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The Travelling Musicians

From Grimms' Fairy Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

This tale comes from Grimms' Fairy Tales, collected by German brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and first published in the early nineteenth century. The Grimms gathered these stories from oral tradition across Germany and neighbouring lands. This text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. 'The Travelling Musicians' (sometimes called 'The Bremen Town Musicians') teaches that cleverness, courage and cooperation can turn misfortune into fortune, and that what others discard may yet have great value.

Band
Green · Independent readers, earlyTypical starting range: ages 9–11
Length
long · about 899 words in 6 sections · 3 pictures
Source
Grimms' Fairy Tales, Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
First published
see the About page in the reader
Regions
Canada · United States

Included formats

  • · Web reader and PDF
  • · EPUB for e-readers
  • · Home-print sheet
  • · Folded booklet
  • · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
  • · Worksheet
  • · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
  • · Read-aloud script
  • · Teacher’s Edition (members)

Lesson at a glance

Reading
about 10 minutes at this band
Pause questions
2
Words to Know
8
Quick Check
10 questions, with the answer key
Let’s Talk
2 questions for afterwards
Worksheet
questions, an activity and a drawing prompt

About 40 minutes with one story, all of it.

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.

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The same story

The Travelling Musicians at other bands