ng; because you are such a clever Alice, I will have you for
my wife." And, taking her hand, he led her home, and celebrated the
wedding 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 the
field 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
came to the field she said to herself, "What shall I do? Shall I cut
first, or eat first? Ay, I will eat first!" Then she ate up the
contents of her pot, and when it was finished, she thought to herself,
"Now, shall I reap first or sleep first? Well, I think I will have a
nap!" and so she laid herself down amongst 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 does
not even come home to eat anything." By-and-by, however, evening came
on, and still she did not return; so Hans went out to see how much
she had reaped; but, behold, nothing at all, and there lay Alice fast
asleep among the corn! So home he ran very fast, and brought a net
with little bells hanging on it, which he threw over her head while
she still slept on. When he had done this, he went back again and shut
to the house-door, and, seating himself on his stool, began working
very industriously.

At last, when it was nearly dark, the Clever Alice awoke, and as soon
as she stood up, the net fell all over her hair, and the bells jingled
at every step she took. This quite frightened her, and she began to
doubt whether she were really Clever Alice, and said to herself, "Am I
she, or am I not?" This was a question she could not answer, and she
stood still a long while considering about it. At last she thought she
would go home and ask whether she were really herself--supposing
somebody would be able to tell her. When she came to the house-door it
was shut; so she tapped at the window, and asked, "Hans, is Alice
within?" "Yes," he replied, "she is." At which answer she became
really terrified, and exclaiming, "Ah, heaven, then I am not Alice!"
she ran up to another house, intending to ask the same question. But
as soon as the folks within heard the jingling of the bells in her
net, they refused to open their doors, and nobody would receive her.
So she ran straight away from the