The Story of Iron John.

Chapter 6.

Not long after, the country was swept up in war. The king gathered his forces and was not positive that he could succeed against the enemy, who was powerful and retained a large army. The gardener s boy said: "I am quite grown now, and I will go to war if you will just give me a horse." The other men laughed and declared: "When we ve gone, you go look in the stable - we ll certainly leave a horse behind for you."

When they had all gone, the boy went into the barn and led a horse out. It was lame on one leg and walked hippity hoppity. He climbed onto it and rode to the dark forest.

When he came to the edge, he called three times: "Iron John", so loud that it echoed through the trees.

In a moment the wild man arrived and said: "What is it you want?"

"I want a strong horse because I intend to go to the war."

"You will receive that and more than you have asked for as well."

The wild man turned then and went back into the woods, and not long after that, a stable boy came out of the woods leading a war-horse that blew air through its nostrils and was not easy to hold in. Running along after the horse came a large band of warriors, entirely clothed in iron, with their swords shining in the sun. The boy turned his three legged nag over to the stable boy, mounted the new horse, and rode out at the head of the soldiers. By the time he neared the battle field, a large part of the King s men had already been killed, and not much more was needed to bring them to total defeat.

The boy and his iron band rode there at full speed, galloped on the enemy like a hurricane, and struck down everyone that opposed them. The enemy turned to flee, but the boy kept after them and pursued them to the last man. Then, however, instead of returning to the king, the boy took his band a roundabout way back to the forest, and called Iron John out.

"What do you want?" The Wild Man asked.
"You can take your horse and your men back, and give me again the three-legged nag."

So it all happened as he requested, and he rode the hoppity hop back home.

When the King returned to his castle, his daughter went to him and congratulated him on his victory.

"It wasn t me," he said, "who managed that, but a strange Knight and his warrior band who arrived to help."

The daughter asked who this strange Knight was, but the King didn t know, and added: "He galloped off in pursuit of the enemy, and that s the last I saw of him." The girl applied to the gardener three-legged nag. The farm help made fun of him, shouting: "Guess who s here? Moopygoop." Then they said, "You ve been under a lilac bush, eh? How was it?" He said back to them, I fought very well, if I hadn t been there, who knows wwat would have happened?" Theyall fell over themselves laughing.


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