As he went along the road, the donkey met a skinny dog, covered with sores. "Come with me. If you have a good bark, you'll find a job with the band too. I will play the lute and you shall beat the kettledrum. Just wait and see!"

Before long, a stray cat, no longer able to catch mice, inquired as to where the donkey and the dog were going. They answered, "Go with us to Bremen. You understand night-music, so you can be a town-musician too!" So the cat joined them and the trio trotted hopefully on towards the town.

The three fugitives came to a farmyard, they stopped to admire an elderly rooster who, with outstretched wings, was crowing to the skies. You sing well," they told him. "What are you so happy about?" "Happy?" muttered the rooster with tears in his eyes. "They want to put me in the pot and make broth of me. I'm singing as hard as I can today, for tomorrow I'll be gone." But the donkey told him, "Ah, but red-comb, run away with us. With a voice like yours, you'll be famous in Bremen!"

Now there were four of them. The way was long and they could not, however, reach the city of Bremen in one day, and in the evening they came to a forest where they meant to pass the night. The donkey and the dog laid themselves down under a large tree, the cat and the rooster settled themselves in the branches; but the rooster flew right to the top, where he was most safe. Before he went to sleep he looked round on all four sides, and thought he saw in the distance a little spark burning; so he called out to his companions that there must be a house not far off, for he saw a light. The donkey said, "If so, we had better get up and go on, for the shelter here is bad." The dog thought so too!

So they made their way to the little cottage where the light was, and soon saw it shine brighter and grow larger, until they came to a well-lighted robberıs house. The donkey, as the biggest, placed his front hoofs on the window ledge. Anxious to see, the dog jumped on the donkey's back, the cat climbed onto the dog and the rooster flew on top of the cat to watch what was going on inside.

Now, the cottage was the hideaway of a gang of robbers who were busily celebrating their latest robbery. The hungry donkey and his friends became excited when they saw the food on the table. Upset by the jittery crew on his back, the donkey stuck his head through the window and toppled his three companions on to the lamp. The light went out and the room rang with the braying of the donkey who had cut his nose on the glass, the barking of the dog and the snarling of the cat. The rooster screeched along with the others.

Taken completely by surprise, the terrified robbers thinking that a ghost had come in, and fled screaming in a great fright out into the forest. The four companions now sat down at the table, well content with what was left, and ate as if they were going to fast for a month.

As soon as the four musicians had done eating, they put out the light, and each sought for himself a sleeping-place according to his nature and what suited him. The donkey laid himself down upon some straw in the yard; the dog behind the door; the cat upon the hearth near the warm ashes, and the rooster perched himself upon a beam of the roof; and being tired with their long walk, they soon went to sleep.

When it was past midnight, the robbers saw that the light no longer burned in their house and all appeared quiet. The captain said, "We ought not to be scared." He ordered one of them to go and examine the house.

The robber, finding all still, went into the kitchen to light a candle. However, mistaking the glow of the cat's eyes for burning coals, he thrust a candle between them and instantly the furious cat sank its claws into the robber's face. The robber was dreadfully frightened, and fell backwards on to the dog. The dog sprang up and bit his leg. When the donkey saw the robber's figure at the door, the donkey gave him a tremendous kick with its hind foot, sending the man flying right through the doorway. The rooster, too, who had been awakened by the noise, and had become lively, cried down from the beam, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Then the robber ran back as fast as he could to his captain, and said, "Run! A horrible witch in there scratched my face with her long claws, a demon bit me on the leg and a monster beat me with a stick! And . . ." But the other robbers were no longer listening, for they had taken to their heels and fled.

After this the robbers did not trust themselves in the house again; but it suited the four musicians of Bremen so well that they did not care to leave it any more. And so, the town musicians lived happy and contented for many years.

Back to Bremen