Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

‘I better not, your majesty,’ said the boy, ‘because my scalp’s all covered in dandruff.’

The king summoned the cook and told him off for letting a boy with a condition like that serve at the royal table. He was to dismiss him at once. However, the cook felt sorry for the boy, and let him change places with the gardener’s assistant.

Now it was his job to plant and water, to prune and hoe, and put up with the wind and the rain. One summer’s day when he was working alone in the garden, it happened to be so hot that he took off his hat to let the breeze cool him down. As the sun shone on his golden hair, it sparkled and gleamed so much that the reflections shone into the princess’s bedroom.

She jumped up to see what it was, and saw the boy and called out: ‘Boy! Bring me a bouquet of flowers.’

He quickly put his cap back on, picked some wildflowers, and tied them together. As he was climbing the steps out of the garden the head gardener saw him, and said, ‘What d’you think you’re doing, taking the princess a bunch of common flowers like those? Throw them away, quick, and get her some of the rare ones. That pink rose has just come out — take her a bunch of those.’

‘Oh, no,’ said the boy, ‘that rose has got no scent. But these wild ones are so fragrant — I’m sure she’ll like them better.’

When he entered the princess’s room, she said, ‘Take your cap off. It’s not polite to leave it on in my presence.’

‘I can’t do that, your royal highness,’ he said. ‘My head’s all covered in scurf.’

At that the princess grabbed his cap and pulled it off. At once his golden hair fell down to his shoulders, and a beautiful sight it was. He wanted to run out, but she held his arm; and then she gave him a handful of ducats, and let him go. He took the ducats away, but he didn’t want them, so he gave them to the gardener.

‘Something for your children to play with,’ he said.

Next day the princess called for him again, demanding another bouquet of wildflowers. When he took it in, she grabbed at his cap at once, trying to take it away, but he held on tightly. Again she gave him some ducats, and again he gave them to the gardener for his children. It all happened once more on the third day: she couldn’t get his cap; he didn’t want the gold.

Not long after that, the country found itself at war. The king called his councillors together, but they couldn’t decide whether to fight or to give in, because the enemy had a large and powerful army.

The gardener’s boy said, ‘I’m grown up now. Just give me a horse, and I’ll go to war and fight for the country.’

The other young men laughed and said, ‘Don’t you worry, you can have a horse after we’ve left. We’ll leave one in the stable for you.’

So he waited till they’d gone and then looked in the stable for his horse. He found it had a lame foot, and it could only walk hobbledy-clop, hobbledy-clop .

All the same, he mounted it and rode off towards the thick forest. When he came to the edge of the trees, he stopped and called out ‘Iron Hans!’ three times, so loudly that it echoed all around.

The wild man appeared at once and said, ‘What do you need?’

‘I’m going to war,’ said the boy, ‘and I need a good horse.’

‘Then you shall have it, and much more besides.’

The wild man went back into the woods, and very soon afterwards a stable-boy came out of the trees, leading a magnificent horse that snorted and stamped and could hardly be controlled. What was more, behind him came a regiment of knights in iron armour, their swords flashing in the sun.

The boy left his lame horse with the stable-boy, mounted the other horse, and set off at the head of the knights. When they reached the battlefield they found that many of the king’s men had already fallen, and that the rest would soon have to give way as well. So the young man galloped up with his iron regiment and fell on the enemy like a storm, striking down every man in their path. The enemy fell back in confusion, but the young man was merciless, and didn’t stop until they were all either dead or in flight.

When the battle was over, he didn’t return to the king. Instead he led his iron army by a roundabout way into the forest, and once again called for Iron Hans.

‘What do you need?’ said the wild man.

‘Take back your horse and your knights, and give me my lame old hack.’

Iron Hans did just as he asked, and the young man rode home on the hobbledy-clop horse.

As for the king, when he arrived back at the palace his daughter ran out to meet him, and congratulated him on the great victory.

‘I had little to do with it,’ he said. ‘We were saved by a strange knight who rode to our rescue with his regiment of iron-clad knights.’

The princess was keen to know who the mysterious knight was, but the king couldn’t tell her.

‘All I know,’ he said, ‘is that he put the enemy to flight, and then he rode away.’

She went to the gardener and asked where his boy was, and the gardener laughed.

‘He’s just come back on his three-legged horse,’ he said. ‘The others are all making fun of him. “Look, here’s old hobbledy-clop!” they says. And they asks, “What hedge have you been sleeping under, then?” and he says, “I did better’n any of you. If it wasn’t for me, you’d have lost the battle,” he says. And then they split their sides.’

The king said to his daughter, ‘I’m going to announce a great tournament. It’s going to last for three days, and you can throw a golden apple for the knights to catch. Perhaps the unknown knight will turn up. You never know.’

When he heard about the tournament, the young man went out into the forest and called Iron Hans.

‘What do you need?’

‘To catch the princess’s golden apple.’

‘It’s as good as done,’ said Iron Hans. ‘And what’s more, you shall wear a suit of red armour, and ride a proud chestnut horse.’

When the tournament opened, the young man galloped up and took his place among the knights, and no one recognized him. Then the princess came and threw a golden apple among the knights, and he was the one who caught it, and as soon as he had it safe, he galloped away.

Next day Iron Hans gave him white armour and a snow-white horse. Once more he caught the apple, and once more he rode away at once.

But now the king lost his temper. ‘If that knight rides away again without leaving his name,’ he announced, ‘everyone else must chase after him, and if he doesn’t come back willingly, they can use their spears and swords. I won’t have that sort of behaviour.’

On the third day, Iron Hans gave him black armour and a horse as black as night, and again he caught the apple. This time, though, the other knights chased after him, and one of them got close enough to stab him in the leg. He must have stabbed the horse as well, for it leaped so high that in trying to control it the young man lost his helmet. It fell to the ground, and they all saw that he had hair like gold. But that was all they saw, for he managed to make his escape; and they rode back and reported it to the king.

Next day the princess asked the gardener about his boy.

‘He’s pruning the roses, your royal highness. He’s a strange fellow. He’s been at the tournament, and all. He come home yesterday evening, and he showed my children three golden apples. He said he’d won ’em, but I don’t know.’

The king had him summoned, and he came before the court still wearing his cap. The princess went up to him and took it off, and his golden hair fell down on to his shoulders; and he was so handsome that everyone was astonished.

‘Young man, are you the knight who came to the tournament each day in different-coloured armour, and who caught the three golden apples?’