From df0d6a4503a26508553510b4050eaa79f52e4e4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Aleksey Veresov Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2020 18:22:31 +0300 Subject: Another step to release. --- samples/orwell.txt | 2850 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 2850 insertions(+) create mode 100644 samples/orwell.txt (limited to 'samples/orwell.txt') diff --git a/samples/orwell.txt b/samples/orwell.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da65e79 --- /dev/null +++ b/samples/orwell.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2850 @@ + + + + _ _ ______ + /\ (_) | | | ____| + / \ _ __ _ _ __ ___ __ _| | | |__ __ _ _ __ _ __ ___ + / /\ \ | '_ \| | '_ ` _ \ / _` | | | __/ _` | '__| '_ ` _ \ + / ____ \| | | | | | | | | | (_| | | | | | (_| | | | | | | | | + /_/ \_\_| |_|_|_| |_| |_|\__,_|_| |_| \__,_|_| |_| |_| |_| + by George Orwell + + + + Chapter I + + + +Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but +was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light +from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, +kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer +from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where +Mrs. Jones was already snoring. + +As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there was a stirring and a +fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone round during the +day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a strange dream +on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other animals. +It had been agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as +Mr. Jones was safely out of the way. Old Major (so he was always called, +though the name under which he had been exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) +was so highly regarded on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose +an hour's sleep in order to hear what he had to say. + +At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was +already ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a +beam. He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he +was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in +spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut. Before long the +other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their +different fashions. First came the three dogs, Bluebell, Jessie, and +Pincher, and then the pigs, who settled down in the straw immediately in +front of the platform. The hens perched themselves on the window-sills, +the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters, the sheep and cows lay down +behind the pigs and began to chew the cud. The two cart-horses, Boxer and +Clover, came in together, walking very slowly and setting down their vast +hairy hoofs with great care lest there should be some small animal +concealed in the straw. Clover was a stout motherly mare approaching +middle life, who had never quite got her figure back after her fourth foal. +Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as +any two ordinary horses put together. A white stripe down his nose gave +him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact he was not of first-rate +intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of +character and tremendous powers of work. After the horses came Muriel, +the white goat, and Benjamin, the donkey. Benjamin was the oldest animal +on the farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did, it +was usually to make some cynical remark--for instance, he would say that +God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner +have had no tail and no flies. Alone among the animals on the farm he +never laughed. If asked why, he would say that he saw nothing to laugh at. +Nevertheless, without openly admitting it, he was devoted to Boxer; the +two of them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock +beyond the orchard, grazing side by side and never speaking. + +The two horses had just lain down when a brood of ducklings, which had +lost their mother, filed into the barn, cheeping feebly and wandering from +side to side to find some place where they would not be trodden on. Clover +made a sort of wall round them with her great foreleg, and the ducklings +nestled down inside it and promptly fell asleep. At the last moment +Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came +mincing daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar. She took a place near the +front and began flirting her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the +red ribbons it was plaited with. Last of all came the cat, who looked +round, as usual, for the warmest place, and finally squeezed herself in +between Boxer and Clover; there she purred contentedly throughout Major's +speech without listening to a word of what he was saying. + +All the animals were now present except Moses, the tame raven, who slept +on a perch behind the back door. When Major saw that they had all made +themselves comfortable and were waiting attentively, he cleared his throat +and began: + +"Comrades, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last +night. But I will come to the dream later. I have something else to say +first. I do not think, comrades, that I shall be with you for many months +longer, and before I die, I feel it my duty to pass on to you such wisdom +as I have acquired. I have had a long life, I have had much time for +thought as I lay alone in my stall, and I think I may say that I +understand the nature of life on this earth as well as any animal now +living. It is about this that I wish to speak to you. + +"Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: +our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given +just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us +who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; +and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are +slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning +of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is +free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth. + +"But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land +of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell +upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times no! The soil of England is +fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance +to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it. This +single farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of +sheep--and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now +almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this miserable +condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen +from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our +problems. It is summed up in a single word--Man. Man is the only real +enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and +overwork is abolished for ever. + +"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not +give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he +cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the +animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that +will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our +labour tills the soil, our dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of +us that owns more than his bare skin. You cows that I see before me, how +many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year? +And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up +sturdy calves? Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. +And you hens, how many eggs have you laid in this last year, and how many +of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market +to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you, Clover, where are those +four foals you bore, who should have been the support and pleasure of your +old age? Each was sold at a year old--you will never see one of them +again. In return for your four confinements and all your labour in the +fields, what have you ever had except your bare rations and a stall? + +"And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their +natural span. For myself I do not grumble, for I am one of the lucky ones. +I am twelve years old and have had over four hundred children. Such is the +natural life of a pig. But no animal escapes the cruel knife in the end. +You young porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will +scream your lives out at the block within a year. To that horror we all +must come--cows, pigs, hens, sheep, everyone. Even the horses and the dogs +have no better fate. You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of +yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut +your throat and boil you down for the foxhounds. As for the dogs, when +they grow old and toothless, Jones ties a brick round their necks and +drowns them in the nearest pond. + +"Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life +of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and +the produce of our labour would be our own. Almost overnight we could +become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and day, body +and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you, +comrades: Rebellion! I do not know when that Rebellion will come, it might +be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as I see this +straw beneath my feet, that sooner or later justice will be done. Fix your +eyes on that, comrades, throughout the short remainder of your lives! And +above all, pass on this message of mine to those who come after you, so +that future generations shall carry on the struggle until it is victorious. + +"And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter. No argument +must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the +animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the +prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interests of no +creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity, +perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are +comrades." + +At this moment there was a tremendous uproar. While Major was speaking +four large rats had crept out of their holes and were sitting on their +hindquarters, listening to him. The dogs had suddenly caught sight of +them, and it was only by a swift dash for their holes that the rats saved +their lives. Major raised his trotter for silence. + +"Comrades," he said, "here is a point that must be settled. The wild +creatures, such as rats and rabbits--are they our friends or our enemies? +Let us put it to the vote. I propose this question to the meeting: Are +rats comrades?" + +The vote was taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming majority +that rats were comrades. There were only four dissentients, the three dogs +and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides. +Major continued: + +"I have little more to say. I merely repeat, remember always your duty of +enmity towards Man and all his ways. Whatever goes upon two legs is an +enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. And +remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble +him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices. No animal +must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink +alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade. All the +habits of Man are evil. And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over +his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No +animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal. + +"And now, comrades, I will tell you about my dream of last night. I cannot +describe that dream to you. It was a dream of the earth as it will be when +Man has vanished. But it reminded me of something that I had long +forgotten. Many years ago, when I was a little pig, my mother and the +other sows used to sing an old song of which they knew only the tune and +the first three words. I had known that tune in my infancy, but it had +long since passed out of my mind. Last night, however, it came back to me +in my dream. And what is more, the words of the song also came back-words, +I am certain, which were sung by the animals of long ago and have been +lost to memory for generations. I will sing you that song now, comrades. +I am old and my voice is hoarse, but when I have taught you the tune, you +can sing it better for yourselves. It is called 'Beasts of England'." + +Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing. As he had said, his voice +was hoarse, but he sang well enough, and it was a stirring tune, something +between 'Clementine' and 'La Cucaracha'. The words ran: + +Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, +Beasts of every land and clime, +Hearken to my joyful tidings +Of the golden future time. + +Soon or late the day is coming, +Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown, +And the fruitful fields of England +Shall be trod by beasts alone. + +Rings shall vanish from our noses, +And the harness from our back, +Bit and spur shall rust forever, +Cruel whips no more shall crack. + +Riches more than mind can picture, +Wheat and barley, oats and hay, +Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels +Shall be ours upon that day. + +Bright will shine the fields of England, +Purer shall its waters be, +Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes +On the day that sets us free. + +For that day we all must labour, +Though we die before it break; +Cows and horses, geese and turkeys, +All must toil for freedom's sake. + +Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, +Beasts of every land and clime, +Hearken well and spread my tidings +Of the golden future time. + + +The singing of this song threw the animals into the wildest excitement. +Almost before Major had reached the end, they had begun singing it for +themselves. Even the stupidest of them had already picked up the tune and +a few of the words, and as for the clever ones, such as the pigs and dogs, +they had the entire song by heart within a few minutes. And then, after a +few preliminary tries, the whole farm burst out into 'Beasts of England' in +tremendous unison. The cows lowed it, the dogs whined it, the sheep +bleated it, the horses whinnied it, the ducks quacked it. They were so +delighted with the song that they sang it right through five times in +succession, and might have continued singing it all night if they had not +been interrupted. + +Unfortunately, the uproar awoke Mr. Jones, who sprang out of bed, making +sure that there was a fox in the yard. He seized the gun which always +stood in a corner of his bedroom, and let fly a charge of number 6 shot +into the darkness. The pellets buried themselves in the wall of the barn +and the meeting broke up hurriedly. Everyone fled to his own +sleeping-place. The birds jumped on to their perches, the animals settled +down in the straw, and the whole farm was asleep in a moment. + + + + + Chapter II + + + +Three nights later old Major died peacefully in his sleep. His body was +buried at the foot of the orchard. + +This was early in March. During the next three months there was much +secret activity. Major's speech had given to the more intelligent animals +on the farm a completely new outlook on life. They did not know when the +Rebellion predicted by Major would take place, they had no reason for +thinking that it would be within their own lifetime, but they saw clearly +that it was their duty to prepare for it. The work of teaching and +organising the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally +recognised as being the cleverest of the animals. Pre-eminent among the +pigs were two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon, whom Mr. Jones was +breeding up for sale. Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking +Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but +with a reputation for getting his own way. Snowball was a more vivacious +pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not +considered to have the same depth of character. All the other male pigs on +the farm were porkers. The best known among them was a small fat pig named +Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a +shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some +difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking +his tail which was somehow very persuasive. The others said of Squealer +that he could turn black into white. + +These three had elaborated old Major's teachings into a complete system of +thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism. Several nights a week, +after Mr. Jones was asleep, they held secret meetings in the barn and +expounded the principles of Animalism to the others. At the beginning they +met with much stupidity and apathy. Some of the animals talked of the duty +of loyalty to Mr. Jones, whom they referred to as "Master," or made +elementary remarks such as "Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we should +starve to death." Others asked such questions as "Why should we care what +happens after we are dead?" or "If this Rebellion is to happen anyway, +what difference does it make whether we work for it or not?", and the pigs +had great difficulty in making them see that this was contrary to the +spirit of Animalism. The stupidest questions of all were asked by Mollie, +the white mare. The very first question she asked Snowball was: "Will +there still be sugar after the Rebellion?" + +"No," said Snowball firmly. "We have no means of making sugar on this +farm. Besides, you do not need sugar. You will have all the oats and hay +you want." + +"And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?" asked Mollie. + +"Comrade," said Snowball, "those ribbons that you are so devoted to are +the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more +than ribbons?" + +Mollie agreed, but she did not sound very convinced. + +The pigs had an even harder struggle to counteract the lies put about by +Moses, the tame raven. Moses, who was Mr. Jones's especial pet, was a spy +and a tale-bearer, but he was also a clever talker. He claimed to know of +the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain, to which +all animals went when they died. It was situated somewhere up in the sky, +a little distance beyond the clouds, Moses said. In Sugarcandy Mountain it +was Sunday seven days a week, clover was in season all the year round, and +lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges. The animals hated Moses +because he told tales and did no work, but some of them believed in +Sugarcandy Mountain, and the pigs had to argue very hard to persuade them +that there was no such place. + +Their most faithful disciples were the two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover. +These two had great difficulty in thinking anything out for themselves, +but having once accepted the pigs as their teachers, they absorbed +everything that they were told, and passed it on to the other animals by +simple arguments. They were unfailing in their attendance at the secret +meetings in the barn, and led the singing of 'Beasts of England', with +which the meetings always ended. + +Now, as it turned out, the Rebellion was achieved much earlier and more +easily than anyone had expected. In past years Mr. Jones, although a hard +master, had been a capable farmer, but of late he had fallen on evil days. +He had become much disheartened after losing money in a lawsuit, and had +taken to drinking more than was good for him. For whole days at a time he +would lounge in his Windsor chair in the kitchen, reading the newspapers, +drinking, and occasionally feeding Moses on crusts of bread soaked in +beer. His men were idle and dishonest, the fields were full of weeds, the +buildings wanted roofing, the hedges were neglected, and the animals were +underfed. + +June came and the hay was almost ready for cutting. On Midsummer's Eve, +which was a Saturday, Mr. Jones went into Willingdon and got so drunk at +the Red Lion that he did not come back till midday on Sunday. The men had +milked the cows in the early morning and then had gone out rabbiting, +without bothering to feed the animals. When Mr. Jones got back he +immediately went to sleep on the drawing-room sofa with the News of the +World over his face, so that when evening came, the animals were still +unfed. At last they could stand it no longer. One of the cows broke in the +door of the store-shed with her horn and all the animals began to help +themselves from the bins. It was just then that Mr. Jones woke up. The +next moment he and his four men were in the store-shed with whips in their +hands, lashing out in all directions. This was more than the hungry +animals could bear. With one accord, though nothing of the kind had been +planned beforehand, they flung themselves upon their tormentors. Jones and +his men suddenly found themselves being butted and kicked from all sides. +The situation was quite out of their control. They had never seen animals +behave like this before, and this sudden uprising of creatures whom they +were used to thrashing and maltreating just as they chose, frightened them +almost out of their wits. After only a moment or two they gave up trying +to defend themselves and took to their heels. A minute later all five of +them were in full flight down the cart-track that led to the main road, +with the animals pursuing them in triumph. + +Mrs. Jones looked out of the bedroom window, saw what was happening, +hurriedly flung a few possessions into a carpet bag, and slipped out of +the farm by another way. Moses sprang off his perch and flapped after her, +croaking loudly. Meanwhile the animals had chased Jones and his men out on +to the road and slammed the five-barred gate behind them. And so, almost +before they knew what was happening, the Rebellion had been successfully +carried through: Jones was expelled, and the Manor Farm was theirs. + +For the first few minutes the animals could hardly believe in their good +fortune. Their first act was to gallop in a body right round the +boundaries of the farm, as though to make quite sure that no human being +was hiding anywhere upon it; then they raced back to the farm buildings to +wipe out the last traces of Jones's hated reign. The harness-room at the +end of the stables was broken open; the bits, the nose-rings, the +dog-chains, the cruel knives with which Mr. Jones had been used to +castrate the pigs and lambs, were all flung down the well. The reins, the +halters, the blinkers, the degrading nosebags, were thrown on to the +rubbish fire which was burning in the yard. So were the whips. All the +animals capered with joy when they saw the whips going up in flames. +Snowball also threw on to the fire the ribbons with which the horses' +manes and tails had usually been decorated on market days. + +"Ribbons," he said, "should be considered as clothes, which are the mark +of a human being. All animals should go naked." + +When Boxer heard this he fetched the small straw hat which he wore in +summer to keep the flies out of his ears, and flung it on to the fire with +the rest. + +In a very little while the animals had destroyed everything that reminded +them of Mr. Jones. Napoleon then led them back to the store-shed and +served out a double ration of corn to everybody, with two biscuits for +each dog. Then they sang 'Beasts of England' from end to end seven times +running, and after that they settled down for the night and slept as they +had never slept before. + +But they woke at dawn as usual, and suddenly remembering the glorious +thing that had happened, they all raced out into the pasture together. A +little way down the pasture there was a knoll that commanded a view of +most of the farm. The animals rushed to the top of it and gazed round them +in the clear morning light. Yes, it was theirs--everything that they could +see was theirs! In the ecstasy of that thought they gambolled round and +round, they hurled themselves into the air in great leaps of excitement. +They rolled in the dew, they cropped mouthfuls of the sweet summer grass, +they kicked up clods of the black earth and snuffed its rich scent. Then +they made a tour of inspection of the whole farm and surveyed with +speechless admiration the ploughland, the hayfield, the orchard, the pool, +the spinney. It was as though they had never seen these things before, and +even now they could hardly believe that it was all their own. + +Then they filed back to the farm buildings and halted in silence outside +the door of the farmhouse. That was theirs too, but they were frightened +to go inside. After a moment, however, Snowball and Napoleon butted the +door open with their shoulders and the animals entered in single file, +walking with the utmost care for fear of disturbing anything. They tiptoed +from room to room, afraid to speak above a whisper and gazing with a kind +of awe at the unbelievable luxury, at the beds with their feather +mattresses, the looking-glasses, the horsehair sofa, the Brussels carpet, +the lithograph of Queen Victoria over the drawing-room mantelpiece. They +were just coming down the stairs when Mollie was discovered to be missing. +Going back, the others found that she had remained behind in the best +bedroom. She had taken a piece of blue ribbon from Mrs. Jones's +dressing-table, and was holding it against her shoulder and admiring +herself in the glass in a very foolish manner. The others reproached her +sharply, and they went outside. Some hams hanging in the kitchen were +taken out for burial, and the barrel of beer in the scullery was stove in +with a kick from Boxer's hoof, otherwise nothing in the house was touched. +A unanimous resolution was passed on the spot that the farmhouse should be +preserved as a museum. All were agreed that no animal must ever live there. + +The animals had their breakfast, and then Snowball and Napoleon called +them together again. + +"Comrades," said Snowball, "it is half-past six and we have a long day +before us. Today we begin the hay harvest. But there is another matter +that must be attended to first." + +The pigs now revealed that during the past three months they had taught +themselves to read and write from an old spelling book which had belonged +to Mr. Jones's children and which had been thrown on the rubbish heap. +Napoleon sent for pots of black and white paint and led the way down to +the five-barred gate that gave on to the main road. Then Snowball (for it +was Snowball who was best at writing) took a brush between the two +knuckles of his trotter, painted out MANOR FARM from the top bar of the +gate and in its place painted ANIMAL FARM. This was to be the name of the +farm from now onwards. After this they went back to the farm buildings, +where Snowball and Napoleon sent for a ladder which they caused to be set +against the end wall of the big barn. They explained that by their studies +of the past three months the pigs had succeeded in reducing the principles +of Animalism to Seven Commandments. These Seven Commandments would now be +inscribed on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all the +animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after. With some difficulty +(for it is not easy for a pig to balance himself on a ladder) Snowball +climbed up and set to work, with Squealer a few rungs below him holding +the paint-pot. The Commandments were written on the tarred wall in great +white letters that could be read thirty yards away. They ran thus: + + +THE SEVEN COMMANDMENTS + +1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. +2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. +3. No animal shall wear clothes. +4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. +5. No animal shall drink alcohol. +6. No animal shall kill any other animal. +7. All animals are equal. + + +It was very neatly written, and except that "friend" was written "freind" +and one of the "S's" was the wrong way round, the spelling was correct all +the way through. Snowball read it aloud for the benefit of the others. All +the animals nodded in complete agreement, and the cleverer ones at once +began to learn the Commandments by heart. + +"Now, comrades," cried Snowball, throwing down the paint-brush, "to the +hayfield! Let us make it a point of honour to get in the harvest more +quickly than Jones and his men could do." + +But at this moment the three cows, who had seemed uneasy for some time +past, set up a loud lowing. They had not been milked for twenty-four +hours, and their udders were almost bursting. After a little thought, the +pigs sent for buckets and milked the cows fairly successfully, their +trotters being well adapted to this task. Soon there were five buckets of +frothing creamy milk at which many of the animals looked with considerable +interest. + +"What is going to happen to all that milk?" said someone. + +"Jones used sometimes to mix some of it in our mash," said one of the hens. + +"Never mind the milk, comrades!" cried Napoleon, placing himself in front +of the buckets. "That will be attended to. The harvest is more important. +Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. +Forward, comrades! The hay is waiting." + +So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when +they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared. + + + + + Chapter III + + + +How they toiled and sweated to get the hay in! But their efforts were +rewarded, for the harvest was an even bigger success than they had hoped. + +Sometimes the work was hard; the implements had been designed for human +beings and not for animals, and it was a great drawback that no animal was +able to use any tool that involved standing on his hind legs. But the pigs +were so clever that they could think of a way round every difficulty. As +for the horses, they knew every inch of the field, and in fact understood +the business of mowing and raking far better than Jones and his men had +ever done. The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the +others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should +assume the leadership. Boxer and Clover would harness themselves to the +cutter or the horse-rake (no bits or reins were needed in these days, of +course) and tramp steadily round and round the field with a pig walking +behind and calling out "Gee up, comrade!" or "Whoa back, comrade!" as the +case might be. And every animal down to the humblest worked at turning the +hay and gathering it. Even the ducks and hens toiled to and fro all day in +the sun, carrying tiny wisps of hay in their beaks. In the end they +finished the harvest in two days' less time than it had usually taken +Jones and his men. Moreover, it was the biggest harvest that the farm had +ever seen. There was no wastage whatever; the hens and ducks with their +sharp eyes had gathered up the very last stalk. And not an animal on the +farm had stolen so much as a mouthful. + +All through that summer the work of the farm went like clockwork. The +animals were happy as they had never conceived it possible to be. Every +mouthful of food was an acute positive pleasure, now that it was truly +their own food, produced by themselves and for themselves, not doled out +to them by a grudging master. With the worthless parasitical human beings +gone, there was more for everyone to eat. There was more leisure too, +inexperienced though the animals were. They met with many difficulties--for +instance, later in the year, when they harvested the corn, they had to +tread it out in the ancient style and blow away the chaff with their +breath, since the farm possessed no threshing machine--but the pigs with +their cleverness and Boxer with his tremendous muscles always pulled them +through. Boxer was the admiration of everybody. He had been a hard worker +even in Jones's time, but now he seemed more like three horses than one; +there were days when the entire work of the farm seemed to rest on his +mighty shoulders. From morning to night he was pushing and pulling, always +at the spot where the work was hardest. He had made an arrangement with +one of the cockerels to call him in the mornings half an hour earlier than +anyone else, and would put in some volunteer labour at whatever seemed to +be most needed, before the regular day's work began. His answer to every +problem, every setback, was "I will work harder!"