The twin tales of magic and illusion are woven around the wizardry of Kaipuzha Thampan and Cheranalloor Kunju Kartha, often lavishly supported by the local Maharajas (‘thamburan’s). Thampan’s skill at whipping up a flood with an illusionary rescue-boat the Maharaja is decoyed into and later a crocodile in shallow waters are awe-inspiring. In a fitting adjunct to the Thampan fantasy, Kunju Kartha’s jaw-dropping magic of tricking the tax collector and later the Thrippunithura princes’ surprise at Kartha being shot at but his simultaneously playing the veena elsewhere arrest the reader’s attention. A rival illusionist’s attempt to outsmart Kartha is easily foiled by the latter’s superior skills. After all, as Coleridge said, reading pleasure is in the willing suspension of disbelief.