Even the most reasonable and large-minded of the cats soon acknowledged that . The very first day she shut the kitchen door in the face of the tom-cats who used to enjoy watching Lizina at her work , and a young and mischievous cat who jumped in by the open kitchen window and alighted on the table got such a blow with the rolling-pin that he squalled for an hour . With every day that passed the household became more and more aware of its misfortune . The work was as badly done as the servant was surly and disagreeable ; in the corners of the rooms there were collected heaps of dust ; spiders ' webs hung from the ceilings and in front of the window-panes ; the beds were hardly ever made , and the feather beds , so beloved by the old and feeble cats , had never once been shaken since Lizina left the house . At Father Gatto 's next visit he found the whole colony in a state of uproar . ` Caesar has one paw so badly swollen that it looks as if it were broken , ' said one . ` Peppina kicked him with her great wooden shoes on . Hector has an abscess in his back where a wooden chair was flung at him ; and Agrippina 's three little kittens have died of hunger beside their mother , because Peppina forgot them in their basket up in the attic . There is no putting up with the creature -- do send her away , Father Gatto ! Lizina herself would not be angry with us ; she must know very well what her sister is like . ' ` Come here , ' said Father Gatto , in his most severe tones to Peppina . And he took her down into the cellar and showed her the same two great jars that he had showed Lizina . ` In which of these shall I dip you ? ' he asked ; and she made haste to answer : ` In the liquid gold , ' for she was no more modest than she was good and kind . Father Gatto 's yellow eyes darted fire . ` You have not deserved it , ' he uttered , in a voice like thunder , and seizing her he flung her into the jar of oil , where she was nearly suffocated . When she came to the surface screaming and struggling , the vengeful cat seized her again and rolled her in the ash-heap on the floor ; then when she rose , dirty , blinded , and disgusting to behold , he thrust her from the door , saying : ` Begone , and when you meet a braying ass be careful to turn your head towards it . ' Stumbling and raging , Peppina set off for home , thinking herself fortunate to find a stick by the wayside with which to support herself . She was within sight of her mother 's house when she heard in the meadow on the right , the voice of a donkey loudly braying . Quickly she turned her head towards it , and at the same time put her hand up to her forehead , where , waving like a plume , was a donkey 's tail .
She ran home to her mother at the top XXXXX her speed , yelling with rage and despair ; and it took Lizina two hours with a big basin of hot water and two cakes of soap to get rid of the layer of ashes with which Father Gatto had adorned her .
At With as by from in into of on to