Grimm's Household Tales

There was once a King who had a great forest near his palace, full of all kinds of wild animals. One day he sent out a huntsman to shoot a roe deer for him, but the huntsman did not come back. “Perhaps some accident has befallen him,” said the King, and the next day he sent out two more huntsmen to search for him, but they too stayed away. Then on the third day he sent for all his huntsmen and said, “Search the whole forest thoroughly, and do not give up until you have found all three.” But none of these came home again either, and not one of the pack of hounds they had taken with them was ever seen again. From that time on, no one would venture into the forest any longer, and it lay there in deep stillness and solitude, and nothing was seen of it except an eagle or a hawk flying over it now and then. This lasted for many years. Then an unknown huntsman presented himself to the King, looking for a position, and offered to go into the dangerous forest. The King, however, would not give his consent and said, “It is not safe in there. I fear it would go no better with you than with the others, and you would never come out again.” The huntsman replied, “Lord, I will take the risk myself. I know nothing of fear.”

The huntsman therefore went with his dog to the forest. It was not long before the dog came upon some game on the way and wanted to chase it, but the dog had hardly run two steps when it stood before a deep pool and could go no farther, and a naked arm reached out of the water, seized it, and pulled it under. When the huntsman saw that, he went back and fetched three men to come with buckets and bail out the water. When they could see to the bottom, a wild man lay there whose body was brown like rusty iron and whose hair hung over his face down to his knees. They bound him with cords and led him away to the castle. There was great astonishment over the wild man. The King, however, had him put in an iron cage in his courtyard and forbade anyone to open the door on pain of death, and the Queen herself was to take the key into her keeping. From this time on, everyone could go into the forest safely again.

The King had a son eight years old, who was once playing in the courtyard, and while he was playing, his golden ball fell into the cage. The boy ran to the cage and said, “Give me my ball back.” “Not until you have opened the door for me,” answered the man. “No,” said the boy, “I will not do that. The King has forbidden it,” and he ran away. The next day he went again and asked for his ball. The wild man said, “Open my door,” but the boy would not. On the third day the King had ridden out hunting, and the boy went once more and said, “I cannot open the door even if I wanted to, for I do not have the key.” Then the wild man said, “It lies under your mother’s pillow. You can get it there.” The boy, who wanted his ball back, threw all caution to the winds and brought the key. The door opened with difficulty, and the boy pinched his fingers. When it was open, the wild man stepped out, gave him the golden ball, and hurried away. The boy had become afraid; he called and cried out after him, “Oh, wild man, do not go away, or I will be beaten!” The wild man turned back, picked him up, set him on his shoulder, and went into the forest with hasty steps. When the King came home, he saw the empty cage and asked the Queen how that had happened. She knew nothing about it and looked for the key, but it was gone. She called the boy, but no one answered. The King sent people out to look for him in the fields, but they did not find him. Then he could easily guess what had happened, and great grief reigned in the royal court.

When the wild man had once more reached the dark forest, he took the boy down from his shoulder and said to him, “You will never see your father and mother again, but I will keep you with me, for you have set me free, and I have compassion on you. If you do all I tell you, you will do well. I have enough treasure and gold, more than anyone in the world.” He made a bed of moss for the boy to sleep on, and the next morning the man took him to a well and said, “Look, the gold well is as bright and clear as crystal. You are to sit beside it and take care that nothing falls into it, or it will be polluted. I will come every evening to see whether you have obeyed my order.” The boy sat down at the edge of the well and often saw a golden fish or a golden snake appear in it, and he took care that nothing fell in. As he sat there, his finger hurt him so badly that he involuntarily put it in the water. He pulled it out quickly, but saw that it was completely gilded, and however hard he tried to wash the gold off again, it was all in vain. In the evening Iron John came back, looked at the boy, and said, “What has happened to the well?” “Nothing, nothing,” the boy answered, and he held his finger behind his back so that the man would not see it. But Iron John said, “You have dipped your finger into the water. This time it may pass, but take care that you do not let anything fall in again.” By daybreak the boy was already sitting by the well and watching it. His finger hurt him again, and he passed it over his head, and then, unfortunately, a hair fell down into the well. He took it out quickly, but it was already completely gilded. Iron John came and already knew what had happened. “You have let a hair fall into the well,” he said. “I will allow you to watch by it once more, but if this happens a third time, the well will be polluted, and you can no longer stay with me.”

