One is never too old to take care of himself, provided he keeps his wits ready and active.

An old mule had been turned out of the farmer’s yard because he was too old to work. He said: “I think I shall go to the city and earn my living as a musician; people like to hear me bray.” And so off he set for town. On the way he met an old dog.

“Come, join me, my friend,” said the mule. “I am going to the city to be a musician. You can bark, and so we can earn a living.”

The dog joined him gladly and they went on until they saw an old cat on the fence.

“You had better come with us,” said the mule. “We are going to the city to be musicians. You can sing very well at night.” The cat agreed and they all three went along the road until they came to an old rooster up in a tree. The rooster had been told that he was to be killed the next day for dinner.

“Bless me!” said the dog and the cat. “Why be killed when you can go to the city with us and earn your living as a musician? Come along! And that will make four of us—quite a band!”

And so they all went along. The mule, the dog, the cat and the rooster, until it grew dark, and they came to a big house in the woods, all lighted up and shining through the windows. The dog got on the mule’s back, the cat on the dog’s back, and the rooster on the cat’s back. Then the rooster looked through the window and said:

“I see a lot of robbers having a great feast. We are all very hungry, and now, let the band play.” With that the mule brayed, the dog barked, the cat mewed, and the rooster crowed. The robbers were so frightened that they ran out of the house and into the woods, thinking the soldiers had come to arrest them.

Then the travelers went in and ate the feast until they were quite full. They were tired by this time and very sleepy, so they put the lights out and the mule lay down on some straw in the yard; the dog went to sleep behind the door; the cat curled up on the hearth; and the rooster flew up in a tree. Before long one of the robbers came back to see what happened. He went up to the hearth to light his torch when the cat jumped at him and scratched his face. As he ran the dog bit him on the foot; the mule kicked him on the leg; the rooster crowed at him as loud as it could.

When he reached his companions he said that a witch had scratched his face, that a man had cut him on the foot with a knife, and another had hit him on the leg with a club, and that the judge on top of the house had cried: “Throw the rascal up to me.”

The robbers were so alarmed that they never went back, and so far as we know the musicians are still living in that house.