the Indian rope trick

the Indian rope trick

fiction
edward w pritchard

Jesus didn't attract much attention performing the Indian rope trick over and over in old India around
the turn of the last century.

First Jesus would gather an audience in a busy marketplace with a few parables drawn from everyday life or a few proverbs. Next Jesus would stand the rope on end, being careful never to let anyone handle the rope. Then just like that Jesus would climb the rope disappearing above. Immediately an assistant would jump on stage and throw a handful of coins into the audience actually a small percentage of the gate charge was being returned to distract the attention of the audience.

Witnesses later swore under oath that Jesus had disappeared into the sky. Skeptics later claimed that the rope was actually a bamboo rod, or was secretly supported by wires. For publicity the magicians society offered a three hundred pound reward to anyone who could duplicate the trick but no one came forward to perform under controlled conditions.

Indian street performers later when questioned about the secret of the trick merely smiled refusing to speak on the record.