A Slackard's Comeuppance, Or..., Schnitzel: A Cautionary Tale for Lazy Louts by Stephanie Shaw

I am Apprentice Schnitzel.
I serve Sir Willibald.
His wizardry was world-renowned
and I was quite enthralled.

But Sir Willibald is a strict taskmaster, and young Schnitzel, an self-admitted lazy layabout, secretly schemes to find ways around his graven-in-stone edict declared in somber tone:

"Clean the house and leave the spells alone!"

Still Schnitzel dreams of finding an easy way out of his tasks as he snoozes on the stairs he is sent to scour.

But his most appalling task is vacuuming the sorcerers castle. The vacuum cleaner is a beast--really a beast with long, sticky, purple tentacles that he fears with suck him into it bulging, striped maw.

But then one night a fancy-dressed but fanged gentlemen sounds the bell and greet Schnitzel with an offer he can't refuse!

"Allow me to demonstrate.
I'll finish in no time.
I'll do your work. You'll rest in peace,
And I won't charge a dime!"

And out of his portmanteau he pulls a vacuum cleaner of prodigious but fearful power. True, it sucks up dust from the floors and scarfs up cobwebs and mud clods from the carpets, but it also devours window drapes, the furniture, the floors, and chandeliers. the dishes and the sink...

It even ate the garbage,
Leaving nothing but the stink.

In fact, the sleazy salesman can't seem to control his own apparatus, and it continues its suction until the wizard's residence vanishes into it with a whish!

But then, Willibald the Wizard appears with a providential ...

POOF!

Failing to follow the instructions has consequences, as this sorcerer's apprentice learns his lesson:

When it comes to your work, it's best not to shirk!

You'll rue the day you tried to take the easy way, in Stephanie Shaw's retelling, Schnitzel: A Cautionary Tale for Lazy Louts (Sleeping Bear Press). Based on Goethe's famous work from 1789, this story has been reworked over the past centuries. Most kids are familiar with the section from Disney's classic film, Fantasia, in which Mickey Mouse inadvertently creates a magic broom to help him carry water and floods the sorcerer's castle when he doesn't know how to make it stop, but this trope of the runaway device had found its place in cartoon, films, and stories all over the world. The illustrations of Kevin M. Barry, done in sinuous and slightly sinister gray line with clever touches of color, portray the traditional character with great humor. For another comic retelling, try Tomie De Paola's Caldecott-winning classic, Strega Nona, in which her hapless helper Big Anthony practically buries the village with the output of her magic pasta pot. Booklist recommends one of literature's classic cautionary tales in this fine spoof, saying, "Shaw warns readers of the perils of laziness in this retelling of Goethe's The Sorcerer's Apprentice, while Barry sets the eerie, Gothic mood with his Gorey-esque, watercolor-and-ink illustrations."