The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
CLEVER ALICE
ONCE upon a time there was a man who had a daughter who was called"Clever Alice," and when she was grown up, her father said, "We must seeabout her marrying."
"Yes," replied her mother, "whenever a young man shall appear who isworthy of her."
At last a certain youth, by name Hans, came from a distance to make aproposal of marriage; but he required one condition, that the cleverAlice should be very prudent.
"Oh," said her father, "no fear of that! she has got a head full ofbrains;" and the mother added, "ah, she can see the wind blow up thestreet, and hear the flies cough!"
"Very well," replied Hans; "but remember, if she is not very prudent,I will not take her." Soon afterward they sat down to dinner, and hermother said, "Alice, go down into the cellar and draw some beer."
So Clever Alice took the jug down from the wall, and went into thecellar, jerking the lid up and down on her way, to pass away the time.As soon as she got downstairs she drew a stool and placed it beforethe cask, in order that she might not have to stoop, for she thoughtstooping might in some way injure her back and give it an undesirablebend. Then she placed the can before her and turned the tap, and whilethe beer was running, as she did not wish her eyes to be idle, shelooked about upon the wall above and below. Presently she perceived,after much peeping into this corner and that corner, a hatchet, whichthe bricklayers had left behind? sticking out of the ceiling right aboveher head. At the sight of this Clever Alice began to cry, saying, "Oh!if I marry Hans, and we have a child, and he grows up, and we send himinto the cellar to draw beer, the hatchet will fall upon his head andkill him," and so she sat there weeping with all her might over theimpending misfortune.
Meanwhile the good folks upstairs were waiting for the beer, but asClever Alice did not come, her mother told the maid to go and see whatshe was stopping for. The maid went down into the cellar and found Alicesitting before the cask crying heartily, and she asked, "Alice, what areyou weeping about?"
"Ah," she replied, "have I not cause? If I marry Hans, and we have achild, and he grows up, and we send him here to draw beer, that hatchetwill fall upon his head and kill him."
"Oh," said the maid, "what a clever Alice we have!" And sitting down,she began to weep, too, for the misfortune that was to happen.
After a while, when the servant did not return, the good folks abovebegan to feel very thirsty; so the husband told the boy to go down intothe cellar and see what had become of Alice and the maid. The boy wentdown, and there sat Clever Alice and the maid both crying, so he askedthe reason; and Alice told him the same tale, of the hatchet that wasto fall on her child, if she married Hans, and if they had a child. Whenshe had finished, the boy exclaimed, "What a clever Alice we have!" andfell weeping and howling with the others.
Upstairs they were still waiting, and the husband said, when the boydid not return, "Do you go down, wife, into the cellar and see why Alicestays so long." So she went down, and finding all three sitting therecrying, asked the reason, and Alice told her about the hatchet whichmust inevitably fall upon the head of her son. Then the mother likewiseexclaimed, "Oh, what a clever Alice we have!" and, sitting down, beganto weep as much as any of the rest.
Meanwhile the husband waited for his wife's return; but at last he feltso very thirsty that he said, "I must go myself down into the cellar andsee what is keeping our Alice." As soon as he entered the cellar, therehe found the four sitting and crying together, and when he heard thereason, he also exclaimed, "Oh, what a clever Alice we have!" and satdown to cry with the whole strength of his lungs.
All this time the bridegroom above sat waiting, but when nobodyreturned, he thought they must be waiting for him, and so he went downto see what was the matter. When he entered, there sat the five cryingand groaning, each one in a louder key than his neighbor.
"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 grew up, and we, perhaps, send him down tothis cellar to tap the beer, the hatchet which has been left sticking upthere may fall on his head, and so kill him; and do you not think thisis enough to weep about?"
"Now," said Hans, "more prudence than this is not necessary for myhousekeeping; because you are such a clever Alice, I will have you formy wife." And, taking her hand, he led her home, and celebrated thewedding directly.
After they had been married a little while, Hans, said one morning,"Wife, I will go out to work and earn some money; do you go into thefield and gather some corn wherewith to make bread."
"Yes," she answered, "I will do so, dear Hans." And when he was gone,she cooked herself a nice mess of pottage to take with her. As she cameto the field, she said to herself, "What shall I do? Shall I cut first,or eat first? Aye, I will eat first!" Then she ate up the contents ofher pot, and when it was finished, she thought to herself, "Now, shall Ireap first or sleep first? Well, I think I will have a nap!" and so shelaid herself down among the corn, and went to sleep.
Meanwhile 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 doesnot even come home to eat anything." By and by, however, evening cameon, and still she did not return; so Hans went out to see how much shehad reaped; but, behold, nothing at all, and there lay Alice fast asleepamong the corn! So home he ran very fast, and brought a net with littlebells hanging on it, which he threw over her head while she still slepton. When he had done this, he went back again and shut to thehouse door, and, seating himself on his stool, began working veryindustriously.
At last, when it was nearly dark, the clever Alice awoke, and as soon asshe stood up, the net fell all over her hair, and the bells jingled atevery step she took. This quite frightened her, and she began to doubtwhether she were really Clever Alice, and said to herself, "Am I she, oram I not?" This was a question she could not answer, and she stood stilla long while considering about it. At last she thought she would go homeand ask whether she was really herself--supposing somebody would be ableto tell her.
When she came up to the house door it was shut; so she tapped at thewindow, and asked, "Hans, is Alice within?" "Yes," he replied, "sheis." At which answer she became really terrified, and exclaiming, "Ah,heaven, then I am not Alice!" she ran up to another house, intendingto ask the same question. But as soon as the folks within heard thejingling of the bells in her net, they refused to open their doors, andnobody would receive her. So she ran straight away from the village, andno one has ever seen her since.