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 see
about her marrying."

"Yes," replied her mother, "whenever a young man shall appear who is
worthy of her."

At last a certain 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 afterward they sat down to dinner, and her
mother said, "Alice, go down into the cellar and draw some beer."

So Clever Alice took the jug down from the wall, and went into the
cellar, 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 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, which
the bricklayers had left behind? 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 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.

Meanwhile the good folks upstairs were waiting for the beer, but as
Clever Alice did not come, her mother told the maid to go and see what
she was stopping for. The maid went down into the cellar and found Alice

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