Iron John is one of the less-known fairy tales from the collection of the Grimm Brothers. It's classified as KHM 136. It is essentially a story about growing up. A boy, a prince by birth, leaves the safety of his home and tries to establish a position in the outside world without relying on his royal origin. Yet he still has some protection from a mighty wild man. The catch is to find a balance between his own abilities and expectations from others. He learns that being a grown-up man is not a simple task, and the audience (both genders) hopefully learns that as well.

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Here are a few interesting characteristics of this very special fairy tale:

• Iron John is one of numerous fairy helpers with supernatural powers. He is also a tempter who pushes the main character (in this case, the young prince) over his limits to test if he is suitable for the job (in this case, to become a king) and goes through a crucial transformation himself right after the prince (Iron John is actually an enchanted nobility).
• While we have the iron in the title and the wild man who is for some time locked in an iron cage, the main role in this story plays gold. The prince plays with his golden ball and loses it just like the princess in The Frog King, hides his golden hair just like the princess in The Goose Girl, and catches golden apples just like the youngest prince in The Golden Bird.
• This fairy tale inspired Robert Bly, a contemporary American poet to write The Iron John: A Book About Men, an international bestseller that tries to redefine the role of men in modern society.