An old donkey, who had carried heavy sacks of flour to the mill for many, many years, felt his legs grow weak and his master grow impatient. "Hmm," he thought, "my master doesn't want me anymore. I know! I'll go to Bremen and become a town musician. My braying is quite musical, after all!"

So, off he trotted. Along the road, he saw an old hunting dog panting by the wayside. "What's wrong, friend?" asked the donkey.
"Oh," sighed the dog, "I'm too old to hunt, so my master was going to get rid of me!"
"Well," said the donkey cheerfully, "I'm off to Bremen to be a musician. You have a fine bark, you could join me!" The dog thought this was a grand idea, and so they went on together.

Before long, they came upon a cat sitting in the middle of the road, looking as gloomy as a rainy day. "What's troubling you, old whiskers?" asked the donkey.
"Ah," meowed the cat, "now that I am old and my teeth are dull, I prefer to sit by the fire and purr rather than chase mice. So, my mistress was going to drown me!"
"Goodness me!" said the donkey. "Come with us to Bremen. You are good at night serenades, you can become a town musician too!" The cat liked the sound of that and joined them.

The three companions soon passed a farmyard where a rooster was crowing his heart out from a gatepost, though he looked rather worried. "You crow loud enough to wake the dead!" said the donkey. "What's the matter?"
"Alas!" cried the rooster. "Guests are coming tomorrow, and the farmer's wife has told the cook she wants me in the soup!"
"Oh dear!" said the donkey. "You have a splendid voice, Rooster. Come with us to Bremen. We're going to be musicians!" The rooster flapped his wings happily and flew down to join them.

But Bremen was still far away, and as night fell, they found themselves in a dark forest. They were tired and hungry. The rooster, who could see further from his perch on a branch, spotted a light shining in the distance. "I see a house!" he called down.
"Then let's go there," said the donkey. "Perhaps we can find food and shelter."

When they reached the house, the donkey, being the tallest, peeked in the window. "What do you see?" whispered the dog.
"I see a table loaded with delicious food and drink," said the donkey, "and robbers are sitting around it, enjoying themselves!"
"Oh, if only we could get in!" sighed the cat.
"We must find a way to scare them off," said the rooster.

They put their heads together and came up with a plan. The donkey put his front hooves on the windowsill. The dog jumped on the donkey's back. The cat climbed onto the dog. And the rooster flew up and perched on the cat's head!
Then, at a signal, they all began their music. The donkey brayed, "Hee-haw!" The dog barked, "Woof-woof!" The cat meowed, "Meeee-ow!" And the rooster crowed, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
They made such a terrible racket, crashing through the window as they did, that the robbers leaped up from the table in fright. "A ghost! A monster!" they shrieked, and ran out of the house and into the forest as fast as their legs could carry them.

The four friends then sat down at the table and ate until they could eat no more. After their fine meal, they looked for places to sleep. The donkey lay down on a pile of soft hay in the yard. The dog curled up behind the door. The cat settled by the warm ashes of the fireplace. And the rooster flew up to a beam on the roof. Soon, they were all fast asleep.

Later that night, the robber chief, seeing that the light in the house was out and all was quiet, said to one of his men, "Go back and see if it's safe."
The robber tiptoed into the dark kitchen. He saw two glowing eyes and thought they were live coals in the fireplace. When he tried to light his match, the cat, whose eyes they were, hissed and scratched his face!
He stumbled backward in fright and tripped over the dog lying by the door. The dog jumped up and bit him on the leg.
The robber screamed and ran out into the yard, right past the donkey, who gave him a mighty kick with his hind legs.
As he fled, the rooster, awakened by all the noise, crowed loudly from the roof, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

The terrified robber ran back to his chief as fast as he could. "Oh, it was terrible!" he gasped. "There's a frightful witch in the house who scratched me with her long fingernails! Then a man by the door stabbed me in the leg with a knife! In the yard, a huge black monster hit me with a club! And worst of all, up on the roof, a judge was shouting, 'Catch the villain! Catch the villain!'"

The robbers were so scared they never dared to go near the cottage again. And the four Bremen musicians? They liked their new home so much, with plenty of food and warm beds, that they decided to stay right there, making music together for the rest of their days.

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