--which he had adopted as +his personal motto. + +But everyone worked according to his capacity. The hens and ducks, for +instance, saved five bushels of corn at the harvest by gathering up the +stray grains. Nobody stole, nobody grumbled over his rations, the +quarrelling and biting and jealousy which had been normal features of life +in the old days had almost disappeared. Nobody shirked--or almost nobody. +Mollie, it was true, was not good at getting up in the mornings, and had a +way of leaving work early on the ground that there was a stone in her +hoof. And the behaviour of the cat was somewhat peculiar. It was soon +noticed that when there was work to be done the cat could never be found. +She would vanish for hours on end, and then reappear at meal-times, or in +the evening after work was over, as though nothing had happened. But she +always made such excellent excuses, and purred so affectionately, that it +was impossible not to believe in her good intentions. Old Benjamin, the +donkey, seemed quite unchanged since the Rebellion. He did his work in the +same slow obstinate way as he had done it in Jones's time, never shirking +and never volunteering for extra work either. About the Rebellion and its +results he would express no opinion. When asked whether he was not happier +now that Jones was gone, he would say only "Donkeys live a long time. None +of you has ever seen a dead donkey," and the others had to be content with +this cryptic answer. + +On Sundays there was no work. Breakfast was an hour later than usual, and +after breakfast there was a ceremony which was observed every week without +fail. First came the hoisting of the flag. Snowball had found in the +harness-room an old green tablecloth of Mrs. Jones's and had painted on it +a hoof and a horn in white. This was run up the flagstaff in the farmhouse +garden every Sunday morning. The flag was green, Snowball explained, to +represent the green fields of England, while the hoof and horn signified +the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race +had been finally overthrown. After the hoisting of the flag all the +animals trooped into the big barn for a general assembly which was known +as the Meeting. Here the work of the coming week was planned out and +resolutions were put forward and debated. It was always the pigs who put +forward the resolutions. The other animals understood how to vote, but +could never think of any resolutions of their own. Snowball and Napoleon +were by far the most active in the debates. But it was noticed that these +two were never in agreement: whatever suggestion either of them made, the +other could be counted on to oppose it. Even when it was resolved--a thing +no one could object to in itself--to set aside the small paddock behind +the orchard as a home of rest for animals who were past work, there was a +stormy debate over the correct retiring age for each class of animal. The +Meeting always ended with the singing of 'Beasts of England', and the +afternoon was given up to recreation. + +The pigs had set aside the harness-room as a headquarters for themselves. +Here, in the evenings, they studied blacksmithing, carpentering, and other +necessary arts from books which they had brought out of the farmhouse. +Snowball also busied himself with organising the other animals into what +he called Animal Committees. He was indefatigable at this. He formed the +Egg Production Committee for the hens, the Clean Tails League for the +cows, the Wild Comrades' Re-education Committee (the object of this was to +tame the rats and rabbits), the Whiter Wool Movement for the sheep, and +various others, besides instituting classes in reading and writing. On the +whole, these projects were a failure. The attempt to tame the wild +creatures, for instance, broke down almost immediately. They continued to +behave very much as before, and when treated with generosity, simply took +advantage of it. The cat joined the Re-education Committee and was very +active in it for some days. She was seen one day sitting on a roof and +talking to some sparrows who were just out of her reach. She was telling +them that all animals were now comrades and that any sparrow who chose +could come and perch on her paw; but the sparrows kept their distance. + +The reading and writing classes, however, were a great success. By the +autumn almost every animal on the farm was literate in some degree. + +As for the pigs, they could already read and write perfectly. The dogs +learned to read fairly well, but were not interested in reading anything +except the Seven Commandments. Muriel, the goat, could read somewhat +better than the dogs, and sometimes used to read to the others in the +evenings from scraps of newspaper which she found on the rubbish heap. +Benjamin could read as well as any pig, but never exercised his faculty. +So far as he knew, he said, there was nothing worth reading. Clover learnt +the whole alphabet, but could not put words together. Boxer could not get +beyond the letter D. He would trace out A, B, C, D, in the dust with his +great hoof, and then would stand staring at the letters with his ears +back, sometimes shaking his forelock, trying with all his might to +remember what came next and never succeeding. On several occasions, +indeed, he did learn E, F, G, H, but by the time he knew them, it was +always discovered that he had forgotten A, B, C, and D. Finally he decided +to be content with the first four letters, and used to write them out once +or twice every day to refresh his memory. Mollie refused to learn any but +the six letters which spelt her own name. She would form these very neatly +out of pieces of twig, and would then decorate them with a flower or two +and walk round them admiring them. + +None of the other animals on the farm could get further than the letter A. +It was also found that the stupider animals, such as the sheep, hens, and +ducks, were unable to learn the Seven Commandments by heart. After much +thought Snowball declared that the Seven Commandments could in effect be +reduced to a single maxim, namely: "Four legs good, two legs bad." This, +he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism. Whoever had +thoroughly grasped it would be safe from human influences. The birds at +first objected, since it seemed to them that they also had two legs, but +Snowball proved to them that this was not so. + +"A bird's wing, comrades," he said, "is an organ of propulsion and not of +manipulation. It should therefore be regarded as a leg. The distinguishing +mark of man is the HAND, the instrument with which he does all his +mischief." + +The birds did not understand Snowball's long words, but they accepted his +explanation, and all the humbler animals set to work to learn the new +maxim by heart. FOUR LEGS GOOD, TWO LEGS BAD, was inscribed on the end +wall of the barn, above the Seven Commandments and in bigger letters. When +they had once got it by heart, the sheep developed a great liking for this +maxim, and often as they lay in the field they would all start bleating +"Four legs good, two legs bad! Four legs good, two legs bad!" and keep it +up for hours on end, never growing tired of it. + +Napoleon took no interest in Snowball's committees. He said that the +education of the young was more important than anything that could be done +for those who were already grown up. It happened that Jessie and Bluebell +had both whelped soon after the hay harvest, giving birth between them to +nine sturdy puppies. As soon as they were weaned, Napoleon took them away +from their mothers, saying that he would make himself responsible for +their education. He took them up into a loft which could only be reached +by a ladder from the harness-room, and there kept them in such seclusion +that the rest of the farm soon forgot their existence. + +The mystery of where the milk went to was soon cleared up. It was mixed +every day into the pigs' mash. The early apples were now ripening, and the +grass of the orchard was littered with windfalls. The animals had assumed +as a matter of course that these would be shared out equally; one day, +however, the order went forth that all the windfalls were to be collected +and brought to the harness-room for the use of the pigs. At this some of +the other animals murmured, but it was no use. All the pigs were in full +agreement on this point, even Snowball and Napoleon. Squealer was sent to +make the necessary explanations to the others. + +"Comrades!" he cried. "You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing +this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike +milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these +things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by +Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the +well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and +organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over +your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those +apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones +would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades," cried +Squealer almost pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his +tail, "surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?" + +Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it +was that they did not want Jones back. When it was put to them in this +light, they had no more to say. The importance of keeping the pigs in good +health was all too obvious. So it was agreed without further argument that +the milk and the windfall apples (and also the main crop of apples when +they ripened) should be reserved for the pigs alone. + + + + + Chapter IV + + + +By the late summer the news of what had happened on Animal Farm had spread +across half the county. Every day Snowball and Napoleon sent out flights +of pigeons whose instructions were to mingle with the animals on +neighbouring farms, tell them the story of the Rebellion, and teach them +the tune of 'Beasts of England'. + +Most of this time Mr. Jones had spent sitting in the taproom of the Red +Lion at Willingdon, complaining to anyone who would listen of the +monstrous injustice he had suffered in being turned out of his property by +a pack of good-for-nothing animals. The other farmers sympathised in +principle, but they did not at first give him much help. At heart, each of +them was secretly wondering whether he could not somehow turn Jones's +misfortune to his own advantage. It was lucky that the owners of the two +farms which adjoined Animal Farm were on permanently bad terms. One of +them, which was named Foxwood, was a large, neglected, old-fashioned farm, +much overgrown by woodland, with all its pastures worn out and its hedges +in a disgraceful condition. Its owner, Mr. Pilkington, was an easy-going +gentleman farmer who spent most of his time in fishing or hunting +according to the season. The other farm, which was called Pinchfield, was +smaller and better kept. Its owner was a Mr. Frederick, a tough, shrewd +man, perpetually involved in lawsuits and with a name for driving hard +bargains. These two disliked each other so much that it was difficult for +them to come to any agreement, even in defence of their own interests. + +Nevertheless, they were both thoroughly frightened by the rebellion on +Animal Farm, and very anxious to prevent their own animals from learning +too much about it. At first they pretended to laugh to scorn the idea of +animals managing a farm for themselves. The whole thing would be over in a +fortnight, they said. They put it about that the animals on the Manor Farm +(they insisted on calling it the Manor Farm; they would not tolerate the +name "Animal Farm") were perpetually fighting among themselves and were +also rapidly starving to death. When time passed and the animals had +evidently not starved to death, Frederick and Pilkington changed their +tune and began to talk of the terrible wickedness that now flourished on +Animal Farm. It was given out that the animals there practised cannibalism, +tortured one another with red-hot horseshoes, and had their females in +common. This was what came of rebelling against the laws of Nature, +Frederick and Pilkington said. + +However, these stories were never fully believed. Rumours of a wonderful +farm, where the human beings had been turned out and the animals managed +their own affairs, continued to circulate in vague and distorted forms, +and throughout that year a wave of rebelliousness ran through the +countryside. Bulls which had always been tractable suddenly turned savage, +sheep broke down hedges and devoured the clover, cows kicked the pail +over, hunters refused their fences and shot their riders on to the other +side. Above all, the tune and even the words of 'Beasts of England' were +known everywhere. It had spread with astonishing speed. The human beings +could not contain their rage when they heard this song, though they +pretended to think it merely ridiculous. They could not understand, they +said, how even animals could bring themselves to sing such contemptible +rubbish. Any animal caught singing it was given a flogging on the spot. +And yet the song was irrepressible. The blackbirds whistled it in the +hedges, the pigeons cooed it in the elms, it got into the din of the +smithies and the tune of the church bells. And when the human beings +listened to it, they secretly trembled, hearing in it a prophecy of their +future doom. + +Early in October, when the corn was cut and stacked and some of it was +already threshed, a flight of pigeons came whirling through the air and +alighted in the yard of Animal Farm in the wildest excitement. Jones and +all his men, with half a dozen others from Foxwood and Pinchfield, had +entered the five-barred gate and were coming up the cart-track that led to +the farm. They were all carrying sticks, except Jones, who was marching +ahead with a gun in his hands. Obviously they were going to attempt the +recapture of the farm. + +This had long been expected, and all preparations had been made. Snowball, +who had studied an old book of Julius Caesar's campaigns which he had +found in the farmhouse, was in charge of the defensive operations. He gave +his orders quickly, and in a couple of minutes every animal was at his +post. + +As the human beings approached the farm buildings, Snowball launched his +first attack. All the pigeons, to the number of thirty-five, flew to and +fro over the men's heads and muted upon them from mid-air; and while the +men were dealing with this, the geese, who had been hiding behind the +hedge, rushed out and pecked viciously at the calves of their legs. +However, this was only a light skirmishing manoeuvre, intended to create a +little disorder, and