| Sorcerer | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Unknown |
|
First Appearance |
Der Zauberlehrling (1797) |
|
Created by |
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
Origin[]
1924 illustration of the Sorcerer.
Sorcerer was an old master teaching his young apprentice magic.
One day the 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.
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.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of the Sorcerer from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Der Zauberlehrling (1797)
- The Communist Manifesto (1848)
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1910)
Public Domain Music Appearances[]
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice (1897)
Public Domain Comic Appearances Inspired by the Sorcerer's Apprentice[]
- Red Band Comics #1-2: The Sorcerer also called the Magus was the most powerful magician in Venice during the 1500s. He took on an apprentice named Joe Djerk as an apprentice. The villainous Borgia wanted revenge on the Sorcerer and his Apprentice for refusing his request to make him invisible. However the Sorcerer outsmarts him.
Notes[]
- In the 1940 Walt Disney animated film Fantasia "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", Mickey Mouse 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. It will enter the public domain on January 1, 2036.