The King, however, wanted to see it
for himself, and next evening went thither, and when the duck thrust
her head in through the sink, he took his sword and cut through her
neck, and suddenly she changed into a most beautiful maiden, exactly
like the picture, which her brother had made of her. The King was full
of joy, and as she stood there quite wet, he caused splendid apparel to
be brought and had her clothed in it. Then she told how she had been
betrayed by cunning and falsehood, and at last thrown down into the
water, and her first request was that her brother should be brought
forth from the pit of snakes, and when the King had fulfilled this
request, he went into the chamber where the old witch was, and asked,
What does she deserve who does this and that? and related what had
happened. Then was she so blinded that she was aware of nothing and
said, “She deserves to be stripped naked, and put into a barrel with
nails, and that a horse should be harnessed to the barrel, and the
horse sent all over the world.” All of which was done to her, and to
her black daughter. But the King married the white and beautiful bride,
and rewarded her faithful brother, and made him a rich and
distinguished man. 136 Iron John

There was once on a time 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 him a roe, but he did not come back. “Perhaps some accident has
befallen him,” said the King, and the next day he sent out two more
huntsmen who were to search for him, but they too stayed away. Then on
the third day, he sent for all his huntsmen, and said, “Scour the whole
forest through, and do not give up until ye have found all three.” But
of these also, none came home again, and of the pack of hounds which
they had taken with them, none were seen more. From that time forth, no
one would any longer venture into the forest, and it lay there in deep
stillness and solitude, and nothing was seen of it, but sometimes an
eagle or a hawk flying over it. This lasted for many years, when a
strange huntsman announced himself to the King as seeking a situation,
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 fare with thee no better than with the others, and thou wouldst
never come out again.” The huntsman replied, “Lord, I will venture it
at my own risk, of fear I know nothing.”

The huntsman therefore betook himself with his dog to the forest. It
was not long before the dog fell in with some game on the way, and
wanted to pursue it; but hardly had the dog run two steps when it stood
before a deep pool, could go no farther, and a naked arm stretched
itself out of the water, seized it, and drew it under, When the
huntsman saw that, he went back and fetched three men to come with
buckets and bale out the water. When they could see to the bottom there
lay a wild man 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 court-yard,
and forbade the door to be opened on pain of death, and the Queen
herself was to take the key into her keeping. And from this time forth
every one could again go into the forest with safety. The King had a son of eight years, who was once playing in the
court-yard, and while he was playing, his golden ball fell into the
cage. The boy ran thither and said, “Give me my ball out.” “Not till
thou hast opened the door for me,” answered the man. “No,” said the
boy, “I will not do that; the King has forbidden it,” and ran away. The
next day he again went 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 wished, for I have not the key.” Then the wild man said,
“It lies under thy mother’s pillow, thou canst get it there.” The boy,
who wanted to have his ball back, cast all thought 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 after him, “Oh, wild man, do not go away, or I shall be beaten!”
The wild man turned back, took him up, set him on his shoulder, and
went with hasty steps into the forest. When the King came home, he
observed the empty cage, and asked the Queen how that had happened? She
knew nothing about it, and sought the key, but it was gone. She called
the boy, but no one answered. The King sent out people to seek for him
in the fields, but they did not find him. Then he could easily guess
what had happened, and much 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, “Thou wilt never see thy
father and mother again, but I will keep thee with me, for thou hast
set me free, and I have compassion on thee. If thou dost all I bid
thee, thou shalt fare well. Of treasure and gold have I enough, and
more than anyone in the world.” He made a bed of moss for the boy on
which he slept, and the next morning the man took him to a well, and
said, “Behold, the gold well is as bright and clear as crystal, thou
shalt sit beside it, and take care that nothing falls into it, or it
will be polluted. I will come every evening to see if thou hast obeyed
my order.” The boy placed himself by the margin of the well, and often
saw a golden fish or a golden snake show itself therein, and took care
that nothing fell in. As he was thus sitting, his finger hurt him so
violently that he involuntarily put it in the water. He drew it quickly
out again, but saw that it was quite gilded, and whatsoever pains he
took to wash the gold off again, all was to no purpose. In the evening
Iron John came back, looked at the boy, and said, “What has happened to
the well?” “Nothing, nothing,” he answered, and held his finger behind
his back, that the man might not see it. But he said, “Thou hast dipped
thy finger into the water, this time it may pass, but take care thou
dost not again let anything go in.” 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 unhappily a hair fell down into the
well. He took it quickly out, but it was already quite gilded. Iron
John came, and already knew what had happened. “Thou hast let a hair
fall into the well,” said he. “I will allow thee to watch by it once
more, but if this happens for the third time then the well is polluted,
and thou canst no longer remain with me.”

On the third day, the boy sat by the well, and did not stir his finger,
however much it hurt him.