The German reading room
Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten — The Bremen Town Musicians
The Brothers Grimm, 1857 · 1189 words in German · part of the library.
How long «Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten» is, and how hard
| Length in German | 1189 running words · 45 sentences · about 5 printed pages |
|---|---|
| Time to read | about 11 minutes at a learner's pace, with the glosses to hand |
| Different words | 373 dictionary words, averaging 26.4 words a sentence |
| Words glossed | 373 of 373 — every one that appears in the tale |
| Words that appear once | 233 — 62%. A word met once is a word you will not learn from this text alone |
| Where it stands | 5 of 8 by length in the German room |
314 of this tale's own 373 words, most frequent first, carry 95% of it; 138 carry 80%.
How it begins
Es hatte ein Mann einen Esel, der schon lange Jahre die Säcke unverdrossen zur Mühle getragen hatte, dessen Kräfte aber nun zu Ende gingen, so dass er zur Arbeit immer untauglicher ward.
A man had a donkey which for many long years had carried the sacks to the mill without ever complaining, but whose strength was now coming to an end, so that he grew more and more unfit for work.
That first sentence is the free sample, and the only one: «Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten» is part of the interactive library in German, Russian, Spanish, French and Italian, with word meanings and sentence translations — one subscription for all five rooms. What the library costs. «Der süße Brei» is free, entire, on its editorial reference page.
Shorter and longer in the same room
Kannitverstan — 848 wordsRumpelstilzchen — 1004 words Rotkäppchen — 1264 wordsDer Froschkönig — 1291 words