398.2

While the illustrations are wonderfully lush and beautiful, I didn't particularly relate to the story.

Whenever animals or people of the court went into the woods, they never returned. When the king sent huntsman to discover why this was occurring, they discover a deep pond containing a wild man. Capturing the wild man and placing him in a cage was the solution, until one day the King's young song found the key to open the cage for the wild man.

The wild man took the prince back into the woods and raised him. All riches were given with the stipulation that he could not touch the body of water. Alas, increasingly as he grew older, he could not resist the temptation and found that whenever he touched the water, things became gold. His finger and his hair we covered with gold.

As punishment, he was banished from the woods, but was told if he needed anything he could return and his wishes would be granted.

As the years progressed he had to work hard and adjust to a life of working with his hands in the garden of a palace.

Returning to the woods he asked the wildman for a magnificent horse to go into battle to help the King. When he saw the most beautiful princess, he asked the wildman for the ability to catch the golden apples so that he could win the princess' favor.

In the end he grew to a wise man and captured the heart of the prince. ( )

This did not seem like a German folklore, but instead a magical fairy tale. A prince tries to find himself, and was always kind, generous, and genuine. Iron Hans, a hairy beast, helps him through different obstacles. At the end, Iron Hans reveals he is king and leaves all his riches to the prince. The illustrations to this book were amazing. It was done with colored pencils, but the pictures are so detailed and realistic. They literally transport you to the place of the story. It reminded me almost of the movie, The Labyrinth. I was surprised too that the prince was so compassionate. Overall, this book teaches you to be kind to others and good things will follow. ( )

Great book, perfect at 5 -6 for fairytales ( )