Once upon a time, there was a very mean man. He was mean to his donkey. He was mean to his dog. He was mean to his cat. He was very mean to his rooster. "I'll get him tomorrow. We'll put him in the pot and eat him for lunch. He's getting too old."
That evening, the rooster crowed as hard as he could. "What are you doing?"asked the dog. "It's nearly night!" "I'm crowing for the last time,"said the rooster. "Tomorrow I'll be rooster stew. The master is putting me in his cooking pot." "Oh no he's not!"said the donkey."He must be stopped." "Let's run away! We can go to Bremen and join the town band." "I'll play the violin!" "I'll play the didgeridoo!" "You can sing!" "Cock-a-doodle-foo!"
The four friends set off at once. They walked until they came to a deep, dark forest. "We'll have to sleep here tonight,"said the donkey. "I'm hungry." "I'm cold." "I'm scared." "Wait!"called the rooster. "I see a light. It's coming from a cottage." The four friends crept closer. The donkey looked inside. "What do you see?" asked the dog. "Food and drink,"said the donkey. "And a gang of robbers." "If only we could get inside,"said the dog. "We can!" said the donkey. "Here's my plan..."
The donkey stood near the window. The dog leaped on the donkey's back. The cat climbed on top of the dog. And the rooster flew on top of the cat. "One, two, three..."said the donkey. "Cocky-a-doodle-foo! Meeeeeeeeeeow! Woof!woof! Eeeeeeeeotrrrrrr!" The donkey, the dog, the cat and the rooster BURST into the room. "Help!"cried the robbers."Run for your lives."
They ate and ate and ate and ate. And then they slept. The robbers saw the lights go out. "We shouldn't have run away,"said the robber chief. "Come here, little robber. Go and see what's happening in the house." The smallest robber crept into the kitchen. He saw the shining eyes of the cat. "Burning coals!" he thought. "I'll use them to light my candle." He put his candle in the cat's eyes and .....she leaped at his face. The robber ran to the door...where the dog bit his leg. The robber ran across the yard and into the donkey. "Cock-a-doodle-foo!"screeched the rooster, flying across the roof. "Aaaaaaargh!"screamed the robber, running away as fast as he could. "There's a horrible witch in the house,"he panted. "She spat at me and scratched me. There was a man with a knife by the door. He stabbed me in the leg. In the yard there's a big black monster. He beat me with his club. "The robbers never went back to the house again. As for the four friends, they never did go to Bremen. And they never did become musicians. They liked the house so much they stayed there for the rest of their lives.