A string or rope is cut into two pieces, and then magically
restored into one piece! - One piece of heavy string or thin
rope. - A piece of writing paper. - A pair of good scissors. The
Cut-and-Restored rope effect is a classic of magic. Prefold a
piece of paper before the show so it looks like the paper in
Figure 1. When it's time to present the trick, pull out the
paper and lay the string in it as shown. Fold the top of the
paper (section A) down, then fold the bottom of the paper
(section C) up. Now for the secret move: When you fold section C
up over section A, use your thumb to catch the string as
demonstrated in Figure 2. When you prefold the paper before the
show be certain that section A is not so long that it will cover
the string. Securely grasp the package as in Figure 3, making
sure that the view shown in the diagram is seen only by you. Cut
through the paper, as shown in Figure 4. Cut completely through
the paper, dividing it and, presumably, the rope in half. In
reality, only the paper is cut in