"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" () is a poem by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
written in 1797. The poem is a
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
in 14
stanzas.
Story
The poem begins as an old
sorcerer departs his workshop, leaving his apprentice with chores to perform. Tired of fetching water by pail, the apprentice enchants a broom to do the work for him, using magic in which he is not fully trained. The floor is soon awash with water, and the apprentice realizes that he cannot stop the broom because he does not know the magic required to do so.
The apprentice splits the broom in two with an axe, but each piece becomes a whole broom that takes up a pail and continues fetching water, now at twice the speed. At this increased pace, the entire room quickly begins to flood. When all seems lost, the old sorcerer returns and quickly breaks the spell. The poem concludes with the old sorcerer's statement that only a master should invoke powerful spirits.
German culture
Goethe's is well known in the German-speaking world. The lines in which the apprentice implores the returning sorcerer to help him with the mess he created have turned into a
cliché, especially the line "Die Geister, die ich rief" ("The spirits that I summoned"), a simplified version of one of Goethe's lines "Die ich rief, die Geister, / Werd' ich nun nicht los" - "The spirits that I summoned / I now cannot rid myself of again", which is often used to describe someone who summons help or allies that the individual cannot control, especially in politics.
Thematic variations
Some versions of the tale differ from Goethe's, and in some versions the sorcerer is angry at the apprentice and in some even expels the apprentice for causing the mess. In other versions, the sorcerer is a bit amused at the apprentice and he simply chides his apprentice about the need to be able to properly control such magic once summoned. The sorcerer's anger with the apprentice, which appears in both the Greek ''Philopseudes'' and the Dukas score (and its film adaptation ''
Fantasia''), does not appear in Goethe's "Der Zauberlehrling".
Classical context
''
Lover of Lies'' () is a short
frame story
A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either fo ...
by
Lucian
Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridi ...
, written c. AD 150. The narrator, Tychiades, is visiting the house of a sick and elderly friend, Eucrates, where he has an argument about the reality of the
supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
. Eucrates and several other visitors tell various tales, intended to convince him that supernatural phenomena are real. Each story in turn is either rebutted or ridiculed by Tychiades.
Eucrates recounts a tale extremely similar to Goethe's "Zauberlehrling", which had supposedly happened to him in his youth. It is, indeed, the oldest known variation of this tale type. There are several differences:
* The sorcerer is instead an Egyptian mystic – a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
of
Isis
Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
called Pancrates.
* Eucrates is not an apprentice, but a companion who
eavesdrops on Pancrates casting his spell.
* Although a broom is listed as one of the items that can be animated by the spell, Eucrates actually uses a
pestle. (Pancrates also sometimes used the bar of a door.)
Adaptations
Dukas symphonic poem
In 1897,
Paul Dukas wrote a
symphonic tone poem based on the story from Goethe's poem. This piece was popularized by its use as one of eight animated
shorts based on Western classical music in the 1940
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
animated film ''
Fantasia''. In the piece, which retains the title "
The Sorcerer's Apprentice",
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...
plays the apprentice, and the story follows Goethe's original closely, except that the sorcerer (
Yen Sid, which is ''Disney'' spelled backwards) is stern and angry with his apprentice after he saves him. ''Fantasia'' popularized Goethe's story to a worldwide audience. The segment proved so popular that it was repeated, in its original form, in the sequel ''
Fantasia 2000''. Four of the animated brooms have a brief cameo appearance in the 1988 film ''
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel ''Who Censored Roger Rabbit?'' by Gary K. Wol ...
'', working at cleaning a film studio while a human supervisor plays a saxophone version of Dukas' composition.
Literary adaptations
17th-century French author Eustace le Noble wrote a literary variant of this type of tale with ''L'apprenti magicien''.
Other literary adaptations of the tale include several fiction and nonfiction books, such as the novel ''
The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' (1910) by
Hanns Heinz Ewers
Hanns Heinz Ewers (3 November 1871 – 12 June 1943) was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is now known mainly for his works of horror, particularly his tril ...
, and
Christopher Bulis's novel ''
The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' (1995) based on the TV series ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''. Nonfiction books with this title include ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice: A Journey Through Africa'' (1948) by
Elspeth Huxley, and the travel book ''
Sorcerer's Apprentice'' (1998) by
Tahir Shah.
Karl Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
and
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ;["Engels"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.[The Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'' (), originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (), is a political pamphlet written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, commissioned by the Communist League and originally published in London in 1848. The ...]
'' (1848), comparing modern bourgeois society to "the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells."
Film and popular culture
"
The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is a 1962 episode of ''
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, airing on CBS and NBC, alternately, between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. Between 1962 ...
'' featuring
Brandon deWilde as mentally-troubled youth Hugo, coveting the
magic wand of a kindly magician.
The poem's story is alluded to in several episodes of the fairy-tale drama ''
Once Upon a Time'', especially in "
The Apprentice" (2014). A variation of the Dukas piece also plays in certain scenes. The apprentice himself is a recurring character, while the sorcerer is shown to be
Merlin.
"Top Secret Apprentice", a segment of the ''
Tiny Toon Adventures
''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It originally aired from September 14, 1990 to December 6, 1992, airing in syndication before eventually settling a ...
'' episode broadcast in 1991, is a modern version of the story, with Buster Bunny messing around with
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...
's cartoon scenery machine and getting into trouble.
The 2010 film ''
The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' features a scene based on the
''Fantasia'' conception of Goethe's poem. The ''Fantasia'' variant also appears in the video game series ''
Kingdom Hearts'', with the sorcerer
Yen Sid serving as an adviser to
Sora and
Riku. Symphony of Sorcery, a world based on ''Fantasia'', appears in ''
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance''.
The ''
Magic: The Gathering'' playing card Sorcerer's Broom from Throne of Eldraine references the story and the replicating nature of the broom.
See also
In mythology
*
Midas
Midas (; ) was a king of Phrygia with whom many myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house.
His father was Gordias, and his mother was Cybele. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek m ...
*
Golem
A golem ( ; ) is an animated Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late 16th-century ...
*
Abhimanyu in
Chakravyuha in the ''
Mahabharata''
* The Sañjīva
Jātaka story about the boastful pupil who is killed by the tiger he brought to life with a spell, without yet being taught the counter-spell by his teacher.
[Jātaka story no. 150]
"Sañjīva Jātaka"
''The Jataka'', Volume I, translated by Robert Chalmers, 1895 – via sacred-texts.com
In folk and fairy tales
* "
Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi"
* "
The Master and his Pupil"
* "
The Thief and His Master"
* "
Sweet Porridge"
* "
The Magic Book"
* "
Farmer Weathersky"
*
Faust
*
Krabat
In literature
* ''
Strega Nona''
* ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...
''
* "
The Monkey's Paw"
* ''
The Man Who Could Work Miracles'' (and numerous other works by
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
)
Other
*
Sorcerer's Apprentice syndrome
* "
Sweet Porridge"
* "
The Master and his Pupil"
References
Further reading
*
*
*
Cosquin, Emmanuel.
Les Mongols et leur prétendu rôle dans la transmission des contes indiens vers l'Occident européen: étude de folk-lore comparé sur l'introduction du "Siddhikûr" et le conte du "Magicien et son apprenti"'. Imprimerie nouvelle G. Clouzot, 1913.
*
*
*
*
External links
*
Volume 3 of Fowler's translations of Lucian from
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks."
It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...
Modern English translation from 2013by Katrin Gygax
The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia(first part) an
second part
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorcerers Apprentice, The
1797 poems
ATU 300-399
Fairy tales about magic
Fairy tales about wizards
Poetry by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe