The Wild Man

     I took a Fairy Tales & Fantasy class last year where we looked at the psychology behind some of the common fairy tales. It was a great class and I finally got to look into the history and motivations commonly thought to be behind the stories I've been hearing and reading for years. The story we looked at in the most depth was the story of the Wild Man. Now, the Wild Man is a wise man who lives in the forest. In the story he is known as Iron John, a man who lived in a pond and mentored a young prince.

A basic retelling of the story:
     Something strange is happening in the forest near the king's castle: people go in, but they don't come out, so people stop going into the forest. A mysterious hunter shows up and  asks the king if there's anything dangerous around. The king points out the forest and the hunter goes in with only his dog. When they pass a pond, something reaches out and grabs the dog. The man returns to the castle, gathers some people, and returns to empty the pond. They find Iron John, tie him up, and lock him in the castle dungeons.

     One day the prince is playing with his favorite golden ball when it rolls away and into the Wild Man's dungeon. Iron John says he'll give it back if the prince releases him, the boy runs away and returns twice more before saying he couldn't release Iron John even if he wanted to. To which the Wild Man replies, "the key is under your mother's pillow."
     The prince steals the key when his parents are away, and tries to release the Wild Man, but hurts his finger in the process. When the man is free he cries, "don't leave or they will beat me" so Iron John takes the prince up on his shoulders and they escape together. The King and Queen notice the escaped prisoner and missing prince and scour the lands for them without success.
     Iron John feels compassion for the prince, who can never return home, and sets him to the task of watching a spring, not letting anything fall into it. The boy sees golden fish and creatures moving in the pure water, and unknowingly slides his hurt finger into the pond. It turns to gold! When the Wild Man returns the prince is given two more chances to right the wrong, but he allows a single hair from his head, then the entire shock of his hair to fall into the pond. The Wild Man sends the boy out into the world to experience poverty because of his failure.
     The boy went in search of work, having no skill by which to earn his living he wandered until he found a large city. He went into the palace and asked for work, and while they didn't know what he could do, they liked him and set him to fetch and carry for the kitchen. One day the cook sent him to deliver food to the king's table, but the boy didn't want the king to see his golden hair and kept his hat on. The king found this disrespectful and ordered him fired.
     Instead of firing him, the cook took pity and traded the prince for the gardener's boy. One summer day he took off his hat and his golden hair sparkled and glowed in the sunlight. The princess saw and demanded the boy bring her flowers, when he arrived she tricked him into taking his cap off. He tried to escape, but she caught him and gave him a bag of coins. The prince handed them over to the gardener for his children. On the next day the princess tried again to see the boy's hair, but he held his cap on and she gave him another bag of coins that he handed over to the gardener. On the third day, he held onto his hat and refused the bag of coins.
     Soon a war broke out in the country. The boy decided he was man enough to go to war and declared his intention. The soldiers mocked him and left him a lame horse. The boy called at the edge of the forest three times "Iron John" and the Wild Man came. "What do you want?" the boy replied a strong war-horse. So Iron John provided a magnificent war horse and a band of iron-clad warriors. They drove back the enemy force and won the battle for the King, but rather than riding directly back to the castle, the prince returned the gifts to Iron John and rode the three-legged horse home.
     The king decided to host a festival to bring out the mysterious knight ending with the princess throwing out the golden apple. The prince went back to the forest and asked Iron John to catch the apple, the Wild Man gave him a chestnut horse and red armor to protect him. He rode onto the field and when the princess threw out the golden apple, he caught it, immediately riding away. On the second day the prince wore white armor and rode a white horse, caught the apple and rode away. The king became angry and told his men that if the mysterious knight didn't come and report his name, "chase him and give him a blow with your sword." On the third day Iron John gave the prince black armor and a black horse. He caught the apple and fled, but the King's Men followed and knocked his helmet off. They returned and told the king all.

     The princess went the next day to the gardener and asked after the boy. He replied, "he went to join the festival and got home late last night. But he showed my children three golden apples he won." She returned to her father and the king called the boy. The princess took his cap and his golden hair astounded the court, the king asked if he was the knight. The boy replied yes, revealed he was the mysterious knight from the war and that his father was a notable king, and when the king offered a reward, asked for the princess in marriage.
     When the two were celebrating their marriage feast, a baronial king burst through the doors with his attendants, hugged the young man and said, "I am Iron John, enchanted into the Wild Man, you have freed me and all my treasures are now yours!"
And they all lived happily ever after...

     There are so many things we talked about in this story, like the golden ball. The class discussion came up with the golden ball as innocence. Around eight years old, something happens that the world is no longer a happy-hunky-dory place. For some people this is sooner and for some this is later, but for the most part, something happens at eight. The time in the king's kitchen is reminiscent of the work that everyone has to do to figure out their own identity and who they want to be in the future. It continues over into the work with the gardener, only that is more of the busy work that you do until you've managed to put into action who you want to be; like a first job before you start your career. Finding the princess is, in this case, finding the inner female or the anima. I was fascinated that Iron John's spell was broken because he mentored another young man in the ways of the Wild Man, and in doing so helped him to achieve his fortune and destiny. It speaks to the idea that you're not completely done with your life's work until you've helped and led another into the beginning of their life's work. A resounding advocation of mentoring programs. I enjoyed the story, while it isn't my favorite myth or fairy tale it does show how these stories are reflections of the society and time they came out of.

Just a thought....
Stephie