A donkey, growing old and unfit for work, ran away to Bremen to become a town musician. On the road, he met a hound, a cat, and a rooster, all facing similar fates of abandonment by their masters. United by their plight and a shared dream of a new life, they decided to travel together to Bremen.
They could not reach the city in one day. As night fell in a forest, the rooster spotted a light in the distance. Hoping for better shelter and food, they followed it to a well-lit house occupied by robbers.
To scare the robbers away, the animals devised a plan. The donkey stood at the window with the hound on his back, the cat on the hound, and the rooster perched on the cat's head. At a signal, they all began to "make music"—the donkey brayed, the hound barked, the cat meowed, and the rooster crowed—before crashing through the window. Terrified by the horrible din, the robbers fled into the forest, thinking a ghost had attacked.
The four companions feasted on the robbers' food and found comfortable places to sleep in the now-empty house.
Later that night, a robber was sent back to investigate. In the dark, he mistook the cat's glowing eyes for coals. When he tried to light a match near them, the cat flew at his face. As he ran, the hound bit his leg, the donkey kicked him, and the rooster crowed loudly from the rafters. The terrified robber reported to his captain that a witch, a man with a knife, a club-wielding monster, and a shouting judge inhabited the house.
Convinced the house was haunted, the robbers never returned. The four animals found the house so comfortable that they decided to stay and live there happily ever after.