From my children's book cabinet - Krabat

My sister got "Krabat" for Christmas when I was 6. I couldn't tell you anymore when I first read it and unfortunately I also can't recall my first reaction to it. It can't have put me off because I have re-read it a lot since then.
Why it should me put off, you ask?
Let's talk about "Krabat".

The German book "Krabat" was written by Otfried Preußler and first published in 1971. 
It got several awards and has been translated into 39 languages. English translations had different titles such as "The Satanic Mill", "The Curse of the Darkling Mill", "Krabat: Legend of the Satanic Mill", and "Krabat and the Sorcerer's Mill". I have no idea, though, how popular it actually is and how many of you know it.
Note: You may have heard about the 2008 movie, maybe even seen it, but I'm not going to cover that at all because I didn't like it.
I am going to list some sources for further reading at the end of the post, though, if you are interested in more details on the book, but also the author's biography which is interesting in that context. As I want to talk about several things connected with the book, the post would get too long if I delved into them too deeply.

The book is set during the Great Northern War in the early 18th century.
Krabat and two other Wendish beggar boys go from village to village together to sing as The Three Kings for food when Krabat is being called to the mill in Schwarzkollm in three dreams.
He follows the call to the mill by the Black Water in the Kosel fen where the mysterious one-eyed Master offers him to makes him his apprentice and to teach him how to grind grain, but "the rest as well". Krabat accepts without knowing that the mill is also a "Black School" and "the rest" is magic. There's hard work, yes, but there's also enough food which is tempting enough for an orphan in these hard times.

Krabat and his eleven classmates work in the mill, but once a week they turn into ravens and the Master teaches them black magic.
While magic makes their life easier in some ways, however, it also presents the danger of being the one who dies on New Year's Eve for being a threat to the Master. The Master himself only has to answer to the Goodman who visits the mill in every new moon night bringing in sacks with gruesome content to be ground.
So after losing two of his friends, Krabat has to decide in his third year at the mill what he wants from life, especially after falling in love with a girl from the village close by. She's the one who can help him escape the mill and put an end to the Master's reign, even if it means that the journeymen will lose their magic powers. If she fails, though, it will mean death for both Krabat and her.

Now you may understand why I wondered about when I first read this and about not being put off by it.
"Krabat" is not a fun book about sorcerers and magic. Parts of it are very dark and scary, it's about power and abusing it or being manipulated by it into staying silent or betraying others hoping you won't be the one falling victim to it. It's about being clever and about friendship, trust, hope, and love.
While written for young readers, it's not boring for grown-ups who will find a lot more in it than just an adventure story.

Originally, Krabat is the hero of a Sorbian folk tale in which he was portrayed as a sorcerer using his power mostly for good.
Sorbs are a West Slavic ethnic group living in Lusatia in Eastern Germany and are recognized as a national minority.
There is also a real Krabat, though - the Croat Johann Schadowitz who fought for John George II, Elector of Saxony and was rewarded with an estate in Särchen where he did a lot for the poor and therefore uneducated Sorbian population which gained him a reputation as a sorcerer.

Preußler wasn't the only one to be inspired by the legends around Krabat.
In 1954, Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński based his Sorbian novel "Mišter Krabat" on them (one of the inspirations for Preußler, but set after the Thirty Years' War) and mixed them with legends about another Sorbian figure, Martin Pumphut (which appears in two chapters of Preußler's book as Pumphutt), who used his magic powers to help fellow mill workers. The book was translated into German by Jurij Brězan who wrote three novels about Krabat himself between 1968 and 1993.
Are you confused yet?
How about we have a look at some movies then?

Brězan's first book "Die schwarze Mühle" (The Black Mill) is his version of the original Krabat legend and it inspired a movie with the same title made in 1975 by the Eastern German DEFA whose fairy tale movies are still shown on TV here.
This version is different from Preußler's in some regards, the most important being that the Master turns people into animals if they don't do his bidding and that it's not the love of a girl, but of a mother that finally destroys the Master's reign.

There's also an animated movie based on Preußler's book, though.
In 1977, Czech film director and animator Karel Zeman made "Čarodějův učeň" (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) which a family member of mine says is still super creepy to him. It sure has a great atmosphere.

I can really recommend the movies, but doubt there's a big chance for you to find them anywhere (they are on YouTube, but not in English).
Preußler's book, however, is easier to find in English - I even found it on OverDrive myself - and is absolutely worth a read. Or two. Or three.


Further reading:

1. Emma Garman: Otfried Preussler's "Krabat and the Sorcerer's Mill". On: Words Without Borders, November 1, 2014
2. Erin Horáková: Krabat by Otfried Preussler. On: Strange Horizons, May 21, 2012
3. Caroline Roeder: Mediales Mühlengeklapper - die Otfried-Preußler-Debatte 2023 f. On: Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg (in German)
4. Website "Auf den Spuren des Krabat" (in German)
5. Die Sagenfigur Krabat. On: Schwarzkollm.de (in German)
6. Krabat on English Wikipedia