A donkey grew old and could no longer carry heavy sacks. His master planned to send him away. So the donkey set off down the road toward the town of Bremen. “I can still make music,” he thought. “I shall become a town musician.”
On the way he met a tired dog panting by the hedge.
“I am too old to hunt,” sighed the dog. “My master does not want me.”
“Come with me,” said the donkey. “We will make music in Bremen.”
Soon they found a cat with dull eyes sitting on a fence.
“I cannot catch mice as I once did,” said the cat. “They say I am useless.”
“Join us,” said the donkey and the dog. “Three musicians are better than two.”
Before long a rooster crowed sadly from a gate.
“Tomorrow they will put me in the pot,” he cried.
“Nonsense,” said the donkey. “Sing with us in Bremen!”
So the four friends walked on together. As night fell they saw a cottage light in the woods. Robbers sat inside counting coins and eating a fine supper.
“I have a plan,” whispered the donkey.
He stood by the window. The dog climbed on his back. The cat climbed on the dog. The rooster flew to the very top. Then all at once they made music—hee-haw, bow-wow, meow, cock-a-doodle-doo!—so loud the window rattled.
The robbers leaped up in fright and fled into the forest, leaving supper and coins behind.
The animals went inside, ate politely, and settled to sleep: the donkey on straw, the dog by the door, the cat by the hearth, the rooster on a beam.
Late at night one bold robber crept back. In the dark he saw the cat’s shining eyes and thought they were coals. When he bent near, the cat scratched, the dog barked, the donkey kicked, and the rooster crowed from the rafters. The robber ran off for good.
The four friends looked at one another.
“Perhaps we do not need Bremen after all,” said the donkey gently. “We have a warm house, good company, and music enough.”
And so they stayed, singing soft songs each evening—four true friends who had found a home.
The end.
Based on the public domain tale by the Brothers Grimm, gently adapted for bedtime.
