what are you weeping about?"

"Ah," she replied, "have I not cause? If I marry Hans, and we have a
child, and he grow up, and we send him here to draw beer, that hatchet
will 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 above
began to feel very thirsty; so the husband told the boy to go down
into the cellar, and see what had become of Alice and the maid. The
boy went down, and there sat Clever Alice and the maid both crying,
so he asked the reason; and Alice told him the same tale, of the
hatchet that was to fall on her child, if she married Hans, and if
they had a child. When she had finished, the boy exclaimed, "What a
clever Alice we have!" and fell weeping and howling with the others.

Upstairs they were still waiting, and the husband said, when the boy
did not return, "Do you go down, wife, into the cellar and see why
Alice stays so long." So she went down, and finding all three sitting
there crying, asked the reason, and Alice told her about the hatchet
which must inevitably fall upon the head of her son. Then the mother
likewise exclaimed, "Oh, what a clever Alice we have!" and, sitting
down, began to weep as much as any of the rest.

Meanwhile the husband waited for his wife's return; but at last he
felt so very thirsty, that he said, "I must go myself down into the
cellar and see what is keeping our Alice." As soon as he entered the
cellar, there he found the four sitting and crying together, and when
he heard the reason, he also exclaimed, "Oh, what a clever Alice we
have!" and sat down to cry with the whole strength of his lungs.

All this time the bridegroom above sat waiting, but when nobody
returned, he thought they must be waiting for him, and so he went down
to see what was the matter. When he entered, there sat the five crying
and groaning, each one in a louder key than his neighbour.

"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 grow up, and we, perhaps, send him down to
this cellar to tap the beer, the hatchet which has been left sticking
up there may fall on his head, and so kill him: and do you not think
this is enough to weep about?"

"Now," said Hans, "more prudence than this is not necessary for my
housekeepi