I don't know whether the story is derived from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale entitled [Clever Hans][1], but the title is probably a reference to it.

In the Grimm tale, Clever Hans keeps doing foolish things. As the wiki article says, **The title is claimed by most people to be ironic.**, and the same is probably true of James Hassett's book **Careful Hans**.


  [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans_(fairy_tale)