Grimms' Fairy Tales The Travelling Musicians Summary

Summary

An old ass, abandoned by his master because he is no longer useful, leaves the farm and resolves to go to the great city to become a musician. Early on the road he meets a dog who has fled because his master plans to kill him for being too old to hunt; the ass invites the dog to join him. They shortly encounter a cat who has escaped a mistress who meant to drown her for sloth, and a cock facing imminent slaughter to become a feast — all join the plan to make a living together as travelling musicians.

Traveling as a quartet, they fail to reach the city by nightfall and sleep in the woods. From a treetop the cock sees a light in the distance and leads them to a house where a gang of robbers are feasting. The animals decide to clear out the robbers by staging a frightful musical attack: the ass stands on his hind legs, the dog climbs onto him, the cat scrambles up to the dog, and the cock perches on the cat's head. They perform a terrible concert — braying, barking, mewing, and screaming — then crash through a window. Terrified, the robbers flee. The animals help themselves to the food, settle in, and sleep, but when one bold robber returns at midnight and is assaulted by the animals (the cat scratches his face, the dog bites his leg, the ass kicks him, the cock crows), he races back and tells the others he has been attacked by monsters. The robbers never return, and the animals take up residence in the house, where the story implies they remain happily established as musicians.

Key events

1. Old ass flees his master, decides to become a musician in the city.
2. Ass meets the fleeing dog, then the cat, then the cock; all join him.
3. They travel together and sleep in a wood when night falls.
4. Cock spots a light; the animals approach a house where robbers feast.
5. They form an animal tower, make a frightful concert, and crash through the window.
6. Robbers flee; animals eat, sleep in the house, and later frighten back a returning robber.

Analysis

This tale compresses a simple but effective structure: a linear journey, successive recruitment, a single decisive confrontation, and a tidy resolution. The chain of meetings (ass → dog → cat → cock) stages solidarity among creatures cast off by human society; each animal represents a different domestic role rendered useless by age or circumstance. Their decision to become musicians is less about art than about imaginative survival — repurposing a social identity (musician) to escape disposability. The tower of animals is both comic and strategic: it literalizes cooperation and creates an absurd, uncanny silhouette that functions as a mask or monster to frighten humans. The robbers serve as a foil to the animals: violent, selfish humans whose fear of the unknown undoes them. Narrative voice remains external and economical, delivering moral logic through action rather than explicit judgment; the animals' resourcefulness is rewarded, while the robbers' cowardice and greed are punished by self-exile.

Symbolically, music stands in for social legitimacy: the animals’ advertised profession enables mobility and dignity, even if it is a pretext. The repeated motif of abandonment (each animal fleeing imminent death) underscores vulnerability and the theme of found family. The tale also uses dramatic irony and sensory detail — the cat's glowing eyes mistaken for coals, the noisy concert — to build tension and humor. Structurally, the story's cumulative pattern (each episode adding a new companion) primes readers for a climactic ensemble act, making the final scare both inevitable and satisfying; the ending's open implication that they remain in the house functions as a moral of cleverness and mutual aid over brute force.

Important quotes

“For there,' thought he, 'I may turn musician.'”

NarratorThe ass explains his plan to escape his master's intention to kill him and to seek a new life in the city.

“There must be a house no great way off, for I see a light.”

the cockFrom his high perch the cock spots the robbers' house, setting the group on the course that leads to their decisive encounter.

“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!”

NarratorThe animals' noisy performance and dramatic entrance frighten the robbers into fleeing, allowing the animals to claim the house.

Characters in The Travelling Musicians

• The Bremen Town Musicians
• the ass
• the dog
• the cat
• the cock
• the robbers
• the captain