- In the days of King Arthur, there lived a sorcerer who entertained the royal court of Camelot with miraculous fes of matching.

Come with us now to the secret room of Merle the magic.

- Welcome.

Welcome once more to my secret room here at Camelot.

Nice to see you again.

The other day I was out in the garden and suddenly a billiard ball appeared in my hand.

I'd never had that happen to me before.

And when I put that one in my pocket, another one appeared in my hand and this kept up for for some length of time.

And King Arthur said, well, if you produce enough billiard balls from midair, perhaps we'll have enough for our new billiard ball table at the recreation room.

And I said, that's a good idea, but the only think I can produce one more.

He said, just one more.

And so I did.

I produced that also.

I threw this one to George, the Genie.

And I keep this one for manipulation.

Exercise.

I like this one because it will roll right down my finger.

Watch, see it.

Roll right down my finger.

Oh, George, the genie wants this one also, so I'll give it to him as well.

A few letters.

My eyes are pretty bad, so one of my young friends from the 20th century gave me these glasses.

I guess that's what they call 'em.

Regardless, they work very well.

I received these letters incidentally just before coming into the Secret room today.

Excuse me.

Dear Merlin, I enjoy watching your program.

My good deed is helping my mother set the table.

I'm three years old at the time, but I will be four in January.

Please send me a magic wand signed sincerely, Julie Ra Julie will do that.

And you please keep up the good deeds.

Another one, it must be from her sister.

It's written on the same kind of stationary.

Dear Merlin, I would like to have a magic wand and a membership card like my friend Clay Heisel.

Clay's the one who gave me these glasses.

You know, my good deed is helping mother wash the dishes and clean the house.

I also help take care of my baby sister Ellen, too.

I'm five years old.

Sincerely, Amy.

You'll also get your membership, Amy.

Dear Merle and I watch the dishes from mother.

I'm seven years old and I'm in the second grade.

I'm waiting, still waiting for my membership card and my magic wand.

And then she gives her street and address your friend Anna, RINC.

Dear Merlin, may I have a membership card?

My name is Eve and I, I would like a one.

My good deed was to clean my room.

Name and address given signed Eve, D-O-L-I-D. Another.

Dear Merlin, quickly, my good deed was that I made the beds.

I like to be a member of your club and if you know any tricks, please send them to me.

And this new round table member signed her name, Mary Hornstein, H-O-U-N-E-S-T-I-N-E. Mary, I hope I've pronounced your name correctly.

You'll all receive your membership cards in the very, very near future.

Thanks for writing.

And please help me do what at this time make the sword rise.

That's right, George the Genie is a very good catcher today.

And I'm going to throw this to him also because he seems to wanna work hard.

He's lost his voice and he hasn't been with us in the magic room for some time.

But he'll be back with us very shortly.

George can't talk, but perhaps you can.

Let's go the mystic incantation.

Alright, let's hear it loudly.

Fiddly die fiddly d, magic sword rise for me.

And the magic word is E-G-Y-P-T, Egypt.

We talked about Egypt once before, but I have a very interesting subject today that concerns Egypt and I think you'd all like to share that secret with me.

But before we can talk about Egypt, we should really, well, we should really know something about the territory of Egypt.

A map.

This will do very nicely.

Here we have the Mediterranean Sea on the north and below the Mediterranean Sea is Egypt.

Libya over here on this side, that's the west and the Red Sea is on the east.

Down here is a very wonderful town known as Cairo.

And flowing down here is a famous river, a famous river in Egypt.

Do you know the name of that river?

That's right.

It's the Nile River.

And right down about here is a town named T-H-E-B-E-S. Des.

About which much Egyptian magic centers, particularly a magic story that concerns Princess Ezra and Princess Carac.

I would like to show you something that is indigenous to Egypt, that is seen in Egypt very often.

And perhaps you can name it for me, because all kings, if there were good, brave kings, were pictured in this manner.

I wonder if you can pronounce this word, or even if you, if you know the name of this unusual word, the king has a regular face when he's carved in marble or limestone or jade with a normal Egyptian habit or head cover.

