The Town Musicians of Bremen is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Germany about two hundred years ago. It has no princes, no magic and no wicked queens. Instead, it has four old farm animals who are no longer wanted, a long road, a dark forest and one very loud song. Children love it for its silly animal tower, and grown-ups love it for its warm message about friendship and second chances.
Our version is a gentle bedtime story for kids aged 5 to 12. The robbers in the forest are more bumbling than frightening, and the ending is cozy. After the story you’ll find the moral, some questions to talk about and a short FAQ.
Part 1: The Donkey Sets Off
Once upon a time, on a farm in the German countryside, there lived a gray donkey. For many, many years he had carried heavy sacks of grain to the mill. He had never complained, not even on the hottest days or the rainiest mornings.
But the donkey had grown old. His legs were stiff and his back was tired, and he could no longer carry as much as he used to. One day he heard the farmer say, “That old donkey is no use to me anymore. I won’t keep feeding him.”
The donkey’s long ears drooped. He went to his stall and thought for a long time.
“I may be old,” he said at last, “but I still have a fine, loud voice. Hee-haw! I’ll go to the town of Bremen and become a musician. They have a band there, and surely they could use a singer like me.”
So early the next morning, the donkey tied a scarf around his neck and set off down the road toward Bremen.
Part 2: Three New Friends on the Road
The donkey hadn’t gone far when he found a brown hound lying at the side of the road. The dog was panting, and his eyes were sad.
“Why are you lying there, friend?” asked the donkey.
“Oh,” sighed the dog, “I’m getting old. I can’t run fast enough to go hunting anymore, so my master doesn’t want me. I ran away, but now I don’t know where to go.”
“Then come with me,” said the donkey. “I’m going to Bremen to be a musician. You have a good strong bark. You can play the drum, and I’ll sing.”
The dog’s tail began to thump. “Woof! I’d like that very much,” he said, and the two of them walked on together.
Soon they came across a tabby cat sitting on a fence post. She had a face as gloomy as three days of rain.
“What’s the matter, old whisker-face?” asked the donkey.
“My teeth aren’t as sharp as they were,” said the cat. “I’d rather sit by the fire and purr than chase mice. My mistress is cross with me, and I had to leave. What am I to do now?”
“Come with us to Bremen,” said the donkey. “You sing beautifully at night. We’ve heard you. You can be a musician too.”
“Meow! Why not?” said the cat, and she jumped down from the fence to join them.
A little further on, the three friends passed a farmyard. A red rooster was perched on the gate, crowing at the top of his voice.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-DOO!”
“My goodness,” said the donkey. “Why are you crowing so loudly?”
“Because I may not get another chance,” said the rooster sadly. “Visitors are coming on Sunday, and the cook says she’ll put me in the soup. So I’m crowing while I still can!”
“Then come away with us,” said the donkey. “We’re going to Bremen to be musicians. You’ve got a wonderful voice. When we all sing together, it will sound marvelous.”
The rooster flapped down from the gate. And so the four friends walked on together: the donkey, the dog, the cat and the rooster, all heading for the town of Bremen.
Part 3: A Light in the Dark Forest
Bremen was much too far to reach in one day. By evening, the friends found themselves in a deep, dark forest. The sun had gone down, the air was cold, and their tummies were rumbling.
“We’ll have to sleep here tonight,” said the donkey.
The donkey and the dog lay down under a big tree. The cat climbed onto a low branch, and the rooster flew right up to the very top, where he could see all around.
Before he tucked his head under his wing, the rooster looked out across the forest. Far away, between the trees, something was twinkling.
“Friends!” he called down. “I can see a light! There must be a house not far from here.”
“A house means a warm place to sleep,” said the donkey.
“And maybe a bone or two,” said the dog.
“And a fire,” said the cat dreamily.
So off they went toward the light. It grew brighter and brighter, until they came to a little cottage with glowing windows. The four friends crept up and peeked from behind a tree.
The donkey was the tallest, so he tiptoed to the window and looked inside.
“What do you see, Gray-Coat?” whispered the rooster.
“I see a table covered with good things to eat,” said the donkey. “Bread, cheese, sausages, apples and cake. And sitting around it, I see a gang of robbers counting their stolen gold!”
“Oh, that food would suit us nicely,” sighed the dog.
“Yes,” said the donkey. “If only we could get those robbers out.”
Part 4: The Loudest Concert Ever
The four friends put their heads together and whispered a plan.
The donkey stood under the window and put his front hooves on the windowsill. The dog jumped onto the donkey’s back. The cat climbed up onto the dog’s back. And the rooster flew up and perched on top of the cat’s head.
