In one village there was a mill on the bank of a river where a clever donkey helped the miller with his hard work for many years. But as time went on, the donkey grew older and did a little less work each year. Eventually the miller decided that the old donkey was no longer of any use to him, and instead of thanking him for his years of help, he drove the donkey out, saying: “Get out of here, you’re no use to me anyway.”
The sad donkey went away with tears in his eyes, and for a while he did not know what to do. But then he decided that he would not let himself be eternally tormented by the boorish miller. He might not have much to offer, but he still had his melodic voice!
Well, what’s the best way to make a living with his voice? Become a street singer! The tears on his face were replaced by a smile, and the donkey walked towards the nearest town, head held proudly high, towards his bright new life.
Along the way, he came across a little dog that was plodding towards him, head down. This reminded the donkey of his own recent departure from the mill. He brayed at the dog and asked him what had happened to him.
“I am old, and my master got rid of me,” complained the little dog. The donkey knew this well, so he invited the little dog to form a musical duo with him, saying that the two of them could perform a song . The dog barked happily that he gave his life a new purpose, and joined the donkey.
As they walked along, they met a cat sitting by the side of the road with its head buried in its paws. They asked her what was bothering her.
“I’m old, I can’t see well, I can’t catch a mouse. My owner threw me out, saying it’s a waste to feed me when I’m useless,” the cat sighed.
“Then you’re in the same situation as the dog and me,” said the donkey. “Join us, your voice has a nice color, you’ll be a great addition to our band.”
The cat rubbed her eyes in disbelief and then meowed happily and jumped up on all fours like a youngster, out of joy that she was not too old to do something good.
The three of them walked towards the town where they planned to have their first public performance.
As they passed the farmhouse, they heard a rooster crowing fearfully in the yard.
“You’ve got a strong voice, mister. Would you like to join our band?” The animals called to him.
“Would that work? Could you take me with you? The housekeeper told me I’m only good for a soup because I can’t even keep an eye on the chickens,” the rooster told the animals.
“Of course. Your voice is great, you’re perfect for our band,” the donkey told the rooster and a fourth member was added to their musical group.
It was still a long way to the city, but it was getting dark. So the rooster climbed up onto the branch of a chestnut tree to look around to see if there was somewhere they could spend the night before heading into town again tomorrow.
“Friends, I see a beautiful house nearby and it’s lit up,” the rooster said moments after he climbed the tree.
And so they all set out to see the light, hoping to spend the night in a nice warm place. When the animals reached the house, they peered in through the window. Inside, it looked cozy, with a fire blazing in the fireplace, but around the table sat three guys with dangerous looks. The animals recognized them as robbers. They were dividing up the booty.
The animals wondered what to do. The robbers weren’t nice to anyone, but it was already dark and where else would the animals go for the night? All four little musicians finally decided to start singing under the windows, hoping the robbers would like it and keep them there for amusement.
As they decided, so they did. They all started their song at once. The donkey brayed at the top of his lungs, the dog barked like he was sniffing out a fox, the cat meowed, and the rooster crowed like it was morning. The concert was truly out of this world. The robbers were so frightened that they left the booty and ran out of the house.
The animals laughed at how successful their first musical performance turned out.
“Looks like we’re not going to make a very good living singing, I guess we’ll have to come up with another plan,” mused the donkey aloud.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo! Well then, we’ll stay here since the robbers have so graciously left us the place,” suggested the rooster at once.
This plan appealed to everyone. They high-fived with their paws, hooves and wings and stayed in the house forever. They lived there happily, and whenever they found a lonely animal wandering around, they invited it to stay with them. And even though the animals didn’t end up making music for a living, they sang for joy every now and then in their new home.
