Of Kings and Curses

I am curious about the fact that in both The Wild man and Iron Hans, the story ends with the character in the wilderness, the wild man, being transformed into a King. We talked in class briefly about the difference between the King, the boy's father, someone effectively in control of civilization, and Iron Hans, a humanoid who has rejected, and, if you assume the forest belongs to the normal (awkward word) King, invaded civilization. And yet, it is Iron Hans who gives the boy the tools to become a great man, not his father, although by birth his father has made him part of the nobility. What I wonder about is why the King who, at some indeterminate point before the story takes place, upset someone or something with supernatural powers that turned him into Iron Hans, is ultimately the great teacher and benefactor of the boy. On the other hand, his father the other King (I'm sorry for the excess of rather vague male pronouns and generic names, I blame the Grimms and the fairy tale tradition) is almost the source of his trials, since he demanding that the forest be his, and brought Iron Hans into the castle and put him on display in the first place. So he, the King who attempt to bring civilization to the forest and make it "safe" for people to enter ends up, at least in the life of his son, causing more trouble; while the wild man, who at some point defied the natural (or supernatural) order of things so much that he was effectively turned into a beast for his transgression, ends up being the one who is able to educate and vastly aid the son in ways his father is simply unable to do. I guess on one level one can argue that boys, in order to be raised into "good men" need to face a stint in "the wild" and need to learn from the wilderness in order to become strong, yet I think it also suggests the fallibility of parents (a shocking revelation for a fairy tale), and highlights their inability to teach or protect their children when the time comes for them to grow up. There is a great power, however, wielded by the man who has rejected civilization (by his own wish or by force) in teaching a child raised in the security of civilization. I also think it is interesting that it takes a curse to transform a king from, I assume, any other king into the type of king who can create the ideal situation to create the ideal prince...and have armies appear at his command...