He stays at the Hairy Man's cottage for seven years, working hard like a peasant, but never complaining until he is old enough to travel on.
The king's youngest princess gives him a ring, and he carries it and half of a handkerchief his sister gave him into battle.
[2][3] This tale is known throughout Europe, in such variants as Iron John, Georgic and Merlin, and Guerrino and the Savage Man.
[5] In a tale from the Bashkir people with the title "златовласый егет" ("The Golden-Haired Eget"), a kingdom is suffering from mysterious attacks in a swamp, and its king orders his soldiers to investigate.
One day, the king's son, a prince, sees the old man playing a pipe in his cell, which greatly interests him.
The prince feels afraid for his life, but meets the same old man, who takes the boy to his swamp hut.
One day, he directs the boy to a magic well in the swamp, then tells him to take a dip in it; the prince does and his hair turns gold.
The prince agrees and the old man takes him to a king's castle so he can work as a gardener, alongside the previous one.
The golden-haired gardener goes back to the old tabib healer in the swamp and asks him to make him a valiant eget so he can win the hand of the youngest princess.
The knights fight against each other to fetch the apple, and the gardener, in disguise, grabs it for himself, but, since he wants the youngest's, throws it to another person in the crowd.