r how they should contrive to get the robbers out; and at last
they hit upon a plan. The ass placed himself upright on his hind-legs,
with his fore-feet resting against the window; the dog got upon his
back; the cat scrambled up to the dog's shoulders, and the cock flew up
and sat upon the cat's head. When all was ready, a signal was given, and
they began their music. 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! The robbers, who had been not a little frightened
by the opening concert, had now no doubt that some frightful hobgoblin
had broken in upon them, and scampered away as fast as they could.

The coast once clear, our travelers soon sat down and dispatched what
the robbers had left, with as much eagerness as if they had not expected
to eat again for a month. As soon as they had satisfied themselves, they
put out the lights and each once more sought out a resting-place to his
own liking. The donkey laid himself down upon a heap of straw in the
yard; the dog stretched himself upon a mat behind the door; the cat
rolled herself up on the hearth before the warm ashes; and the cock
perched upon a beam on the top of the house; and, as they were all
rather tired with their journey, they soon fell asleep.

But about midnight, when the robbers saw from afar that the lights were
out and that all seemed quiet, they began to think that they had been in
too great a hurry to run away; and one of them, who was bolder than the
rest, went to see what was going on. Finding everything still, he
marched into the kitchen and groped about till he found a match in order
to light a candle; and then, espying the glittering fiery eyes of the
cat, he mistook them for live coals and held the match to them to light
it. But the cat, not understanding this joke, sprung at his face, and
spit, and scratched at him. This frightened him dreadfully, and away he
ran to the back door; but there the dog jumped up and bit him in the
leg; and as he was crossing over the yard the ass kicked him; and the
cock, who had been awakened by the noise, crowed with all his might. At
this the robber ran back as fast as he could to his comrades and told
the captain "how a horrid witch had got into the house, and had spit at
him and scratched his face with her long bony fingers; how a man with a
knife in his