![bremen animals for totem 450](http://sketchedout.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/bremen-animals-for-totem-450.jpg?w=480)
THE BREMEN TOWN MUSICIANS
The donkey, the largest of them, approached the window and looked in.
“What do you see, Gray-Horse?” asked the rooster.
“What do I see?” answered the donkey. “A table set with good things to eat and drink, and robbers sitting there enjoying themselves.”
“That would be something for us,” said the rooster.
“Ee-ah, ee-ah, oh, if we were there!” said the donkey.
Then the animals discussed how they might drive the robbers away, and at last they came upon a plan. The donkey was to stand with his front feet on the window, the dog to jump on the donkey’s back, the cat to climb onto the dog, and finally the rooster would fly up and sit on the cat’s head. When they had done that, at a signal they began to make their music all together. The donkey brayed, the dog barked, the cat meowed and the rooster crowed. Then they crashed through the window into the room, shattering the panes.
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A couple of weeks ago the Illustration Friday word of the week was “totem.” I’m telling you, time flies, because I’m just getting to it up now. Better late than never, I suppose!
Ol’ Bloo’s Boogie-Woogie Band and Blues Ensemble by Jan Huling Henri Sorensen, illustrator Peachtree Publishers 5 Stars . Inside Jacket: Ol’ Bloo Donkey has always dreamed of retiring from the cotton field to become a honky-tonk singer. But when he overhears the type of retirement plan Farmer Brown has in mind for him—of the permanent …
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_a-KdOb1Q7UI/TFNMYIAr5SI/AAAAAAAAAjY/6xZRNFSIlgc/s320/ol+bloo.jpg) |
Witty redo of Grimm Brothers classic |
By Jan Huling
Illustrated by Henri Sorensen
$16.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages
With so many versions of the Bremen Town Musicians to choose from, why read another?
Because this one's too "uhmewzin" not too.
Set in cotton country just where the states of Louisiana and Texas rub shoulders, Huling's remake is a perfect pairing of easy-does-it old critters and Southern attitude.
The animals, all in the twilight of their lives, speak with lazy vowels, nice and slow, and greet each other with good old Southern hospitality.
As the story begins, a donkey named Ol' Bloo has just sat down after a day of hauling cotton, when he overhears Farmer Brown say he's too decrepit to be of use and must be put down.
Ol' Bloo doesn't take kindly to the farmer's sentence and high-tails it out of there before the farmer is even off his porch rocker.
Once safely away, Ol' Bloo realizes Farmer Brown had a point, even though his solution was awfully severe. For a donkey, he is past his prime. It's time he find a new career.
Having always loved his own bray -- which to anyone else would sound like an accordion tumbling down stairs -- Ol' Bloo gets a wild hair to become a singer in New Orleans.
But as he hee-haws down the road to the Big Easy, Ol' Bloo realizes he's not the only one singing.
Soon a flea-bit ol' hound dog as nasty as can be is telling Ol' Bloo his sad tale and Ol' Bloo is welcoming him along on the journey.
Every few miles, they take in another golden-throated varmint, screeching the blues.
Next is an orange tabby with an eye patch who was booted out of his mistress
Yay! I have missed seeing your sketches!
Yay, your back!
I remember reading the Bremen Town Musician to my kids many years ago.
Hey Lady, glad to see ya back! Your sketch is soooo cute!