The black mill (novel)

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The Black Mill ( Upper Sorbian Čorny młyn ) is a book for young people published in 1968 by the Sorbian writer Jurij Brězan . In his novel he works on the legend of the good magician Krabat .

Table of contents

The orphan boy Krabat hears a story about a chest with seven locks that is guarded by a wolf. It is said that there is knowledge in the chest. Krabat wants to find this chest and wanders around the forest until he meets a miller. The miller offers Krabat to become his apprentice boy.

At first Krabat refuses to accept the offer, but when the miller says that he has the chest with the seven locks and the associated keys, Krabat accepts the offer. The miller promises Krabat that he will open a lock for each year of his apprenticeship and give him a book of knowledge. Krabat is ready to be his miller's boy for seven years if he gets knowledge.

The miller takes Krabat to the Black Mill, where he meets twelve miller's boys, and asks him to choose a miller's boy to leave to make room for him. Krabat does it, and the selected miller's boy is turned into a boar.

Krabat realizes that he ended up in a school of magic and became a student of a wizard. He begins his apprenticeship and learns that the miller turned many of his journeymen into pigs or killed them. During his apprenticeship, Krabat befriends Markus. Their friendship grows so close that they consider each other to be brothers. Both must find a way to escape the miller's spell. They find out that mothers must come to the mill to release their sons. However, the miller then turns all the boys into ravens, and the mothers have to try to recognize their sons. In the form of a raven, Krabat manages to come to Markus' mother to tell her about the mill and the rehearsal. You agree on an identification mark. The mother comes to the mill and asks the miller to release Krabat and Markus. The master turns everyone into ravens, and Markus' mother recognizes Krabat and Markus by the agreed sign. The master releases them, but he swears vengeance on both of them.

background

Brězan was inspired by the Sorbian folk tale and wanted to reinterpret it. He makes Krabat a seeker of knowledge.

“The figure never let go of me. I suspected a great story and it took me years to find out its core: Knowledge is power and power makes you free. "

- Jurij Brězan : Jurij Brězan: origin and location . Publisher Domowina, Bautzen 1981

The book was published in 1968 by Neues Leben Berlin. 1971 appeared Krabat of Otfried Preußler , which is often compared to Jurij Březan work.

In 1976 Jurij Brězan wrote the novel Krabat or The Metamorphosis of the World and in 1993 Krabat or The Preservation of the World , which are also related to the legend and were also implemented as stage works.

filming

In 1975 the book by Jurij Brězan was filmed for GDR television under the direction of Celino Bleiweiß . It played Klaus Brasch as Krabat, Leon Niemczyk as Müller and Wolfgang Penz than Mark.