: An elderly man named Mr. Smith is visited by three figures: Fancy (the showman with a picture-box), Memory (who holds a book of records), and Conscience (who carries a dagger).
In the 19th-century story The Magician's Show Box by , a young man named Gaspar meets a mysterious "little man" in a gray coat. The man offers to show Gaspar more wonders in a single day than he could find in a lifetime of wandering the world. Show_Box_
: When opened, the box displays a moving procession of incredible sights—prehistoric creatures like mastodons and ichthyosauri, and people with towering, fantastical headdresses. : An elderly man named Mr
: The man reveals a neat, ivory-carved box from his pocket. The man offers to show Gaspar more wonders
Another famous literary use is short story Fancy's Show-Box .
: The "Show Box" serves as a metaphorical window into the imagination and the wonders of the world, though the magician's intentions and the box's gifts are tied to the protagonist's generosity and perspective. Fancy's Show-Box (Nathaniel Hawthorne)