r himself a sleeping-place, according to his nature and
custom. The ass laid himself down upon some straw, the hound behind
the door, the cat upon the hearth, near the warm ashes, and the cock
flew up on a beam which ran across the room. Weary with their long
walk, they soon went to sleep.

At midnight the robbers perceived from their retreat that no light was
burning in their house, and all appeared quiet; so the captain said:
"We need not have been frightened into fits"; and, calling one of the
band, he sent him forward to reconnoiter. The messenger, finding
all still, went into the kitchen to strike a light, and, taking the
glistening, fiery eyes of the cat for live coals, he held a
lucifer match to them, expecting it to take fire. But the cat, not
understanding the joke, flew in his face, spitting and scratching,
which dreadfully frightened him, so that he made for the back door;
but the dog, who laid there, sprang up and bit his leg; and as he
limped upon the straw where the ass was stretched out, it gave him
a powerful kick with its hind foot. This was not all, for the cock,
awaking at the noise, clapped his wings, and cried from the beam:
"Cock-a-doodle-doo, cock-a-doodle-do!"

Then the robber ran back as well as he could to his captain, and said:
"Ah, my master, there dwells a horrible witch in the house, who spat
on me and scratched my face with her long nails; and then before the
door stands a man with a knife, who chopped at my leg; and in the yard
there lies a black monster, who beat me with a great wooden club; and
besides all, upon the roof sits a judge, who called out, 'Bring the
knave up, do!' so I ran away as fast as I could."

After this the robbers dared not again go near their house; but
everything prospered so well with the four town musicians of Bremen,
that they did not forsake their situation! And there they are to this
day, for anything I know.

* * * * *

THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE

BY WILHELM AND JAKOB GRIMM

There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a miserable
little hovel close to the sea. He went to fish every day, and he
fished and fished, and at last one day, when he was sitting looking
deep down into the shining water, he felt something on his line. When
he hauled it up there was a great flounder on the end of the line. The
flounder said to him: "Look here, fisherman, don't you kill me; I am
no common flounder, I am an enchante