Clever Alice
Once
upon a time there was a rich man who had a daughter, who was called “Clever
Alice”. When she was grown up, her father said, “We must see about her
marrying.” “Yes,” replied her mother, “whenever a young man shall appear who is
worthy of her.”
One day, an honest youth, by
name Hans, came from a distance to make a proposal of marriage but he required
one condition, that the Clever Alice should be very prudent. “Oh,” said her
father, “no fear of that! She has got a head full of brains;” and the mother
added, “Ah, she can see the wind blow up the street, and hear the flies cough!”
“Very well,” replied Hans; “but remember, if she is not very prudent, I will
not take her.” Soon afterwards they sat down to dinner in the dinning room, and
her mother said, “Alice,
go down into the cellar and draw some beer.”
Clever
Alice took the
jug and went into the cellar. As soon as she got downstairs, she drew a stool
and placed it before the cask, in order that she might not have to stoop, for
she thought stooping might in some way injure her back, and give it an
undesirable bend. Then she placed the can before her and turned the tap, and
while the beer was running, as she did not wish her eyes to be idle, she looked
about upon the wall above and below. Presently she perceived, after much
peeping into this corner and that corner, a hatchet sticking out of the ceiling
right above her head. At the sight of this Clever Alice began to cry, saying, “Oh! if I marry
Hans, and we have a cute child, and he grows up, and we send him into the
cellar to draw beer, the hatchet will fall upon his head and kill him;” and so
she sat there weeping with all her might over the impending misfortune.
Clever
Alice did not come, her mother told the maid to
see Alice. The
maid went down and found Alice
crying heartily. She sat beside Alice.
Upstairs they were still waiting
but the maid didn’t return, and Alice’s father
asked his wife to see why Alice
stays so long. At the cellar, she asked, “Alice,
what are you weeping about?”. Alice
told her about the prediction of her child after marrying with Hans in which the
hatchet may inevitably fall upon the head of her son. Then she likewise
exclaimed, “Oh, what a clever Alice
we have!” and, sitting down, began to weep as much as any of the rest for the
misfortune.
Alice’s father felt so thirsty so
that he went to the cellar. When he heard the reason, he also exclaimed, “Oh,
what a clever Alice
we have!” and sat down to cry with the whole strength of his lungs.
Nobody returned, Hans went
down to see what the matter. When he entered, “What misfortune has happened?”
he asked. “Ah, dear Hans!” cried Alice, “if you and I should marry one another,
and have a child, and he grow up, and we, perhaps, send him down to this cellar
to tap the beer, the hatchet which has been left sticking up there may fall on
his head, and so kill him: and do you not think this is enough to weep about?”
“Now,” said Hans, “more prudence than this is not necessary for my
housekeeping; because you are such a clever Alice, I will have you for my wife.” Then
they celebrated the wedding a month later.
One
morning Hans went to work and Alice
went into the field to gather some corn wherewith to make bread. She brought a
nice mess of pottage that she cooked, and then she said to herself, “What shall
I do? Shall I cut first, or eat first? I will eat first!” Then she ate up the
contents of her pot, and when it was finished, she thought to herself, “Now,
shall I reap first or sleep first? Well, I think I will have a nap!” and so she
laid herself down amongst the corn, and went to sleep.
Hans
returned home, but Alice did not come, and so he
said, “Oh, what a prudent Alice
I have! She is so industrious that she does not even come home to eat
anything.” By-and-by, however, evening came on, and still she did not return;
so Hans went out to see how much she had reaped; but, behold, nothing at all,
and there lay Alice
fast asleep among the corn! He ran very fast to his house, and then he went
back to the field and brought a net with little bells hanging on it, which he
threw over her head while she still slept on. When he had done this, he went
back again and shut to the house-door, and, seating himself on his stool, began
working very industriously.
It
was nearly dark, the Clever Alice awoke, and as soon as she stood up, the net
fell all over her hair, and the bells jingled at every step she took. This ridiculousness
frightened her, she began to doubt whether she was really Clever Alice or not,
and said to herself, “Am I she, or am I not?”; this was a question she could
not answer, then she stood still a long while considering about it. At last she
thought she would go home and ask whether she were really herself—supposing
somebody would be able to tell her. When she came to the house-door it was shut;
so she tapped at the window, and asked, “Hans, is Alice within?”. “Yes,” he replied, “she is.”
At which answer she became really terrified, and exclaiming, “Ah, heaven, then
I am not Alice!”.
She ran up to another house, intending to ask the same question. But as soon as
the folks within heard the jingling of the bells in her net, they refused to
open their doors, and nobody would receive her. After that she ran straight
away from the village, and no one has ever seen her since.
