Iron John

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Iron John
Eisenhans in the cage approached by a young prince
Folk tale
Name	Iron John
Aarne–Thompson grouping	ATU 502, "The Wild Man as a Helper"
Country	Germany
Published in	Grimms' Fairy Tales
Related	Georgic and Merlin

"Iron John" (AKA "Iron Hans" or "Der Eisenhans")^[1] is a German fairy tale found in the collections of the Brothers Grimm, tale number 136, about an iron-skinned wild man and a prince. The original German title is Eisenhans, a compound of Eisen "iron" and Hans (like English John, a common short form of the personal name Johannes). It represents Aarne–Thompson type 502, "The wild man as a helper".^[2][3]

Most people see the story as a parable about a boy maturing into adulthood. The story also became the basis for the book Iron John: A Book About Men by Robert Bly which spawned the mythopoetic men's movement in the early 1990s.^[4] The book spent 62 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.^[5]