Once upon a time, there was an old man who had a donkey. When the old man got very old, he decided he didn’t want to keep the donkey anymore, so the donkey ran away. It wanted to go to a place called Bremen to become a musician.
As the donkey walked along the road, he met three other animals who had also run away: a dog, a cat, and a rooster. They were all friends who wanted to get away from their owners too. So, they decided to travel together to Bremen!
One night, they reached a forest and saw a little house. They wanted to rest there, but when they looked inside, they saw some robbers having a meal! The animals thought it would be too scary to go in, so they made a clever plan to scare the robbers away instead.
Here’s what they did: the donkey stood still, and the dog jumped onto the donkey's back. Then, the cat climbed on the dog, and the rooster perched on the cat's head. Now they were stacked up high like a tower!
When they were ready, the donkey let out a loud “Hee-haw!”, the dog barked, the cat meowed, and the rooster crowed, all at the same time. It sounded like a big, scary noise! The robbers inside the house got so frightened. They thought there were evil spirits in the house! So, they ran away as fast as they could.
The four friends, feeling happy and brave, decided they liked the little house very much. They moved in and made it their new home. From then on, they lived together happily ever after, enjoying their time as friends.