MAGIC WORDS Herbidacious Facts: The magic word Herbidacious began every adventure in the BBC's animated series The Herbs (1968), concerning various animals living in the walled English country garden of Sir Basil and Lady Rosemary. Hey Presto (see presto) Variations and Incantations: • Hey presto Abracadabra "Shoes. Come to me. Hey presto. Abracadabra. Shoes, I say!" -- Diana Wynne Jones, Witch Week (1982) • Hey! Presto! Fly! "An old saying has it that when Gargantua was born his first 'yell' was 'I want a drink.' Something similar must be said of [professional magi cian] Mons. J. Caroly, only the expression in his case must surely be, 'Hey! Presto!! Fly!'" -- Ellis Stanyon, Magic (1902) • Hey presto! Now you see it, now you don't "[W]hat if in full view of those eyes I had, like Bebb, committed it, pulled my own rabbit out of my own hat? Hey presto! Now you see it, now you don't, in reverse." -- Frederick Beuchner, Lion Country (1971) • Hey presto pass -- Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (1860) "Mr. Parker has a new trick: The Vanishing Financier. Absolutely no deception. Hey, presto, pass! and where is he? Will some gentleman from the audience kindly step upon the platform and inspect the cabinet?" -- Dorothy L. Sayers, Whose Body? (192 ) In Literature: • "Hey, presto, you asked me to examine your hat and all those wonderful things." -- Sorana Salomeia, "Simsalabim" (2004) • "But hey, presto, the mirror is breathed on and the young knighterrant recedes, shrivels, to a tiny speck within the mist." -- James Joyce, Ulysses (1922) • "Come here, my jolly little Mouse! Hey! presto! pass! I transform you, for the time being, into a respectable lady." -- Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (1860) • "[L]ook back at the papers -- hey, presto! -- all the blanks are filled." -- Jack Finney, Time and Again (1970)