| The Night of Wishes: Or the Satanarchaeolidealcohellish Notion Potion | |
| Title Orig: | Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch |
| Author: | Michael Ende |
| Country: | Germany |
| Language: | German |
| Genre: | Fantasy |
| Media Type: | |
The Night of Wishes: Or the Satanarchaeolidealcohellish Notion Potion is a German Fantasy book by the German children's book author Michael Ende that was first published in 1989 and awarded with the Swiss literary award "La vache qui lit" in 1990. The original German title was Der satanarchäolügenialkohöllische Wunschpunsch.
The evil sorcerer Beelzebub Preposteror has contracted with His Excellency, the Minister of Pitch Darkness, to perform a certain number of evil deeds each year. This year, however, he did not meet the requirement because the High Council of the Animals has sent the cat Maurizio as a spy, which forces Beelzebub to be more cautious. He is threatened with a "seizure" by Maledictus T. Maggot, an official of the devil, should he not fulfill his quota of evil deeds until midnight.
On New Year's Eve (called, not unimportantly for the plot, St. Sylvester's Day in Germany) he joins forces with the evil witch Tyrannia Vampirella, who has the same problem due to the raven Jacob who is spying on her. Together they try to brew the eponymous Notion Potion that will grant them all wishes, in order to fulfill their part of the contract before midnight. If they succeeded to brew the potion they wouldn't even have to keep it secret from the animals, because due to the nature of the potion every wish they make will have the exact opposite effect - i.e. if they wish someone good health, he'll become sick instead.
The plot starts on New Year's Eve at 5 pm and the chapters each represent one hour until midnight to illustrate the increasing time pressure that the characters are under. On the one hand, the sorcerers have to complete a five-meter-long recipe to brew the potion, while constantly getting in each other's way. On the other, the cat and the raven must find a way to stop their evil plan while tackling their own problems, namely the obesity of the cat and the chronic diseases of the raven. As the animals, in their search for help, arrive in the city near the cathedral, Jacob remembers a weakness of the potion: if the potion has not been fully drunk up before the first ring of the bell at midnight, the potion won't reverse the meaning of the wishes - as expected by the two sorcerers - but instead grants them as wished.
So they need such a bell tone. After the first enthusiasm, however, Jacob soon realizes the impossibility of this idea since that tone can only come from the real New Year's chime exactly at midnight. Maurizio is nevertheless thrilled by this unexpected glimmer of hope and ignores all of Jacob's objections and warnings. Since the cathedral tower is locked, Mauricio climbs up the icy tower from outside in darkness and storms. Jacob reluctantly follows him because he is worried about his friend's wellbeing. With the last of their strength, they reach the belfry where they pass out. When they wake up, they are surprised to find themselves facing Pope Sylvester I, who, as every year, has appeared from the hereafter to ring the bells. Although the bells will only ring at midnight, the Pope is able to give the animals a frozen sound of the midnight chime prematurely since space and time play no role for him as a saint. So, as a last challenge, the animals have to put this tone into the potion without the magicians noticing.
Thanks to the saint, who enables them to fly back to the Villa Nightmare at the speed of sound, they just manage to do this. The magicians begin their intended work and wish the world all the best with every sip from the wishing punch, assuming the reversal effect of the potion will cause the world harm. The punch is also strongly alcoholic, so by the time midnight comes along, they're both heavily inebriated, and decide to take their drunken ire out on their pets. After wishing them health - to cause the opposite - the two animals heal up completely, and their lifetime wishes are fulfilled. The magicians are stunned, but are too drunk to understand what had happened. While the raven and the cat flee from the house, the drunken magicians now try to curse each other by means of the wishing punch, but this fails completely. When a few seconds before midnight they finally realize what is going on, it is already too late: Seeing the punch has been all used up, they pass out drunk.
While His Hellish Excellency has Maledictus T. Maggot impound the magicians' souls after midnight, the raven and the tomcat are outside and enthusiastically plan their future while they watch the sky as the world turns into a bright future.
Note: Unless otherwise stated, the information on the figures refers to the hardcover edition published by Thienemann-Esslinger Verlag, 12th edition 2016.[1]
The word satanarchäolügenialkohöllisch is a portmanteau from the German words Satan, Anarchie (anarchy), Archäologie (archaeology), Lüge (lie), genial (ingenious), Alkohol (alcohol) and höllisch (hellish).