Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
The Bremen Town Musicians
The old tale of four friends and one house
Also in: Bremenski godci (Slovenian) · Brémski muzikanti (Slovak)
Once there was an old donkey who carried sacks at the mill for many long years. When his legs grew tired, his master began to grumble. So the donkey said to himself: "I shall go to Bremen. There I will be a musician."
1
Soon, beside the road, he met an old hunting dog lying there and breathing hard. "I am old and slow," said the dog. "Come with me," said the donkey. "You shall play the drum."
2
A little further on, a cat sat on a wall with a face like three rainy days. "Come with us," they said. "You sing so beautifully at night."
3
And on a farmyard gate a rooster was crowing with all his might. "Today I shall be soup!" he cried. "You shall not," said the three. "With a voice like that, you belong with us."
4
And so the four of them set off for Bremen. The donkey walked in front, the dog behind him, the cat along the walls, and the rooster announced the morning from the donkey's back to everyone who cared to hear.
5
But Bremen was still far away. When it grew dark they stopped in a forest. The donkey and the dog lay down under a tree, the cat crept onto a branch, and the rooster flew right to the very top.
6
From up there the rooster looked all around. "A light!" he called down. "Far off there is a little light!"
7
They went toward the light and came to a house. The donkey put his head up to the window. Inside, three robbers sat at a table with full bowls and a whole heap of good things before them.
8
"What if we play them a little something?" said the donkey. The dog climbed onto the donkey's back, the cat onto the dog's shoulders, and the rooster onto the cat's head.
9
And then all four sang out at once: "Hee-haw! Woof, woof! Meow! Cock-a-doodle-doo!" — and tumbled straight through the window into the room.
10
The robbers were so frightened that they ran off into the forest. "A monster!" they shouted. "A terrible four-headed monster!"
11
The four friends ate their fill. Then they blew out the light, and each of them lay down wherever he liked best.
12
In the middle of the night one of the robbers crept back. The cat scratched him, the dog bit him, the donkey kicked him, and the rooster shouted "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" from the roof. That robber never came back again.
13
And the four musicians never did get to Bremen. They liked the house far too much — and if nothing has changed, they are playing in it still, every single evening.
14The End
