diff --git a/collects/datalog/stx.rkt b/collects/datalog/stx.rkt
index ddc0d354bb..8885a676c2 100644
--- a/collects/datalog/stx.rkt
+++ b/collects/datalog/stx.rkt
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 #lang racket
-(require (for-syntax syntax/parse)
+(require (for-syntax syntax/parse
+                     racket/local
+                     racket/function
+                     racket/list)
          datalog/ast
          datalog/eval)
 
@@ -78,6 +81,40 @@
    stx
    #:literals (:-)
    [(_ (~and tstx (:- head body ...)))
+    (local [(define (datalog-literal-variables stx)
+              (syntax-parse 
+               stx
+               #:literals (:-)
+               [sym:id
+                empty]
+               [(~and tstx (sym:id arg ... :- ans ...))
+                (append-map datalog-term-variables
+                            (syntax->list #'(arg ... ans ...)))]
+               [(~and tstx (sym:id e ...))
+                (append-map datalog-term-variables
+                            (syntax->list #'(e ...)))]))
+            (define (datalog-term-variables stx)
+              (syntax-parse 
+               stx
+               [sym:id
+                (list #'sym)]
+               [sym:expr
+                empty]))
+            (define head-vars (datalog-literal-variables #'head))
+            (define body-vars 
+              (append-map datalog-literal-variables (syntax->list #'(body ...))))
+            (define body-vars-in-head
+              (filter
+               (λ (bv)
+                 (findf (curry bound-identifier=? bv)
+                        head-vars))
+               body-vars))
+            (define fake-lam
+              (quasisyntax/loc #'tstx
+                (lambda #,head-vars
+                  (void #,@body-vars-in-head))))]
+      (syntax-local-lift-expression
+       fake-lam))
     (quasisyntax/loc #'tstx
       (clause #'#,#'tstx (datalog-literal head) 
               (list (datalog-literal body) ...)))]