2. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

3. One day the sorcerer reminded his apprentice that it was time to fill the tank in the cellar.

4. Suddenly there was a flash and a whirl, and the sorcerer was gone.

5. The apprentice had secretly learned the magic spell that brought the broom to life.

6. The apprentice brought the broom out of the closet, and waved his hands over it, the way he had seen the sorcerer do it.

8. The broom, in fits and starts, sprouted arms and legs.

9. The broom started hopping around the room.

10. “Now go to work,” the apprentice commanded the broom.

11. “Fetch the water from the river and fill the tank at the bottom of the stairs.”

12. The broom began to carry the water exactly as commanded.

13. The broom took the bucket up the stairs…

14. …and brought it back down filled with water.

15. Trip after trip, bucket after bucket, the broom carried water, and tossed it in the tank.

16. “This is easy,” thought the apprentice. “My work will be done in no time at all.”

17. Soon the tank was filled to the brim. “Stop, broom,” commanded the apprentice. But the broom kept working faster and faster.

19. “Stop,” he cried. “Stop or the tank will overflow!”

20. The apprentice attempted to reverse the spell. He waved his arms this way and that, but to no avail.

21. Soon the water was rising up the stairs.

22. The water swirled all around the castle. Like a great flood, it carried away everything in its path.

23. “Hocus Pocus! Alacazam! Abra Cadabra!” shouted the apprentice.

24. But the waters rose higher…

25. and higher…

26. and higher.

27. The apprentice, in his desperation, had broken the broom in two.

28. Much to his dismay, one half of the broom became whole again and continued to carry buckets of water as before.

29. Imagine how the apprentice felt when the other half of the broom did the same. Now there were two brooms doing the work where there had been only one before.

31. The water rose higher and higher. Again, the apprentice tried in vain to remember the magic words that would reverse the spell.

33. The sorcerer returned. He waved his hand in a magical gesture.

34. All the water drained away.

35. The broom returned to its place in the closet.

36. The old sorcerer shook his head, and didn’t say a word.

37. The young apprentice had learned his lesson!