Many filmmakers, music composers, poets, novelists and other such creatives have long been inspired by an old tale that has come to be known as the story of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The tale is a cautionary parable about a reckless student of magic who brought chaos upon himself by disregarding his mentor’s advice and attempting to cast spells before his training and understanding was complete. A famous string of adaptations based on this tale include the poem, Der Zauberlehrling, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (c. 1749-1832), which influenced the musical piece, L’Apprenti sorcier, by Paul Dukas (c. 1865-1935), both of which inspired the 1940 Disney animation, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, featuring Mickey Mouse as the unfortunate student of magic. Average readers, listeners and viewers of these creative works may not be aware of just how old the tale they are experiencing really is in literary history. In fact, the story of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice dates all way back to the height of the Roman Empire.
A Greco-Roman satirist named Lucian of Samosata (c. 120-180) was the first known author to write down the story known today as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. His account of the tale can be found in his satirical work, Lovers of Lies or The Skeptic, in which Lucian recounts, and then pokes fun at, several far-fetched and overly-fantastical stories. The apprentice character in Lucian’s tale was a philosopher named Eucrates, who became the protégé of an Egyptian magician named Pancrates. While learning from the magician, Eucrates quickly discovered that Pancrates’ miraculous displays were not mere parlor tricks, but were instead real feats of magical spellcasting. Of the magician’s spells, the most famous was one that brought to life common house tools, such as brooms, and compelled them to fetch water and do other household chores. Lucian, narrating as the apprentice, commented on this, stating, “whenever we came to a lodging-place, he would take the bar of the door or a broom or even the pestle, dress it in clothes, utter a spell and make it walk, looking to everyone else like a man. Then it would go off, draw water, buy food, prepare meals, and in everything serve and wait on us dexterously” (Lucian, Lovers of Lies or The Skeptic, section 35). Eucrates, a curious man, eavesdropped on his master and memorized parts of the magical process that his master used to accomplish his magical feats. From that point on, the ancient account continued in much the same way that later adaptations would follow. Lucian narrated the amusing story of the apprentice trying to cast the household tool animation spell that he had imperfectly learned through eavesdropping:
“[O]ne day I secretly overheard the spell—it consisted of only three syllables—by standing in a dark corner near to him…the next day, while he was doing some business in the square, I took the pestle, dressed it in the usual way, uttered the syllables, and ordered it to bring some water. When it had filled the jar and brought it, I said, ‘Stop: no more water. Be a pestle once more.’ But it now refused to obey me and went on bringing water, until it filled our house with a flood of water. The situation caused me to panic, for I was afraid that Pancrates would return and be angry (which indeed happened), and I seized an axe and chopped the pestle in two. But each half took a jar and brought in water, so that I now had two servants instead of one. Meanwhile, Pancrates arrived back, and sizing up the situation made them wood again, as they were before the spell; then he himself deserted me when I wasn’t looking, and vanished, I know not where” (Lovers of Lies or The Skeptic, section 36).
This account by Lucian is the oldest known iteration of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice tale. It is possible that he acquired the idea from another ancient storyteller, as other stories included in Lucian’s Lovers of Lies or The Skeptic can be traced to earlier Greek and Roman writers, such as Herodotus, Plato, and Pliny the Younger. Yet, in the case of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice parable, no older account of the tale has been found that predates the one written by Lucian of Samosata. As a result, many believe the story was Lucian’s original invention.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (1928 Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse and a wizard hat, both [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and openclipart.org, and an artwork labeled Runokuvitus, Der Zauberlehrling, by Johann Baptist Sonderland (c. 1805-1878), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and the Finnish National Gallery).
Sources:
- Lucian, Selected Dialogues, translated by C. D. N. Costa. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World Classics), 2005, 2006, 2009.
