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Classic Fairy Tales |
This is a Fairy Tale by the Brothers Grimm and it's from my hometown in Germany: Bremen
The Musicians Of Bremen
Once upon a time ..... an old donkey was ill-treated by his master. He decided to run away, and when he heard that Bremen was looking for singers with the town band, he thought that someone with a fine braying voice like his might be accepted.
As he went along the road, the donkey met a skinny dog. "Come with me. If you have a good bark, you'll find a job with the band too. Just wait and see!"
A little later, an old cat no longer able to catch mice joined them and the three of them set off towards town. as they passed a farmyard, they met a rooster who was crowing to the skies.
"You sing well." they told him. "What are you so happy about?" - "Happy?" muttered the rooster with tears in his eyes. "They want to put me in the pot and make soup of me. I'm singing as hard as I can, for tomorrow I'll be gone."
But the donkey told him, "Come with us. With your voice, you'll be famous in Bremen!"
Now there were four of them. The way was long, night fall, and they found themselves in a thick forest.
Suddenly, in the distance they saw a light. It came from a little cottage and they crept up to the window ledge. The dog jumped on the donkey's back, the cat climbed onto the dog, and the rooster flew on top of the cat to watch what was going on inside.
Now, the cottage was the hideaway of a gang of bandits who were celebrating their latest robbery. The hungry donkey and his friends became excited when they saw the food on the table. The donkey stuck his head through the windows and toppled his three friends onto the lamp. The light went out and the room rang with the braying of the donkey who had cut his nose on the glass, the barking of the dog. the snarling of the cat, and the screeching of the rooster.
The bandits fled screaming. "The devil! The devil!" The four friends gobbled up the food. later, one of the bandits crept back to the house. He opened the door, and stepped towards the fire. Mistaking the glow of the cat's eyes for burning coals, he thrust a candle between them and the cat sank its claws into the bandit's face. The man fell backwards into the dog, dropping his gun, which went off and the animal's sharp teeth sank into his leg. The donkey gave a kick, sending the man flying through the doorway.
"Run!" screamed the bandit. "A horrible witch scratched my face, a devil bit me on the leg and a monster beat me with a stick!" But the other bandits had fled.
And so the donkey, the dog, the cat and the rooster took over the house. With the money left behind by the bandits, they always had food on the table and lived happily for many years.
THE END
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