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Story 90: Clever Else Brothers' Grimm 1812

Clever Else

A man once had a daughter who was known as Clever Else. When she grew up, her father said: 'It's time to marry her." "Yes, indeed," said her mother. "If only someone comes along who will have her!" At last someone came from far away. His name was Hans, and he courted her, but he set one condition: Clever Else must turn out to be really intelligent. "Never fear," said her father, "she's as bright as a button."
And the mother said: "Why, she's so smart she sees the wind coming down the street and hears the flies coughing." "That's good," said Hans. "She's got to be really intelligent, or I won't take her."
As they were sitting at the table after dinner, the mother said:
"Else, go down to the cellar and get some beer." Clever Else took the pitcher from the wall and went down to the cellar. On the way she passed the time by lifting the pitcher lid and clapping it down again.
When she got to the cellar, she took a chair and set it beside the barrel, because she was afraid that stooping might give her a backache or do her some other injury. Then she put the pitcher down and opened the tap. To keep her eyes busy while the beer was flowing, she studied the wall and after looking this way and that for some time she caught sight, right over her head, of a pickax the masons had left there by mistake. At that, Clever Else began to cry and said: "If I get Hans and we get a child and he gets big and we send him down to the cellar to draw beer, the pickax will fall on his head and kill him." There she sat weeping and wailing for all she was worth over the impending calamity.
Upstairs they were waiting for the beer, but no sign of Clever Else.
The mother said to the maid: "Go down to the cellar and see what's become of Else." The maid went down and found her sitting by the barrel, weeping and wailing. "Else," said the maid, "why are you crying?" "My goodness," she replied, "how can I help it? If I get Hans and we get a child and he gets big and he comes down here to draw beer, maybe that pickax will fall on his head and kill him?" "My, what a clever Else we've got!" said the maid. Whereupon she sat down beside her and she too began to cry over the impending calamity.
After a while, when the maid didn't come back, Else's father said to the hired man: "You'd better go down to the cellar and see what's become of Else and the maid." The hired man went down, and there sat Clever Else and the maid, weeping together. "What are you crying about?" he asked. "My goodness," Else replied, "how can I help it? If I get Hans and we get a child and he gets big and comes down here to draw beer, this pickax will fall on his head and kill him." "My, what a clever Else we've got!" said the hired man, and sat down be side her and began to bawl.
Upstairs they were waiting for the hired man. When he didn't come back, the husband said to the wife: "You'd better go down to the cellar and see what's become of Else." The wife went down and found all three of them lamenting, and when she asked why, Else told her the same story: that her future child would probably be killed when he got big and came down to draw beer and the pickax fell on his head. "My, what a clever Else we've got!" said the mother in her turn, and sat down and joined in the weeping.
Upstairs the husband waited another short while, but when his wife didn't come back and his thirst grew greater and greater, he said: "I'd better go down to the cellar myself and see what's become of Else." But when he got there and found them all weeping, and heard it was because the child Else might some day bear might be killed by the pickax if he happened to be under it drawing beer at the exact time when it fell, he cried out: "My, what a clever Else!" and sat down and joined in the weeping.
For a long time the suitor sat upstairs alone. When no one came back, he thought: "They must be waiting for me down there; I'd better go and see what they're up to." When he arrived in the cellar, all five of them were screaming and yelling pitifully, one worse than the next. "What terrible thing has happened?" he asked. "Oh, dear Hans," said Else, "if we marry and have a child and he gets big and we send him down here to draw beer, that pickax somebody left up there by mistake might smash his skull and kill him if it happened to fall. Haven't we reason enough to cry?" "My word," said Hans, what's as much intelligence as I can use in my household. I'll marry you because you're such a clever Else." With that, he took her by the hand, led her upstairs, and married her.
One day, after Hans had had her for a while, he said: "Wife, I'm going to the village to work and make us some money. You go out to the field and cut rye for our bread." "Yes, my dear Hans, I will» When Hans had gone, she made a good thick porridge and took it out into the field with her. When she got there she said to herself:
"What shall I do? Cut first? Or eat first? Bless my soul! I'll eat first." When she had eaten her potful of porridge and was full to bursting, she spoke to herself again: "What shall I do? Cut first? Or sleep first?
Bless my soul! I'll sleep first." So she lay down in the rye and fell asleep.
Hans had been home for hours, but no sign of Else. He said to himself. "What a clever Else I've got! She's such a hard worker she doesn't even come home to eat." But when the sun began to set and there was still no sign of her he went to see what she had cut. But nothing was cut, and she was lying in the rye asleep. Hans ran home and came back with a fowler's net with little bells on it. He threw it over her and she went right on sleeping. Then he went home, locked the door, and sat down to work. Finally, long after dark, Clever Else woke up. When she rose to her feet, there was a jingling all around her and the bells tinkled at every step she took. She was scared to death and so bewildered she didn't know whether she was Clever Else or not. "Am I," she asked herself, "or aren't I?" But she couldn't answer and for a while she just stood there. Finally she thought: "TI go home and ask if it's me or not; they'll be sure to know." She ran home but the door was locked. Then she knocked at the window and cried out: "Hans, is Else in there?" "Oh yes," said Hans, "she's here." At that she was terrified and cried: "Oh my God, then I'm not me." She went to another house, but when the people heard the bells, they didn't want to open and no one would let her in. So she ran straight out of the village, and no one has seen her since.

The end, Skylights––Lumna10 out.