Why Clever Else Wasn't So Clever

I know that it has been a long while since you have last heard from me, but you can stop fretting so dastardly much for the time being; for I have returned to bring meaning back to your life through my writing.

By popular demand, I have chosen to address the problematic tale of Clever Else and why, despite her name, she appears so dimwitted. Unanimous consensus was acquired from the one person that was surveyed that I should cover this particular topic. Due to the importance of anonymity of the subject(s) of any random sample in order for it to remain a random sample, I will protect the identity of the one in question, so for all you, the reader, know, I am the one surveyed. If you simply must know, then prepare to live the remainder of your life in complete emptiness and painful unrest because I do not plan to reveal my source.

In order to understand the name "Clever Else," we must first gain a more holistic view of the Grimms' fairy tales and their use of titles. Although in Cinderella or All Fur there is a direct description of the character in the character's name, for many when they are preceded by an adjectival modifier, this becomes either an ironic or first person descriptor. Such is the case with Lucky Hans, Clever Hans, and Clever Else. For Lucky Hans, he believes himself lucky since any time he realizes that what he holds is a burden, it is taken off of his hands and replaced with something that he thinks is better but the reader, or listener, is meant to clearly distinguish as a negative gain, making him actually unlucky. The Grimms here do not take the more abstract view of luck wherein Hans actually is lucky because he is happy with his lot in life and takes pride in his poor trades. Instead, they use the label from an ironic third person perspective since he is continually swindled by the people he meets. Likewise, in "Clever Hans," the title character continually misappropriates the lessons that his mother tries to teach him and eventually loses his fiancé as a result (as a broad over-simplification of the tale). Despite the perception that Hans has of himself as being clever, he clearly is not, making it as well an ironic title.

In "Clever Else," there is an added layer that seems to confuse the matter, in that the people in the story address her as Clever Else and call her clever independent of her name. This oddity is explained easily by two parts of the story, both unwritten and contextual to the time of the transcription. First, the context of the word "clever" in this case is more of a meaning to say "thoughtful," realizing that, in those times, very few were educated, especially from the peasant class, which was the purveyor of these stories. Thus, they had a very different view of cleverness, especially in the context of women. The second main idea here is that a woman who is clever (thoughtful) is a poor choice of wife because they will spend too much time distracted by their thoughts and will not be hardworking.

The question of her cleverness is answered by her revelation that the pickax could, in some conditional set of occurrences, possibly kill a hypothesized child in the event that the child were to fetch some beer. It is answered in that she reveals herself as a very thoughtful person and, under the condition that thoughtfulness is important, as Hans initially posits, she proves herself a worthy bride. It is then realized by Hans that "cleverness" is not a worthwhile trait because it leads to laziness and makes her not do work. Thus, he chooses to use her own cleverness against her and she is punished for her thoughtfulness by a loss of identity.