Annetta worked twice as hard as a circus donkey, which pleased the ringleader. Annetta learned her tricks faster and the ringleader declared she`d be ready to perform in just week.
Annetta also had another job then learning tricks. She was supposed to give rides to little kids like a pony .A man would guild the donkey Annetta and she would walk around the circus. At first, Annetta felt humiliation when some brat saddled on her, but as time passed she started to like it, especially when the man gave her a cube of sugar at the end of the ride.
As had happened to Stella and Gabriella, each day Annetta was acting more like a real jenny. She started to like being on all fours, wagging her tail while the fresh air passed through her legs, tasting the hay, braying wildly for a long period of time for no apparent reason… she even stopped feeling ashamed of going to “the bathroom” outdoors and in public. If any human seeing her, that human would think that Annetta had always been a donkey since she was born.
The first performance was coming up and that scared Annetta. What if she messed up ? The ringleader would surely be mad. She needed to perfect ever thing .
At last the day came around when the ringleader deemed Annetta and the rest as performers for her circus. Colorful posters where placed all over the village, advertising the little jenny`s first performance . People flocked to the circus, with the buzz of excitement. They ate popcorn , ice cream , peanuts , and fairy floss . The crowd was restless to see the new act and the sound of their talking and shouting was almost deafening. Stella, Annetta and Gabriella stood behind a curtain , waiting to go on .
Each adorned on their head was a blue little headdress, incrusted with fake little rubies .Atop of the little headdress was huge feather. All of the donkeys had new bridle of shiny new leather dyed blue with silver buckles and sparklingly jems .Each of their little tails had either a red , blue , or gold bow tied by the ebony tassel . Even though Annetta enjoyed all of this finery, she shook with stage fright. Stella nuzzled the scared little donkey affectionately and brayed "You'll be fine, Annetta . We will help you to escape tonight! Gabriella and I have seen that more and more you are behaving like a real donkey. If you continue staying in this circus you will end up like us. You still have a chance to be human again. We will help you.”
What Stella said left Annetta speechless. “Have I acted as a real ass without noticing it?”, that thought worried her. She walked towards Stella to go to talk but then a loud voice came out.
"Welcome , welcome ladies , gentlemen , and children!" The voice boomed , the voice of the ringleader. “This amazing performance of Circo deli Fratelli Lorenzo will start with the amazing act of our two beloved donkeys, and their newest companion.”
They all reached the middle of the big top with a roaring crowd cheering . Bright lights blinded them , but they soon could see everything around . The ringleader was in one of her most splendid attire. She had long , raven black boots that reached up to her knees, a shiny golden leotard and a swanky red jacket. She took of her top hat introducing the new performers and placed it back on her ebony black hair. Her golden earrings shimmered in the bright light of the circus.
"And now , without a further a due , my donkeys will perform their great tricks ; some you will absolutely refuse to believe !"
It was just as Annetta practiced , her fabulous feats dazzling the crowds . They owed and awed as the donkeys waltz and dance to fine music of the company band . Annetta basked in the exicment of the crowed and performed her tricks to perfection . The donkey jumped and kicked as the people roared with happiness .
But then came the most difficult feat , jumping through a hoop . Two clowns held the sliver ring and the ringleader held the whip . Whipping it in thin air , with an ear piercing ‘CRACK’, the donkey began to leap into the hoop . Stella lead Annetta in a procession , jumping into the hoop with ease from years of practice . They all had made it, except Gabriella .
Gabriella was the oldest donkey and, after years of doing it, was difficult to jump for her. The ringleader whipped her Gabriella`s back, the scars hidden by a thicket of brown fur . She tried to jump through the ring , but when she made it through she hit the ground , twisting her right fore hoof in an awkward position . She let out a great bray of agony, that rang in everyone`s ears .
The clowns all gathered around the jenny when the ringleader proclaimed "This ends the act of the Amazing , Spectacular , and Magnificent Donkeys!" Gabriella limped behind the curtain and the other followed her. The crowd clapped, but only a few said in their minds "I hope that donkey is okay "
Stella and Annetta around Gabriella and looked in fright. The veterinary surgeon in charge of the animals in the circus finally stated after a long examine. "This donkey is lame, she shall never walk properly again. "
The ringleader who went behind the stage to check on her weak donkey said fiercely "Get rid of her. Take this animal to the sea and drown her , we shall use her skin to make a new drum for the circus band ."
Gabriella`s black eye went blank with fear. She shivered all over .
Stella knew what she had to do. She let a haunting bray escape from her mouth . All the animals heard her bray. "I won`t let you hurt Gabriella !", but the barn assistant only thought of it as a simple "Hee-haw !" Stella catapulted her hind legs to hit the barn assistant right in the stomach , but Stella lost her aim and hit the ringleader right in her face. Stella brayed " Sorry! I didn`t mean to hit my master!"
Annetta simply brayed back and began to kick the barn helper. The two jennies were kicking and braying as loud as they could. The barn helper fell under Stella`s powerful hooves and soon he could do nothing but gasp and stutter in pain.
Gabriella was limping under the curtain as Stella whispered " We gotta take it easy on Gabriella`s leg , so let`s walk into the forest. They`ll never find us there.
"Quick!" Stella cried as they lifted the big top`s tent flap just large enough for the others to get through .
They were nearing the Italian forest . The tree rustled in the night and owls hooted their nightly chant .In the night`s pitch blackness . They followed the cross roads, hooping into the bushes if they heard a cart coming . Stella was in the lead, Gabriella limped behind her with Annetta at her side . They tried to make their hooves sound quieter , but they still clomped again the dirt road .
The circus light was in the distance, the cheering still picked up by the donkeys` sensitive hearing. But suddenly a bang interrupted the clapping and joy of the circus. A bang headed towards them...
