A CERTAIN man had a donkey,2 which had carried the corn-sacks to the mill3 indefatigably1 for many a long year; but his strength was going, and he was growing more and more unfit for work. Then his master4 began to consider how he might best save his keep; but the donkey, seeing that no good wind was blowing, ran away and set out on the road to Bremen.5 "There," he thought, "I can surely be town-musician."6 When he had walked some distance, he found a hound lying on the road, gasping2 like one who had run till he was tired. "What are you gasping so for, you big fellow?" asked the donkey.
"Ah," replied the hound,7 "as I am old, and daily grow weaker, and no longer can hunt, my master wanted to kill me, so I took to flight; but now how am I to earn my bread?"
"I tell you what," said the donkey, "I am going to Bremen, and shall be town-musician there; go with me and engage yourself also as a musician. I will play the lute3, and you shall beat the kettledrum."8
The hound agreed, and on they went.
Before long they came to a cat,9 sitting on the path, with a face like three rainy days! "Now then, old shaver, what has gone askew4 with you?" asked the donkey.
"Who can be merry when his neck is in danger?" answered the cat. "Because I am now getting old, and my teeth are worn to stumps5, and I prefer to sit by the fire and spin, rather than hunt about after mice, my mistress wanted to drown me, so I ran away. But now good advice is scarce. Where am I to go?"
"Go with us to Bremen. You understand night-music, you can be a town-musician."
The cat thought well of it, and went with them. After this the three fugitives6 came to a farm-yard, where the cock10 was sitting upon the gate, crowing with all his might. "Your crow goes through and through one," said the donkey. "What is the matter?"
"I have been foretelling7 fine weather, because it is the day on which Our Lady washes the Christ-child's little shirts, and wants to dry them,"11 said the cock; "but guests are coming for Sunday, so the housewife has no pity, and has told the cook that she intends to eat me in the soup to-morrow, and this evening I am to have my head cut off. Now I am crowing at full pitch while I can."
"Ah, but red-comb," said the donkey, "you had better come away with us. We are going to Bremen; you can find something better than death everywhere: you have a good voice, and if we make music together it must have some quality!"12
The cock agreed to this plan, and all four went on together. They could not, however, reach the city of Bremen in one day, and in the evening they came to a forest13 where they meant to pass the night. The donkey and the hound laid themselves down under a large tree, the cat and the cock settled themselves in the branches; but the cock flew right to the top, where he was most safe. Before he went to sleep he looked round on all four sides, and thought he saw in the distance a little spark burning; so he called out to his companions that there must be a house not far
off, for he saw a light.14 The donkey said, "If so, we had better get up and go on, for the shelter here is bad." The hound thought that a few bones with some meat on would do him good too!
So they made their way to the place where the light was, and soon saw it shine brighter and grow larger, until they came to a well-lighted robber's house. The donkey, as the biggest, went to the window and looked in.
"What do you see, my grey-horse?" asked the cock. "What do I
see?" answered the donkey; "a table covered with good things to eat and drink, and robbers15 sitting at it enjoying themselves." "That would be the sort of thing for us," said the cock. "Yes, yes; ah, how I wish we were there!" said the donkey.
Then the animals took counsel together how they should manage to drive away the robbers, and at last they thought of a plan. The donkey was to place himself with his fore-feet upon the window-ledge, the hound was to jump on the donkey's back, the cat was to climb upon the dog, and lastly the cock was to fly up and perch8 upon the head of the cat.16
When this was done, at a given signal, they began to perform their music together: the donkey brayed9, the hound barked, the cat mewed, and the cock crowed; then they burst through the window into the room, so that the glass clattered10! At this horrible din11, the robbers sprang up, thinking no otherwise than that a ghost had come in, and fled in a great fright out into the forest. The four companions now sat down at the table, well content with what was left, and ate as if they were going to fast for a month.
As soon as the four minstrels had done, they put out the light, and each sought for himself a sleeping-place17 according to his nature and to what suited him. The donkey laid himself down upon some straw in the yard, the hound behind the door, the cat upon the hearth13 near the warm ashes, and the cock perched himself upon a beam of the roof; and being tired from their long walk, they soon went to sleep.
When it was past midnight, and the robbers saw from afar that the light was no longer burning in their house, and all appeared quiet, the captain said, "We ought not to have let ourselves be frightened out of our wits;" and ordered one of them to go and examine the house.18
The messenger finding all still, went into the kitchen to light a candle, and, taking the glistening14 fiery15 eyes of the cat for live coals, he held a lucifer-match19 to them to light it. But the cat did not understand the joke, and flew in his face, spitting and scratching. He was dreadfully frightened, and ran to the back-door, but the dog, who lay there sprang up and bit his leg; and as he ran across the yard by the straw-heap, the donkey gave him a smart kick with its hind12 foot. The cock, too, who had been awakened16 by the noise, and had become lively, cried down from the beam, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
Then the robber ran back as fast as he could to his captain, and said, "Ah, there is a horrible witch sitting in the house, who spat17 on me and scratched my face with her long claws; and by the door stands a man with a knife, who stabbed me in the leg; and in the yard there lies a black monster, who beat me with a wooden club; and above, upon the roof, sits the judge,20 who called out, 'Bring the rogue18 here to me!' so I got away as well as I could."
After this the robbers did not trust themselves in the house again; but it suited the four musicians of Bremen so well that they did not care to leave it any more. And the mouth of him who last told this story is still warm.21
1. The Bremen Town Musicians: The sources for the tale are Dorothea Viehmann and the von Haxthausen family (Zipes, Complete, 730).
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2. Donkey: Tatars states that the animals are not totally symbolic19 (150) but "seem to carry out a household function and are defined by their use to their owners" (Tatar 150). However, some aspects the symbolism attached to each animal do reflect the work together spirit of the tale and these aspects will be listed below.
While a donkey can be symbolic of stupidity, it can also be "humble20 and gentle" (Biederman 100).
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3. Mill: The mill can "represent the equalizing effect of fate, which provides equal justice in the same way that a mill grinds every grain without prejudice" (Biederman 221-222).
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4. His master: Tatar points out that the introduction of the tale sets up conflict between the master (humans) and slave (animals) (151).
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5. Bremen: Bremen is located in northwest Germany. It was a Free Hanseatic League City after the end of the Old German Empire and became part of the German Alliance in 1815 (Bremen Tourism, "Free"). It is a harbor city but couldn't serve large ships because of silt21 clogging22 the river (Bremen Tourism, "Free"). This lead to the creation of Bremerhaven in 1827 (Bremen Tourism, "Free"). The city is famous for its statue of Roland, which was erected23 in 1404 (Bremen Tourism, "Free").
The statue of the Grimms' Musicians is on the west side of the Rathaus (Bremen Tourism, "Bremen"). The statue is by Gerhard Marcks and was done in 1951 (Bremen Tourism, "Bremen"). There is also a Gerhard Marcks house/museum in the city.
The destination city could change depending on the location of the teller24 (Tatar 150), Bremen also "figures as a point of departure for life's final journey" (Tatar 150). Because it is a seaport25, "Bremen represents a blend of the domestic and exotic" (Tatar 150). For the animals in the tale Bremen represents "the freedom that is usually associated with the wildness" (Tatar 153).
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6. Town musician: During the1600s there were "traveling animal bands, featuring cat vocalists and monkey or owl26 conductors" (Comfort 169) in Europe.
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7. Hound: Dogs are "associated primarily with loyalty27 and vigilance" (Biederman 97).
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8. I will play the lute, and you shall beat the kettledrum: A lute is a stringed instrument shaped like a pear with a long neck (Barnhart 727). A kettledrum is "a drum made up of a thin hemispherical shell of brass28 or copper29 with a parchment top" (Evans 603).
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9. Cat: While the cat is usually negative in symbolism (Biederman 59), in heraldry it can stand for liberty (Biederman 60). Furthermore, "the cat is tireless and cunning when going after its prey30 - the virtues31 of a good solider" (Biederman 60).
In his The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, Jack32 Zipes has the donkey call the cat, "Old Whiskers" (106). Tatar offers "Mr. Tidypaws" (152). According to the Oxford33 American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus, a shaver is "a young lad" (767). Ivor Evans describes the related term shaveling as a young man usually a priest because of the shaved head and face (990). Shaveling is usually used as a term of contempt (Evans 990).
Spinning in fairy tales is often "associated with fate and death . . . and women" (Biederman 317).
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10. Cock: The rooster is associated with both sexuality and Christ (Biederman 288). It was believed that the crowing of the rooster (cock) would "drive off nocturnal demons34" (Biederman 288). The crowing was also seen as a reference to Saint Peter denying Christi three times (Biederman 288). The rooster is also seen as a watchful35 guardian36 (Biederman 288).
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11. Our Lady washes the Christ-child's little shirts, and wants to dry them: Tatar writes of the saying, "The insertion of a reference to the Madonna anchors the tale in a culture where weather was described in religious terms" (152).
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12. You can find something better than death everywhere: you have a good voice, and if we make music together it must have some quality: All four of the animals have outlived their usefulness to the owners and face death. They become the unwanted of society.
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13. Forest: The forest is a place of change. A tree can be associated with "a life lived in accordance God's plan: its annual cycle refers to life, death, and resurrection" (Biederman 351).
The forest is a common setting in German fairy tales.
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14. Light: The light represents hope (Tatar 153).
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15. Robbers: Robbers ". . . may symbolize37 the rebellion of the young against authority and parental38 (especially paternal) power . . ." (Biederman 286).
In this tale, the robbers stand in contrast to the musicians:
Both beasts and robbers are social renegades, but whereas the beast exhibit egalitarian solidarity39, the robbers remain locked in rigid40 hierarchies41, with a captain heading the group who gives commands and jeopardizes42 the safety of individual members by sending them out on reconnaissance. (Tatar 150)
Sometimes the robbers are replaced with other animals, werewolves, or witches (Tatar 153).
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16. Upon the head of the cat: The formation of the animals ". . . signals their willingness to cooperate according to their strengths and turns them into the artists that they aspire43 to become in Bremen" (Tatar 153). The fact that the robbers are criminals "makes them far game for the animals" (Tatar 153). Jack Zipes writes that when fairy tale characters use hidden talents ". . . to attain44 due justice and recompense, the people are invincible45" (Zipes, Breaking, 37). The animals here have been slighted because they are not allowed to live out their lives even after they have worked of their masters.
The formation that the animals used to scare off the robbers is what is depicted46 in Marcks' statue "The Bremen Town Musicians" (see above).
The fact that the robbers are frightened by such a tricks shows that they are cowards (Tatar 153).
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17. Sleeping-place: Tatar notes the similarity with the characters of Goldilocks and Snow White (155); all the animals are searching for "resting places that will be 'just right'" (155).
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18. Ordered one of them to go and examine the house: The robbers do not work together like the animals, and "the captain has no reservations about exposing a member of his band to danger" (Tatar 156). The animals, on the hand, work to protect each other, not only from the robbers but from the owners.
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19. Lucifer-match: Simply a match. A Lucifer match or friction47 match was invented in 1826 by John Walker (Evans 663). It was then "copied by Samuel Jones of the Strand48 and sold as the Lucifer (c. 1829)" (Evans 663).
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20. Judge: Cats are often associated with witches. The rooster is mistaken for a judge ". . . in part because the robber knows that he is an intruder, even if on his own domain49, in part because the rooster is seen as a commanding presence in the barnyard" (Tatar 156).
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21. Is still warm: This is a signature of the storyteller. Tatar writes of it, "Functioning like a signature on a painting, the final line reminds us that the story was crafted by a raconteur50 with his own personal style" (Tatar 156).
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