Krabat and the Legend of the Satanic Mill by Otfried Preussler. Short summary

5 seconds

Orphan Krabat finds himself in a mill in Kozelbruch, which turns out to be a school of witchcraft. The master teaches 12 apprentices black magic. Each year one of them must die in order to prolong his life.

1 minute

Orphan boy Krabat finds himself in a mill in Kozelbruch. There are bad rumors about the mill in the neighborhood. Its six millstones grind different grain every day. The locals try to stay away from the place. Only the Stranger in black, with a cockerel’s feather, whose light illuminates the mill, comes here.

The Master fears him and calls him Lord. When the new moon arrives, the man in black arrives on a heavy wagon to grind something on the 7th, the «dead» millstone.

At the School of Blacksmithing, the Master teaches 12 apprentices of black magic. Each year on New Year’s Eve, one of the 12 apprentices must die in order for the Master’s life to continue.

The one condemned to death digs his own grave. A new apprentice is soon brought to take his place, whom the Master chooses from among the homeless and orphans. None of the apprentices can escape, for their paths are bewitched by the Master. There was only one way to get out of there. It was necessary for a girl in love with a boy to pass the test.