The boy ran thither and said, "give me my ball out."

from The Brothers Grimm – Iron John on Rap Genius

Here we see that the boy has lost his source of radiance, which can be understood to be the youthfulness of childhood, and must go address the wild man. Freud said about children:

What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.

Our story suggests that this lost radiant energy now lies within the realm of the wild man, or Iron John.

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