When primeval man saw the first flash of lightning he saw the magic of the gods and with the thought of homage to his own paticular gods there came man-made magic.
      The first attempts were so elementary but showed a natural cunning that could beguile those of lower mental stature. Those early magicians were the forerunners of the latter-day craftsmen who would make the mysterious entertaining.
      Of the pre-Christian era, there is only the sketchiest description of the feats used by the wonder-workers.
      The earliest record of a magical performance is to be found in the "Westcar" papyrus, now resting in the East Berline State Museum. This papyrus, produced approximately a thousand years after the appearance of the Egyptian magician Dedi, before Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid (c. 2700 B.C) tells the story of how this magician supposedly 110 years old, traveled to the court of Cheops and then: "He knows how to fasten on a head that has been cut off, and he knows how to make a lion walk behind him with his leash on the ground. And he knows the numbers of the secret chambers in the sanctuary of Thoth. The papyrus is incomplete, but in the translation by Professor Battiscombe Gunn, we read: "Then a goose was brought to him with its head cut off. The goose was placed on the western side of the pillared hall. Then Dedi uttered a magic spell and the goose rose up quivering. And when one had reached the other, the goose stood up cackling. Then he had another goose brought to him and the same was done with it. Then his Majesty had an ox brought to him, its head being cut off, falling to the ground. And then Dedi uttered a magic spell and the bull stood up lowing".
      A thousand years elapsed between performance and record, so what really did happen, we can only guess at, for the business of decapitating and restoring is something that seems common to magicians throughout the ages. A good trick, without doubt, and well done!