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Grimms' Fairy Tales
Clever
Elsie
There was once a man who had a daughter who
was called Clever Elsie. And when she had grown up her father
said, "We will get her married." "Yes,"
said the mother; "if only any one would come who would
have her." At length a man came from a distance and
wooed her, who was called Hans; but he stipulated that Clever
Elsie should be really wise. "Oh," said the father,
"she's sharp enough;" and the mother said, "Oh,
she can see the wind coming up the street, and hear the
flies coughing." "Well," said Hans, "if
she is not really wise, I won't have her." When they
were sitting at dinner and had eaten, the mother said, "Elsie,
go into the cellar and fetch some beer." Then Clever
Elsie took the pitcher from the wall, went into the cellar,
and tapped the lid briskly as she went, so that the time
might not appear long. When she was below she fetched herself
a chair, and set it before the barrel so that she had no
need to stoop, and did not hurt her back or do herself any
unexpected injury. Then she placed the can before her, and
turned the tap, and while the beer was running she would
not let her eyes be idle, but looked up at the wall, and
after much peering here and there, saw a pick-axe exactly
above her, which the masons had accidentally left there.
Then Clever Elsie began to weep, and said, "If I get
Hans, and we have a child, and he grows big, and we send
him into the cellar here to draw beer, then the pick-axe
will fall on his head and kill him." Then she sat and
wept and screamed with all the strength of her body, over
the misfortune which lay before her. Those upstairs waited
for the drink, but Clever Elsie still did not come. Then
the woman said to the servant, "Just go down into the
cellar and see where Elsie is." The maid went and found
her sitting in front of the barrel, screaming loudly. "Elsie,
why weepest thou?" asked the maid. "Ah,"
she answered, "have I not reason to weep? If I get
Hans, and we have a child, and he grows big, and has to
draw beer here, the pick-axe will perhaps fall on his head,
and kill him." Then said the maid, "What a clever
Elsie we have!" and sat down beside her and began loudly
to weep over the misfortune. After a while, as the maid
did not come back, those upstairs were thirsty for the beer,
the man said to the boy, "Just go down into the cellar
and see where Elsie and the girl are." The boy went
down, and there sat Clever Elsie and the girl both weeping
together. Then he asked, "Why are ye weeping?"
"Ah," said Elsie, "have I not reason to weep?
If I get Hans, and we have a child, and he grows big, and
has to draw beer here, the pick-axe will fall on his head
and kill him." Then said the boy, "What a clever
Elsie we have!" and sat down by her, and likewise began
to howl loudly. Upstairs they waited for the boy, but as
he still did not return, the man said to the woman, "Just
go down into the cellar and see where Elsie is!" The
woman went down, and found all three in the midst of their
lamentations, and inquired what was the cause; then Elsie
told her also that her future child was to be killed by
the pick-axe, when it grew big and had to draw beer, and
the pick-axe fell down. Then said the mother likewise, "What
a clever Elsie we have!" and sat down and wept with
them. The man upstairs waited a short time, but as his wife
did not come back and his thirst grew ever greater, he said,
"I must go into the cellar myself and see where Elsie
is." But when he got into the cellar, and they were
all sitting together crying, and he heard the reason, and
that Elsie's child was the cause, and that Elsie might perhaps
bring one into the world some day, and that it might be
killed by the pick-axe, if it should happen to be sitting
beneath it, drawing beer just at the very time when it fell
down, he cried, "Oh, what a clever Elsie!" and
sat down, and likewise wept with them. The bridegroom stayed
upstairs alone for a long time; then as no one would come
back he thought, "They must be waiting for me below;
I too must go there and see what they are about." When
he got down, five of them were sitting screaming and lamenting
quite piteously, each out-doing the other. "What misfortune
has happened then?" he asked. "Ah, dear Hans,"
said Elsie, "if we marry each other and have a child,
and he is big, and we perhaps send him here to draw something
to drink, then the pick-axe which has been left up there
might dash his brains out if it were to fall down, so have
we not reason to weep?" "Come," said Hans,
"more understanding than that is not needed for my
household, as thou art such a clever Elsie, I will have
thee," and he seized her hand, took her upstairs with
him, and married her.
After Hans had had her some time, he said, "Wife,
I am going out to work and earn some money for us; go into
the field and cut the corn that we may have some bread."
"Yes, dear Hans, I will do that." After Hans had
gone away, she cooked herself some good broth and took it
into the field with her. When she came to the field she
said to herself, "What shall I do; shall I shear first,
or shall I eat first? Oh, I will eat first." Then she
emptied her basin of broth, and when she was fully satisfied,
she once more said, "What shall I do? Shall I shear
first, or shall I sleep first? I will sleep first."
Then she lay down among the corn and fell asleep. Hans had
been at home for a long time, but Elsie did not come; then
said he, "What a clever Elsie I have; she is so industrious
that she does not even come home to eat." As, however,
she still stayed away, and it was evening, Hans went out
to see what she had cut, but nothing was cut, and she was
lying among the corn asleep. Then Hans hastened home and
brought a fowler's net with little bells and hung it round
about her, and she still went on sleeping. Then he ran home,
shut the house-door, and sat down in his chair and worked.
At length, when it was quite dark, Clever Elsie awoke and
when she got up there was a jingling all round about her,
and the bells rang at each step which she took. Then she
was alarmed, and became uncertain whether she really was
Clever Elsie or not, and said, "Is it I, or is it not
I?" But she knew not what answer to make to this, and
stood for a time in doubt; at length she thought, "I
will go home and ask if it be I, or if it be not I, they
will be sure to know." She ran to the door of her own
house, but it was shut; then she knocked at the window and
cried, "Hans, is Elsie within?" "Yes,"
answered Hans, "she is within." Hereupon she was
terrified, and said, "Ah, heavens! Then it is not I,"
and went to another door; but when the people heard the
jingling of the bells they would not open it, and she could
get in nowhere. Then she ran out of the village, and no
one has seen her since.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:138-141. |
