THERE was once an ass whose master had made him carry sacks to the mill
for many a long year, but whose strength began at last to fail, so that
each day as it came found him less capable of work. Then his master
began to think of turning him out, but the ass, guessing that something
was in the wind that boded him no good, ran away, taking the road to
Bremen; for there he thought he might get an engagement as town
musician. When he had gone a little way he found a hound lying by the
side of the road panting, as if he had run a long way.
"Now, Holdfast, what are you so out of breath about?" said the ass.
"Oh dear!" said the dog, "now I am old, I get weaker every day, and can
do no good in the hunt, so, as my master was going to have me killed, I
have made my escape; but now, how am I to gain a living?"
"I will tell you what," said the ass, "I am going to Bremen to become
town musician. You may as well go with me, and take up music too. I can
play the lute, and you can beat the drum."
And the dog consented, and they walked on together. It was not long
before they came to a cat sitting in the road, looking as dismal as
three wet days.
"Now then, what is the matter with you, old shaver?" said the ass.
"I should like to know who would be cheerful when his neck is in
danger?" answered the cat. "Now that I am old my teeth are getting
blunt, and I would rather sit by the oven and purr than run about after
mice, and my mistress wanted to drown me; so I took myself off; but good
advice is scarce, and I do not know what is to become of me."
"Go with us to Bremen," said the ass, "and become town musician. You
understand serenading."
The cat thought well of the idea, and went with them accordingly. After
that the three travellers passed by a yard, and a cock was perched on
the gate crowing with all his might.
"Your cries are enough to pierce bone and marrow," said the ass; "what
is the matter?"
"I have foretold good weather for Lady-day, so that all the shirts may
be washed and dried; and now on Sunday morning company is coming, and
the mistress has told the cook that I must be made into soup, and this
evening my neck is to be wrung, so that I am crowing with all my might
while I can."
"You had much better go with us, Chanticleer," said the ass. "We are
going to Bremen. At any rate that will be better than dying. You have a
powerful voice, and when we are all performing together it will have a
very good effect."
So the cock consented, and they went on all four together.
But Bremen was too far off to be reached in one day, and towards evening
they came to a wood, where they determined to pass the night. The ass
and the dog lay down under a large tree; the cat got up among the
branches, and the cock flew up to the top, as that was the safest place
for him. Before he went to sleep he looked all round him to the four
points of the compass, and perceived in the distance a little light
shining, and he called out to his companions that there must be a house
not far off, as he could see a light, so the ass said,
"We had better get up and go there, for these are uncomfortable
quarters." The dog began to fancy a few bones, not quite bare, would do
him good. And they all set off in the direction of the light, and it
grew larger and brighter, until at last it led them to a robber's house,
all lighted up. The ass, being the biggest, went up to the window, and
looked in.
"Well, what do you see?" asked the dog.
"What do I see?" answered the ass; "here is a table set out with
splendid eatables and drinkables, and robbers sitting at it and making
themselves very comfortable."
"That would just suit us," said the cock.
"Yes, indeed, I wish we were there," said the ass. Then they consulted
together how it should be managed so as to get the robbers out of the
house, and at last they hit on a plan. The ass was to place his forefeet
on the window-sill, the dog was to get on the ass's back, the cat on the
top of the dog, and lastly the cock was to fly up and perch on the cat's
head. When that was done, at a given signal they all began to perform
their music. The ass brayed, the dog barked, the cat mewed, and the cock
crowed; then they burst through into the room, breaking all the panes of
glass. The robbers fled at the dreadful sound; they thought it was some
goblin, and fled to the wood in the utmost terror. Then the four
companions sat down to table, made free with the remains of the meal,
and feasted as if they had been hungry for a month. And when they had
finished they put out the lights, and each sought out a sleeping-place
to suit his nature and habits. The ass laid himself down outside on the
dunghill, the dog behind the door, the cat on the hearth by the warm
ashes, and the cock settled himself in the cockloft, and as they were
all tired with their long journey they soon fell fast asleep.
When midnight drew near, and the robbers from afar saw that no light was
burning, and that everything appeared quiet, their captain said to them
that he thought that they had run away without reason, telling one of
them to go and reconnoitre. So one of them went, and found everything
quite quiet; he went into the kitchen to strike a light, and taking the
glowing fiery eyes of the cat for burning coals, he held a match to them
in order to kindle it. But the cat, not seeing the joke, flew into his
face, spitting and scratching. Then he cried out in terror, and ran to
get out at the back door, but the dog, who was lying there, ran at him
and bit his leg; and as he was rushing through the yard by the dunghill
the ass struck out and gave him a great kick with his hindfoot; and the
cock, who had been wakened with the noise, and felt quite brisk, cried
out, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Then the robber got back as well as he could to his captain, and said,
"Oh dear! in that house there is a grewsome witch, and I felt her breath
and her long nails in my face; and by the door there stands a man who
stabbed me in the leg with a knife; and in the yard there lies a black
spectre, who beat me with his wooden club; and above, upon the roof,
there sits the justice, who cried, 'Bring that rogue here!' And so I ran
away from the place as fast as I could."
From that time forward the robbers never ventured to that house, and the
four Bremen town musicians found themselves so well off where they were,
that there they stayed. And the person who last related this tale is
still living, as you see.