On the third day the boy sat by the well and did not move his finger, however much it hurt him. But the time seemed long to him, and he looked at the reflection of his face on the surface of the water. And as he kept bending down more and more while doing so, trying to look straight into his own eyes, his long hair fell from his shoulders into the water. He raised himself up quickly, but all the hair on his head was already golden and shone like the sun. You can imagine how terrified the poor boy was! He took his pocket handkerchief and tied it around his head so that the man would not see it. When the man came, he already knew everything and said, “Take the handkerchief off.” Then the golden hair streamed out, and no matter how the boy tried to excuse himself, it was of no use. “You have not passed the test and can stay here no longer. Go out into the world; there you will learn what poverty is. But since you do not have a bad heart, and since I mean well by you, there is one thing I will grant you: if you fall into any difficulty, come to the forest and call out, ‘Iron John,’ and then I will come and help you. My power is great, greater than you think, and I have gold and silver in abundance.”

Then the King’s son left the forest and walked on by beaten and unbeaten paths until at last he reached a great city. There he looked for work but could find none, and he had learned nothing by which he could support himself. At last he went to the palace and asked whether they would take him in. The people at court had no idea what use they could make of him, but they liked him and told him to stay. In the end the cook took him into his service and said he could carry wood and water and rake the cinders together. Once, when no one else happened to be at hand, the cook ordered him to carry the food to the royal table, but since he did not like to let his golden hair be seen, he kept his little cap on. Such a thing had never come to the King’s notice before, and he said, “When you come to the royal table, you must take your hat off.” He answered, “Ah, Lord, I cannot; I have a bad sore on my head.” Then the King had the cook called before him and scolded him and asked how he could take such a boy as that into his service, and told him to send the boy away at once. The cook, however, took pity on him and exchanged him for the gardener’s boy.

And now the boy had to plant and water the garden, hoe and dig, and endure the wind and bad weather. Once in summer, when he was working alone in the garden, the day was so warm that he took his little cap off so that the air might cool him. As the sun shone on his hair, it glittered and flashed so that the rays fell into the bedroom of the King’s daughter, and she sprang up to see what it could be. Then she saw the boy and called to him, “Boy, bring me a wreath of flowers.” He put his cap on in great haste and gathered wild field flowers and bound them together. As he was going up the stairs with them, the gardener met him and said, “How can you take the King’s daughter a garland of such common flowers? Go quickly and get another, and look for the prettiest and rarest.” “Oh, no,” replied the boy, “the wild ones have more scent and will please her better.” When he got into the room, the King’s daughter said, “Take your cap off. It is not proper to keep it on in my presence.” He again said, “I must not; I have a sore on my head.” She, however, grabbed at his cap and pulled it off, and then his golden hair rolled down on his shoulders, and it was splendid to see. He wanted to run out, but she held him by the arm and gave him a handful of ducats. With these he left, but he cared nothing for the gold pieces. He took them to the gardener and said, “I give them to your children; they can play with them.” The following day the King’s daughter again called to him to bring her a wreath of field flowers, and when he went in with it, she instantly snatched at his cap and wanted to take it away from him, but he held it fast with both hands. She again gave him a handful of ducats, but he would not keep them and gave them to the gardener as playthings for his children. On the third day things went exactly the same; she could not get his cap away from him, and he would not take her money.

