View source for Draft:The Wild Man (fairy tale)

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'''''The Wild Man''''' (German: '''De Wilde Mann''') (The Wild Man) is a fairy tale ([[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index|ATU Index]] 502) that appears as the 136th tale of the [[Grimms' Fairy Tales]] (Children's and Household Tales) of the [[Brothers Grimm]] and was only published until the [[Low German]] 5th edition of 1843.

==Story==
A wild man is destroying the farmer's harvest. A hunter catches him with schnapps, wine and beer. The master puts him in a cage in the castle. One day a boy drops a ball into it. The wild man makes him unlock the cage and runs away. Because the boy screams that he is being beaten, the wild man takes him into the wilderness and sends him to work for the emperor's gardener. Every morning he has him wash and comb his hair and makes the garden beautiful for him. The princess calls the handsome apprentice to her, gives him more money each time and marries him in secret. In return, her parents let her spin and he works as a kitchen assistant.

When a war comes, he wants to go too, but only gets a lame horse. On the way, the wild man comes to meet him: a mountain opens up with an army and armor, and he wins everything. The emperor is grateful, but he doesn't want to say who he is. After that, no one believes him that he fought. This happens twice more, and then he receives a wound on his arm, which the emperor bandages. When he is about to get a beating for boasting again, he shows the wound. The emperor repents and gives him everything. Then the wild man is redeemed as an old king and the mountain is his castle.

==Origin==
The fairy tale appeared in the Children's and Household Tales from the second part of the first edition (no. 50) to the 5th edition in 1843. From the 6th edition onwards it is mixed with other sources under the title ''[[Iron Hans]]'' (''Der Eisenhans''). The note reads From the [[The Münsterland]] (by [[Jenny von Droste-Hülshoff]]) and notes that a male ''[[Cinderella]]'' or ''[[Allerleirauh]]'' appears here. The note from 1822 contains further comparisons from mythology.

==Further reading==
* Grimm, Brothers. Children's and Household Tales. Final edition with the original notes of the Brothers Grimm. With an appendix of all the fairy tales not published in all editions and proofs of origin, edited by Heinz Rölleke. Volume 3: Original notes, proofs of origin, afterword. Pp. 496, 539. Revised and bibliographically supplemented edition, Stuttgart 1994. (Reclam-Verlag; ISBN 3-15-003193-1 )

==External links==
*[http://www.maerchenlexikon.de/at-lexikon/at502.htm on ''The Wild Man'' AaTh 502]]
{{Wikisource|De wilde Mann}}

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