The Road to
adapted by Setcheti from “The
Disclaimer: Don’t own the
Magnificent Seven or the Bremen Town Musicians, I’m content just to play with
them for a while and then put them back.
Celesta’s November Challenge: This month I want you to hit the books
for your ideas. You can put the Seven into your favorite story, or bring the
characters out into whatever universe of M7 you think fits the best. Or the
book itself can be a central plot device.
If it's a published work of fiction, such as a novel, fairy tale, manga, graphic novel, or a TV series in book form, you can
use it.
A certain man had a donkey named Nathan which for many
years and without complaint had tirelessly carried sacks to the mill at his
bidding. At last, however, its strength
was worn out; and no matter how much the man used his whip Nathan was no longer
able to pull his cart. Accordingly his
master began to ponder as to how best to cut down the donkey’s keep; but Nathan,
seeing there was mischief in the air, ran away and
started on the road to
When he had been traveling a short time, he fell in
with a hound who was lying panting on the road as
though he had run himself off his legs.
A fat black puppy was wallowing on the ground beside him.
“What are you panting so for, Dog?” asked the donkey
gruffly, nudging the curious puppy out of the road with his hoof.
“Ah,” said the hound, whose name was Buck. “I’ve been a loyal companion to my master
since I was as small as my pup, JD, here, but just because I was sniffing after
a pretty female and lost the rabbit he wanted, my master wanted to fix me so I
couldn’t…well, I got out of there as fast as I could. But now how am I to earn my keep and the
pup’s?”
“Do you know what?” said the donkey. “I too have run away from my master and I am
going to
The hound agreed, and the three of them went on. A short time after they came upon a cat
sitting by the road with a face as long as a wet week. “Well, what has been crossing you, Cat?”
asked the donkey in his gruff way.
“Who can be cheerful when he is under sentence of
death for a crime he didn’t commit?” replied the cat, whose name was Vin. “I am a great
hunter of mice and had kept my home free of them for many years. But just yesterday my mistress’ child set
free her favorite bird and it escaped through an open window; he lied and told
her I had killed and eaten it and because of that she wanted to drown me. I made myself scarce, but now I don’t know
where to turn.”
“Come with us to
The cat saw the sense in this and consented to join
them. Next the fugitives passed by a
yard where a rooster was sitting on the fence, crowing with all its might. “Your pointless racket pierces my ears,”
complained the donkey. “What is the
matter with you, that you disturb innocent passersby in this manner?”
“Why, haven’t I fought my natural inclination to crow
at dawn each day and instead announced the
“Come along, Rooster,” said the donkey after a moment,
for he hesitated to invite such a noisy creature to join them; but he could not
see leaving the bright-spirited rooster to die in a soup pot even then. “You had much better come with us, I suppose. We are going to
The rooster allowed himself to be persuaded, and they
all four went off together. They could not,
however, reach the town in one day, and by evening they began looking for a
place to spend the night. They were
about to settle down to sleep in the open when the rooster, who had flown to
the top of a tree to have a look around, saw what seemed to be a light burning
in the distance. Ezra at once flew back
down to perch on the donkey’s back - where he had
ridden most of the day - and informed his companions that there must be a house
not far off.
“Very well,” said the donkey, “let us set out and make
our way to it, for none of us wants to spend our night under a tree. Perhaps whoever lives there is of a generous
nature.”
They set out in the direction of the light, and soon
had reached the source, a brightly lighted robbers’ den. The donkey, being the tallest, approached the
window and looked in. “What do you see,
Nathan?” asked the rooster.
“What do I see?” answered the donkey. “I see two men tied in a corner, one of them all
in black, and robbers who have not earned such ease enjoying themselves around a
table spread with delicious food and drink,.”
“That would just suit us,” said the rooster. “If we were only there and they were not.”
The donkey tossed his head, almost dislodging his
passenger. “That is the problem as I see
it as well, and no doubt the prisoners would like to be rescued as well.” And so the animals took counsel as to how to
set about driving the robbers out, and at last they hit upon a plan. The hound was to jump onto Nathan’s broad
back, the cat to climb up onto the hound, and last of all the
rooster flew up and perched on the cat’s head.
The puppy they sent to the back door to whine plaintively until his
cries drew the robbers away from the front.
And as soon as Ezra declared the way was clear each animal began to make
as much noise as he could; the donkey brayed, the hound barked, the cat hissed
and the rooster crowed his loudest, and the noise they made shivered the panes
of the windows as they crashed through the front door.
The robbers thought nothing less than a demon was
coming in upon them and leaped through the windows to flee into the woods in
terror. Buck bit through the ropes that
tied the two prisoners, who were lawmen out of Four Corners by the names of
Chris and Josiah and who were grateful for his attention, and then the five
animals and two freed lawmen sat down to table and ate as though they’d been
starving for weeks. When they had finished
they extinguished the light, and looked for sleeping places, each one to suit
his nature and taste. The donkey lay down on a pile of straw, the hound with
his pup behind the door, the cat on the hearth near the warm ashes, and the
rooster flew up to the rafters while the two lawmen spread blankets for
themselves upon the floor under the table.
And as the men were tired from the hunt that had led to their capture
and the animals from their long journey, they all soon went to sleep.
When
Finding all quiet, the messenger went to the hearth to
kindle a light, and taking the cat’s glowing, fiery eyes for live coals he held
a match close to them so as to light it.
But the cat would stand no such nonsense; Vin
flew at his face, spitting and hissing and scratched him most severely. Terribly frightened, the robber tried to get
out the back door but stumbled over the wandering puppy, and when JD cried from
being stepped on Buck jumped up from his rest with a hoarse growl and bit the
robber’s leg. Limping the man ran back
to the front of the house to make his escape and in doing so blundered into the
donkey in the darkness; Nathan, cross at being trod upon, gave him a good sound
kick with his hind legs while Ezra, who had been awakened by the uproar quite
fresh and gay, screamed out from his perch with a crow so loud it rattled the
windows. Thereupon the robber ran back
as fast as he could to his chief, with the laughter of the two lawmen echoing
in his ears, and reported, “Our
prisoners are freed and I believe must be in league with the devil himself to
have guardians such as attacked me on their behalf. There is a gruesome witch by the hearth whose
eyes burn with fire and who scratched me with her long fingers. Behind the door there stands a man with a
knife who stabbed me, while in the yard lies a black monster who hit me with a
club and upon the roof a banshee is seated that screamed out with joy for my
blood, so I hurried away as fast as I could while the cursed lawmen laughed at
my fear from amid those horrors that serve them.”
The chief, being convinced by this that the lawmen
were being aided by devils, led his men far away and the robbers did not
venture again to their hideout in the woods – nor did any other such gangs as
his trouble the area again once the tale got around. Nathan, Buck, JD, Vin
and Ezra journeyed back to