Not long afterward, the country was overrun by war. The King gathered his people together and did not know whether he could offer any resistance to the enemy, who was superior in strength and had a mighty army. Then the gardener’s boy said, “I am grown up, and I will go to the war too; just give me a horse.” The others laughed and said, “Find one for yourself when we are gone. We will leave one behind us in the stable for you.” When they had gone, he went into the stable and led the horse out. It was lame in one foot and limped hobblety jig, hobblety jig; nevertheless he mounted it and rode away to the dark forest. When he came to the edge of the forest, he called “Iron John” three times so loudly that it echoed through the trees. At once the wild man appeared and said, “What do you desire?” “I want a strong horse, for I am going to the war.” “You shall have that, and still more than you ask for.” Then the wild man went back into the forest, and it was not long before a stable boy came out of it, leading a horse that snorted through its nostrils and could hardly be held back. Behind them followed a great troop of soldiers entirely equipped in iron, and their swords flashed in the sun. The youth handed his three-legged horse over to the stable boy, mounted the other, and rode at the head of the soldiers. When he got near the battlefield, a great part of the King’s men had already fallen, and it would not have taken much more to make the rest give way. Then the youth galloped there with his iron soldiers, broke over the enemy like a hurricane, and struck down all who opposed him. They began to flee, but the youth pursued them and never stopped until not a single man was left. Instead of returning to the King, however, he led his troop back to the forest by byways and called out for Iron John. “What do you desire?” asked the wild man. “Take back your horse and your troops, and give me my three-legged horse again.” Everything he asked was done, and soon he was riding on his three-legged horse. When the King returned to his palace, his daughter went to meet him and congratulated him on his victory. “I am not the one who won the victory,” he said, “but an unknown knight who came to my assistance with his soldiers.” The daughter wanted to know who the unknown knight was, but the King did not know and said, “He followed the enemy, and I did not see him again.” She asked the gardener where his boy was, but he smiled and said, “He has just come home on his three-legged horse, and the others have been mocking him and crying, ‘Here comes our hobblety jig back again!’ They asked, too, ‘Under what hedge have you been lying asleep all this time?’ He, however, said, ‘I did the best of all, and it would have gone badly without me.’ And then he was ridiculed even more.”

The King said to his daughter, “I will proclaim a great feast that will last three days, and you will throw a golden apple. Perhaps the unknown knight will come to it.” When the feast was announced, the youth went out to the forest and called Iron John. “What do you desire?” Iron John asked. “I wish to catch the King’s daughter’s golden apple.” “It is as good as yours already,” said Iron John. “You will also have a suit of red armor for the occasion and ride on a spirited chestnut horse.” When the day came, the youth galloped to the spot, took his place among the knights, and was recognized by no one. The King’s daughter came forward and threw a golden apple to the knights, but none of them caught it except him, and as soon as he had it, he galloped away.

On the second day Iron John equipped him as a white knight and gave him a white horse. Again he was the only one who caught the apple, and he did not linger for an instant but galloped off with it. The King grew angry and said, “That is not allowed. He must appear before me and tell his name.” He gave the order that if the knight who caught the apple should go away again, they should pursue him, and if he would not come back willingly, they were to cut him down and stab him.

On the third day he received from Iron John a suit of black armor and a black horse, and again he caught the apple. But as he was riding off with it, the King’s attendants pursued him, and one of them got so near him that he wounded the youth’s leg with the point of his sword. The youth nevertheless escaped from them, but his horse leaped so violently that the helmet fell from the youth’s head, and they could see that he had golden hair. They rode back and announced this to the King.

The following day the King’s daughter asked the gardener about his boy. “He is at work in the garden. The odd fellow was at the festival too and only came home yesterday evening; he has also shown my children three golden apples that he won.”

The King had him summoned into his presence, and he came with his little cap on his head again. But the King’s daughter went up to him and took it off, and then his golden hair fell down over his shoulders, and he was so handsome that everyone was amazed. “Are you the knight who came to the festival every day, always in different colors, and who caught the three golden apples?” asked the King. “Yes,” he answered, “and here are the apples,” and he took them out of his pocket and returned them to the King. “If you desire further proof, you may see the wound that your people gave me when they followed me. But I am also the knight who helped you to your victory over your enemies.” “If you can perform such deeds as that, you are no gardener’s boy. Tell me, who is your father?” “My father is a mighty King, and I have gold in plenty, as much as I require.” “I see well,” said the King, “that I owe you thanks. Can I do anything to please you?” “Yes,” he answered, “that indeed you can. Give me your daughter as my wife.” The maiden laughed and said, “He does not stand much on ceremony, but I had already seen from his golden hair that he was no gardener’s boy,” and then she went and kissed him. His father and mother came to the wedding and were overjoyed, for they had given up all hope of ever seeing their dear son again. And as they were sitting at the wedding feast, the music suddenly stopped, the doors opened, and a stately King came in with a great retinue. He went up to the youth, embraced him, and said, “I am Iron John, and I was a wild man by enchantment, but you have set me free. All the treasures that I possess shall be yours.”