The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
There once was an elderly sorcerer who worked in his magic workshop every day. He was very old magician who always wore a scowl on his face as he worked making potions, talking to ghosts, and creating very mysterious things. In his workshop worked his apprentice, a young man who was getting tired of his master always telling him to go fetch a bucket of water, mop the floor, gather firewood, and do all the hard work all day without doing any of the fun magic.
One day, the old sorcerer departed his workshop, leaving a long list of chores for the apprentice to perform. The apprentice was relieved to finally have some peace, and to have the whole workshop and all the magic spells and potions to himself. As he was pondering his first job, mopping the floor, his eyes fell on the mop and the bucket, and the sorcerer’s book of spells. Impulsively, without taking time to think, the apprentice quickly found a spell which would make the mop and the bucket do the work for him. Although the apprentice was not fully trained, he said the right words and the mop jumped up, carried the bucket outside, filled it with water, then flew it back inside and dumped the water on the floor. The apprentice was so pleased. He watched as the mop took the bucket out, filled it with water, and flew back in again, and again, and again, and again. Each time, the broom and the bucket worked faster, until they looked like a tornado inside the workshop. Soon, the water was up to the apprentice’s ankles, then his knees. The apprentice tried to find another spell to stop the crazy mop, but he couldn’t find anything that would work.
The apprentice began to panic. He grabbed an axe and chopped the mop in two. But each piece became a mop, and the two started each grabbed a bucket and started filling them twice as fast. Sadly, the apprentice realized that his impulsive use of magic would destroy the whole house. He dreaded his master coming home and finding out what he had done.
Suddenly, silence fell on the workshop. The apprentice turned around and saw his master had returned and broken the spell. All the water rushed back out of the room, and the broom and bucket went back to their spots. The only words the old sorcerer spoke were, “Only a master should invoke powerful spirits.”