the men easily drove the geese off with their sticks. +Snowball now launched his second line of attack. Muriel, Benjamin, and all +the sheep, with Snowball at the head of them, rushed forward and prodded +and butted the men from every side, while Benjamin turned around and +lashed at them with his small hoofs. But once again the men, with their +sticks and their hobnailed boots, were too strong for them; and suddenly, +at a squeal from Snowball, which was the signal for retreat, all the +animals turned and fled through the gateway into the yard. + +The men gave a shout of triumph. They saw, as they imagined, their enemies +in flight, and they rushed after them in disorder. This was just what +Snowball had intended. As soon as they were well inside the yard, the +three horses, the three cows, and the rest of the pigs, who had been lying +in ambush in the cowshed, suddenly emerged in their rear, cutting them +off. Snowball now gave the signal for the charge. He himself dashed +straight for Jones. Jones saw him coming, raised his gun and fired. The +pellets scored bloody streaks along Snowball's back, and a sheep dropped +dead. Without halting for an instant, Snowball flung his fifteen stone +against Jones's legs. Jones was hurled into a pile of dung and his gun +flew out of his hands. But the most terrifying spectacle of all was Boxer, +rearing up on his hind legs and striking out with his great iron-shod +hoofs like a stallion. His very first blow took a stable-lad from Foxwood +on the skull and stretched him lifeless in the mud. At the sight, several +men dropped their sticks and tried to run. Panic overtook them, and the +next moment all the animals together were chasing them round and round the +yard. They were gored, kicked, bitten, trampled on. There was not an +animal on the farm that did not take vengeance on them after his own +fashion. Even the cat suddenly leapt off a roof onto a cowman's shoulders +and sank her claws in his neck, at which he yelled horribly. At a moment +when the opening was clear, the men were glad enough to rush out of the +yard and make a bolt for the main road. And so within five minutes of +their invasion they were in ignominious retreat by the same way as they +had come, with a flock of geese hissing after them and pecking at their +calves all the way. + +All the men were gone except one. Back in the yard Boxer was pawing with +his hoof at the stable-lad who lay face down in the mud, trying to turn +him over. The boy did not stir. + +"He is dead," said Boxer sorrowfully. "I had no intention of doing that. +I forgot that I was wearing iron shoes. Who will believe that I did not do +this on purpose?" + +"No sentimentality, comrade!" cried Snowball from whose wounds the blood +was still dripping. "War is war. The only good human being is a dead one." + +"I have no wish to take life, not even human life," repeated Boxer, and +his eyes were full of tears. + +"Where is Mollie?" exclaimed somebody. + +Mollie in fact was missing. For a moment there was great alarm; it was +feared that the men might have harmed her in some way, or even carried her +off with them. In the end, however, she was found hiding in her stall with +her head buried among the hay in the manger. She had taken to flight as +soon as the gun went off. And when the others came back from looking for +her, it was to find that the stable-lad, who in fact was only stunned, had +already recovered and made off. + +The animals had now reassembled in the wildest excitement, each recounting +his own exploits in the battle at the top of his voice. An impromptu +celebration of the victory was held immediately. The flag was run up and +'Beasts of England' was sung a number of times, then the sheep who had been +killed was given a solemn funeral, a hawthorn bush being planted on her +grave. At the graveside Snowball made a little speech, emphasising the +need for all animals to be ready to die for Animal Farm if need be. + +The animals decided unanimously to create a military decoration, "Animal +Hero, First Class," which was conferred there and then on Snowball and +Boxer. It consisted of a brass medal (they were really some old +horse-brasses which had been found in the harness-room), to be worn on +Sundays and holidays. There was also "Animal Hero, Second Class," which +was conferred posthumously on the dead sheep. + +There was much discussion as to what the battle should be called. In the +end, it was named the Battle of the Cowshed, since that was where the +ambush had been sprung. Mr. Jones's gun had been found lying in the mud, +and it was known that there was a supply of cartridges in the farmhouse. +It was decided to set the gun up at the foot of the Flagstaff, like a +piece of artillery, and to fire it twice a year--once on October the +twelfth, the anniversary of the Battle of the Cowshed, and once on +Midsummer Day, the anniversary of the Rebellion. + + + + + Chapter V + + + +As winter drew on, Mollie became more and more troublesome. She was late +for work every morning and excused herself by saying that she had +overslept, and she complained of mysterious pains, although her appetite +was excellent. On every kind of pretext she would run away from work and +go to the drinking pool, where she would stand foolishly gazing at her own +reflection in the water. But there were also rumours of something more +serious. One day, as Mollie strolled blithely into the yard, flirting her +long tail and chewing at a stalk of hay, Clover took her aside. + +"Mollie," she said, "I have something very serious to say to you. This +morning I saw you looking over the hedge that divides Animal Farm from +Foxwood. One of Mr. Pilkington's men was standing on the other side of the +hedge. And--I was a long way away, but I am almost certain I saw this--he +was talking to you and you were allowing him to stroke your nose. What +does that mean, Mollie?" + +"He didn't! I wasn't! It isn't true!" cried Mollie, beginning to prance +about and paw the ground. + +"Mollie! Look me in the face. Do you give me your word of honour that that +man was not stroking your nose?" + +"It isn't true!" repeated Mollie, but she could not look Clover in the +face, and the next moment she took to her heels and galloped away into the +field. + +A thought struck Clover. Without saying anything to the others, she went +to Mollie's stall and turned over the straw with her hoof. Hidden under +the straw was a little pile of lump sugar and several bunches of ribbon of +different colours. + +Three days later Mollie disappeared. For some weeks nothing was known of +her whereabouts, then the pigeons reported that they had seen her on the +other side of Willingdon. She was between the shafts of a smart dogcart +painted red and black, which was standing outside a public-house. A fat +red-faced man in check breeches and gaiters, who looked like a publican, +was stroking her nose and feeding her with sugar. Her coat was newly +clipped and she wore a scarlet ribbon round her forelock. She appeared to +be enjoying herself, so the pigeons said. None of the animals ever +mentioned Mollie again. + +In January there came bitterly hard weather. The earth was like iron, and +nothing could be done in the fields. Many meetings were held in the big +barn, and the pigs occupied themselves with planning out the work of the +coming season. It had come to be accepted that the pigs, who were +manifestly cleverer than the other animals, should decide all questions of +farm policy, though their decisions had to be ratified by a majority vote. +This arrangement would have worked well enough if it had not been for the +disputes between Snowball and Napoleon. These two disagreed at every point +where disagreement was possible. If one of them suggested sowing a bigger +acreage with barley, the other was certain to demand a bigger acreage of +oats, and if one of them said that such and such a field was just right +for cabbages, the other would declare that it was useless for anything +except roots. Each had his own following, and there were some violent +debates. At the Meetings Snowball often won over the majority by his +brilliant speeches, but Napoleon was better at canvassing support for +himself in between times. He was especially successful with the sheep. Of +late the sheep had taken to bleating "Four legs good, two legs bad" both +in and out of season, and they often interrupted the Meeting with this. It +was noticed that they were especially liable to break into "Four legs +good, two legs bad" at crucial moments in Snowball's speeches. Snowball +had made a close study of some back numbers of the 'Farmer and +Stockbreeder' which he had found in the farmhouse, and was full of plans +for innovations and improvements. He talked learnedly about field drains, +silage, and basic slag, and had worked out a complicated scheme for all +the animals to drop their dung directly in the fields, at a different spot +every day, to save the labour of cartage. Napoleon produced no schemes of +his own, but said quietly that Snowball's would come to nothing, and +seemed to be biding his time. But of all their controversies, none was so +bitter as the one that took place over the windmill. + +In the long pasture, not far from the farm buildings, there was a small +knoll which was the highest point on the farm. After surveying the ground, +Snowball declared that this was just the place for a windmill, which could +be made to operate a dynamo and supply the farm with electrical power. +This would light the stalls and warm them in winter, and would also run a +circular saw, a chaff-cutter, a mangel-slicer, and an electric milking +machine. The animals had never heard of anything of this kind before +(for the farm was an old-fashioned one and had only the most primitive +machinery), and they listened in astonishment while Snowball conjured up +pictures of fantastic machines which would do their work for them while +they grazed at their ease in the fields or improved their minds with +reading and conversation. + +Within a few weeks Snowball's plans for the windmill were fully worked +out. The mechanical details came mostly from three books which had +belonged to Mr. Jones--'One Thousand Useful Things to Do About the House', +'Every Man His Own Bricklayer', and 'Electricity for Beginners'. Snowball +used as his study a shed which had once been used for incubators and had a +smooth wooden floor, suitable for drawing on. He was closeted there for +hours at a time. With his books held open by a stone, and with a piece of +chalk gripped between the knuckles of his trotter, he would move rapidly +to and fro, drawing in line after line and uttering little whimpers of +excitement. Gradually the plans grew into a complicated mass of cranks and +cog-wheels, covering more than half the floor, which the other animals +found completely unintelligible but very impressive. All of them came to +look at Snowball's drawings at least once a day. Even the hens and ducks +came, and were at pains not to tread on the chalk marks. Only Napoleon +held aloof. He had declared himself against the windmill from the start. +One day, however, he arrived unexpectedly to examine the plans. He walked +heavily round the shed, looked closely at every detail of the plans and +snuffed at them once or twice, then stood for a little while contemplating +them out of the corner of his eye; then suddenly he lifted his leg, +urinated over the plans, and walked out without uttering a word. + +The whole farm was deeply divided on the subject of the windmill. Snowball +did not deny that to build it would be a difficult business. Stone would +have to be carried and built up into walls, then the sails would have to +be made and after that there would be need for dynamos and cables. (How +these were to be procured, Snowball did not say.) But he maintained that +it could all be done in a year. And thereafter, he declared, so much +labour would be saved that the animals would only need to work three days +a week. Napoleon, on the other hand, argued that the great need of the +moment was to increase food production, and that if they wasted time on +the windmill they would all starve to death. The animals formed themselves +into two factions under the slogan, "Vote for Snowball and the three-day +week" and "Vote for Napoleon and the full manger." Benjamin was the only +animal who did not side with either faction. He refused to believe either +that food would become more plentiful or that the windmill would save +work. Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always +gone on--that is, badly. + +Apart from the disputes over the windmill, there was the question of the +defence of the farm. It was fully realised that though the human beings +had been defeated in the Battle of the Cowshed they might make another and +more determined attempt to recapture the farm and reinstate Mr. Jones. +They had all the more reason for doing so because the news of their defeat +had spread across the countryside and made the animals on the neighbouring +farms more restive than ever. As usual, Snowball and Napoleon were in +disagreement. According to Napoleon, what the animals must do was to +procure firearms and train themselves in the use of them. According to +Snowball, they must send out more and more pigeons and stir up rebellion +among the animals on the other farms. The one argued that if they could +not defend themselves they were bound to be conquered, the other argued +that if rebellions happened everywhere they would have no need to defend +themselves. The animals listened first to Napoleon, then to Snowball, and +could not make up their minds which was right; indeed, they always found +themselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at the moment. + +At last the day came when Snowball's plans were completed. At the Meeting +on the following Sunday the question of whether or not to begin work on +the windmill was to be put to the vote. When the animals had assembled in +the big barn, Snowball stood up and, though occasionally interrupted by +bleating from the sheep, set forth his reasons for advocating the building +of the windmill. Then Napoleon stood up to reply. He said very quietly +that the windmill was nonsense and that he advised nobody to vote for it, +and promptly sat down again; he had spoken for barely thirty seconds, and +seemed almost indifferent as to the effect he produced. At this Snowball +sprang to his feet, and shouting down the sheep, who had begun bleating +again, broke into a passionate appeal in favour of the windmill. Until now +the animals had been about equally divided in their sympathies, but in a +moment Snowball's eloquence had carried them away. In glowing sentences he +painted a picture of Animal Farm as it might be when sordid labour was +lifted from the animals' backs. His imagination had now run far beyond +chaff-cutters and turnip-slicers. Electricity, he said, could operate +threshing machines, ploughs, harrows, rollers, and reapers and binders, +besides supplying every stall with its own electric light, hot and cold +water, and an electric heater. By the time he had finished speaking, there +was no doubt as to which way the vote would go. But just at this moment +Napoleon stood up and, casting a peculiar sidelong look at Snowball, +uttered a high-pitched whimper of a kind no one had ever heard him utter +before. + +At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs +wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed +straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to +escape their snapping jaws. In a moment he was out of the door and they +were after him. Too amazed and frightened to speak, all the animals +crowded through the door to watch the chase. Snowball was racing across +the long pasture that led to the road. He was running as only a pig can +run, but the dogs were close on his heels. Suddenly he slipped and it +seemed certain that they had him. Then he was up again, running faster +than ever, then the dogs were gaining on him again. One of them all but +closed his jaws on Snowball's tail, but Snowball whisked it free just in +time. Then he put on an extra spurt and, with a few inches to spare, +slipped through a hole in the hedge and was seen no more. + +Silent and terrified, the animals crept back into the barn. In a moment +the dogs came bounding back. At first no one had been able to imagine +where these creatures came from, but the problem was soon solved: they +were the puppies whom Napoleon had taken away from their mothers and +reared privately. Though not yet full-grown, they were huge dogs, and as +fierce-looking as wolves. They kept close to Napoleon. It was noticed that +they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been +used to do to Mr. Jones. + +Napoleon, with the dogs following him, now mounted on to the raised +portion of the floor where Major had previously stood to deliver his +speech. He announced that from now on the Sunday-morning Meetings would +come to an end. They were unnecessary, he said, and wasted time. In future +all questions relating to the working of the farm would be settled by a +special committee of pigs, presided over by himself. These would meet in +private and afterwards communicate their decisions to the others. The +animals would still assemble on Sunday mornings to salute the flag, sing +'Beasts of England', and receive their orders for the week; but there would +be no more debates. + +In spite of the shock that Snowball's expulsion had given them, the +animals were dismayed by this announcement. Several of them would have +protested if they could have found the right arguments. Even Boxer was +vaguely troubled. He set his ears back, shook his forelock several times, +and tried hard to marshal his thoughts; but in the end he could not think +of anything to say. Some of the pigs themselves, however, were more +articulate. Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of +disapproval, and all four of them sprang to their feet and began speaking +at once. But suddenly the dogs sitting round Napoleon let out deep, +menacing growls, and the pigs fell silent and sat down again. Then the +sheep broke out into a tremendous bleating of "Four legs good, two legs +bad!" which went on for nearly a quarter of an hour and put an end to any +chance of discussion. + +Afterwards Squealer was sent round the farm to explain the new arrangement +to the others. + +"Comrades," he said, "I trust that every animal here appreciates the +sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made in taking this extra labour upon +himself. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the +contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more +firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only +too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you +might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be? +Suppose you had decided to follow Snowball, with his moonshine of +windmills--Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal?" + +"He fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed," said somebody. + +"Bravery is not enough," said Squealer. "Loyalty and obedience are more +important. And as to the Battle of the Cowshed, I believe the time will +come when we shall find that Snowball's part in it was much exaggerated. +Discipline, comrades, iron discipline! That is the watchword for today. +One false step, and our enemies would be upon us. Surely, comrades, you do +not want Jones back?" + +Once again this argument was unanswerable. Certainly the animals did not +want Jones back; if the holding of debates on Sunday mornings was liable +to bring him back, then the debates must stop. Boxer, who had now had time +to think things over, voiced the general feeling by saying: "If Comrade +Napoleon says it, it must be right." And from then on he adopted the +maxim, "Napoleon is always right," in addition to his private motto of "I +will work harder." + +By this time the weather had broken and the spring ploughing had begun. +The shed where Snowball had drawn his plans of the windmill had been shut +up and it was assumed that the plans had been rubbed off the floor. Every +Sunday morning at ten o'clock the animals assembled in the big barn to +receive their orders for the week. The skull of old Major, now clean of +flesh, had been disinterred from the orchard and set up on a stump at the +foot of the flagstaff, beside the gun. After the hoisting of the flag, the +animals were required to file past the skull in a reverent manner before +entering the barn. Nowadays they did not sit all together as they had done +in the past. Napoleon, with Squealer and another pig named Minimus, who +had a remarkable gift for composing songs and poems, sat on the front of +the raised platform, with the nine young dogs forming a semicircle round +them, and the other pigs sitting behind. The rest of the animals sat +facing them in the main body of the barn. Napoleon read out the orders for +the week in a gruff soldierly style, and after a single singing of 'Beasts +of England', all the animals dispersed. + +On the third Sunday after Snowball's expulsion, the animals were somewhat +surprised to hear Napoleon announce that the windmill was to be built +after all. He did not give any reason for having changed his mind, but +merely warned the animals that this extra task would mean very hard work, +it might even be necessary to reduce their rations. The plans, however, +had all been prepared, down to the last detail. A special committee of +pigs had been at work upon them for the past three weeks. The building of +the windmill, with various other improvements, was expected to take two +years. + +That evening Squealer explained privately to the other animals that +Napoleon had never in reality been opposed to the windmill. On the +contrary, it was he who had advocated it in the beginning, and the plan +which Snowball had drawn on the floor of the incubator shed had actually +been stolen from among Napoleon's papers. The windmill was, in fact, +Napoleon's own creation. Why, then, asked somebody, had he spoken so +strongly against it? Here Squealer looked very sly. That, he said, was +Comrade Napoleon's cunning. He had SEEMED to oppose the windmill, simply +as a manoeuvre to get rid of Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a +bad influence. Now that Snowball was out of the way, the plan could go +forward without his interference. This, said Squealer, was something +called tactics. He repeated a number of times, "Tactics, comrades, +tactics!" skipping round and whisking his tail with a merry laugh. The +animals were not certain what the word meant, but Squealer spoke so +persuasively, and the three dogs who happened to be with him growled so +threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further +questions. + + + + + Chapter VI + + + +All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their +work; they grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that +they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who +would come after them, and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings. + +Throughout the spring and summer they worked a sixty-hour week, and in +August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons +as well. This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented +himself from it would have his rations reduced by half. Even so, it was +found necessary to leave certain tasks undone. The harvest was a little +less successful than in the previous year, and two fields which should +have been sown with roots in the early summer were not sown because the +ploughing had not been completed early enough. It was possible to foresee +that the coming winter would be a hard one. + +The windmill presented unexpected difficulties. There was a good quarry of +limestone on the farm, and plenty of sand and cement had been found in one +of the outhouses, so that all the materials for building were at hand. But +the problem the animals could not at first solve was how to break up the +stone into pieces of suitable size. There seemed no way of doing this +except with picks and crowbars, which no animal could use, because no +animal could stand on his hind legs. Only after weeks of vain effort did +the right idea occur to somebody-namely, to utilise the force of gravity. +Huge boulders, far too big to be used as they were, were lying all over +the bed of the quarry. The animals lashed ropes round these, and then all +together, cows, horses, sheep, any animal that could lay hold of the +rope--even the pigs sometimes joined in at critical moments--they dragged +them with desperate slowness up the slope to the top of the quarry, where +they were toppled over the edge, to shatter to pieces below. Transporting +the stone when it was once broken was comparatively simple. The horses +carried it off in cart-loads, the sheep dragged single blocks, even Muriel +and Benjamin yoked themselves into an old governess-cart and did their +share. By late summer a sufficient store of stone had accumulated, and +then the building began, under the superintendence of the pigs. + +But it was a slow, laborious process. Frequently it took a whole day of +exhausting effort to drag a single boulder to the top of the quarry, and +sometimes when it was pushed over the edge it failed to break. Nothing +could have been achieved without Boxer, whose strength seemed equal to +that of all the rest of the animals put together. When the boulder began +to slip and the animals cried out in despair at finding themselves dragged +down the hill, it was always Boxer who strained himself against the rope +and brought the boulder to a stop. To see him toiling up the slope inch by +inch, his breath coming fast, the tips of his hoofs clawing at the ground, +and his great sides matted with sweat, filled everyone with admiration. +Clover warned him sometimes to be careful not to overstrain himself, but +Boxer would never listen to her. His two slogans, "I will work harder" +and "Napoleon is always right," seemed to him a sufficient answer to all +problems. He had made arrangements with the cockerel to call him +three-quarters of an hour earlier in the mornings instead of half an hour. +And in his spare moments, of which there were not many nowadays, he would +go alone to the quarry, collect a load of broken stone, and drag it down +to the site of the windmill unassisted. + +The animals were not badly off throughout that summer, in spite of the +hardness of their work. If they had no more food than they had had in +Jones's day, at least they did not have less. The advantage of only having +to feed themselves, and not having to support five extravagant human +beings as well, was so great that it would have taken a lot of failures to +outweigh it. And in many ways the animal method of doing things was more +efficient and saved labour. Such jobs as weeding, for instance, could be +done with a thoroughness impossible to human beings. And again, since no +animal now stole, it was unnecessary to fence off pasture from arable +land, which saved a lot of labour on the upkeep of hedges and gates. +Nevertheless, as the summer wore on, various unforeseen shortages began to +make them selves felt. There was need of paraffin oil, nails, string, dog +biscuits, and iron for the horses' shoes, none of which could be produced +on the farm. Later there would also be need for seeds and artificial +manures, besides various tools and, finally, the machinery for the +windmill. How these were to be procured, no one was able to imagine. + +One Sunday morning, when the animals assembled to receive their orders, +Napoleon announced that he had decided upon a new policy. From now onwards +Animal Farm would engage in trade with the neighbouring farms: not, of +course, for any commercial purpose, but simply in order to obtain certain +materials which were urgently necessary. The needs of the windmill must +override everything else, he said. He was therefore making arrangements to +sell a stack of hay and part of the current year's wheat crop, and later +on, if more money were needed, it would have to be made up by the sale of +eggs, for which there was always a market in Willingdon. The hens, said +Napoleon, should welcome this sacrifice as their own special contribution +towards the building of the windmill. + +Once again the animals were conscious of a vague uneasiness. Never to have +any dealings with human beings, never to engage in trade, never to make +use of money--had not these been among the earliest resolutions passed at +that first triumphant Meeting after Jones was expelled? All the animals +remembered passing such resolutions: or at least they thought that they +remembered it. The four young pigs who had protested when Napoleon +abolished the Meetings raised their voices timidly, but they were promptly +silenced by a tremendous growling from the dogs. Then, as usual, the sheep +broke into "Four legs good, two legs bad!" and the momentary awkwardness +was smoothed over. Finally Napoleon raised his trotter for silence and +announced that he had already made all the arrangements. There would be no +need for any of the animals to come in contact with human beings, which +would clearly be most undesirable. He intended to take the whole burden +upon his own shoulders. A Mr. Whymper, a solicitor living in Willingdon, +had agreed to act as intermediary between Animal Farm and the outside +world, and would visit the farm every Monday morning to receive his +instructions. Napoleon ended his speech with his usual cry of "Long live +Animal Farm!" and after the singing of 'Beasts of England' the animals +were dismissed. + +Afterwards Squealer made a round of the farm and set the animals' minds at +rest. He assured them that the resolution against engaging in trade and +using money had never been passed, or even suggested. It was pure +imagination, probably traceable in the beginning to lies circulated by +Snowball. A few animals still felt faintly doubtful, but Squealer asked +them shrewdly, "Are you certain that this is not something that you have +dreamed, comrades? Have you any record of such a resolution? Is it written +down anywhere?" And since it was certainly true that nothing of the kind +existed in writing, the animals were satisfied that they had been mistaken. + +Every Monday Mr. Whymper visited the farm as had been arranged. He was a +sly-looking little man with side whiskers, a solicitor in a very small way +of business, but sharp enough to have realised earlier than anyone else +that Animal Farm would need a broker and that the commissions would be +worth having. The animals watched his coming and going with a kind of +dread, and avoided him as much as possible. Nevertheless, the sight of +Napoleon, on all fours, delivering orders to Whymper, who stood on two +legs, roused their pride and partly reconciled them to the new +arrangement. Their relations with the human race were now not quite the +same as they had been before. The human beings did not hate Animal Farm +any less now that it was prospering; indeed, they hated it more than ever. +Every human being held it as an article of faith that the farm would go +bankrupt sooner or later, and, above all, that the windmill would be a +failure. They would meet in the public-houses and prove to one another by +means of diagrams that the windmill was bound to fall down, or that