Tradition: Swedish Mythology
Alternative Names: Wild Man
Category: Dwarf
The Myth
The Wild Man is a small, ugly creature with the appearance of a troll. His body is dwarfish, while his hair is stiff and coarse like straw. He lives in a cave deep beneath the earth and possesses remarkable treasures, including magical suits of armor and magnificent horses.
A Swedish king once encountered the Wild Man while hunting. After an unsuccessful day in the forest, the king saw the strange little creature running through the trees. He chased him down and captured him. The Wild Man would not speak a single word, no matter what the king demanded of him, so the king had a strong wooden cage built beside his castle and kept him imprisoned there. People came from far and wide to stare at the mysterious creature, but he remained completely silent.
When the king went away to war, he entrusted the Wild Man’s cage to the queen. Their young son often wandered around the castle grounds and eventually began playing with the captive. One day the prince’s golden apple fell through the bars of the cage. The Wild Man threw it back, and the two played this game for some time until the Wild Man finally kept the apple for himself.
The prince begged for it back. The Wild Man agreed, but only if the boy would set him free. He instructed the prince to ask his mother to comb his hair and secretly take the key from her girdle. The boy followed his instructions, unlocked the cage, and freed the Wild Man. In return, the creature gave him his golden apple and promised that if the prince ever needed his help, he would repay the favor.
The king eventually returned and discovered that his prisoner had escaped. Furious, he demanded to know who had released him. When the young prince confessed, the king remembered his oath that whoever allowed the Wild Man to escape would die, even if that person were his own son. He ordered the prince to be taken into the forest and killed.
The servants could not bring themselves to murder the boy. Instead, they bought a pig from a swineherd, took its heart, and returned to the king pretending that it was the prince’s heart. The young prince was left alive and wandered through the forest until he eventually reached another kingdom, where he disguised himself as a farmhand and became a herdsman.
Years passed, and the prince grew into a strong and handsome young man. The king of this new land had a daughter who declared that she would marry only the man capable of riding to the summit of the Glass Mountain in full armor. The mountain was so steep and slippery that every suitor who attempted the climb fell back down.
Hearing the commotion from the forest, the young herdsman wished that he could take part. The Wild Man then appeared before him once again. Remembering the prince’s kindness, he led him beneath the earth into his hidden cave. There he revealed a magnificent suit of steel armor and a splendid horse. The prince mounted the horse and rode toward the Glass Mountain, but vanished into the forest after making a remarkable attempt.
At the next trial, the Wild Man provided him with silver armor and a white horse. Again the disguised prince rode up the mountain farther than any of the other challengers before disappearing into the woods. At the third trial, the Wild Man brought out armor forged entirely from gold and an extraordinary golden horse.
This time the prince reached the very summit. He greeted the princess, received the golden apple from her hand, and rode back down the mountain before disappearing into the forest.
The princess refused to forget the mysterious golden knight. Eventually the king ordered everyone in the kingdom to gather so that she could identify him. Among the crowd she noticed a humble herdsman wearing a gray mantle and hood. She pulled back his hood and immediately recognized him as the golden knight.
The supposed herdsman then cast aside his rough cloak and revealed himself as the prince he truly was, still carrying the golden apple. He married the princess and received half of her father’s kingdom.
After helping the prince fulfill his destiny, the Wild Man disappeared from the story, and nothing more was ever heard of him.
Sources
Stroebe, Clara, ed. The Swedish Fairy Book. Translated by Frederick H. Martens, with illustrations by George W. Hood. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1921.