<h2><SPAN name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"></SPAN> THE TRAVELLING MUSICIANS </h2>
<p>An honest farmer had once an ass that had been a faithful servant to him a
great many years, but was now growing old and every day more and more
unfit for work. His master therefore was tired of keeping him and began to
think of putting an end to him; but the ass, who saw that some mischief
was in the wind, took himself slyly off, and began his journey towards the
great city, ‘For there,’ thought he, ‘I may turn musician.’</p>
<p>After he had travelled a little way, he spied a dog lying by the roadside
and panting as if he were tired. ‘What makes you pant so, my friend?’ said
the ass. ‘Alas!’ said the dog, ‘my master was going to knock me on the
head, because I am old and weak, and can no longer make myself useful to
him in hunting; so I ran away; but what can I do to earn my livelihood?’
‘Hark ye!’ said the ass, ‘I am going to the great city to turn musician:
suppose you go with me, and try what you can do in the same way?’ The dog
said he was willing, and they jogged on together.</p>
<p>They had not gone far before they saw a cat sitting in the middle of the
road and making a most rueful face. ‘Pray, my good lady,’ said the ass,
‘what’s the matter with you? You look quite out of spirits!’ ‘Ah, me!’
said the cat, ‘how can one be in good spirits when one’s life is in
danger? Because I am beginning to grow old, and had rather lie at my ease
by the fire than run about the house after the mice, my mistress laid hold
of me, and was going to drown me; and though I have been lucky enough to
get away from her, I do not know what I am to live upon.’ ‘Oh,’ said the
ass, ‘by all means go with us to the great city; you are a good night
singer, and may make your fortune as a musician.’ The cat was pleased with
the thought, and joined the party.</p>
<p>Soon afterwards, as they were passing by a farmyard, they saw a cock
perched upon a gate, and screaming out with all his might and main.
‘Bravo!’ said the ass; ‘upon my word, you make a famous noise; pray what
is all this about?’ ‘Why,’ said the cock, ‘I was just now saying that we
should have fine weather for our washing-day, and yet my mistress and the
cook don’t thank me for my pains, but threaten to cut off my head
tomorrow, and make broth of me for the guests that are coming on Sunday!’
‘Heaven forbid!’ said the ass, ‘come with us Master Chanticleer; it will
be better, at any rate, than staying here to have your head cut off!
Besides, who knows? If we care to sing in tune, we may get up some kind of
a concert; so come along with us.’ ‘With all my heart,’ said the cock: so
they all four went on jollily together.</p>
<p>They could not, however, reach the great city the first day; so when night
came on, they went into a wood to sleep. The ass and the dog laid
themselves down under a great tree, and the cat climbed up into the
branches; while the cock, thinking that the higher he sat the safer he
should be, flew up to the very top of the tree, and then, according to his
custom, before he went to sleep, looked out on all sides of him to see
that everything was well. In doing this, he saw afar off something bright
and shining and calling to his companions said, ‘There must be a house no
great way off, for I see a light.’ ‘If that be the case,’ said the ass,
‘we had better change our quarters, for our lodging is not the best in the
world!’ ‘Besides,’ added the dog, ‘I should not be the worse for a bone or
two, or a bit of meat.’ So they walked off together towards the spot where
Chanticleer had seen the light, and as they drew near it became larger and
brighter, till they at last came close to a house in which a gang of
robbers lived.</p>
<p>The ass, being the tallest of the company, marched up to the window and
peeped in. ‘Well, Donkey,’ said Chanticleer, ‘what do you see?’ ‘What do I
see?’ replied the ass. ‘Why, I see a table spread with all kinds of good
things, and robbers sitting round it making merry.’ ‘That would be a noble
lodging for us,’ said the cock. ‘Yes,’ said the ass, ‘if we could only get
in’; so they consulted together how they should contrive to get the
robbers out; and at last they hit upon a plan. The ass placed himself
upright on his hind legs, with his forefeet resting against the window;
the dog got upon his back; the cat scrambled up to the dog’s shoulders,
and the cock flew up and sat upon the cat’s head. When all was ready a
signal was given, and they began their music. The ass brayed, the dog
barked, the cat mewed, and the cock screamed; and then they all broke
through the window at once, and came tumbling into the room, amongst the
broken glass, with a most hideous clatter! The robbers, who had been not a
little frightened by the opening concert, had now no doubt that some
frightful hobgoblin had broken in upon them, and scampered away as fast as
they could.</p>
<p>The coast once clear, our travellers soon sat down and dispatched what the
robbers had left, with as much eagerness as if they had not expected to
eat again for a month. As soon as they had satisfied themselves, they put
out the lights, and each once more sought out a resting-place to his own
liking. The donkey laid himself down upon a heap of straw in the yard, the
dog stretched himself upon a mat behind the door, the cat rolled herself
up on the hearth before the warm ashes, and the cock perched upon a beam
on the top of the house; and, as they were all rather tired with their
journey, they soon fell asleep.</p>
<p>But about midnight, when the robbers saw from afar that the lights were
out and that all seemed quiet, they began to think that they had been in
too great a hurry to run away; and one of them, who was bolder than the
rest, went to see what was going on. Finding everything still, he marched
into the kitchen, and groped about till he found a match in order to light
a candle; and then, espying the glittering fiery eyes of the cat, he
mistook them for live coals, and held the match to them to light it. But
the cat, not understanding this joke, sprang at his face, and spat, and
scratched at him. This frightened him dreadfully, and away he ran to the
back door; but there the dog jumped up and bit him in the leg; and as he
was crossing over the yard the ass kicked him; and the cock, who had been
awakened by the noise, crowed with all his might. At this the robber ran
back as fast as he could to his comrades, and told the captain how a
horrid witch had got into the house, and had spat at him and scratched his
face with her long bony fingers; how a man with a knife in his hand had
hidden himself behind the door, and stabbed him in the leg; how a black
monster stood in the yard and struck him with a club, and how the devil
had sat upon the top of the house and cried out, ‘Throw the rascal up
here!’ After this the robbers never dared to go back to the house; but the
musicians were so pleased with their quarters that they took up their
abode there; and there they are, I dare say, at this very day.</p>
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