In a sunny little village, not too far from here, lived a farmer with his wife and their daughter, Elsie. Elsie was a pretty girl, and her parents thought she was the cleverest person in the whole wide world.

One day, a young man named Hans came to visit. He was looking for a wife, and he thought Elsie might be just the one. "But," said Hans, "she must be truly clever."
"Oh, Hans," said Elsie's mother, "our Elsie has brains enough for seven!"
"Alright," said Hans. "Let's see."

They all sat down for a meal, but soon they realized they needed more beer from the cellar. "Elsie, dear," said her mother, "run down to the cellar and fetch us some beer."
Elsie took a jug and skipped down the cellar stairs. While the beer was pouring into the jug, she looked around. Above the big beer barrel, hanging on the wall, was a shiny pickaxe.
Suddenly, Elsie started to cry. "Oh dear, oh dear!" she wailed. "If I marry Hans, and we have a little son, and he grows up, and we send him to the cellar to get beer, that pickaxe might fall right on his head! Oh, my poor, poor future child!" And she cried even louder.

Upstairs, they wondered what was taking so long. "I'll send the maid to see," said the mother.
The maid went down and found Elsie sobbing. "What's wrong, Elsie?"
Elsie told her about the pickaxe and the future son. "Oh, how terrible!" cried the maid, and she started crying too.

Then the farmhand was sent down. He found Elsie and the maid crying. They told him the sad story. "Goodness me, what a dreadful thought!" he exclaimed, and he joined in the crying.

Finally, Elsie's mother went down. "What is all this noise?" she asked. When she heard about the pickaxe and the potential danger to her future grandchild, she burst into tears as well.
Then Elsie's father went down. "Why is everyone crying?" he boomed. They all explained. "Oh, my clever Elsie!" he cried, "to think so far ahead!" And he, too, began to weep.

Hans, waiting upstairs, got very curious. He went down to the cellar himself. "What's going on here?" he asked, seeing the five of them crying their eyes out.
They told him the whole story, about Elsie marrying him, having a son, the son going for beer, and the pickaxe falling.
Hans listened carefully. Then he said, "Well, Elsie, you truly are a clever girl to worry about something that might happen so far in the future! I will marry you!"

So, Hans and Elsie got married.
A little while later, Hans said, "Elsie, my clever wife, I am going to the field to work. You should go and cut some corn so we can make bread."
"Yes, dear Hans," said Elsie. She packed herself a nice lunch and set off for the field.
When she got to the field, she thought, "Should I cut the corn first, or eat my lunch first? Oh, I think I'll eat first."
So she ate her lunch. Then she thought, "Should I cut the corn now, or take a little nap first? A nap sounds good."
So Elsie lay down in the tall corn and fell fast asleep.

She slept and slept until it was almost dark. When she woke up, she was all confused. "Is this me, Elsie?" she wondered. "Or is it not me?"
She thought for a moment. "I know! I'll go home and knock on the door. I'll ask if Elsie is inside. If they say yes, then it can't be me out here!"
So she walked back to her house. It was dark now. She knocked on the window and whispered, "Hans, is Elsie inside?"
"Yes," called Hans from inside, "she's in here."
"Oh dear!" thought Elsie. "Then this isn't me!" And she ran away from the village, crying, "It's not me! It's not me!"
And no one in that village ever saw that Elsie again.

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