The Bremen Town Musicians
Our story begins with a humble donkey, who worked at a mill carrying sacks from place to place. He was a simple donkey who had worked hard all his life.
When his owner saw that he was beginning to grow old, he decided he should get rid of him. But the donkey realized this, and though he had never been one for grand plans, he decided to run away from the farm.
“I’ll have to find myself another job, I suppose. Well, nothing like a new horizon! I’ll be a musician in the town of Bremen.”
And with that, he set off along the roads with the firm hope of finding Bremen, which, from what he had heard, was not all that far away.
After walking for some time, he came upon a dog panting behind a bush. The animal was trembling, as if he feared even the sun itself might harm him.
“Is something the matter, my friend?”
asked the donkey in surprise.
“I’m old now, and I’m no good anymore for hunting or guarding the house… that is why my master wants to get rid of me.
Where will I go now?”
“Well, I’m going to Bremen to be a musician. You can come with me. I’m sure it would help to have someone with a good ear.”
The dog raised one ear, unbelieving. He had no idea what being a musician involved, but the offer, and the donkey’s attitude, made him forget his troubles for a moment.
“I know nothing beyond my home... but... I will go with you.”
And so, they continued together along the path.
Suddenly, they stopped before a stone wall. On top of it, a cat lay stretched out, watching them with narrowed, keen eyes.
Her mistress had wanted to get rid of her, because she no longer caught mice as she once had.
“Hello.”
said the donkey.
“Do you know whether this is the road to Bremen?”
“Yes, it is.”
said the cat, with a certain weariness in her voice.
“What a curious pair you make. Why are you heading to the town?”
“We are going to be musicians.”
said the dog with enthusiasm.
“You mean to go to Bremen to play music?”
she let out in a mocking tone.
“I find it hard to believe that humans would care about anything you do.”
The donkey nodded, delighted.
“Just imagine it! The grand stages!”
“The prizes!”
“The cheering crowd!”
“They’ll give us biscuits!”
“Luxury hay…”
The cat could not believe what she was hearing. The dog had his tongue hanging out while they imagined all of this.
“Come with us! We’ll need someone who knows humans well to make the very best music.”
Neither the donkey nor the dog showed any dislike toward her words, and that caught the cat’s attention. Surprised at herself, she sprang down with a nimble leap from her high place on the wall.
“All right, I’ll come with you... But let it be known that I’m not thrilled by the idea.”
In this way, the cat joined the curious group, and they went on down the road, talking about what each one might play.
All at once, a shrill song split the air.
When they went closer to see what it was, they saw a rooster perched on the gate of a fence, crowing with all his might. His comb swayed to the rhythm of that frantic cackling.
“Why are you shouting like that? Your cries are piercing our eardrums!”
said the donkey.
“Because my work is ending, and with it, everything I am. Tomorrow guests are coming, and my mistress does not want me to sing. She will throw me into the broth to feed them.”
“Come with us to Bremen! We’ll need a powerful voice for our music. The dog and the cat will help you tune it.”
blurted out the donkey, while the cat put a paw to her face.
The rooster did not hesitate for a single second. He fluttered down, overflowing with energy.
“To Bremen! Of course!”
And so, the four animals went on together, without looking back.
“We’ll make a magnificent band!”
“How splendid a great banner with our names would look!”
“With bright colors?”
“Bright colors, and shaped like a bone!”
“What does a bone have to do with music?”
They decided to spend the night in a clearing. The donkey and the dog lay down beneath two great trees, while the cat climbed onto a branch; and onto another, still higher one, climbed the rooster.
“Look, there’s a light over there!”
said the rooster from up high.
“It must be an inn.”
remarked the cat.
“I’m sure we’ll find food and a place to rest. Let’s go there at once!”
said the donkey from below, tilting his ears happily.
“Whatever it is, rushing in blindly is not a good idea.
Lights in the middle of the forest never mean anything good.”
They moved forward in silence until, through a window, they could make out human silhouettes and a table laden with food in a dimly lit room.
The donkey, brimming with excitement, made ready to go in without thinking twice.
“Come on! I’m sure they’ll give us something for supper and perhaps a place to sleep!”
The cat jumped onto a fallen trunk and looked on with distrust.
“Have you forgotten that we are wandering animals? They are not going to invite us to dinner.”
The dog lowered his ears, alert.
“I’m afraid the cat is right...”
