In the story, a boy is playing with a ball and it rolls into iron john's cage. If you want the ball back, you go through an alliance with iron john. Iron john picks the boy up, takes him into the woods and says don't worry, your parents will protect you. Robert Blayk: This story is saying, if you all of us spend our lives trying to reclaim the innocence of our youth, the freedom, the peace, the happiness. That is our birthright. But we lose it around age seven.