Iron Hans

A wild man with skin like rusted iron, found living in a forest pool that had swallowed every hunter sent after him, was finally captured and caged in the king's courtyard as a curiosity. The young prince, playing nearby one day, accidentally lost his golden ball into the cage, and Iron Hans agreed to return it only if the boy freed him.

Fearing punishment, the prince finally worked up the courage to steal the cage's key from beneath his sleeping mother's pillow and set the wild man free. Knowing he would be blamed, Iron Hans took the boy with him into the forest, setting him to guard a golden spring, warning him not to let anything touch it and turn gold.

The prince failed the test three times through simple boyish curiosity, until Iron Hans, though disappointed, sent him out into the world instead to make his own way. Disguised and humble, the prince worked as a gardener's helper at a foreign court, his golden hair hidden beneath a cap, until war threatened the kingdom. Secretly aided by Iron Hans, who appeared with a knight and army whenever the boy called for help, the prince won every battle and eventually the hand of the princess. At the wedding, Iron Hans himself appeared, revealed as an enchanted king freed at last from his own curse by the boy's earlier, simple act of trust and courage.