"I should like to know who would be cheerful when his neck is in
danger?" answered the cat. "Now that I am old, my teeth are getting
blunt, and I would rather sit by the oven and purr than run about after
mice, and my mistress wants to drown me; so I took myself off; but good
advice is scarce, and I do not know what is to become of me."
"Go with us to Bremen," said the ass, "and become town musician. You
understand serenading."
The cat thought well of the idea, and went with them accordingly. After
that the three travelers passed by a yard, and a cock was perched on the
gate crowing with all his might.
"Your cries are enough to pierce bone and marrow," said the ass; "what
is the matter?"
"I have foretold good weather for Lady-day, so that all the shirts may be
washed and dried; and now on Sunday morning company is coming, and the
mistress has told the cook that I must be made into soup, and this
evening my neck is to be wrung, so that I am crowing with all my might
while I can."
"You had better go with us, Chanticleer," said the ass. "We are going to
Bremen. At any rate that will be better than dying. You have a powerful
voice, and when we are all performing together it will have a very good
effect."
So the cock consented, and they went on, all four together.
But Bremen was too far off to be reached in one day, and toward evening
they came to a wood, where they determined to pass the night.
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