The Musicians of Bremen
Four old animals, turned out by their masters, who never reached Bremen but found something better instead
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Once there was a donkey who had carried sacks of grain to the mill for more years than anyone could count, until his legs grew stiff and his strength finally gave out. His master began to think the old donkey was no longer any use to him, and that it was time to be rid of him. The donkey caught wind of this — he had sharp ears even if his legs were slow — and he knew it was time to go. So one morning, while the mill wheel still turned and his master was busy elsewhere, the donkey quietly left the yard and set out along the road that led away from the farm. He had heard that the city of Bremen was not too far off, and he thought to himself that surely, with a voice like his, he could become a town musician there. He put one worn hoof in front of the other and walked on, out past the gate, out past the fields, into the wide world.
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The donkey had not walked far down the road before he came upon a dog lying at the edge of it, panting hard as though he had been running for his life. "Why are you panting so, old fellow?" asked the donkey. The dog lifted his tired head and said that he was no longer fast enough for the hunt, and that his master had decided he was of no more use and meant to get rid of him, so he had run off not knowing where to go or how he would ever earn his bread again. "Come with me to Bremen," said the donkey. "I am going there to be a town musician. You could join in too — you have a good strong bark, and that is as good as any drum." The dog thought this seemed like a fine idea, and he got up, stretched his stiff legs, and the two of them set off together down the long road.
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A little further on, where the road ran past an old orchard heavy with apples, they came upon a cat sitting at the roadside looking as gloomy as three wet days in a row. "What's the matter with you, old whiskers?" asked the donkey. The cat said that now her teeth were blunt and dull, she would rather sit by the fire and purr than go chasing after mice, and so her mistress had decided to be rid of her, which was why she had run off, though she had no idea what she should do next. "Come with us to Bremen," said the donkey. "You understand night-music well enough, and we could use a voice like yours." This pleased the cat very much, and she thought it sounded like just the thing, so she joined the donkey and the dog, and the three of them went on together down the lane.
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At last they came to a farmyard where a rooster sat up on the gate, crowing as loudly as he possibly could. "Your crowing goes right through one," said the donkey. "What's happened?" The rooster explained that he had overheard his mistress telling the cook that she meant to be rid of him before her guests arrived on Sunday, and so he was crowing with all his might while he still had the chance, because after tonight he did not know if he would get another one. "Come away with us instead," said the donkey. "You have a splendid voice, better than any of ours — come to Bremen and be a town musician too." The rooster liked the sound of that very much indeed, so the four of them — donkey, dog, cat and rooster — set off down the road together.
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They could not reach Bremen in a single day, and as evening came on they found themselves in a forest, where they decided to spend the night. The donkey and the dog lay down beneath a great tree; the cat climbed up into the lower branches; and the rooster flew higher still, right up to the very top, which he thought was the safest place of all. Before he settled down to sleep, he looked all around him in every direction, the way roosters do, and far off in the darkness he thought he saw a tiny spark of light. He called down to the others that there must be a house not too far away, since he could see a light burning. "Then let's go there," said the donkey, "for this resting place is not very comfortable." So the four of them got up again and set off through the dark trees toward the light.
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At last they came to a house with every window lit up bright. Since the donkey was tallest, he went up and looked in through the window first. "What do you see, old donkey?" asked the others. "I see a table set with good food and drink," said the donkey, "and robbers sitting round it, enjoying themselves." "That would suit me well," said the dog, thinking of a bone. "And me," said the cat, thinking of a little milk. "And me," said the rooster, thinking of a few grains of corn. Standing there together looking in at all that food, their stomachs growling, the four of them began to wonder how in the world they might manage to drive those robbers out of the house and have the place, and the feast, all to themselves.
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At last the donkey had an idea. "Here is how we shall do it," he said. "I will put my front feet up on the windowsill. The dog will climb up onto my back. The cat will climb up onto the dog. And the rooster will fly up and sit on the cat's head." They arranged themselves just so, one on top of another, and when all four were ready, at a signal they began their music all together — the donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat meowed, and the rooster crowed, as loudly as ever they could — and with the noise and the weight of them, they came crashing straight in through the window. The robbers, hearing such a dreadful racket, thinking some terrible creature had broken into the room, leapt up from the table in fright and fled out of the house and away into the forest as fast as their legs would carry them.
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With the robbers gone, the four musicians sat themselves down at the table and ate as though they had not had a proper meal in a month, which, in truth, they very nearly hadn't. When they had eaten all they wanted, each of them found a sleeping place to suit himself. The donkey lay down on a heap of straw out in the yard. The dog settled down just behind the door, where he could hear if anyone came. The cat curled up on the warm hearth among the soft ashes, which she liked best of all. And the rooster flew up and perched on a beam near the roof, high above the rest. Worn out from their long day on the road, all four of them fell fast asleep almost at once, and the little house in the forest, which had so lately belonged to robbers, was quiet and peaceful at last.
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Meanwhile the captain of the robbers, watching from a distance, saw the light in the house had gone out and all was quiet, and thought they had run off for nothing. He sent one of his men back to look the house over carefully. The robber crept inside and went to the kitchen to light a candle, and seeing the cat's eyes glowing there in the dark like two live coals, he held a match up to them, thinking they were embers. The cat flew at his face, spitting and scratching. In fright he dashed for the back door, but the dog, lying just behind it, sprang up and nipped his leg. Racing across the yard past the straw, he caught a good hard bump from the donkey's hoof. And high above, woken by the noise, the rooster cried out from his beam, 'Cock-a-doodle-doo!' The robber ran back to his captain as fast as he could and swore the house was full of frightful monsters, and after that, the robbers never dared go near the place again.
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After that night, the robbers never dared come near the house again, and so the donkey, the dog, the cat and the rooster had it all to themselves. They found they liked it so well there in the forest — with the table always laid, the straw soft in the yard, the hearth warm, and the beam high and quiet — that they decided they did not need to go all the way to Bremen after all. And so the four of them stayed on together in that house in the woods, and lived there from that day onward, each one keeping his favorite spot, each one glad of the others' company. And if they have not moved on since, then they are living there still.
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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