A fairy tale about the boy being a man

There was once a king, who had a large forest near his palace, in which many different animals lived. At one time he sent a hunter out to shoot a deer, but he did not return. “Maybe it happened to him an accident,” said the king, and he sent two other hunters out to seek him the next day. But they also stayed away.

Then on the third day he left all his hunters and said, “Look through the whole forest and do not stop for you have found all three hunters.” But also no one returned, and of the whole pack of dogs they had taken, no more was seen. From that time, no one ventured into the forest anymore; It was in deep silence and loneliness, only occasionally one saw an eagle or a hawk flying over it.

The Unknown Hunter

That lasted for many years; Then an unknown hunter reported to the king, he was looking for a relationship, and he offered to enter the dangerous forest. But the king did not want to give his consent; And he said, “It’s not lint there, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be better than the others, and you’ll never get out of it again.” The hunter replied, “Lord, I want to venture on his own responsibility; I know no fear. “

So the hunter entered the forest with his dog. It didn’t take long, or the dog came on the track, and wanted to be back there: barely he had done a few passes or he stood in front of a deep pond; He could not go on, and there suddenly a naked arm stretched out the water, grabbed him, and pulled him down. When the hunter saw it, he went back and pulled out three men, who had to take buckets and create the water from the pool.

De Wildeman

When they could see the bottom, there was a willow that had a body so brown as rusty iron and his hair hung over his face to his knees. They tied him with ropes and carried him away to the castle. Everyone was amazed by the wondrous Wildeman, but the king put him in an iron cage in his court and forbade the death penalty, to open the door of the cage ever; The Queen would take the key in custody. And from that time on, everyone could safely enter the forest again.

The king had a son of eight years, who once played in the garden, and under the playing his golden ball fell into the cage. The boy walked there and said, “Give me my ball.” “Not before you opened the door to me,” said the man. “No,” said the boy, “I do not, that has forbidden the king,” and he walked away. The next day he came back and demanded his ball again; But the Wildeman said: “Open my Door,” but the boy did not want to do it.

The pillow and the key

On the third day the king was left to go hunting, then the boy came back again and said, “If I would like it, I can’t open the door, I don’t have the key!” Then the Wildeman said, “It lies with your mother under her pillow, there you can get him.” The boy, who wanted to have his ball back, struck all the objections in the wind and brought the key. The door was difficult to open, and the boy clashed his finger. When the door was open, the Wildeman came out of the cage, gave him the ball, and quickly walked away.

Now the boy got scared and screamed and cried out, “Oh well, Wildeman, don’t go away, because then I get a beating.” The Wildeman turned, lifted him up, put him on his shoulders and walked into the forest with a quick fit. When the king came home he saw the empty cage, and asked the Queen how that had come. She knew nothing about it, searched the key, but that was gone. She called the boy, but no one replied. The king sent people out, who had to look for him on the fields, but they did not find him. Then it was easy to guess what had happened; And there was great sadness at the royal court.

The Wildeman is the teacher

When the Wildeman had arrived again in the dark forest, he took the boy from his shoulders and spoke to him, “Your father and your mother no longer see you, but I want to keep you with me, for you have freed me and I feel sorry for you. If you do everything I say to you, then you will have it right. I have enough gold and treasures, more than anyone in the world. ” He made a bed of moss for the boy he slept on and the next morning the man brought him to a source, and said, “Look, the gold source is light and clear as crystal, you must sit down and watch that nothing falls into it , otherwise he will be deconsecrated. Every night I come to see whether you have followed my orders. “

The boy sat down at the edge of the source, saw that it now once showed a golden fish, then again a golden snake, and he watched, that nothing fell into it. When he sat there, he got such a violent pain on his finger, that he put him in the water involuntarily. He pulled him out soon, but he saw, that he was completely gilded, and how much effort he also did to rub off the gold again, everything was in vain.

In the evening, the Wildeman came back, watched the boy and said, “What happened to the source?” “Nothing, nothing at all,” he replied, and he kept his finger on his back, lest he should see him. But the man said, “You have baptized your finger in the water. This time I will see it by the fingers, but beware, that you do not drop anything in it again. “

At the dawn of the morning, the boy was already at the source, and waved about it. Again his finger hurt him and he upset his head, then unfortunately a hair fell into the source. He quickly took him out, but he was already completely gilded. The Wildeman came, and immediately saw what had happened. “You have dropped a hair in the source!” He said, “I will see it one more time, but if it happens for the third time, then the source is deconsecrated and then you can no longer stay with me.”

