Lord of the Ring(s)

Bizarre, as I have said several times, does not always have to be about the ghastly, the gory, or the ghoulish.

This is another venture into the combination of bizarre and comedy.

It plays on the current popularity of the movie Lord of the Rings, based on the first of the Tolkien books. Since there is a trilogy of movies planned, to match the books, this should be able to stand up for a while.

Effect and Presentation:
The mage shows a gold ring with strange symbols engraved on it, as he relates the story of the Lord of the Rings, Froddo the Hobbit, Gandalf the wizard, and so on.

"In the J. R. R. Tolkien classic, Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, Froddo, is entrusted with a gold ring - like this one - to destroy in the fires of Mount Doom. In the wrong hands, the ring could enable the forces of darkness to rule - and, eventually, destroy - the world.

"Froddo and his band of fellow Hobbits must take the ring to Mount Doom and destroy it in the fires of the volcano, where it was forged.

"The ring has strange and mystic symbols engraved around it, inside and out. The wizard Gandalf says that Froddo cannot read the engraving because it is written in the language of the elves - Elvish.

"The Lord of the Rings trilogy of books relates Froddo's adventures as he tries to reach Mount Doom and destroy the ring.

"Froddo carries his precious cargo in a box, for safekeeping."

Place the ring in a wooden box, show it around, and close the box.

"Unfortunately for Froddo and, possibly, the world, during the travels of the Hobbits, the ring is lost at one point."

Open the box again and show it empty; the ring has vanished!

"Froddo is beside himself with despair; the fate of the world is in his hands and he has allowed the ring to disappear.

"But Gandalf the wizard reminds Froddo that the ring bears an inscription in Elvish around it.

"And what the disappearance of the ring simply means is that: "Elvish has left the building!"

Pause here for reaction to the dreadful pun! (Resume your tale before a lynch mob is formed, though.)

"Eventually, however, Froddo recovers the ring and is able to resume his task."

Open the box again and the ring has returned.

Method:

As usual, let's keep things as simple as possible.

The ring is just that: A ring with symbols engraved around the outside. It can be larger in diameter than a normal ring - since Hobbits are much smaller than humans and this is how big the ring looks to Froddo.
I use a half-inch section of one-inch copper tubing, polished to look like "gold", and with "Elvish" symbols scratched on the outside and inside.

The box in which the ring is stored is simply a small drawer box.

This box is wooden and small enough so it will appear that the ring can't be hidden anywhere inside it.
Open the box and place the ring in the load chamber; close the box and adjust the mechanism to retain the chamber. Then, when you come to open the box again, the ring appears to have vanished!

Reverse the process to make the ring reappear.

Second thoughts:
If you do this, please read the books or, at least, see the movie so that you will be able to intelligently talk about the plot to the audience, if needed, afterwards.

And, for the drawer box, don't use a plastic one. It should be wooden and should also look old and battered - the sort of thing a Hobbit would have. (Use your imagination as to what THAT might look like!)

Have fun with this and, above all, be entertaining!