The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale ‘The Bremen Town Musicians’

An ass, hound, cat, and rooster use their years of experience to overcome a problem.

An illustration of “Household stories from the collection of the Bros. Grimm,” 1882, by Walter Crane. Public Domain

Appearances can indeed be deceiving. In their fairy tale “The Bremen Town Musicians,” the Brothers Grimm highlighted this idea with a special lesson for younger generations. An ass, hound, cat, and rooster are each rejected for their age, but their wisdom and wit come from their years of experience, not from their looks.

After years of carrying sacks to the mill for his owner, the ass has grown old and unable to perform his duties. Knowing his limitations, the ass guesses that his master will put him out to pasture, so he runs away. Since he cannot serve his master, he sets out to seek employment in Bremen as the town musician.

The ass journeys alone until he comes upon a hound breathing heavily on the roadside. The ass addresses the hound, “Now, Holdfast, what are you so out of breath about!”

The hound replies that, since he has grown old and unable to hunt well, his owner planned to kill him, so he ran as fast and as far away as possible. Unfortunately, he’s unsure what sort of occupation he should seek now that he’s alone in the world.

The ass invites the hound to join him on the way to Bremen, saying, “You may as well go with me, and take up music too. I can play the lute, and you can beat the drum.” The hound agrees, and the two journey on together.

As they travel to Bremen, they come upon a cat in the road, also lamenting his old age. The cat tells the two travelers that his owner planned to drown him since he can’t properly catch mice anymore. The ass reassures the cat, saying, “Go with us to Bremen, … and become town musician. You understand serenading.”

The three new companions continue on the long road to Bremen and soon find a rooster crowing non-stop on the top of a gate. The ass asks him, “Your cries are enough to pierce bone and marrow, … what is the matter?” The rooster crows as long and loudly as possible, since the lady of the house plans to cook him as dinner for company on Sunday.

The ass again repeats his offer to the rooster, namely, the rooster must join them on their journey and become a member of their Bremen band. The rooster is overjoyed at such a notion and immediately joins the traveling band.

Retired and Inspired

The band makes its way toward Bremen, but, unfortunately, they can’t reach the town in one day and must stop in a wood for the night. While resting in a tree, the rooster notices an inviting house in the distance.

The four friends approach the house and discover that it’s full of food. However, the food and the house are owned by a band of robbers. The ass, hound, cat, and rooster concoct a brilliant plan that will outsmart the robbers and get them to leave.

Through this story, children can see that age does not mean powerlessness or resigning oneself to being put out to pasture. Rather, age means a beautiful and wonderful wisdom and experience, which could easily outwit the younger, sprier, and livelier generations. Old age is a beautiful part of life that is earned only by enduring those many years.

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