Clever Elsie

There was once a man who had a daughter named Clever Elsie. When she was grown up, her father said, "We must get her married." "Yes," said her mother, "if only someone would come and want her." At last a man came from far away to court her. His name was Hans, but he said that Clever Elsie had to be really clever. "Oh," said her father, "she's smart enough." And her mother said, "Oh, she can see the wind coming up the street and hear the flies coughing." "Well," said Hans, "if she isn't really clever, I won't have her."

When they were sitting at dinner and had eaten, the mother said, "Elsie, go down to the cellar and fetch some beer." So Clever Elsie took the pitcher from the wall and went into the cellar.

As she went, she tapped the lid of the pitcher so that the time wouldn't seem long. When she got to the cellar, she fetched a chair and set it in front of the barrel so she wouldn't have to stoop and hurt her back.

Then she put the pitcher under the tap and turned it on. While the beer was running, she didn't want her eyes to be idle, so she looked up at the wall. After peering here and there, she saw a pickaxe right above her, which the masons had accidentally left there.

Then Clever Elsie began to cry and said, "If I marry Hans, and we have a child, and he grows up, and we send him down here to draw beer, then the pickaxe will fall on his head and kill him!" So she sat there and wept and screamed as loud as she could over the terrible thing that might happen.

Upstairs, they waited for the beer, but Clever Elsie didn't come. Then the mother said to the servant girl, "Go down to the cellar and see where Elsie is." The maid went down and found Elsie sitting in front of the barrel, crying loudly. "Elsie, why are you crying?" asked the maid.

"Ah," she answered, "don't I have a reason to cry? If I marry Hans, and we have a child, and he grows up, and has to draw beer here, the pickaxe might fall on his head and kill him." Then the maid said, "What a clever Elsie we have!" and sat down beside her and began to cry loudly over the misfortune.

After a while, when the maid didn't come back, the man said to the boy, "Go down to the cellar and see where Elsie and the girl are." The boy went down and saw Clever Elsie and the girl both crying together.

He asked, "Why are you crying?" "Ah," said Elsie, "don't I have a reason to cry? If I marry Hans, and we have a child, and he grows up, and has to draw beer here, the pickaxe will fall on his head and kill him." Then the boy said, "What a clever Elsie we have!" and sat down beside her and also began to howl loudly.

Upstairs, they waited for the boy, but he still didn't return. So the man said to his wife, "Go down to the cellar and see where Elsie is!" The woman went down and found all three crying, and asked what was wrong.

Elsie told her that if she and Hans had a child, it would be killed by the pickaxe when it went to draw beer. Then the mother said, "What a clever Elsie we have!" and sat down and cried with them.

The man upstairs waited a bit, but when his wife didn't come back and his thirst grew, he said, "I must go down to the cellar myself and see where Elsie is." When he got to the cellar, they were all sitting there crying, and he heard the reason.

He cried, "Oh, what a clever Elsie!" and sat down and cried with them too. The bridegroom, Hans, stayed upstairs alone for a long time. Then, when no one came back, he thought, "They must be waiting for me; I too must go down and see what they are doing." When he got down, five of them were sitting and crying pitifully, each louder than the other.

"What misfortune has happened?" he asked. "Ah, dear Hans," said Elsie, "if we marry and have a child, and he grows big, and we send him here to draw a drink, then the pickaxe up there might fall on his head and kill him.

So don't we have reason to cry?" "Come," said Hans, "I don't need more understanding than that for my household. Since you are such a clever Elsie, I will marry you." And he took her hand, led her upstairs, and married her.

After Hans had been married to her for a while, he said, "Wife, I'm going out to work and earn some money. You go to the field and cut the corn so we can have some bread." "Yes, dear Hans, I will do that." After Hans left, she cooked herself some good broth and took it to the field.

When she got to the field, she said to herself, "What should I do? Should I cut first or eat first? Oh, I'll eat first." So she ate all her broth. When she was full, she said again, "What should I do? Should I cut first or sleep first?

I'll sleep first." So she lay down in the corn and fell asleep. Hans was home for a long time, but Elsie didn't come. He said, "What a clever Elsie I have! She is so hardworking that she doesn't even come home to eat." But when evening came and she still wasn't back, Hans went out to see how much she had cut.

Nothing was cut, and she was lying asleep in the corn. Hans hurried home, got a bird net with little bells, and hung it all around her. She still kept sleeping. Then he ran home, shut the house door, and sat down to work.

At last, when it was completely dark, Clever Elsie woke up. When she stood up, there was a jingling all around her, and the bells rang with every step she took. She was frightened and didn't know if she was really Clever Elsie or not.

She said, "Is it me, or is it not me?" But she couldn't answer that, so she stood there wondering. Finally, she thought, "I will go home and ask if it is me or not; they will surely know." She ran to her house door, but it was locked.

So she knocked on the window and cried, "Hans, is Elsie inside?" "Yes," answered Hans, "she is inside." Then she was terrified and said, "Oh, heavens! Then it's not me!" And she went to another door, but when the people heard the jingling of the bells, they wouldn't open it.

She couldn't get in anywhere. So she ran out of the village, and no one has seen her since.