"Now, ladies and gentlemen," said the conjuror, "having shown you that the cloth is absolutely empty, I will proceed to take from it a bowl of goldfish. Presto !" All around the hall people were saying, "Oh, how wonderful ! How does he do it?" But the Quick Man on the front seat said in a big whisper to the people near him, "He-had-it-up-his-sleeve." Then the people nodded brightly at the Quick Man and said, "Oh, of course"; and everybody whispered round the hall, "He-had-it-up-his-sleeve." "My next trick," said the conjuror, "is the famous Hindostanee rings. You will notice that the rings are apparently separate; at a blow they all join (clang, clang, clang)—Presto !" There was a general buzz of stupefaction till the Quick Man was heard to whisper, "He-must-have-had-another-lot-up-his-sleeve." Again everybody nodded and whispered, "The-rings-were-up-his-sleeve." The brow of the conjuror was clouded with a gathering frown. "I will now," he continued, "show you a most amusing trick by which I am enabled to take any number of eggs from a hat. Will some gentleman kindly lend me his hat? Ah, thank you—Presto !" He extracted seventeen eggs, and for thirty-five seconds the audience began to think that he was wonderful. Then the Quick Man whispered along the front bench, "He-has-a-hen-up-his-sleeve," and all the people whispered it on. "He-has-a-lot-of-hens-up-his-sleeve." The egg trick was ruined. It went on like that all through. It transpired from the whispers of the Quick Man that the conjuror must have concealed up his sleeve, in addition to the rings, hens, and fish, several packs of cards, a loaf of bread, a doll's cradle, a live guinea pig, a fifty-cent piece, and a rocking chair. According to the Quick Man, the conjuror
- (a)had everything bought for production
- (b)produced things with the magic he knew
- (c)had things in the large sleeves of his coat
- (d)created an illusion of things with his magic
Correct — C, 'had things in the large sleeves of his coat'. Every explanation the Quick Man offers is the same one — 'He-had-it-up-his-sleeve' for the goldfish, 'He-must-have-had-another-lot-up-his-sleeve' for the rings, 'He-has-a-hen-up-his-sleeve' for the eggs — and the closing sentence puts everything else he supposes to be hidden in the same place.
- (a)had everything bought for production — Where the articles came from is never his point; his point is where they were kept during the show.
- (b)produced things with the magic he knew — This is exactly what the Quick Man is denying at every turn.
- (d)created an illusion of things with his magic — The same denial in other words — for the Quick Man there is no illusion at all, only a sleeve.
'To have something up one's sleeve' means to keep something hidden in reserve, and the sketch gets its comedy by taking the idiom back to its literal picture.
The joke rests on one explanation being stretched to cover everything, until the reader is asked to accept a rocking chair up a sleeve. Two of the choices credit the conjuror with real magic, which is the reverse of the Quick Man's line, and the remaining one changes the subject to where the articles were bought. Where an item asks what a character claims, answer from his own words and from nothing else.
- The closing list adds several packs of cards, a loaf of bread, a doll's cradle, a live guinea pig, a fifty-cent piece and a rocking chair to the sleeve.
- 'To have something up one's sleeve' is an idiom for a hidden advantage held in reserve.
- The Quick Man's whisper is repeated by the audience each time, which is how it spreads.
- Answering with what the audience believes rather than with what the Quick Man says.
- Reading 'according to' as though it meant 'in fact'.
Asked as a comprehension item on what one character in the passage claims.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'To have an ace up one's sleeve' means to have
- (a)a card game ready
- (b)a hidden advantage
- (c)a torn coat
- (d)a long memory
Answer(b) a hidden advantage — something kept back for the right moment.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Quick Man explains the goldfish, the rings and the eggs by saying they were
- (a)borrowed from the audience
- (b)up the conjuror's sleeve
- (c)produced by real magic
- (d)hidden under the stage
Answer(b) up the conjuror's sleeve — the same explanation each time.