"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (German: "Der Zauberlehrling") is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe written in 1797. The poem is a ballad in fourteen stanzas.
The Disney movies Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 were based on this poem.
Story
In the writing, an apprentice in magic is given chores by an old sorcerer before leaving his workshop. As he grew tired of fetching water by pail, the apprentice enchants a boom to do the work for him. Not before long, the floor slowly begins getting wet all over, and the apprentice realizes that he cannot stop the broom from working because he doesn't know the magic required to do so.
He splits the broom with an axe to stop it, but each of the pieces it splits into becomes a whole broom, resuming their task as normal. The room rapidly starts flooding, and when it all seems lost, the old sorcerer returns and quickly breaks the spell.
In the end, the old sorcerer states that only a master should invoke powerful spirits.
