Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

‘Well, I tell you what,’ said the donkey, ‘I’m in more or less the same position, but I’ve got a plan. I’m going to Bremen, because they pay their town musicians a decent wage there. Come with me and take up music. I’m going to play the lute — it doesn’t look very difficult — and you can play the drums.’

‘That’s a very good idea,’ said the dog, and joined up with the donkey.

They walked on a little way, and then they saw a cat sitting at the roadside who looked as if he’d lost a pound and found a penny.

‘What’s the trouble, old Whisker Wiper?’ said the donkey.

‘Dear oh dear,’ said the cat, ‘I’m in a dreadful pickle. I’m getting on a bit — I don’t expect you noticed, but I’m not as young as I was, and my teeth are getting blunt. I used to catch mice, rats, any sort of vermin, you name it, but I’d rather sit by the stove and snooze these days. My mistress was going to drown me, but I ran away. I haven’t a clue what to do now. You got any ideas?’

‘Come with us to Bremen,’ said the donkey. ‘We’re going to join the town musicians. You know how to sing — I’ve heard your sort singing very sweetly at night — come along with us.’

The cat thought this was a very good idea, and they all went along together. Presently they came to a farmyard. Standing on the roof was a cockerel, crowing with all his might.

‘What are you crowing for?’ said the donkey. ‘It’s long past daybreak.’

‘I’m forecasting the weather,’ said the cockerel. ‘It’s Our Lady’s Day, when she washes the Christ Child’s shirts and hangs them out to dry. I’m telling the family it’s going to be dry and sunny, and you’d think they’d be grateful, but not a bit of it. They’ve got guests coming tomorrow, and they want to eat me, so the farmer’s wife has told the cook that this evening she’s going to chop my head off. I’m going to crow and crow while I’ve still got some breath in my lungs.’

‘Well, that’s a poor show,’ said the donkey. ‘Why don’t you come with us to Bremen? We’re going to be musicians. You’ve got a lovely voice, and when we all make music together, we’ll be irresistible.’

The cockerel agreed. Off they went, but they couldn’t reach the city of Bremen in one day, and in the evening they decided to look for shelter in the forest where they happened to find themselves. The donkey and the dog lay down under a big tree, the cat took to the branches, and the cockerel flew right to the top. Presently he came all the way down again with some news. Before falling asleep he’d looked all around, north, south, east, and west, and he thought there must be a house not far away, because he’d seen a light shining.

‘Well, let’s go there,’ said the donkey. ‘It can’t be worse than this.’

‘And if there’s a house,’ said the dog, ‘there might be a few bones with a bit of meat on them.’

So they set off in the direction of the light, and soon they saw it glowing through the trees. It became larger and larger, and then they were right in front of it. The donkey, being the tallest of them, went up to the window and looked in.

‘What can you see, Grey Face?’ asked the cockerel.

‘I can see a table covered with good things to eat and drink, but…’

‘But what?’

‘Sitting around the table are a dozen robbers, all tucking in as hard as they can.’

‘If only that were us!’ said the cockerel.

They discussed how they could drive the robbers away, and finally they agreed on a plan: the donkey would stand with his front feet on the windowsill, the dog would stand on his back, the cat would stand on the dog, and the cockerel would perch on the cat, and then they’d make some music. So they got themselves ready, and after the donkey had counted them in, they all started singing together as loud as they could: the donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat miaowed and the cockerel crowed. When they’d finished they all jumped through the window, shattering the glass and making a terrible noise.

The robbers all leaped up at once, thinking it was the Devil, or at least a ghost, and fled into the woods in terrible fear. The four musicians sat themselves down and ate freely of the food that was left, guzzling as if they might not get any more food for a month.

When they’d finished they felt tired, because they’d had a long day, so they lay down to sleep, each finding the place he liked best: the donkey lay by the dung heap outside, the dog curled up behind the door, the cat stretched out on the hearth next to the fire, and the cockerel perched on the roof-beam.

At midnight the robbers, who were watching from some way off, saw that the light had gone out.

‘We shouldn’t have let ourselves be chased away like that,’ said the chief. ‘That’s not very brave, is it? Here, Lefty, go back and have a look. See what’s going on.’

Lefty crept back to the house. He could hear nothing, so he tiptoed into the kitchen and looked around. There was nothing to see but the cat’s fiery eyes. Lefty thought these were live coals, so he struck a match to make them blaze up again, and touched it to the cat’s nose.

Naturally, the cat didn’t like that. He leaped up, spitting and shrieking, and clawed at the robber’s face.

‘Eeeek!’ yelled Lefty, and ran towards the door. He stumbled over the dog, who bit him hard in the leg.

‘Yeowh!’ cried Lefty, and ran out into the yard. The donkey woke up and kicked him hard on the backside.

‘Aaagghh!’ shrieked Lefty, and that woke up the cockerel, who crowed, ‘ Cock-a-doodle-doo! ’

‘Nohhh!’ bellowed Lefty, and ran for the woods in terror of his life.

‘What is it? What is it?’ said the robber chief.

‘We can’t go back there!’ said Lefty. ‘There’s a horrible witch in the kitchen, and she scratched me with her nails. And there’s a man with a knife behind the door, and he stabbed me in the leg. And there’s a brute with a club outside, and he whacked me so hard I think he broke my fundament. And the judge is sitting on the roof, and he called out, “Bring the prisoner here!” So I ran and ran and ran.’

From then on, the robbers didn’t dare go back to the house. The four musicians of Bremen, on the other hand, liked it so much that they never left. They’re living there still, and as for the last person who told this story, his lips are still moving.

Tale type:ATU 130, ‘The Animals in Night Quarters’

Source:stories told to the Grimm brothers by the von Haxthausen family and Dorothea Viehmann

Similar stories:Katharine M. Briggs: ‘The Bull, the Tup, the Cock and the Steg’, ‘How Jack Went to Seek His Fortune’ ( Folk Tales of Britain )

The poor old superannuated animals, with their fond ideas of playing music in the city of Bremen, come out on top in the end, and a good thing too. I’m fond of this tale because of the simplicity and power of its form. When a tale is shaped so well that the line of the narrative seems to have been able to take no other path, and to have touched every important event in making for its end, one can only bow with respect for the teller.

In a certain country at one time, many people were concerned about a wild boar that was churning up the farmers’ fields, killing the cattle, and ripping the life out of people with its tusks. The king proclaimed that whoever could rid the land of this brute would receive a great reward, but the animal was so huge and strong that no one dared go near the forest where it lived. In the end the king announced that anyone who could kill or capture it should have his only daughter for wife.