Lutz says that she was still-born but Peter is sure that his memory is not playing him tricks as he remembers holding the baby and hearing her cry. It's infused throughout the story as Peter, trapped by his guardian, the old soldier Vilna Lutz, seeks his sister Adele. Just occasionally you pick up a book which it's impossible to put down – whatever your age – and The Magician's Elephant is one of these books. In desperation he performs the sleight of hand which should result in a bouquet of lilies but mutters the words of a far grander spell and through the roof of the opera house an elephant plummets into the lap of a lady in the audience and she is crippled. He's only the warm-up act and they'd really like him to go and for the virtuoso violinist to come on stage. But where in this chilly, northern clime would he find an elephant?Īt the opera house the audience is watching the magician with some indifference. But he had to have an answer to the question and when he asked he was told that, yes, his sister was alive and that the elephant would take him to her. To go in and get an answer to his only question would cost all the money that he had – and he'd been given it to go out and buy the cheapest, poorest food that was available. Peter Augustus Duchene hovered outside the fortune-teller's tent in the market square. Summary: A perfect, heart-warming story for the eight-plus age group.
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