The third day the boy was at the source and he did not touch the finger, even though he had so much pain. But time fell long; And he looked at his face in the water level. And when he was increasingly bent over, and wanted to see himself right in the eyes, his long hair fell from his shoulders into the water. He quickly turned himself on but all his head hair was already gilded, and shined like a sun. You can imagine how the poor boy was shocked. He took his handkerchief, and tied it to his head, lest the man would see it. But when he came, he knew everything and said, “loosen that cloth.”

Then the golden hairs wave out and how the boy apologized, it helped him nothing. “You have not endured the trial, and you can no longer stay here. Enter the wide world, there you will experience what it is like to be poor. But because you have no bad heart, and I think well with you, I will allow you one thing. If you are in distress, go to the forest and cry, “Iron Hans” and then I will come and help you. My power is great, bigger than you think, and gold and silver I have in abundance. “

The road full of ash, descent and sorrow

Then the king’s son left the forest, and walked over the beaten and unpaved roads, until he finally arrived in a big city. He searched for work there, but he could not find anything, and he had also learned nothing that he could have helped himself forward. Finally, he went to the castle and asked if they wanted to pick him up there. The courtiers did not know, for which they would use him, but he did take them, and they said he should stay. Eventually, the Cook took him in service and said that he could carry wood and water and sweep the Ashes together.

And once at one time, when no one else was available, the Cook instructed him to carry the food to the royal dis, but because he did not want to show his golden hairs, he kept his hat on. The king had never experienced such a thing, and he said, “If you come to the royal table, you need to put your hat off.” “Oh, Lord,” he replied, “I can’t, I have an ugly scabies on my head.”

Then the king let the cook call and repried him, and asked how he could have employed such a boy; He had to chase him away immediately. But the cook had pity him and exchanged him for the gardener’s boy. Now the boy in the garden had to plant and pour, chop and dig, and let wind and bad weather go over them.

The meeting with the Divine Woman in the garden

On a summer day, when he only worked in the garden, it was so warm that he put his hat off, so that he could get some fresh air. The sun was so shining on his hair, that it sparkled and twinked, so that the rays shone into the bedroom of the princess and they jumped up to see what that was. She got the boy in the eye and cried, “Boy, Bring me a bouquet of flowers!” He quickly set up his hat, picked wild field flowers and tied them together. When he went up the stairs, the gardener met him, who said, “How can you bring the Princess a bunch of pitiful wildflowers? Get out and find the most beautiful and the rarest. ” “Oh no,” said the boy, “wild flowers smell stronger and will give her a better liking.”

When he came into the room, the king’s daughter spoke: “Take your hat, it is inappropriate that you keep it in my vicinity.” And he said again, “I cannot do that, I have scabies on my head”. But she grabbed the hat and pulled it off, and there his golden hairs rolled around his shoulders, and it looked beautiful. He wanted to run away, but she kept him at his arm and gave him a handful of ducaten. He went away with it, but he gave nothing to the gold, and brought it to the gardener, and said, “I give it to your children, who can play with it.”

The next day the princess called him again, that he had to bring her a field bouquet, and when he came in, she immediately grabbed his hat to take him off, but he held it with both hands. Again, she gave him a handful of ducats, but he didn’t want to keep them and gave them to the gardener as a toy for his children. The third day was no different: she could not take his hat, and he did not want to have her gold.

The Inner warriors come to life

Not long after, the country was burdened by war. The king called his men together and did not know if he could resist the enemy, who was overwhelming and possessed a large army. Then the gardener’s boy said: “I have grown up now and wants to take part in battle; Give me a horse! ” The others laughed, saying, “If we are gone, just look for one: we will leave one in front of you!” When they left, he entered the barn, and led the horse out; It was on one leg lamb and hinked, Hinkelepink, Hinkelepink. Yet he sat down and drove to the dark forest.

When he arrived at the edge of it, he cried three times: “Iron Hans!” So loud that it shone through the trees. Shortly thereafter, the Wildeman came and said, “What do you wish?” “I wish a strong horse, because I am going to fight.” “That you will have, and even more than you desire.” Then the Wildeman went back into the forest, and it was not long before a groomsman came out of the forest that led a horse to the bridle, which was by his nostrils and hardly to be overcome. In the back there came a large crowd of martial people, completely harnast, and their swords were shining in the sun.

