Iron Heinrich
helper · human
The prince's servant, who had three iron bands put round his heart when his master was cursed so that it would not break from grief, and then said nothing about it for years.
What they are like
- Kind
- 9/10
- Brave
- 7/10
- Clever
- 5/10
- Honest
- 10/10
- Curious
- 2/10
- Patient
- 10/10
How we meet them
Standing at the back of a carriage, at the very end of the story, having been present the entire time without anyone mentioning him. He is introduced by a noise rather than by a person.
Personality
Undemonstrative to the point of invisibility. He does the largest thing anyone in the story does and reports it in the same voice he would use for a broken axle. He is in the title of the tale and almost nobody remembers he is there.
What they want
That his master should come back. Nothing else was ever on the list.
How they change
Does not change and does not need to. What changes is that the bands come off, one at a time, and for the first time somebody hears about them.
How they speak
Almost nothing, three times. The most extraordinary line in the story is delivered by him in the tone of a man reporting the weather.
How the story treats them
Nobody thanks him and nobody asks. Editors have historically found him so unnecessary that some simply cut him out of the tale altogether, despite his name being in the title.
One surprising thing
He is half the German title, Der Froschkoenig oder der eiserne Heinrich, and almost every modern retelling drops him. Some nineteenth century editors did too.
If they were real today
He would be the person who fed your cat for two years while you were away and would be embarrassed if you brought it up.
Things they say
- “No, my lord. It is a band from my heart.”
- “It is nothing, my lord.”
Key moments
The smith
The day his master was turned into a frog, Heinrich went and had three iron bands put round his heart so that it would not break. Nobody asked him to and nobody knew.
The carriage is breaking
Three times on the road there is a loud crack, three times the prince says the carriage is breaking, and three times Heinrich corrects him without any change of tone.
“No, my lord. It is a band from my heart.”
Who they know
The Frogservant
A man who was turned into a frog, and the servant who had his own heart bound in iron so it would hold until the man came back.
Characters like Iron Heinrich
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