Clever Elfe/The Six Fools

While reading through my copy of The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales, I came across the story of Clever Elfe. The story begins very similarly to one of Zora Neale Hurston's collected folktales that we have in the library, The Six Fools. (Original Hurston story found in Hurston's Every Tongue Got to Confess (HarperCollins, 2001))

In Hurston's version, a young man comes courting a young girl, whose parents believe her to be very clever. While the young man is visiting, the parents send the girl to the basement to get the man some cider. While down in the cellar, the girl starts thinking about their wedding, their marriage, and what to name their first child. She lets the cider run during this and stays in the cellar thinking. Eventually the mother goes down to find out what is taking so long. She finds her daughter standing and thinking, with cider up to her ankles. The daughter explains what she has been thinking about and the mother joins her. The father eventually goes down, the cider is now at their waist's and the cycle continues. Eventually the young man goes down the cellar and finds the three with cider up to their necks. When they tell him what they've been thinking about, he tells them that they are all fools and he won't marry the girl until he finds three people who are as big a fool as they are. As he travels, he finds:

1. A man who attempts to jump into his pants by jumping in the air.
2. A woman who tries to brighten up her kitchen by hauling sunshine into her house in a wheelbarrow.
3. A farmer feeding his cow on the roof.

Once he finds these three, he returns to the girl, only to discover that she's married another man in his time away from her. It leaves the reader with the question: Who's the biggest fool?

Elfe's story is slightly different. In Elfe's story, Elfe's parents believe her to be the cleverest girl ever. They brag of her cleverness to a young man named Hans, but do not tell him of her idleness or her laziness. Like with Hurston, she goes down to the cellar to fetch him some cider, but instead of thinking about a child, she notices a crossbar left in the ceiling by a mason. She starts crying because she believes that if she marries Hans, she will be killed by the crossbar. The cycle of people going down to find Elfe is similar, but is expanded to include servants, all of whom find her extremely clever for finding out this information. Eventually Hans goes down stairs and find the group crying with cider or ale all around them. Unlike Hurston's young man, Hans believes Elfe is quite clever for seeing this, and marries her. He takes her home, still unaware of her idleness, and they have a few wonderful days together. Eventually Hans goes out to earn some money and he asks Elfe to cut down the corn in their field. She goes out to the field and falls asleep, waking up hours later. By this time, Hans is extremely upset that she isn't at home, the work isn't done, and his supper isn't ready. He finds her in the corn field and covers her with a fowler's net covered in tiny bells and heads home. When Elfe awakens, she begins to walk home in the dark, but the sound of the bells confuse her until she's not sure who she is. When she gets back to their cottage, she knocks on the window and asks Hans if Elfe is home. He tells her that she is, and Elfe exclaims, "Then I am not the clever Elfe after all." Elfe wanders from house to house inquiring who she is, but no one will let her in and she is never heard from again. The story ends with the humorous moral, "So, after all, it is better to be industrious than clever."

Isn't that a great message to keep the children in line?

:)