Are they lonely
without us, I wonder?"
The Bremen Town Musicians.
BY THE BROTHERS GRIMM.
[When I was a child I used to love the story which is coming next.
It is very funny and I like it still.]
There was once an ass whose master had made him carry sacks to the mill
for many a long year, but whose strength began at last to fail, so that
each day as it came found him less capable of work. Then his master
began to think of turning him out, but the ass, guessing that something
was in the wind that boded him no good, ran away, taking the road to
Bremen; for there he thought he might get an engagement as town
musician. When he had gone a little way he found a hound lying by the
side of the road panting, as if he had run a long way.
"Now, Holdfast, what are you so out of breath about!" said the ass.
"Oh, dear!" said the dog, "now I am old, I get weaker every day, and can
do no good in the hunt, so, as my master was going to have me killed, I
have made my escape; but now, how am I to gain my living?"
"I will tell you what," said the ass, "I am going to Bremen to become
town musician. You may as well go with me, and take up music too. I can
play the lute, and you can beat the drum."
The dog consented, and they walked on together. It was not long before
they came to a cat sitting in the road, looking as dismal as three wet
days.
"Now, then, what is the matter with you, old friend?" said the ass.
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