MAGIC WORDS Chosi Origins: Chosi is of African origin. Fatima Dike explains that when a mother would tell her child a bedtime story from African folklore, she first required the child to say the protective magic word chosi. "Especially if the story is told in the daytime. So you have got to say 'chosi,' the magic word. In the daytime, it's the word that stops all the evil fairies from giving you horns because you are telling stories in the daytime. In the evening, you say 'I am paying attention, please go on, I want to hear.'"9 Christmas Variations and Incantations: • Pretty-bitty please with Christmas trees "'What are the magic words?' Her children squealed with delight. 'Prettybitty please with Christmas trees!'" -- R.L. Stine, More & More & More Tales to Give You Goosebumps (1997) In Literature: • "Soon I shall be far away in Croydon; alas, unhappy fate which sends me from the few people with whom my heart would wish to stay. But Christmas! -- that is the magic word I conjure with." -- D.H. Lawrence (1908), The Letters of D. H. Lawrence: Volume 1, September 1901-May 1913 (1979) • "Charlene handcuffed Eddie, who got into the trunk. She locked the trunk and roped it shut. Then, swiftly, she brought out a screen and put it in front of the trunk. The crowd buzzed with excitement while Charlene walked back and forth across the stage, posing like a game-show hostess on TV. She checked her watch dramatically, then called to the audience. 'Say the magic words, y'all: 'Merry Christmas!' 'Merry Christmas!' the crowd shouted. . . . Amazin' pushed the screen back and held his arms over his head, the handcuffs dangling from one wrist. The trunk was still padlocked and roped shut." -- Cherie Bennett, Searching for David's Heart (1998) Chudley In Literature: • "Wave your hands around and say some magic words. ('Chudley!')" -- Bart King, The Big Book of Boy Stuff (2004) 9 Quoted in South African Theatre: As/And Intervention, edited by Marcia Blumberg and Dennis Walder (1999)