In the north of England there once lived a great sorcerer. He spoke all languages and knew all the secrets of the universe. He had a huge book bound in black calfskin with iron clasps and iron corners. This book was chained to a table, firmly nailed to the floor, and when the sorcerer wanted to read, he unlocked it with an iron key. Only he alone read this book, because it contained the secrets of the kingdom of spirits.
This learned sorcerer had a student - a stupid fellow. He served his great teacher, but did not dare to glance at the huge black book. He was not even allowed into the sorcerer’s chambers. But one day, when the teacher was not at home, the student could not resist and sneaked into his chambers. And then he saw the strange objects that the sorcerer used when he turned copper into gold and lead into silver. There was a mirror here that reflected everything that was done in this world; There was also a magic shell - as soon as the sorcerer put it to his ear, he heard everything he wanted to hear. However, the student tinkered with the crucibles in vain - he was never able to get gold from copper, or silver from lead. In vain he peered into the wonderful mirror - some clouds were floating in it and smoke was swirling, but nothing else was visible. And in the shell there was only a dull noise, as if a distant sea wave was hitting an unknown shore. “Nothing works for me,” the student thought, “because I don’t know the spells written in the book. And it’s locked.”
He turned around and - lo and behold! The book turned out to be unlocked - the teacher forgot to remove the key from the lock before leaving. The student rushed to the book and opened it. The words in it were written in black and red ink. The young man could barely make out anything, but still, running his finger along one line, he read it out loud, syllable by syllable.
And suddenly the room was plunged into darkness and the whole house shook. Thunderclaps rolled through all the chambers, and a terrible monster appeared in front of the young man. His eyes glowed like two lamps, and flames burst out of his mouth. It was the demon Beelzebub, submissive to the sorcerer: the young man accidentally summoned him with a spell.
- Order! - the demon roared, like a furnace roars when the flames are raging in it. The young man froze in place, a shiver ran through him, his hair stood on end. - Order, or I will strangle you! But the young man could not answer. Then the demon grabbed him by the throat and, burning him with his fiery breath, roared: - Order! - Water that flower over there! - the young man shouted in despair the first thing that came to his mind, and shook it at the geranium that stood in a pot on the floor.
The evil spirit immediately disappeared, but instantly returned with a barrel of water on his back and poured all the water on the flower. Then he disappeared again and returned with a new barrel. And so he disappeared and returned again and again, and poured and poured water on the geranium until the room was ankle-deep with water. “That’s enough, that’s enough!” - the young man begged, breathless. But the demon did not listen to him. He carried and carried water - after all, the sorcerer's student did not know how to drive away spirits.
And the water continually rose - the young man was already standing in it up to his knees, then up to his waist, but Beelzebub was still carrying full barrels and watering the geraniums. Soon the water reached the young man’s armpits, and he climbed onto the table; then it rose all the way to the windows, crashed against the glass, swirled around the young man, and he stood up to his neck in it. In vain he shouted at the top of his voice: the evil spirit did not subside...
Yes, to this day he would have been carrying water, watering the geranium and, of course, would have flooded the whole of Yorkshire, but the sorcerer, fortunately, remembered that he forgot to lock his book and returned home. And at that very moment, when the water was already bubbling at the very chin of the poor student, the sorcerer burst into his chambers, cast a spell and drove Beelzebub into his fiery abode.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru