A legend is very much like an illusion, . . .

"A legend is very much like an illusion, more interesting and invariably more attractive than reality. It represents what might be rather than what is, and demands only the suspension of disbelief. Like an illusion, it is less an alternative to reality than a short break from it, a two-week holiday in Paradise after several hard months in the real world. We have always needed legends, and they have always provided that escape route: cords have always risen into the air, providing access to the heavens; the dead have always been resurrected, symbolising the survival of the human spirit. . . . The rise of the Indian rope trick is a victory of imagination over reality."

. . . Peter Lamoont . . . The Rise of the Indian Rope Trick: How a Spectacular Hoax Became History . . . 232 . . .