a few times over the years.”

Those words being spoken, he handed the magic wand over to his grandson.

Sam’s First Performance

It was Sam’s first solo performance as a magician. He had hoped that his grandfather would have lived a little longer so that he could see that his grandson had learned his lessons well. He knew that he had been taught by a master magician. Sam first displayed his mastery of the simple acts of magic, making things disappear or appear seemingly out of nowhere. Then it became time for the master act. He took the wand out of the bag in which it was carried.

He began his wand work by telling the audience some of what his grandfather had taught him.

“This wand is very special. It has been around for hundreds of years, passed down over generations of my family, beginning with the witch Grezelda. She was the one who first recognized its great power. So, with a few words and a wave of the wand , I will show you what she looked like, and how scary she truly was.

He waved the wand, and within seconds a ghost-like image of Grezelda appeared. There were many gasps when she floated in the air like a storm cloud. Then Sam spoke. “This is Grezelda. Her and the wand are as one. This is not a trick. It is true magic.”

The image of Grezelda slowly rose up in the air, turning around and around as she did so. Then her image looked down upon the audience, seemingly selected out a few members with a stare and a cruel smile. She then returned slowly to wand and disappeared. There was then a short silence in the crowd, followed by standing ovation. Grezelda and her descendant over many generations had worked their magic.

Sam then reassured the audience that if Grezelda appeared to visit them in their dreams on this night or later on, it was not that she was actually there. It would just be their imagination repeating what they had seen in the show.

He ended his presentation by telling the audience that if they had tried to take a picture of Grezelda, a picture would not be developed. Their cameras could not capture her image. They would just see right through her. I know this as I have tried many times to take her picture.