if it +did stand up, then that it would never work. And yet, against their will, +they had developed a certain respect for the efficiency with which the +animals were managing their own affairs. One symptom of this was that they +had begun to call Animal Farm by its proper name and ceased to pretend +that it was called the Manor Farm. They had also dropped their championship +of Jones, who had given up hope of getting his farm back and gone to live +in another part of the county. Except through Whymper, there was as yet no +contact between Animal Farm and the outside world, but there were constant +rumours that Napoleon was about to enter into a definite business agreement +either with Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood or with Mr. Frederick of +Pinchfield--but never, it was noticed, with both simultaneously. + +It was about this time that the pigs suddenly moved into the farmhouse and +took up their residence there. Again the animals seemed to remember that a +resolution against this had been passed in the early days, and again +Squealer was able to convince them that this was not the case. It was +absolutely necessary, he said, that the pigs, who were the brains of the +farm, should have a quiet place to work in. It was also more suited to the +dignity of the Leader (for of late he had taken to speaking of Napoleon +under the title of "Leader") to live in a house than in a mere sty. +Nevertheless, some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the +pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing-room +as a recreation room, but also slept in the beds. Boxer passed it off as +usual with "Napoleon is always right!", but Clover, who thought she +remembered a definite ruling against beds, went to the end of the barn and +tried to puzzle out the Seven Commandments which were inscribed there. +Finding herself unable to read more than individual letters, she fetched +Muriel. + +"Muriel," she said, "read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it not say +something about never sleeping in a bed?" + +With some difficulty Muriel spelt it out. + +"It says, 'No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets,"' she announced +finally. + +Curiously enough, Clover had not remembered that the Fourth Commandment +mentioned sheets; but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so. +And Squealer, who happened to be passing at this moment, attended by two +or three dogs, was able to put the whole matter in its proper perspective. + +"You have heard then, comrades," he said, "that we pigs now sleep in the +beds of the farmhouse? And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that +there was ever a ruling against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep +in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed, properly regarded. The rule was +against sheets, which are a human invention. We have removed the sheets +from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. And very comfortable +beds they are too! But not more comfortable than we need, I can tell you, +comrades, with all the brainwork we have to do nowadays. You would not rob +us of our repose, would you, comrades? You would not have us too tired to +carry out our duties? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?" + +The animals reassured him on this point immediately, and no more was said +about the pigs sleeping in the farmhouse beds. And when, some days +afterwards, it was announced that from now on the pigs would get up an +hour later in the mornings than the other animals, no complaint was made +about that either. + +By the autumn the animals were tired but happy. They had had a hard year, +and after the sale of part of the hay and corn, the stores of food for the +winter were none too plentiful, but the windmill compensated for +everything. It was almost half built now. After the harvest there was a +stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever, +thinking it well worth while to plod to and fro all day with blocks of +stone if by doing so they could raise the walls another foot. Boxer would +even come out at nights and work for an hour or two on his own by the +light of the harvest moon. In their spare moments the animals would walk +round and round the half-finished mill, admiring the strength and +perpendicularity of its walls and marvelling that they should ever have +been able to build anything so imposing. Only old Benjamin refused to grow +enthusiastic about the windmill, though, as usual, he would utter nothing +beyond the cryptic remark that donkeys live a long time. + +November came, with raging south-west winds. Building had to stop because +it was now too wet to mix the cement. Finally there came a night when the +gale was so violent that the farm buildings rocked on their foundations +and several tiles were blown off the roof of the barn. The hens woke up +squawking with terror because they had all dreamed simultaneously of +hearing a gun go off in the distance. In the morning the animals came out +of their stalls to find that the flagstaff had been blown down and an elm +tree at the foot of the orchard had been plucked up like a radish. They +had just noticed this when a cry of despair broke from every animal's +throat. A terrible sight had met their eyes. The windmill was in ruins. + +With one accord they dashed down to the spot. Napoleon, who seldom moved +out of a walk, raced ahead of them all. Yes, there it lay, the fruit of +all their struggles, levelled to its foundations, the stones they had +broken and carried so laboriously scattered all around. Unable at first to +speak, they stood gazing mournfully at the litter of fallen stone. Napoleon +paced to and fro in silence, occasionally snuffing at the ground. His tail +had grown rigid and twitched sharply from side to side, a sign in him of +intense mental activity. Suddenly he halted as though his mind were +made up. + +"Comrades," he said quietly, "do you know who is responsible for this? Do +you know the enemy who has come in the night and overthrown our windmill? +SNOWBALL!" he suddenly roared in a voice of thunder. "Snowball has done +this thing! In sheer malignity, thinking to set back our plans and avenge +himself for his ignominious expulsion, this traitor has crept here under +cover of night and destroyed our work of nearly a year. Comrades, here +and now I pronounce the death sentence upon Snowball. 'Animal Hero, Second +Class,' and half a bushel of apples to any animal who brings him to +justice. A full bushel to anyone who captures him alive!" + +The animals were shocked beyond measure to learn that even Snowball could +be guilty of such an action. There was a cry of indignation, and everyone +began thinking out ways of catching Snowball if he should ever come back. +Almost immediately the footprints of a pig were discovered in the grass at +a little distance from the knoll. They could only be traced for a few +yards, but appeared to lead to a hole in the hedge. Napoleon snuffed +deeply at them and pronounced them to be Snowball's. He gave it as his +opinion that Snowball had probably come from the direction of Foxwood Farm. + +"No more delays, comrades!" cried Napoleon when the footprints had been +examined. "There is work to be done. This very morning we begin rebuilding +the windmill, and we will build all through the winter, rain or shine. We +will teach this miserable traitor that he cannot undo our work so easily. +Remember, comrades, there must be no alteration in our plans: they shall +be carried out to the day. Forward, comrades! Long live the windmill! Long +live Animal Farm!" + + + + + Chapter VII + + + +It was a bitter winter. The stormy weather was followed by sleet and snow, +and then by a hard frost which did not break till well into February. The +animals carried on as best they could with the rebuilding of the windmill, +well knowing that the outside world was watching them and that the envious +human beings would rejoice and triumph if the mill were not finished +on time. + +Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was +Snowball who had destroyed the windmill: they said that it had fallen down +because the walls were too thin. The animals knew that this was not the +case. Still, it had been decided to build the walls three feet thick this +time instead of eighteen inches as before, which meant collecting much +larger quantities of stone. For a long time the quarry was full of +snowdrifts and nothing could be done. Some progress was made in the dry +frosty weather that followed, but it was cruel work, and the animals could +not feel so hopeful about it as they had felt before. They were always +cold, and usually hungry as well. Only Boxer and Clover never lost heart. +Squealer made excellent speeches on the joy of service and the dignity of +labour, but the other animals found more inspiration in Boxer's strength +and his never-failing cry of "I will work harder!" + +In January food fell short. The corn ration was drastically reduced, and +it was announced that an extra potato ration would be issued to make up +for it. Then it was discovered that the greater part of the potato crop +had been frosted in the clamps, which had not been covered thickly enough. +The potatoes had become soft and discoloured, and only a few were edible. +For days at a time the animals had nothing to eat but chaff and mangels. +Starvation seemed to stare them in the face. + +It was vitally necessary to conceal this fact from the outside world. +Emboldened by the collapse of the windmill, the human beings were +inventing fresh lies about Animal Farm. Once again it was being put about +that all the animals were dying of famine and disease, and that they were +continually fighting among themselves and had resorted to cannibalism and +infanticide. Napoleon was well aware of the bad results that might follow +if the real facts of the food situation were known, and he decided to make +use of Mr. Whymper to spread a contrary impression. Hitherto the animals +had had little or no contact with Whymper on his weekly visits: now, +however, a few selected animals, mostly sheep, were instructed to remark +casually in his hearing that rations had been increased. In addition, +Napoleon ordered the almost empty bins in the store-shed to be filled +nearly to the brim with sand, which was then covered up with what remained +of the grain and meal. On some suitable pretext Whymper was led through +the store-shed and allowed to catch a glimpse of the bins. He was +deceived, and continued to report to the outside world that there was no +food shortage on Animal Farm. + +Nevertheless, towards the end of January it became obvious that it would +be necessary to procure some more grain from somewhere. In these days +Napoleon rarely appeared in public, but spent all his time in the +farmhouse, which was guarded at each door by fierce-looking dogs. When he +did emerge, it was in a ceremonial manner, with an escort of six dogs who +closely surrounded him and growled if anyone came too near. Frequently he +did not even appear on Sunday mornings, but issued his orders through one +of the other pigs, usually Squealer. + +One Sunday morning Squealer announced that the hens, who had just come in +to lay again, must surrender their eggs. Napoleon had accepted, through +Whymper, a contract for four hundred eggs a week. The price of these would +pay for enough grain and meal to keep the farm going till summer came on +and conditions were easier. + +When the hens heard this, they raised a terrible outcry. They had been +warned earlier that this sacrifice might be necessary, but had not +believed that it would really happen. They were just getting their +clutches ready for the spring sitting, and they protested that to take the +eggs away now was murder. For the first time since the expulsion of Jones, +there was something resembling a rebellion. Led by three young Black +Minorca pullets, the hens made a determined effort to thwart Napoleon's +wishes. Their method was to fly up to the rafters and there lay their +eggs, which smashed to pieces on the floor. Napoleon acted swiftly and +ruthlessly. He ordered the hens' rations to be stopped, and decreed that +any animal giving so much as a grain of corn to a hen should be punished +by death. The dogs saw to it that these orders were carried out. For five +days the hens held out, then they capitulated and went back to their +nesting boxes. Nine hens had died in the meantime. Their bodies were +buried in the orchard, and it was given out that they had died of +coccidiosis. Whymper heard nothing of this affair, and the eggs were duly +delivered, a grocer's van driving up to the farm once a week to take them +away. + +All this while no more had been seen of Snowball. He was rumoured to be +hiding on one of the neighbouring farms, either Foxwood or Pinchfield. +Napoleon was by this time on slightly better terms with the other farmers +than before. It happened that there was in the yard a pile of timber which +had been stacked there ten years earlier when a beech spinney was cleared. +It was well seasoned, and Whymper had advised Napoleon to sell it; both +Mr. Pilkington and Mr. Frederick were anxious to buy it. Napoleon was +hesitating between the two, unable to make up his mind. It was noticed +that whenever he seemed on the point of coming to an agreement with +Frederick, Snowball was declared to be in hiding at Foxwood, while, when +he inclined toward Pilkington, Snowball was said to be at Pinchfield. + +Suddenly, early in the spring, an alarming thing was discovered. Snowball +was secretly frequenting the farm by night! The animals were so disturbed +that they could hardly sleep in their stalls. Every night, it was said, he +came creeping in under cover of darkness and performed all kinds of +mischief. He stole the corn, he upset the milk-pails, he broke the eggs, +he trampled the seedbeds, he gnawed the bark off the fruit trees. Whenever +anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball. If a +window was broken or a drain was blocked up, someone was certain to say +that Snowball had come in the night and done it, and when the key of the +store-shed was lost, the whole farm was convinced that Snowball had thrown +it down the well. Curiously enough, they went on believing this even after +the mislaid key was found under a sack of meal. The cows declared +unanimously that Snowball crept into their stalls and milked them in their +sleep. The rats, which had been troublesome that winter, were also said to +be in league with Snowball. + +Napoleon decreed that there should be a full investigation into Snowball's +activities. With his dogs in attendance he set out and made a careful tour +of inspection of the farm buildings, the other animals following at a +respectful distance. At every few steps Napoleon stopped and snuffed the +ground for traces of Snowball's footsteps, which, he said, he could detect +by the smell. He snuffed in every corner, in the barn, in the cow-shed, +in the henhouses, in the vegetable garden, and found traces of Snowball +almost everywhere. He would put his snout to the ground, give several deep +sniffs, ad exclaim in a terrible voice, "Snowball! He has been here! I can +smell him distinctly!" and at the word "Snowball" all the dogs let out +blood-curdling growls and showed their side teeth. + +The animals were thoroughly frightened. It seemed to them as though +Snowball were some kind of invisible influence, pervading the air about +them and menacing them with all kinds of dangers. In the evening Squealer +called them together, and with an alarmed expression on his face told +them that he had some serious news to report. + +"Comrades!" cried