Sorcerer's Apprentice

Mount Dragon's Eyes! It's very near, 
yet no one crosses it but deer,
badgers and foxes, wild boars,
and the magician Tottibo.
At night he ventures out of doors
to watch the villagers below.

Far below Mount Dragon's Eyes
the town of Sinkabuka lies,
and two blocks off the square you'll find
a cozy shop called Stitch in Time.
The treadle groans, the bobbins sigh,
where late one night there came a cry
and knick knock knuckle at the door,
and Sylvia skipped across the floor.
Her father called, "The shop is closed."
Sylvia danced upon her toes.
Her mother tried to turn the key,
but the door opened quietly.

There on the threshold stood a fox.
"My specialty is picking locks.
No door is proof against my paws.
My master lives by different laws.
For tasks that call for cloth and thread
and stitches made with human care,
old Tottibo needs help," he said.
"His magic shines but doesn't wear.
Only a mortal's skill will do.
Who'll meet him on the mountain? Who?"

"Send me!" cried Sylvia. "Let me go!
I stopped a dragon in his tracks.
I crossed a river on the backs
of sticklefins and giant pike.
I've walked the woods in rain and snow.
And I can face old Tottibo."

The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a cautionary tale about a powerful sorcerer and the servant who misuses his master's magic, was popularized in the late 1700s by "The Magician's Assistant," a poem by Goethe. The story has appealed to numerous artists over the years, and in 1897 the composer Paul Dukas based an orchestral work upon it that was later used by Walt Disney as the score for his well-known "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment in the 1940 film Fantasia. Now prize-winning poet Nancy Willard adds her own magic to this highly imaginative tale. A writer since childhood, she is the author of more than twenty books for children and adults. Awarded the 1982 John Newbery Medal for A Visit to William Blake's Inn, she first collaborated with the Dillons on Pish, Posh, Said Hieronymus Bosch (1991), an ALA Notable Book. She teaches at Vassar College and at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and she lives with her husband, Eric Lindbloom, in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Leo and Diane Dillon, two of the most distinguished illustrators of our time, bring their own wizardry and a world of enchanted detail to The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Awarded the Caldecott Medal twice, for Ashanti to Zulu (1976) and Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears (1975), their list of honors includes two Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, the Coretta Scott King Award, and the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal. They live in Brooklyn, New York.

—from the dust jacket