The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was "The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was" or "The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear" () is a German folktale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is tale number 4 in the collection. It was also included by Andrew Lang in "The Blue Fairy Book" (1889). The Grimms' first, 1812 edition contained a much shorter version, "Good Bowling and Card Playing" (). It is classified as its own Aarne–Thompson index type 326 of a male protagonist's unsuccessful
Fear of the dark Fear of the dark Fear of the dark is a common fear or phobia among children and, to a varying degree, adults. A fear of the dark does not always concern darkness itself; it can also be a fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness. Some degree of fear of the dark is natural, especially as a phase of child development. Most observers report that fear of the dark seldom appears before the age of 2 years. When fear of the dark reaches a degree that is severe enough to be considered pathological, it is sometimes called scotophobia