Squealer, making little nervous skips, "a most terrible +thing has been discovered. Snowball has sold himself to Frederick of +Pinchfield Farm, who is even now plotting to attack us and take our farm +away from us! Snowball is to act as his guide when the attack begins. But +there is worse than that. We had thought that Snowball's rebellion was +caused simply by his vanity and ambition. But we were wrong, comrades. Do +you know what the real reason was? Snowball was in league with Jones from +the very start! He was Jones's secret agent all the time. It has all been +proved by documents which he left behind him and which we have only just +discovered. To my mind this explains a great deal, comrades. Did we not +see for ourselves how he attempted--fortunately without success--to get us +defeated and destroyed at the Battle of the Cowshed?" + +The animals were stupefied. This was a wickedness far outdoing Snowball's +destruction of the windmill. But it was some minutes before they could +fully take it in. They all remembered, or thought they remembered, how +they had seen Snowball charging ahead of them at the Battle of the +Cowshed, how he had rallied and encouraged them at every turn, and how he +had not paused for an instant even when the pellets from Jones's gun had +wounded his back. At first it was a little difficult to see how this +fitted in with his being on Jones's side. Even Boxer, who seldom asked +questions, was puzzled. He lay down, tucked his fore hoofs beneath him, +shut his eyes, and with a hard effort managed to formulate his thoughts. + +"I do not believe that," he said. "Snowball fought bravely at the Battle +of the Cowshed. I saw him myself. Did we not give him 'Animal Hero, first +Class,' immediately afterwards?" + +"That was our mistake, comrade. For we know now--it is all written down in +the secret documents that we have found--that in reality he was trying to +lure us to our doom." + +"But he was wounded," said Boxer. "We all saw him running with blood." + +"That was part of the arrangement!" cried Squealer. "Jones's shot only +grazed him. I could show you this in his own writing, if you were able to +read it. The plot was for Snowball, at the critical moment, to give the +signal for flight and leave the field to the enemy. And he very nearly +succeeded--I will even say, comrades, he WOULD have succeeded if it had +not been for our heroic Leader, Comrade Napoleon. Do you not remember how, +just at the moment when Jones and his men had got inside the yard, +Snowball suddenly turned and fled, and many animals followed him? And do +you not remember, too, that it was just at that moment, when panic was +spreading and all seemed lost, that Comrade Napoleon sprang forward with a +cry of 'Death to Humanity!' and sank his teeth in Jones's leg? Surely you +remember THAT, comrades?" exclaimed Squealer, frisking from side to side. + +Now when Squealer described the scene so graphically, it seemed to the +animals that they did remember it. At any rate, they remembered that at +the critical moment of the battle Snowball had turned to flee. But Boxer +was still a little uneasy. + +"I do not believe that Snowball was a traitor at the beginning," he said +finally. "What he has done since is different. But I believe that at the +Battle of the Cowshed he was a good comrade." + +"Our Leader, Comrade Napoleon," announced Squealer, speaking very slowly +and firmly, "has stated categorically--categorically, comrade--that +Snowball was Jones's agent from the very beginning--yes, and from long +before the Rebellion was ever thought of." + +"Ah, that is different!" said Boxer. "If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must +be right." + +"That is the true spirit, comrade!" cried Squealer, but it was noticed he +cast a very ugly look at Boxer with his little twinkling eyes. He turned +to go, then paused and added impressively: "I warn every animal on this +farm to keep his eyes very wide open. For we have reason to think that +some of Snowball's secret agents are lurking among us at this moment!" + +Four days later, in the late afternoon, Napoleon ordered all the animals +to assemble in the yard. When they were all gathered together, Napoleon +emerged from the farmhouse, wearing both his medals (for he had recently +awarded himself "Animal Hero, First Class", and "Animal Hero, Second +Class"), with his nine huge dogs frisking round him and uttering growls +that sent shivers down all the animals' spines. They all cowered silently +in their places, seeming to know in advance that some terrible thing was +about to happen. + +Napoleon stood sternly surveying his audience; then he uttered a +high-pitched whimper. Immediately the dogs bounded forward, seized four of +the pigs by the ear and dragged them, squealing with pain and terror, to +Napoleon's feet. The pigs' ears were bleeding, the dogs had tasted blood, +and for a few moments they appeared to go quite mad. To the amazement of +everybody, three of them flung themselves upon Boxer. Boxer saw them +coming and put out his great hoof, caught a dog in mid-air, and pinned +him to the ground. The dog shrieked for mercy and the other two fled with +their tails between their legs. Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether +he should crush the dog to death or let it go. Napoleon appeared to change +countenance, and sharply ordered Boxer to let the dog go, whereat Boxer +lifted his hoof, and the dog slunk away, bruised and howling. + +Presently the tumult died down. The four pigs waited, trembling, with +guilt written on every line of their countenances. Napoleon now called +upon them to confess their crimes. They were the same four pigs as had +protested when Napoleon abolished the Sunday Meetings. Without any further +prompting they confessed that they had been secretly in touch with +Snowball ever since his expulsion, that they had collaborated with him in +destroying the windmill, and that they had entered into an agreement with +him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr. Frederick. They added that Snowball +had privately admitted to them that he had been Jones's secret agent for +years past. When they had finished their confession, the dogs promptly +tore their throats out, and in a terrible voice Napoleon demanded whether +any other animal had anything to confess. + +The three hens who had been the ringleaders in the attempted rebellion +over the eggs now came forward and stated that Snowball had appeared to +them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon's orders. They, too, +were slaughtered. Then a goose came forward and confessed to having +secreted six ears of corn during the last year's harvest and eaten them in +the night. Then a sheep confessed to having urinated in the drinking +pool--urged to do this, so she said, by Snowball--and two other sheep +confessed to having murdered an old ram, an especially devoted follower of +Napoleon, by chasing him round and round a bonfire when he was suffering +from a cough. They were all slain on the spot. And so the tale of +confessions and executions went on, until there was a pile of corpses +lying before Napoleon's feet and the air was heavy with the smell of +blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones. + +When it was all over, the remaining animals, except for the pigs and dogs, +crept away in a body. They were shaken and miserable. They did not know +which was more shocking--the treachery of the animals who had leagued +themselves with Snowball, or the cruel retribution they had just +witnessed. In the old days there had often been scenes of bloodshed +equally terrible, but it seemed to all of them that it was far worse now +that it was happening among themselves. Since Jones had left the farm, +until today, no animal had killed another animal. Not even a rat had been +killed. They had made their way on to the little knoll where the +half-finished windmill stood, and with one accord they all lay down as +though huddling together for warmth--Clover, Muriel, Benjamin, the cows, +the sheep, and a whole flock of geese and hens--everyone, indeed, except +the cat, who had suddenly disappeared just before Napoleon ordered the +animals to assemble. For some time nobody spoke. Only Boxer remained on +his feet. He fidgeted to and fro, swishing his long black tail against his +sides and occasionally uttering a little whinny of surprise. Finally he +said: + +"I do not understand it. I would not have believed that such things could +happen on our farm. It must be due to some fault in ourselves. The +solution, as I see it, is to work harder. From now onwards I shall get up +a full hour earlier in the mornings." + +And he moved off at his lumbering trot and made for the quarry. Having got +there, he collected two successive loads of stone and dragged them down to +the windmill before retiring for the night. + +The animals huddled about Clover, not speaking. The knoll where they were +lying gave them a wide prospect across the countryside. Most of Animal +Farm was within their view--the long pasture stretching down to the main +road, the hayfield, the spinney, the drinking pool, the ploughed fields +where the young wheat was thick and green, and the red roofs of the farm +buildings with the smoke curling from the chimneys. It was a clear spring +evening. The grass and the bursting hedges were gilded by the level rays +of the sun. Never had the farm--and with a kind of surprise they +remembered that it was their own farm, every inch of it their own +property--appeared to the animals so desirable a place. As Clover looked +down the hillside her eyes filled with tears. If she could have spoken her +thoughts, it would have been to say that this was not what they had aimed +at when they had set themselves years ago to work for the overthrow of the +human race. These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had +looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to +rebellion. If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been +of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each +working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak, as she +had protected the lost brood of ducklings with her foreleg on the night of +Major's speech. Instead--she did not know why--they had come to a time +when no one dared speak his mind, when fierce, growling dogs roamed +everywhere, and when you had to watch your comrades torn to pieces after +confessing to shocking crimes. There was no thought of rebellion or +disobedience in her mind. She knew that, even as things were, they were +far better off than they had been in the days of Jones, and that before +all else it was needful to prevent the return of the human beings. +Whatever happened she would remain faithful, work hard, carry out the +orders that were given to her, and accept the leadership of Napoleon. But +still, it was not for this that she and all the other animals had hoped +and toiled. It was not for this that they had built the windmill and faced +the bullets of Jones's gun. Such were her thoughts, though she lacked the +words to express them. + +At last, feeling this to be in some way a substitute for the words she was +unable to find, she began to sing 'Beasts of England'. The other animals +sitting round her took it up, and they sang it three times over--very +tunefully, but slowly and mournfully, in a way they had never sung it +before. + +They had just finished singing it for the third time when Squealer, +attended by two dogs, approached them with the air of having something +important to say. He announced that, by a special decree of Comrade +Napoleon, 'Beasts of England' had been abolished. From now onwards it was +forbidden to sing it. + +The animals were taken aback. + +"Why?" cried Muriel. + +"It's no longer needed, comrade," said Squealer stiffly. "'Beasts of +England' was the song of the Rebellion. But the Rebellion is now +completed. The execution of the traitors this afternoon was the final act. +The enemy both external and internal has been defeated. In 'Beasts of +England' we expressed our longing for a better society in days to come. +But that society has now been established. Clearly this song has no longer +any purpose." + +Frightened though they were, some of the animals might possibly have +protested, but at this moment the sheep set up their usual bleating of +"Four legs good, two legs bad," which went on for several minutes and put +an end to the discussion. + +So 'Beasts of England' was heard no more. In its place Minimus, the poet, +had composed another song which began: + + +Animal Farm, Animal Farm, +Never through me shalt thou come to harm! + + +and this was sung every Sunday morning after the hoisting of the flag. +But somehow neither the words nor the tune ever seemed to the animals to +come up to 'Beasts of England'. + + + + + Chapter VIII + + + +A few days later, when the terror caused by the executions had died down, +some of the animals remembered--or thought they remembered--that the Sixth +Commandment decreed "No animal shall kill any other animal." And though no +one cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was +felt that the killings which had taken place did not square with this. +Clover asked Benjamin to read her the Sixth Commandment, and when +Benjamin, as usual, said that he refused to meddle in such matters, she +fetched Muriel. Muriel read the Commandment for her. It ran: "No animal +shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE." Somehow or other, the last two +words had slipped out of the animals' memory. But they saw now that the +Commandment had not been violated; for clearly there was good reason for +killing the traitors who had leagued themselves with Snowball. + +Throughout the year the animals worked even harder than they had worked in +the previous year. To rebuild the windmill, with walls twice as thick as +before, and to finish it by the appointed date, together with the regular +work of the farm, was a tremendous labour. There were times when it seemed +to the animals that they worked longer hours and fed no better than they +had done in Jones's day. On Sunday mornings Squealer, holding down a long +strip of paper with his trotter, would read out to them lists of figures +proving that the production of every class of foodstuff had increased by +two hundred per cent, three hundred per cent, or five hundred per cent, +as the case might be. The animals saw no reason to disbelieve him, +especially as they could no longer remember very clearly what conditions +had been like before the Rebellion. All the same, there were days when +they felt that they would sooner have had less figures and more food. + +All orders were now issued through Squealer or one of the other pigs. +Napoleon himself was not seen in public as often as once in a fortnight. +When he did appear, he was attended not only by his retinue of dogs but by +a black cockerel who marched in front of him and acted as a kind of +trumpeter, letting out a loud "cock-a-doodle-doo" before Napoleon spoke. +Even in the farmhouse, it was said, Napoleon inhabited separate apartments +from the others. He took his meals alone, with two dogs to wait upon him, +and always ate from the Crown Derby dinner service which had been in the +glass cupboard in the drawing-room. It was also announced that the gun +would be fired every year on Napoleon's birthday, as well as on the other +two anniversaries. + +Napoleon was now never spoken of simply as "Napoleon." He was always +referred to in formal style as "our Leader, Comrade Napoleon," and this +pigs liked to invent for him such titles as Father of All Animals, Terror +of Mankind, Protector of the Sheep-fold, Ducklings' Friend, and the like. +In his