Then she lay down in the corn and fell asleep. [[112]]
Meanwhile Hans had been at home some time, but Alice did not come.
“What a clever Alice she is!” said he; “she is so industrious that she does not even come home to eat.”
But as she still did not come, Hans went out to see how much she had reaped; but nothing was cut, and there lay Alice fast asleep in the corn. Hans hurried home and brought back a fowler’s net with little bells on it; this he hung about her, and still she did not wake. Then he ran home, shut the house door, and sat down to work.
At last, when it was quite dark, Clever Alice woke. When she stood up the net fell rattling about her, and the bells jingled at every step she took. This frightened her, and made her wonder whether she was really Clever Alice or not, and she said to herself, “Is it I, or is it not I?”
But she did not know how to answer, and stood for a long time in doubt. At last she thought, “I will go home and ask if it is I, or if it is not I; they will be sure to know.” [[113]]
She ran to the door of her house, but it was locked. Then she knocked on the window, and cried, “Hans, is Alice at home?”
“Yes,” answered Hans, “she is at home.”
Then she was frightened and cried, “Alas! then it is not I,” and she ran to the next door; but when the people heard the jingling of the bells they would not open for her, and she could get in nowhere. So she ran away out of the village, and no one has ever seen her since.
