"Clever Hans" (German: Der gescheite Hans) is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 32) about a boy who ruins his engagement with a girl through a variety of comedic events.

A boy named Hans has a conversation with his mother every morning (in the morning conversations he simply is telling her he is going to meet his fiancée Gretel) and evening (in which his mother reprimands him for mishandling a gift from his fiancée).

He tries to lead the ham by a rope, and dogs steal it, his mother telling him he should have carried it on his head (or, in some versions, under his arm).

He ties Gretel in the stable and the story ends when he misunderstands his mother's advice ("Cast your adoring eyes at her") and gouges out the eyes of the livestock he owns to throw at Gretel.

The result is a disengagement, portrayed in the final sentence: "And that's how Hans lost his bride."