They made a tall, wobbly tower of animals.
“Ready?” whispered the donkey. “One, two, three… SING!”
The donkey brayed. “HEE-HAW! HEE-HAW!”
The dog barked. “WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!”
The cat yowled. “MEEEOOOWW!”
The rooster crowed. “COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOO!”
Then, all at once, they tumbled forward through the window with a great crash of glass and a clatter of plates.
The robbers leaped out of their chairs. They had never heard such a terrible noise in their lives. “A monster!” one shouted. “A ghost!” cried another. They dropped their gold, knocked over their chairs and ran out the door and into the forest as fast as their legs would carry them.
The four friends looked at each other and laughed. Then they sat down at the table and ate the best supper they had had in years. When they were full, they blew out the candle and each found a favorite place to sleep. The donkey lay on the straw in the yard. The dog curled up behind the door. The cat stretched out on the warm hearth, and the rooster settled on a beam near the roof.
Part 5: The Robber Comes Back
Deep in the forest, the robbers had stopped running. They sat on a log, catching their breath.
“We shouldn’t have been so scared,” said the robber chief after a while. “It was probably nothing.” He pointed at the youngest robber. “You go back and see what’s there.”
The young robber didn’t want to go, but he crept back through the dark. The cottage was quiet. He tiptoed into the kitchen to light a candle. In the darkness, he saw two glowing spots by the fireplace and thought they were hot coals.
But they were the cat’s eyes.
He held a match to them. The cat did not like that one bit. She sprang up, hissing and spitting, and scratched his face. The robber yelped and ran for the back door, and he stepped right on the dog, who jumped up and nipped his leg. He raced across the yard, and the donkey gave him a hearty kick with his back hooves. And the rooster, woken by all the noise, flapped his wings and crowed from the roof: “COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!”
The robber ran all the way back to his chief, out of breath and shaking.
“There’s a horrible witch in the house!” he gasped. “She scratched me with her long fingers! Behind the door there’s a man with a knife who stabbed my leg! In the yard there’s a big black monster who hit me with a club! And up on the roof sits a judge who shouted, ‘Bring the rascal here to me!'”
The robbers looked at each other. Then they packed up and left that forest for good, and they never came back.
Part 6: A Home at Last
The next morning the sun came streaming through the windows. The four friends woke up, stretched and gathered around the table for breakfast.
“You know,” said the donkey, munching on an apple, “I rather like it here.”
“So do I,” said the dog, wagging his tail.
“It’s very cozy by the fire,” purred the cat.
“And there’s a splendid beam for me to sleep on,” said the rooster.
“Bremen is still a long way off,” said the donkey. “Why don’t we stay?”
And so they did. The four old friends never did reach Bremen, and they never joined the town band. But they lived together happily in the little cottage in the forest for the rest of their days. And every evening, just for fun, they sang together. It wasn’t the most beautiful music in the world, but it was theirs.
The End
Moral of the story: The Town Musicians of Bremen
Everyone has worth, no matter how old they are or what other people think. Working together, the four friends did something none of them could have done alone. And sometimes the home you find along the way turns out to be better than the place you were heading.
What kids can learn from this story
- Teamwork makes us stronger. One animal alone could never have scared the robbers away, but four together could.
- Everybody has a gift. The donkey’s bray, the dog’s bark, the cat’s yowl and the rooster’s crow each had a part to play.
- Be kind to people who are left out. The donkey invited each sad animal to come along, and that kindness gave him a family.
- Plans can change, and that’s okay. They never reached Bremen, but they found something better.
Questions to talk about with your child
- Why did each animal have to leave home? How do you think they felt?
- How did the friends work together to get into the cottage?
- The young robber thought he saw a witch, a man with a knife, a monster and a judge. What were they really?
- The friends never got to Bremen. Do you think they were sad about that? Why or why not?
Read More: The Little Red Hen
Frequently asked questions
Who wrote The Town Musicians of Bremen?
The story was collected by the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, and published in their book of fairy tales in 1819. They gathered folk tales that ordinary people in Germany had been telling for generations.
Do the animals ever get to Bremen?
No. They find the robbers’ cottage in the forest, decide they like it, and stay there. Today the city of Bremen has a famous bronze statue of the four animals standing on each other’s backs.
Is The Town Musicians of Bremen scary for young kids?
Not really. There are robbers, but they are the ones who end up frightened. Most children find the animal tower and the robber’s mixed-up story very funny.
