70 MAGIC WORDS Rabbit Cadabra (see abracadabra) "Rabbits!" At that word, that magic word, she revived. -- Virginia Woolf, "Lappin and Lapinova," A Haunted House and Other Short Stories (19 8) Facts: This phrase brings the classic magician's white bunny into the famous magic word abracadabra. The hare is a traditional Trickster archetype in folklore. Rabbit-Cadabra is a picture book for children, featuring a vampire rabbit and characters from the Bunnicula series of books by James Howe (199 ). In Literature: • "Jack . . . waved his hand over the magic jellybeans. 'Presto! Chango!' he said. Nothing happened. He tried again. 'Rabbit Cadabra!' Still nothing happened." -- Joan Holub, Jack and the Jellybeanstalk (2002) Ranokoli Meaning: The Great Spirit of Forgiveness In Literature: • "[T]he chief invited a great council and organized the Society of the Magic Word. Every member promised that whenever the greeting 'Boneka' were given him, he would smile and bow and answer, 'Ranokoli.' The greeting meant 'Peace,' and the answer, 'I forgive.' Then, one by one, the law-giver called his councillors [sic] before him, and to each he said: 'The Great Spirit is in this greeting. I defy you to hear it and keep a sober face.' Then he said 'Boneka,' and the man would try to resist the influence of the spirit, but soon smiled in spite of himself, amid the laughter of the tribe, and said 'Ranokoli.' Thereafter, when a quarrel arose between two people, an outsider, approaching, would greet them with the magic word, and immediately they would bow and smile, and answer, 'I forgive.'" -- Irving Bacheller, Silas Strong (1906) Rantorp Origins: Rantorp is a name of Scandinavian origin. Facts: The magic word rantorp changes people into chairs in the play General Gorgeous by Michael McClure (1982).