#379 Magic- Dashiell Hammett
Strait was a magician. He could do many things to amaze the
eyes. But…”it’s love and wealth they want, no matter which variety of those
things may be popular for a while. Twice perhaps in twenty years I have been
asked for wisdom, twice it may be for happiness, once I can remember for
beauty.”
So, his magic is to give people these material
desires…however he admits to his apprentice that he is a charlatan, a fake, a
very good one. The mind belives what it wants to believe, if the show is good
enough, fate may show itself.
“Strait snorted at the idea that the authenticity of his
work was to be measured by its consequences…Equal results, far greater results
have been achieved by wizards whose methods were the nadir of idiocy. Indubitable
marvels have been worked at one time or another by means of almost anything you
can name, so long as it was a thing offensive or ridiculous enough of itself.”
Just because he didn’t perform real magic didn’t mean he
didn’t achieve real results, and didn’t mean he didn’t work for his reputation.
No comments:
Post a Comment