The Wizard's apprentices roll onstage a little platform
(approximately two feet square) which is covered by an Egyptian
ornamental head-dress cloth, a large board covered with
hieroglyphics and English translations, and a tiny sarcophagus.
The Wizard places the board against the front of the platform,
removes the headdress and puts it on to weave his tale of ancient
Egypt.
Some background information upon which to elaborate: To the
ancient Egyptians, the scarab dung beetle was considered sacred.
The beetle rolls its little ball of dung ahead of it, back to its
lair for laying eggs on it and burying it, and the Egyptians saw
in this a representation of how the sun god Ra slowly rolls the
sun across the sky and buries it in the earth each night. So the
scarab was honored, used as decorative symbols on jewelry, and
even mummified and buried with the dead.
Now the Wizard opens a small sarcophagus and removes an
object wrapped in cloth strips. On unwrapping it, he shows what
appears to be a mummified scarab.
"It is thought that the Ouija board was invented in the
1890's, and named after an Egyptian word meaning 'good luck.'
That is pure nonsense invented by the modern board's designer.
However, the Egyptians did use a similar channeling board, as it
is called, on which were hieroglyphs that could be interpreted by
the priests. There was no set pattern to the boards, but they
might have resembled this one."
The Wizard picks up and shows a board, roughly two feet by
three feet, painted with Egyptian hieroglyphs (the article
includes the authentic hieroglyphs you need to duplicate for this
effect).
The board is now set up on top of the platform, and the
mummified scarab is placed at its base. The Wizard backs away,
and suddenly the scarab leaps at the board, clinging to the
hieroglyphs that represent "BEGIN" which are located at
the base of the board opposite the glyphs for "GO
AWAY."
"We're in luck," says the Wizard. "The scarab
has a message for someone here today."
The Wizard chants a question and if the scarab beetle thinks
it is worthy of an answer, it moves slowly up and down the board
until it comes to rest upon the hieroglyphs for the answer.
Finally, after answering a series of questions, the scarab
grows weary of the game and travels across the board until it
touches the glyphs for "LIVE, PROSPER, BE HEALTHY."
Then it travels down to the "GO AWAY" glyph and drops
into its sarcophagus.