The cat narrowed her eyes, trying to see better.
“It looks as though they have knives and daggers. Those are not farmers, they are bandits.”
The dog spoke up, with a hint of his old authority as a guardian.
“I have a plan. We can frighten them. If they think we are some great monster, they will flee in terror.”
The cat let out a skeptical meow.
“And how do you intend to do that?”
The dog drew a deep breath, and his voice took on an almost martial tone.
“I protected my master’s house from countless dangers for years, with the same success my forebears had before me.”
“During all that time, I received countless honors for my service to the household, such as the little biscuit from the pantry.”
“Without a doubt, that was the finest reward any guardian could receive.”
he said while recalling his former days.
“If they panic, they’ll run off. Let us climb on top of one another at the window, make a great deal of noise, and we will drive them away.”
Without leaving time for more debate, the donkey stepped up to the windowsill and raised his front legs. The dog, trembling but determined, jumped onto the donkey’s back. The cat climbed nimbly onto the dog, and at last the rooster perched on top.
The bray, the bark, the meow, and the crow made such a dreadful noise that the robbers panicked at once.
With one flap of his wings, the rooster snuffed out the few candles, preventing the bandits from knowing what was happening.
The bandits dropped knives and bottles. With a choked cry, they rushed for the door, fleeing without looking back.
The four animals approached the table cautiously, where some dishes were still steaming. The cat sniffed the tablecloth, the dog licked a bone, and the rooster perched proudly on a stool.
“It seems the plan has worked.”
whispered the dog, with a triumphant gleam.
Once they had eaten their fill, they put out the light and looked for a corner in which to rest, each according to their custom and nature.
The donkey lay down upon the manure, the dog behind the door, the cat beside the warm embers, and the rooster climbed to the highest beam.
Yet not far from there, the bandits saw from a distance that the house held no light at all.
“I do not understand why you were frightened so easily. You ought to have stayed in the house; perhaps it was no real danger.”
said the chief.
“But you ran out too, chief. I was frightened because you were.”
“Well, well, we have a hero among us, friends! Very well, since you are so brave, you will go alone to see whether there is anything in there and whether we can return.”
The bandit had no choice but to go back to the house. Pale and trembling, he cautiously opened the door and found everything quiet.
All at once, he thought he saw two glowing embers shining in the back of the room. When he tried to light them with a match, he discovered they were not embers, but two watchful eyes.
The cat, annoyed, leapt at his face and scratched him.
The bandit, terrified, took off running and stumbled into the dog, who, without hesitation, bit the intruder on the leg. He made it to the yard as best he could, where the donkey kicked him with his hind legs.
Still dazed, he came to himself with the rooster’s crow in his ear, and in sheer terror, he ran off again without ever looking back.
The bandit reached his companions, gasping for breath.
“There’s a witch! She scratched my face! At the door there is a man armed with a knife! He drove it into my leg!
“In the yard, a giant with a club struck me without mercy! And guarding the house, a terrible spirit was shouting my name!”
“You fool! How could you think of waking such dangers! Now they will come after us all!”
said the chief.
And after this, he ran off, followed by his companions behind him.
“Wait! Don’t leave me behind!”
cried the bandit who had inspected the house, still limping after the group.
The house had fallen silent after the bandit’s last cry. The darkness was almost complete, broken only by a few dying embers in the hearth.
The dog sat down on the floor.
“Do you think they have all gone?”
“After all that uproar, they will not come back.”
replied the cat.
None of them answered at once. All of a sudden, they had been left alone in that den which, after the thieves had fled, seemed strangely welcoming.
The cat looked over every corner and, lowering her gaze, at last said what had been circling in her mind.
“What if we stay? We have walked a great deal. Perhaps this is the place we need.”
“I always wanted to be a musician so I would not have to carry sacks anymore. Here I do not have to carry anything either.”
replied the donkey.
The dog, with a soft bark, wagged his tail.
“And I will be content so long as I do not have to hide again.”
As dawn began to fall, each one settled according to their own liking.
For the first time in a long while, none of them feared the next day or longed for something far away.
“What a splendid concert, my friends! After this, they will come from everywhere to hear us, I have no doubt at all.”
said the rooster, his chest swelling with pride.
And so, without ever setting foot in the town or playing a single instrument, they became the most famous musicians in Bremen.
And that is all… for the moment.
Til the next tale.