The young man passed his three-legged horse to the groomsman, spent the other and drove out for the crowd. When he approached the battlefield, a large part of the king’s soldiers had already fallen, and it was only a few or the others who had to flee. There the young man came with his harnast martial people, sailed as a storm wind over the enemy and defeated all who resisted him. They hit the flight, but the youngster sat them on the heels, and did not stop for no man left.

But instead of returning to the king, he led his men along detours again to the forest, and called Iron Hans forth. “What do you wish?” asked the Wildeman. “Take your horse and your martial people back and give me my three-legged horse again.” Everything happened what he wished, and he drove home on his three-legged horse.

The Unknown knight

When the king returned to his castle, his daughter met him and wished him luck with his victory. “I am not, who has achieved victory,” he said, “but an unknown knight, who came to help me with his multitude.” The daughter wanted to know, who had been the unknown knight, but that did not know the king, and he said, “he has pursued the enemies, and I have not seen him again.”

She asked the gardener about the boy; But he laughed, and said, “He has just come home on his three-legged horse, and the others have mocked and called him,” this is where our hinkepoot comes again. ” They also asked: “Behind which hedge do you sleep in the meanwhile?” But he said: “The best is done by me, without me it would have gone bad.” Then he was even more laughed at. “

A big party

The king spoke to his daughter: “I want to announce a great feast, which will last for three days, and you must throw a golden apple. Maybe the unknown comes here. “

When the feast was announced, the youth went to the forest and called Iron Hans. “What do you wish?” he asked. “That I catch the King daughter’s golden Apple.” “It’s whether you already had it,” said Iron Hans, “You’ll also have a red armor and you’ll ride on a fiere fox.” When the day arrived, the young man came to a troop, set himself up among the Knights, and was recognized by no one. The princess came forward, and threw the Knights a golden Apple, but no one caught him alone. But as soon as he had him, he continued to cook with it.

The second day, Iron Hans had fitted him as a white knight and given him a fungus. He only caught the Apple again, but he did not have a moment, but drove it away. The king was angry and said, “that is not allowed, he must appear before me and call his name.” He commanded that when the Knight, who had captured the Apple, went forth, he had to chase him, and if he did not return voluntarily, they had to hit him and stab him.

The wound that was inflicted by the men of the King

On the third day he got a black outfit and a black horse from Iron Hans, and he also caught the Apple again. But when he galoped away with it, the men of the king pursued him, and one of them came so close that he wounded him with the tip of his sword the bone. Yet he escaped them, but his horse took such a great leap, that the helmet fell from the head and they could see that he had golden hair. They drove back and told everything to the king.

The next day the princess asked the gardener about his boy. “He works in the garden. The wondrous guy was also at the party and only came home last night, he showed to my children three golden apples he had won. ” The king let him come to him, he appeared, and had the hat back on his head. But the princess walked toward him and took him off; And his golden hair fell over his shoulders, and he was so beautiful that they were all amazed.

“Were you the knight who came to the feast every day, always in a different colour, and who captured the three golden apples?” asked the King. “Yes,” he replied, “And here are the apples,” and he took them out of his pocket and handed them the king. “If you require even more evidence, you can see the wound that your men have inflicted on me when they pursued me. But I am also the knight, who helped you to victory over the enemy. “

The Golden Hair

“When you can do such deeds, you are not a garden boy. Tell me, who is your father? ” “My father is a mighty king, and gold I have in abundance and as much as I wish” “I see,” said the king, “that I owe you thanks, can I have a pleasure with you?” “Yes,” he replied, “You can, give me your daughter to wife.” Then the girl laughed and said, “He is not making any wipes! But I have already seen to his golden hair that he is not a gardener’s boy “, and she walked up to him and kissed him.

The wedding

At the wedding came his father and mother, and they were very happy, because they had given up all hope to see their beloved son ever yet. When they were at the wedding, the music suddenly stunted, the doors were opened, and a mighty King entered in with great consequence. He went to the youth, embraced him, and said, “I am Iron Hans, and I was turned into a wildeman, and you have redeemed me. All the treasures I possess will be your property. “