So far he looks just like most people we know today in the 20th century, he but there from this point down, there's a big difference.

Watch.

These are paws of an animal and they symbolize his strength and his courage.

Do you know of whom or of what I speak in this instance a lion, a king's face, but a lion's body.

And what is this called?

Sphinx.

S-P-H-I-N-X.

A Sphinx.

And they're seen all over Egypt, many sphinx that were built 2000 years before Christ in honor of their kings.

Do you know another type of funeral mound that is seen very often in honor of a king or a queen or a prince or princess?

A pyramid.

And a pyramid, as you know, may have any number of sides.

A pyramid may have four sides or three.

This is a four-sided pyramid made of limestone and brick.

Many, many thousands of years old.

When the Egyptian ruler would die, he would be wrapped in clothing comparable to this.

Actually, they look like bandages.

He'd be wrapped from head to toe in bandages and ointment and spices and his body would be preserved in a tomb below the earth.

And that is called what A mummy.

I have a very unusual story about a mummy, the mummy of Princess Ezra that was protected by her father after her death by giving her a magic power so she could float in midair so no one could touch her sacred body or take the jewels from around her neck or the rings that she had on her fingers.

And this, this is exactly how the magical formula worked when someone would approach her this.

Well see for yourself what happened to the mummy Ezra, many, many years ago?

Hello Chauncey, how are you?

This is the mummy Ezra, and she's wrapped in bandages Chauncey.

When she died, her father also put a magic cape around her.

Would you help me put the cape over Ezra?

Yes.

Just put the cape right here.

I hope this works.

Chauncey.

It's very spooky.

Watch the princess Ezra watch, she disappeared.

I don't, I don't, I don't know where Ezra went.

That's just how she disappeared when anyone tried to steal her from the sacred tomb.

Because you know, when they stole the mummy, they also stole her clothes and jewelry and gold encrusted ornaments that were buried with her.

The mystery of the floating princess.

Ezra, I wonder, I wonder if, if Sir Echo liked that trick, he should be in the vase.

We'll see Hello - Down there.

Hello up there and say Merlin.

- Yes, - Merlin.

That that mummy trick was very mysterious.

- I thought so.

I liked it.

- Yo, but but, but I, I know an even mysterious or trick.

- Mysterious or trick, you mean more mysterious?

I do.

That's what you mean.

I mean I - Do now, now you think of any color, any color at all.

- Alright, I'm gonna take the color but don't look.

- Yeah.

Alright.

- Alright.

I'm gonna write it down so the round table members can see the color - And without any help at all, I'll write that color on another piece of paper.

- Alright?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Merlin, my paper's in my vase.

- Oh, I'll bet he didn't get the right color.

He couldn't possibly know what the color was.

I'm gonna open it up and see whether he succeeded.

Wait a minute, I wrote red and you wrote that color.

- Well now, now just a minute, Merlin.

- Yeah, - I told you to think of any color and I'd write that color and I did what I promised.

I wrote that color the paper.

Yes, I know, but, but, but that's not fair.

- Now wait a minute.

- That fellow I I, he's always tricking me.

I should take care of him for a little while.

You know, speaking of pyramids, as I was a little while ago, have you ever seen the mystic pyramid of the east?

This is it right here.

This is the mystic pyramid of the east.

See it's made layer upon layer like steps, top step the next one and so on down.

And the Egyptians have a saying that no one can destroy their pyramid.

Even if it's turned upside down by high wind or a tornado or magic or anything else.

It'll always come back just as it was in the first place.

Right side up.

And you see it is right side up.

Was that an accident?

Shall we try it again?

Put the cover on it.

Turn the pyramid over slowly may be the mystic curse of Princess Ezra is upon this pyramid.

It's certainly enchanted because it's impossible to make it go upside down.

If you'd like to learn some real interesting magic puzzles and get your magic membership card right to Merlin care of this station and I'll be happy to send them to you.

Alright, bye now.

I'll see you soon.

- Chauncey was played by Joe Berman, Sarco portrayed by Rick Houser.

Marilyn was produced in the studios of Ohio University Television, Athens, Ohio.