The Bremen Town Musicians

There was once a man who had a donkey. For many long years the donkey had carried the grain sacks to the mill without ever complaining, but now his strength was failing, and he was growing less and less fit for work. So his master began to think about how to save the cost of his keep. But the donkey noticed that no good wind was blowing his way, and he ran off and set out on the road to Bremen. There, he thought, he could surely become a town musician.

When he had walked a little while, he found a hunting dog lying by the road, panting like one who had run himself weary. "Now then, why are you panting so, old fellow?" asked the donkey.

"Ah," said the dog, "because I am old and grow weaker every day, and I can no longer keep up on the hunt, my master wanted to kill me. So I took to my heels. But how am I to earn my bread now?"

"I'll tell you what," said the donkey. "I am going to Bremen to become a town musician. Come along with me and take up music too. I will play the lute, and you can beat the kettledrum."

The dog was glad to agree, and on they went together.

It was not long before they came upon a cat sitting by the path, with a face as gloomy as three days of rain. "Now then, what has gone wrong for you, old whisker-washer?" asked the donkey.

"Who can be merry when his very neck is at stake?" answered the cat. "I am getting on in years, my teeth are worn to stumps, and I would rather sit by the stove and purr than chase after mice, so my mistress meant to drown me. I ran off in time, but now good advice is hard to come by. Where am I to go?"

"Come with us to Bremen. You know all about night music, so you can be a town musician too."

The cat thought this a fine idea, and went along with them.

After that the three runaways passed a farmyard, where the rooster was sitting on the gate, crowing with all his might. "Your crowing goes right through me," said the donkey. "What is the matter with you?"

"I have been foretelling fair weather," said the rooster, "for today is the day our dear Lady washes the Christ-child's little shirts and wants to dry them. But because guests are coming for Sunday, the mistress of the house has no pity. She has told the cook she means to eat me in the soup tomorrow, and this very evening I am to have my head cut off. So I am crowing at the top of my lungs while I still can."

"Come now, red-comb," said the donkey, "you had far better come away with us. We are going to Bremen, and you can find something better than death anywhere. You have a good voice, and if we all make music together, it is bound to sound splendid."

The rooster liked the plan, and all four went on together.

But they could not reach the city of Bremen in a single day, and in the evening they came to a forest where they decided to spend the night. The donkey and the dog lay down under a great tree, while the cat and the rooster settled in the branches. The rooster flew right up to the very top, where he felt safest. Before he went to sleep, he looked once more in all four directions, and it seemed to him he saw a little spark burning far away. So he called out to his companions that there must be a house not far off, for he could see a light. The donkey said, "Then we had better get up and go on, for the lodging here is poor." And the dog thought that a few bones with a bit of meat on them would suit him very well too.

So they set off toward the place where the light was, and soon they saw it shining more brightly, and it grew larger and larger, until they stood before a well-lit robbers' house. The donkey, being the tallest, went up to the window and looked in.

"What do you see, my old gray?" asked the rooster.

"What do I see?" answered the donkey. "A table spread with all sorts of good things to eat and drink, and robbers sitting at it, making themselves quite comfortable."

"That would be just the thing for us," said the rooster.

"Yes, indeed! Oh, if only we were inside!" said the donkey.

Then the animals put their heads together and worked out how they might drive the robbers away, and at last they found a plan. The donkey was to plant his forefeet on the windowsill, the dog was to jump onto the donkey's back, the cat was to climb up onto the dog, and last of all the rooster was to fly up and perch on the cat's head.

When this was done, at a given signal they all began to make their music together: the donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat mewed, and the rooster crowed. Then they burst through the window into the room, so that the panes clattered to pieces. At this dreadful racket the robbers sprang up, certain that a ghost had come in, and fled in the greatest terror out into the forest.

Now the four companions sat down at the table, made do gladly with what was left, and ate as though they must fast for a month.

When the four musicians had finished, they put out the light, and each looked for a sleeping place to suit his own nature and comfort. The donkey lay down on the dung heap, the dog behind the door, the cat on the hearth near the warm ashes, and the rooster settled on the roof beam. And because they were tired from their long journey, they soon fell fast asleep.

When midnight was past, the robbers saw from a distance that no light was burning in their house anymore, and everything seemed quiet. So the captain said, "We should never have let ourselves be scared out of our wits," and he ordered one of the men to go back and search the house.

The one who was sent found everything still. He went into the kitchen to light a candle, and taking the cat's glowing, fiery eyes for live coals, he held a match up to them to catch a flame. But the cat had no taste for such a joke. She sprang at his face, spitting and scratching. He was terribly frightened and ran to the back door, but the dog, who was lying there, leaped up and bit his leg. And as he raced across the yard past the dung heap, the donkey gave him a good hard kick with his hind foot. The rooster, meanwhile, woken by all the noise and now wide awake, called down from the beam, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

Then the robber ran as fast as he could back to his captain and said, "Oh, there's a horrible witch sitting in the house! She breathed on me and scratched my face with her long fingers. And by the door stands a man with a knife, who stabbed me in the leg. And in the yard lies a black monster, who beat me with a wooden club. And up on the roof sits the judge, who called out, 'Bring me the rascal!' So I got away as fast as I could."

From that time on the robbers never dared go near the house again. But the four Bremen musicians liked it so well there that they never wanted to leave. And the mouth of the one who last told this tale is still warm.