diff --git a/manifest b/manifest
index 9c860faf8e..54767e62a1 100644
--- a/manifest
+++ b/manifest
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-C Make\ssure\sva_arg()\sdoes\snot\soccur\son\sthe\ssame\sline\sas\sany\s"if"\sstatement\nor\s"?"\soperator.\s(CVS\s6602)
-D 2009-05-04T20:20:16
+C Make\ssure\sthe\sdefault\svalue\son\sa\scolumn\sadded\susing\sALTER\sTABLE\shas\sthe\ncorrect\sencoding.\s\sTicket\s#3838.\s(CVS\s6603)
+D 2009-05-05T12:54:50
 F Makefile.arm-wince-mingw32ce-gcc fcd5e9cd67fe88836360bb4f9ef4cb7f8e2fb5a0
 F Makefile.in 583e87706abc3026960ed759aff6371faf84c211
 F Makefile.linux-gcc d53183f4aa6a9192d249731c90dbdffbd2c68654
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ F src/vdbeInt.h 43183a2a18654fa570219ab65e53a608057c48ae
 F src/vdbeapi.c 86aa27a5f3493aaffb8ac051782aa3b22670d7ed
 F src/vdbeaux.c 02cefacfa4cf652743c4507fa83646cd7f35e564
 F src/vdbeblob.c e67757450ae8581a8b354d9d7e467e41502dfe38
-F src/vdbemem.c f5d7c0b7db32ab6939cbfa371b3b329d16a0ee21
+F src/vdbemem.c d8b985eeb88214941380372466a30ca410043a93
 F src/vtab.c 53355aa2381ec3ef2eaad25672cfd5877a02fe45
 F src/walker.c 7cdf63223c953d4343c6833e940f110281a378ee
 F src/where.c 823891e165c20ce781762a0d26f68ec908439687
@@ -647,6 +647,7 @@ F test/tkt3791.test a6624b9a80b216a26cf473607f42f3e51898c267
 F test/tkt3793.test 3aa2efe55bc31fc9459618feea2016ea9a52b2af
 F test/tkt3824.test 3da2f5c81b057e3ff355f5dfc9aa0cf0a92e0206
 F test/tkt3832.test 7ebd5ac82d1e430accd5eec9768044133a94c2aa
+F test/tkt3838.test 2a1525946bc9d3751e1d49ce95f3a2472f2b7408
 F test/tokenize.test ce430a7aed48fc98301611429595883fdfcab5d7
 F test/trace.test 19ffbc09885c3321d56358a5738feae8587fb377
 F test/trans.test d887cb07630dc39879a322d958ad8b006137485c
@@ -727,7 +728,7 @@ F tool/speedtest16.c c8a9c793df96db7e4933f0852abb7a03d48f2e81
 F tool/speedtest2.tcl ee2149167303ba8e95af97873c575c3e0fab58ff
 F tool/speedtest8.c 2902c46588c40b55661e471d7a86e4dd71a18224
 F tool/speedtest8inst1.c 293327bc76823f473684d589a8160bde1f52c14e
-P 77a8239548722f702ead9d7c60df0d68180948fb
-R 49a752b5e2e2337589ff9ef82e78f281
+P 3543be6e34ebff48b1b0c1710ae6fec557b09b52
+R 2a49d02646852b7f205e84dabaf8596f
 U drh
-Z bdc5440ddff4f2d94ee79f85a0798ddf
+Z 842865b153ac4330b4a6ad542ce17574
diff --git a/manifest.uuid b/manifest.uuid
index 9f0a270983..2d23e94c63 100644
--- a/manifest.uuid
+++ b/manifest.uuid
@@ -1 +1 @@
-3543be6e34ebff48b1b0c1710ae6fec557b09b52
\ No newline at end of file
+7f89a860b7cd0993c36a8b0482c2bac950a875d6
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/vdbemem.c b/src/vdbemem.c
index 9ad47f562f..e946067a4d 100644
--- a/src/vdbemem.c
+++ b/src/vdbemem.c
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 ** only within the VDBE.  Interface routines refer to a Mem using the
 ** name sqlite_value
 **
-** $Id: vdbemem.c,v 1.143 2009/05/01 21:13:37 drh Exp $
+** $Id: vdbemem.c,v 1.144 2009/05/05 12:54:50 drh Exp $
 */
 #include "sqliteInt.h"
 #include "vdbeInt.h"
@@ -979,9 +979,12 @@ int sqlite3ValueFromExpr(
     if( !zVal || !pVal ) goto no_mem;
     sqlite3ValueSetStr(pVal, -1, zVal, SQLITE_UTF8, SQLITE_DYNAMIC);
     if( (op==TK_INTEGER || op==TK_FLOAT ) && affinity==SQLITE_AFF_NONE ){
-      sqlite3ValueApplyAffinity(pVal, SQLITE_AFF_NUMERIC, enc);
+      sqlite3ValueApplyAffinity(pVal, SQLITE_AFF_NUMERIC, SQLITE_UTF8);
     }else{
-      sqlite3ValueApplyAffinity(pVal, affinity, enc);
+      sqlite3ValueApplyAffinity(pVal, affinity, SQLITE_UTF8);
+    }
+    if( enc!=SQLITE_UTF8 ){
+      sqlite3VdbeChangeEncoding(pVal, enc);
     }
   }else if( op==TK_UMINUS ) {
     if( SQLITE_OK==sqlite3ValueFromExpr(db,pExpr->pLeft,enc,affinity,&pVal) ){
diff --git a/test/tkt3838.test b/test/tkt3838.test
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f56b7058a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/tkt3838.test
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# 2009 May 5
+#
+# The author disclaims copyright to this source code.  In place of
+# a legal notice, here is a blessing:
+#
+#    May you do good and not evil.
+#    May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
+#    May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
+#
+#***********************************************************************
+#
+# Ticket #3838
+#
+# The ticket reports that the encoding is UTF8 on the DEFAULT VALUE of
+# a column added using ALTER TABLE even when the database is UTF16.
+# Verify that this has been fixed.
+#
+# $Id: tkt3838.test,v 1.1 2009/05/05 12:54:50 drh Exp $
+
+set testdir [file dirname $argv0]
+source $testdir/tester.tcl
+
+
+do_test tkt3838-1.1 {
+  db eval {
+    PRAGMA encoding=UTF16;
+    CREATE TABLE t1(x);
+    INSERT INTO t1 VALUES(1);
+    ALTER TABLE t1 ADD COLUMN b INTEGER DEFAULT '999';
+    ALTER TABLE t1 ADD COLUMN c REAL DEFAULT '9e99';
+    ALTER TABLE t1 ADD COLUMN d TEXT DEFAULT 'xyzzy';
+    UPDATE t1 SET x=x+1;
+    SELECT * FROM t1;
+  }
+} {2 999 9e+99 xyzzy}
+
+finish_test