Stella nearly jumped a foot in the air. " What was that ?" She whispered turning around . Annetta`s eyes meet the wicked ringleader , with her gun in hand .
"It’s our master " Gabriella answered. " And she has a gun ..." They all feared for their lives, but Annetta`s quick thinking save them . "Gals! We can hide in the vineyard !" She nuzzled towards left and sure enough , there was a entire valley that had a maze of purple fruits. They walked down the hill and hide amongst the fruits and vines .
"I will find you donkeys ... " A voice said . " I will ..."
Gabriella then heard a loud crunch! Annetta jumped into the air, but they soon realize what the noise was. "Stella ..."Annetta hissed . "This is no time for snacking on grapes !" Stella swallowed the grape she had in her mouth . "I`m sorry! But I`m just so hungry when I`m scared!" The donkeys heard more gun shots ; they all shivered in fright .
Then rustling was heard ; someone was coming into the vineyard ! "Come out, come out, where ever you are!" Annetta brayed quietly" We gotta get outta here!" and so the donkey slunk out of the row of vines only to realize they had nowhere to hide .
"You can hide ... but you cannot run ..."
Stella shifted her glance from the vineyard to the stone hills. On one of them was a boarded up hole with a bunch of scribbles on it , words she didn’t remember how to read . The hole echoed with darkness and fright. But she ran to the hill and began to violently ripe away the boards.
"Stella!" Gabriella brayed softly as she limped over to her. "Are you crazy? That`s the catacombs! They haven`t had people in them since the Romans lived in Italy; they`re deemed unsafe ."
To Gabriella and Stella the writing on the boards was now just a bunch of marks. "Do you even know what that says?" Annetta said .
"We are more donkeys than you remember? We don`t remember how to read .But we get inside here." Stella said pawing at the wood . A few boards broke off successfully and Stella smiled joyfully at her progress.
Annetta had not yet lost the ability to read, so she read aloud "DO NOT ENTER !" But learning what the scribbles meant did not stop Stella , for she only paused her work and began to make a big enough hole for her friends to slip under . "Okay everyone ..." she said brightly using her right fore hoof to point . "Get in ."
"You seriously expect us to go in there?"Gabriella said looking at the hole in the boarded up catacombs.
"Gabriella , "Stella said sternly . "It`s do or die now. You can either hide in the catacombs or you can suffer an unkindly fate. Which do you choose, a few hours in a hole underground or your very life?"
Gabriella didn`t get a chance to think; she had already made her choice . Right then they heard the cackling voice of their wicked master "I know you’re here, donkeys..." Gabriella quickly limped under the boards and the rest of the donkey girls followed. They began to take through journey to the deaths if the ancient Italian tunnels.
The ringleader escaped the vineyard and go to the stone hills. Looking down she saw 3 pairs of donkey hoof marks , all of her donkeys had taken sanctuary in the catacombs . Now the ringleader was brave, she had preformed acts with the most dangerous of exotic creatures. But she would never ever go into the catacombs. There where all sorts of things down there, things unknown . "They`re dead anyway. "She snickered as rain began to wash away the hoofmarks . "The catacombs are another world of danger."
The donkey girls where aimlessly getting deeper and deeper underground . All of the light of the wonderful world above disappeared in cold darkness . It was so dark and dank that they could no longer see what they were going into. Annetta shivered in fear of the darkness surrounding her. The sounds of hooves echoed in the mysterious underground world, fading into the eternal darkness. At first Annetta enjoyed the clickity clack of her own hooves against the dirty stone ground of the Catacombs ,.but now she was just annoyed after 2 or so hours .
"Gabriella?" Annetta brayed looking out in the blackness .
"What?" Gabriella answered .
"What if this place is dangerous ? I mean I know the Romans used booby traps in order to keep the burial place safer from grave robbers ... "
"Annetta” Gabriella brayed interrupting her. "This place has absolutely no traps. Besides , theses bodies are just ordinary people . Why would they ...Ahhhhhh!"
The jennies , though it was unknown to them, took one step forward into a pit and they fell below . "Umph !" They grunted as the banged again the dirt floor . It was significantly brighter than the other part of the catacombs. Small , but noticeable holes in the dirt wall of the catacombs showed that the wall was weak and could break easily . Speckles of blue and sometimes golden light illuminated the cave of the catacombs. Outside , the donkeys sensed that the dark , overcast storm clouds had let loose and decided to unleash their infamous power of thunder , lighting , and heavy rain.
When each donkey stood up they gave sighs of relief to see the glorious light."Told ya so !" Gabriella brayed brightly with the hint of the great feeling of being right.. "This place is bobby trapped ! "
"We gotta get outta here !"Stella brayed with a panicky look on her face. Then, she bumped into something ... from the cracks in the wall that sent some light down she saw what it really was ... a dead skeleton of a donkey and a man with their ribs cage and spines interlinked . "Ahhh! " She screamed and ran around , looking for a way out. She banged against the dirt wall , which was weather worn from hundreds of years .Stella banged down and landed in-between the hole she created. She grunted the slightest bit and shook off the pebbles and rubbish left from the hole.
When Annetta saw the hole she brayed cheerfully , "Alright, Stella! You found a way out!" The donkeys immediately crawled under the hole and looked out in the blinding and freezing cold rain. It raged against their furs. The rain was somewhat soothing with it cool nature as it was chilled their aching whipping scars.
Then, the jennies stopped and saw the sea. The magnificent crest waves swirled in a furious rage . They were standing on a pathway that stood a good forty or so feet above the angry sea below.
"What`s the plan now ?"asked Gabriella as she stood on the pathway looking around .
"Dunno," Stella admited ."But we just gotta find a way."