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This is one of my favorite quotations because it so powerfully expresses my burden for providing magic that provokes one's sixth sense --
the Sense of Wonder.  I was very sorry when Doug Henning died several years ago, but am very grateful for his tremendous contribution to
the art of wonder.

-- Steve Snediker

I was getting a little bit of a reputation in college when I was invited by Canadian Broadcasting to perform on Christmas shows for the troops.  At one point on the tour, they asked if I would like to do a show for a group of Inuits (Eskimos).  We were on the edge of this little town in the wilderness, 400 miles from the North Pole, and about 60 below zero.  I set up my show in a little building, and the Inuits came to watch.

They sat on the floor in their parkas, and I did what I thought was some pretty good stuff.  They just sat there, didn't smile, didn't say a word and, at the end, nobody applauded.  But they were completely focused on me, like I was some sort of phenomenon.  Only one of them spoke English, so I asked him, "Did you like the show?"

"Yes, we like the show," he said.

Then I asked, "Did everybody like the magic?"

He said, "The magic?"

I explained that I was trying to entertain people.

He said, "Entertainment is good, but why are you doing magic? The whole world is magical..."  We sat down on the floor and he told me "It's magic that snow falls, all those little crystals are completely different...that's magic."

I said, "But what about when I made the rabbit and doves appear?"

"Why do you do those things?" he said.  "It's magic when the walrus appears each spring, he comes from nowhere... that's magic."

Now, I was grasping, trying to explain magic to him.  I thought of my "Zombie," which I thought was my best thing.  I said, "I made that beautiful silver ball float in the air...that's magic."

"But there's a ball of fire floating through the sky every day. It keeps up warm, gives us light... that's magic."

Then the Inuits started talking among themselves.  The man came to me with a big smile on his face, and said, "Now, we know why you're doing that.  It's because your people have forgotten magic. You're doing it to remind them of the magic. Well done!"

I cried right then. I've never told anyone this story. I said, "Thank you for teaching me about magic. I didn't know."  That was really the first time I knew what wonder was.  It was the most memorable thing that has ever happened to me.  I never forgot that, inside.  That's why I became a magician.

- Doug Henning (from an interview in MAGIC, Oct. 1999)