Town Musicians of Bremen

In the fairytale "Town Musicians of Bremen" an encounter between four animals, who believe their life is over, is described. The owner wanted to get rid of them so they decided to head their own way.

A donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster decided to go to Bremen. Since it was a long journey they got hungry and thirsty. Soon after they stumbled across an old wooden shack in which they could rest. Their story about singing began then and there.

They didn’t reach Bremen but in their attempts to do so they made an unbreakable bond and spent their lives together. All of them shared the similar faith so they understood each other.

Genre: fairytale

Place: shack

Book Summary

Once upon a time an old and tired donkey ran away from his owner because he heard he was about to be sold to a butcher. The poor animal had to work carrying bags around a mill and it was no surprise he was out of strength. The owner gave him less and less food so he became weaker. In the end the owner thought it was best to get rid of him.

The donkey was very unhappy about his owner’s decision but he didn’t want to surrender. He decided to abandon him before he ends up in the butcher shop. While he was wandering he stumbled across a sad, hunting dog whose owner made him guard the house. He breathed loudly and without any strength. He also decided to run away from his owner in order to avoid bad faith.

The two sad animals started walking towards Bremen. They were lucky to have found each other because they could take care of each other. They had to get some food so they decided to become musicians. They also encountered an old cat and a rooster on their way and they also joined them. The cat’s owner wanted to get rid of him because he wasn’t good at catching mice anymore and the rooster’s owner wanted to make lunch out of him.

They walked and walked until sunset. They couldn’t reach Bremen but they found an old wooden shack where they spent the night.

When they looked out the window they saw burglars preparing a tasteful dinner. They had a wonderful idea. They decided to sing under their window and earn their food. The dog climbed onto a donkey, cat onto the dog and the rooster on the cat. When they started singing it sounded like they were yelling. The burglars thought a wild animal is going to attack them so they got scared and ran away.

When the burglars ran away the animals finally had something to eat. They enjoyed themselves after a very long journey. After dinner they went to bed to get some rest before they go to Bremen. They turned off the light and they made their beds. The donkey slept on the hay, the dog next ot the door, the cat near a fireplace and the rooster sat on a high wooden beam.

One of the robbers went back to the shack to see if there was a real animal there. As soon as he stepped in the cat scratched him. After that the donkey kicked him with his hoof, the dog bit him and the rooster crowed loudly. The burglar never came into the shack again.

They could catch they breath after they defeated the burglar. They were very proud of themselves because they stood by each other’s side when they needed to. They weren’t ready to live under someone’s reign again and that’s why they got rid of the burglars. The burglar didn’t even think about coming back to the shack again because he could get seriously injured.

The animals lived in the shack until they died. They enjoyed good food and quality friendship.

Characters: donkey, dog, cat, rooster, burglars

Characters Analysis

Donkey - the main character. He was an old and tired donkey whose owner wanted to get rid of him. He avoided that by running to Bremen but he never reached it. He was exhausted but still thirsty for life.

Dog - he shared similar faith as the donkey. He was old and sad. Just when he had thought his life was over donkey came into his life and they lived through an adventure together.

Brothers Grimm Biography

Thanks to the Grimm brothers many children enjoyed reading the stories of brave heroes that always win over the evil. The Grimm brothers are well-known German authors that, with a little help from the national stories, made fairytales that were enjoyed by the older and the younger.

The older brother Jacob was born in 1785 and died in 1863. The younger brother Wilhelm was born in 1786 and died in 1859. Both of them were linguists and philosophers. Jacob published a German grammar and together with his brother he published a German dictionary.

Both of them studied law in Marburg and during that period both of them criticized the King Ernest August I. and because of that, they could not end their school because they were banned. Because of the inability of studying law both of them started writing fairy tales which made them famous.

They were collecting them and writing them together while Wilhelm gave them a final touch. Their fairy tales are known as stories full of wisdom and cheerfulness.

In the beginning, their collection contained 86 stories and through repeated publishing the number grew to 200. Some of their most famous works are "The Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", "Snow White", "Rapunzel"…