The Artificer's Apprentice
The Artificer's Apprentice is a Cathrican folktale, first published by H.M. Barrington in the collection "Popular Rhymes for Children" in 987 IR. The source of the tale is unknown, likely passed down by oral tradition from a hundred years prior. It contains themes of child labour, and the general suspicion towards new innovations in magical engineering.
Synopsis
A wealthy Duke visits a fortune-teller travelling with a carnivale troupe. The fortune-teller says to the Duke: "Guard against your son's future, or he will never inherit your family name." The Duke is terrified by this prophecy and vows to do everything he can to guard against this from happening. The Duchess eventually gives birth to a son, and gives him beautiful clothes and rich food until the boy is plump and spoiled. But the Duke is mindful of the prophecy and goes to visit a Saint to ask how he might avoid any perils the future might bring. The Saint scorns the prophecy and advises the Duke to forget worrying about such things, and to put his faith in the Imperatori. But the Duke is not dissuaded. When his son turns nine years old, the Duke takes him to an Artificer in the local village and requests that his son become an apprentice. He wishes his son to learn how to create devices of Arcane Divination, so that he will always know the future and be protected. The Artificer says that he will take the boy as an apprentice for one year, but the boy must live with him and will not be allowed to visit his parents during that time. The Duke agrees. First, the Artificer sends the boy to work for eight hours a day in the presses which print the pages of spellbooks for wizards. Every day, the boy must climb the great press machine to keep it turning, or scamper under it to clear the jams while it is still running. The boy complains at first, but the Artificer whips him and forces him to work. His hair gets caught in the machine many times, and ripped from his head. Eventually, his fingers are accidentally crushed in between the cogs and he cannot perform his job anymore. Instead, the Artificer sends the boy to work dipping rods into a large vat of phosphorus for ten hours every day, to prime them for the combustion engines that power the Artificer's arcane machines. It is back-breaking labour, especially because it is so difficult for the boy to hold things now, and eventually breathing the fumes causes the boy's teeth to fall out, or to pass out and burn himself. When the boy can no longer bear to dip the rods, the Artificer sends him to work in the mine, where he must sit in the dark for twelve hours a day next to a gate, and pull on a rope to open and close it to allow miners to pass. The boy eats very little food and grows very thin, and sitting in the dark all day causes his eyesight to get bad. Eventually a rockfall crushes his leg, and the crude splint he's given causes it to heal crooked. After a year, the Artificer declares that the apprenticeship is at an end, and that the boy knows everything he must know in the art of creating machines of divination. Although the boy doesn't feel he has learned anything at all, he hobbles home. When he gets there, he is greeted by his parents who see a gaunt, toothless, near-blind cripple in ragged clothing. They do not recognize the boy as their son, and they turn him away, assuming the Artificer has made off with their real son. The story ends with the Duke and Duchess weeping for their lost son, who will now never carry on the family name.Variations & Mutation
In some versions of the tale, the apprentice is given different tasks by the artificer, such as climbing up chimneys to clear soot, or emptying dangerous phials of acid or other magical ingredients.
Cultural Reception
The story was most popular in Cathrica, Skodia and Dyre, where new innovations in magic were more common, and the more conservative population feared it would lead to turning away from traditional Imperial values.
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