You're listening to the Hard Men Podcast, reclaiming biblical masculinity in a world of softness. When the wild man had reached the dark forest once more he took the boy from his shoulders,

put him down on the earth and said,

You will never see your mother and father again, but I will keep you with me,

for you have set me free and I feel compassion for you.

If you do everything as I tell you all will go well.

I have much gold and treasure more than anyone else in the world.

The wild man prepared a bed of moss for the boy to sleep on and in the morning took him to a spring.

Do you see this golden spring? It is clear as crystal and full of light.

I want you to sit beside it and make sure that nothing falls into

it. Because if that happens, it will wrong the spring. I'll return each evening to see if you've obeyed my order.

The boy sat down at the spring's edge.

Occasionally he glimpsed a golden fish or a golden snake, and he took care to let nothing

fall in. But as he sat there, his wounded finger was so painful

that without intending to, he dipped it into the water. He pulled it out instantly, but he saw that the finger had turned to gold, and no matter how much he washed it, the washing did no good.

Iron John came back that evening and said,

Anything happened with a spring today?

The boy held his finger behind his back to keep Iron John from seeing it and said,

No, nothing at all.

Ah, you've dipped your finger in the spring, said the wild man.

We can let it pass this once, but don't let it happen again.

Excerpt from Iron John, a Grim's Fairy Tale.

Well, welcome to this episode of the Hard Men Podcast. Dan, thank you so much for reading that story from Iron

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