speeches, Squealer would talk with the tears rolling down his +cheeks of Napoleon's wisdom the goodness of his heart, and the deep love +he bore to all animals everywhere, even and especially the unhappy animals +who still lived in ignorance and slavery on other farms. It had become +usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement and +every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to +another, "Under the guidance of our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid +five eggs in six days"; or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would +exclaim, "Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this +water tastes!" The general feeling on the farm was well expressed in a +poem entitled Comrade Napoleon, which was composed by Minimus and which +ran as follows: + + +Friend of fatherless! +Fountain of happiness! +Lord of the swill-bucket! Oh, how my soul is on +Fire when I gaze at thy +Calm and commanding eye, +Like the sun in the sky, +Comrade Napoleon! + +Thou are the giver of +All that thy creatures love, +Full belly twice a day, clean straw to roll upon; +Every beast great or small +Sleeps at peace in his stall, +Thou watchest over all, +Comrade Napoleon! + +Had I a sucking-pig, +Ere he had grown as big +Even as a pint bottle or as a rolling-pin, +He should have learned to be +Faithful and true to thee, +Yes, his first squeak should be +"Comrade Napoleon!" + + +Napoleon approved of this poem and caused it to be inscribed on the wall +of the big barn, at the opposite end from the Seven Commandments. It was +surmounted by a portrait of Napoleon, in profile, executed by Squealer in +white paint. + +Meanwhile, through the agency of Whymper, Napoleon was engaged in +complicated negotiations with Frederick and Pilkington. The pile of timber +was still unsold. Of the two, Frederick was the more anxious to get hold +of it, but he would not offer a reasonable price. At the same time there +were renewed rumours that Frederick and his men were plotting to attack +Animal Farm and to destroy the windmill, the building of which had aroused +furious jealousy in him. Snowball was known to be still skulking on +Pinchfield Farm. In the middle of the summer the animals were alarmed to +hear that three hens had come forward and confessed that, inspired by +Snowball, they had entered into a plot to murder Napoleon. They were +executed immediately, and fresh precautions for Napoleon's safety were +taken. Four dogs guarded his bed at night, one at each corner, and a young +pig named Pinkeye was given the task of tasting all his food before he ate +it, lest it should be poisoned. + +At about the same time it was given out that Napoleon had arranged to sell +the pile of timber to Mr. Pilkington; he was also going to enter into a +regular agreement for the exchange of certain products between Animal Farm +and Foxwood. The relations between Napoleon and Pilkington, though they +were only conducted through Whymper, were now almost friendly. The animals +distrusted Pilkington, as a human being, but greatly preferred him to +Frederick, whom they both feared and hated. As the summer wore on, and the +windmill neared completion, the rumours of an impending treacherous attack +grew stronger and stronger. Frederick, it was said, intended to bring +against them twenty men all armed with guns, and he had already bribed the +magistrates and police, so that if he could once get hold of the +title-deeds of Animal Farm they would ask no questions. Moreover, terrible +stories were leaking out from Pinchfield about the cruelties that +Frederick practised upon his animals. He had flogged an old horse to +death, he starved his cows, he had killed a dog by throwing it into the +furnace, he amused himself in the evenings by making cocks fight with +splinters of razor-blade tied to their spurs. The animals' blood boiled +with rage when they heard of these things being done to their comrades, +and sometimes they clamoured to be allowed to go out in a body and attack +Pinchfield Farm, drive out the humans, and set the animals free. But +Squealer counselled them to avoid rash actions and trust in Comrade +Napoleon's strategy. + +Nevertheless, feeling against Frederick continued to run high. One Sunday +morning Napoleon appeared in the barn and explained that he had never at +any time contemplated selling the pile of timber to Frederick; he +considered it beneath his dignity, he said, to have dealings with +scoundrels of that description. The pigeons who were still sent out to +spread tidings of the Rebellion were forbidden to set foot anywhere on +Foxwood, and were also ordered to drop their former slogan of "Death to +Humanity" in favour of "Death to Frederick." In the late summer yet +another of Snowball's machinations was laid bare. The wheat crop was full +of weeds, and it was discovered that on one of his nocturnal visits +Snowball had mixed weed seeds with the seed corn. A gander who had been +privy to the plot had confessed his guilt to Squealer and immediately +committed suicide by swallowing deadly nightshade berries. The animals +now also learned that Snowball had never--as many of them had believed +hitherto--received the order of "Animal Hero, First Class." This was +merely a legend which had been spread some time after the Battle of the +Cowshed by Snowball himself. So far from being decorated, he had been +censured for showing cowardice in the battle. Once again some of the +animals heard this with a certain bewilderment, but Squealer was soon able +to convince them that their memories had been at fault. + +In the autumn, by a tremendous, exhausting effort--for the harvest had to +be gathered at almost the same time--the windmill was finished. The +machinery had still to be installed, and Whymper was negotiating the +purchase of it, but the structure was completed. In the teeth of every +difficulty, in spite of inexperience, of primitive implements, of bad luck +and of Snowball's treachery, the work had been finished punctually to the +very day! Tired out but proud, the animals walked round and round their +masterpiece, which appeared even more beautiful in their eyes than when it +had been built the first time. Moreover, the walls were twice as thick as +before. Nothing short of explosives would lay them low this time! And when +they thought of how they had laboured, what discouragements they had +overcome, and the enormous difference that would be made in their lives +when the sails were turning and the dynamos running--when they thought of +all this, their tiredness forsook them and they gambolled round and round +the windmill, uttering cries of triumph. Napoleon himself, attended by his +dogs and his cockerel, came down to inspect the completed work; he +personally congratulated the animals on their achievement, and announced +that the mill would be named Napoleon Mill. + +Two days later the animals were called together for a special meeting in +the barn. They were struck dumb with surprise when Napoleon announced that +he had sold the pile of timber to Frederick. Tomorrow Frederick's wagons +would arrive and begin carting it away. Throughout the whole period of his +seeming friendship with Pilkington, Napoleon had really been in secret +agreement with Frederick. + +All relations with Foxwood had been broken off; insulting messages had +been sent to Pilkington. The pigeons had been told to avoid Pinchfield +Farm and to alter their slogan from "Death to Frederick" to "Death to +Pilkington." At the same time Napoleon assured the animals that the +stories of an impending attack on Animal Farm were completely untrue, and +that the tales about Frederick's cruelty to his own animals had been +greatly exaggerated. All these rumours had probably originated with +Snowball and his agents. It now appeared that Snowball was not, after all, +hiding on Pinchfield Farm, and in fact had never been there in his life: +he was living--in considerable luxury, so it was said--at Foxwood, and had +in reality been a pensioner of Pilkington for years past. + +The pigs were in ecstasies over Napoleon's cunning. By seeming to be +friendly with Pilkington he had forced Frederick to raise his price by +twelve pounds. But the superior quality of Napoleon's mind, said Squealer, +was shown in the fact that he trusted nobody, not even Frederick. +Frederick had wanted to pay for the timber with something called a cheque, +which, it seemed, was a piece of paper with a promise to pay written upon +it. But Napoleon was too clever for him. He had demanded payment in real +five-pound notes, which were to be handed over before the timber was +removed. Already Frederick had paid up; and the sum he had paid was just +enough to buy the machinery for the windmill. + +Meanwhile the timber was being carted away at high speed. When it was all +gone, another special meeting was held in the barn for the animals to +inspect Frederick's bank-notes. Smiling beatifically, and wearing both his +decorations, Napoleon reposed on a bed of straw on the platform, with the +money at his side, neatly piled on a china dish from the farmhouse +kitchen. The animals filed slowly past, and each gazed his fill. And Boxer +put out his nose to sniff at the bank-notes, and the flimsy white things +stirred and rustled in his breath. + +Three days later there was a terrible hullabaloo. Whymper, his face deadly +pale, came racing up the path on his bicycle, flung it down in the yard +and rushed straight into the farmhouse. The next moment a choking roar of +rage sounded from Napoleon's apartments. The news of what had happened +sped round the farm like wildfire. The banknotes were forgeries! Frederick +had got the timber for nothing! + +Napoleon called the animals together immediately and in a terrible voice +pronounced the death sentence upon Frederick. When captured, he said, +Frederick should be boiled alive. At the same time he warned them that +after this treacherous deed the worst was to be expected. Frederick and +his men might make their long-expected attack at any moment. Sentinels +were placed at all the approaches to the farm. In addition, four pigeons +were sent to Foxwood with a conciliatory message, which it was hoped might +re-establish good relations with Pilkington. + +The very next morning the attack came. The animals were at breakfast when +the look-outs came racing in with the news that Frederick and his +followers had already come through the five-barred gate. Boldly enough the +animals sallied forth to meet them, but this time they did not have the +easy victory that they had had in the Battle of the Cowshed. There were +fifteen men, with half a dozen guns between them, and they opened fire as +soon as they got within fifty yards. The animals could not face the +terrible explosions and the stinging pellets, and in spite of the efforts +of Napoleon and Boxer to rally them, they were soon driven back. A number +of them were already wounded. They took refuge in the farm buildings and +peeped cautiously out from chinks and knot-holes. The whole of the big +pasture, including the windmill, was in the hands of the enemy. For the +moment even Napoleon seemed at a loss. He paced up and down without a +word, his tail rigid and twitching. Wistful glances were sent in the +direction of Foxwood. If Pilkington and his men would help them, the day +might yet be won. But at this moment the four pigeons, who had been sent +out on the day before, returned, one of them bearing a scrap of paper from +Pilkington. On it was pencilled the words: "Serves you right." + +Meanwhile Frederick and his men had halted about the windmill. The animals +watched them, and a murmur of dismay went round. Two of the men had +produced a crowbar and a sledge hammer. They were going to knock the +windmill down. + +"Impossible!" cried Napoleon. "We have built the walls far too thick for +that. They could not knock it down in a week. Courage, comrades!" + +But Benjamin was watching the movements of the men intently. The two with +the hammer and the crowbar were drilling a hole near the base of the +windmill. Slowly, and with an air almost of amusement, Benjamin nodded his +long muzzle. + +"I thought so," he said. "Do you not see what they are doing? In another +moment they are going to pack blasting powder into that hole." + +Terrified, the animals waited. It was impossible now to venture out of the +shelter of the buildings. After a few minutes the men were seen to be +running in all directions. Then there was a deafening roar. The pigeons +swirled into the air, and all the animals, except Napoleon, flung +themselves flat on their bellies and hid their faces. When they got up +again, a huge cloud of black smoke was hanging where the windmill had +been. Slowly the breeze drifted it away. The windmill had ceased to exist! + +At this sight the animals' courage returned to them. The fear and despair +they had felt a moment earlier were drowned in their rage against this +vile, contemptible act. A mighty cry for vengeance went up, and without +waiting for further orders they charged forth in a body and made straight +for the enemy. This time they did not heed the cruel pellets that swept +over them like hail. It was a savage, bitter battle. The men fired again +and again, and, when the animals got to close quarters, lashed out with +their sticks and their heavy boots. A cow, three sheep, and two geese were +killed, and nearly everyone was wounded. Even Napoleon, who was directing +operations from the rear, had the tip of his tail chipped by a pellet. But +the men did not go unscathed either. Three of them had their heads broken +by blows from Boxer's hoofs; another was gored in the belly by a cow's +horn; another had his trousers nearly torn off by Jessie and Bluebell. And +when the nine dogs of Napoleon's own bodyguard, whom he had instructed to +make a detour under cover of the hedge, suddenly appeared on the men's +flank, baying ferociously, panic overtook them. They saw that they were in +danger of being surrounded. Frederick shouted to his men to get out while +the going was good, and the next moment the cowardly enemy was running for +dear life. The animals chased them right down to the bottom of the field, +and got in some last kicks at them as they forced their way through the +thorn hedge. + +They had won, but they were weary and bleeding. Slowly they began to limp +back towards the farm. The sight of their dead comrades stretched upon the +grass moved some of them to tears. And for a little while they halted in +sorrowful silence at the place where the windmill had once stood. Yes, it +was gone; almost the last trace of their labour was gone! Even the +foundations were partially destroyed. And in rebuilding it they could not +this time, as before, make use of the fallen stones. This time the stones +had vanished too. The force of the explosion had flung them to distances +of hundreds of yards. It was as though the windmill had never been. + +As they approached the farm Squealer, who had unaccountably been absent +during the fighting, came skipping towards them, whisking his tail and +beaming with satisfaction. And the animals heard, from the direction of +the farm buildings, the solemn booming of a gun. + +"What is that gun firing for?" said Boxer. + +"To celebrate our victory!" cried Squealer. + +"What victory?" said Boxer. His knees were bleeding, he had lost a shoe +and split his hoof, and a dozen pellets had lodged themselves in his hind +leg. + +"What victory, comrade? Have we not driven the enemy off our soil--the +sacred soil of Animal Farm?" + +"But they have destroyed the windmill. And we had worked on it for two +years!" + +"What matter? We will build another windmill. We will build six windmills +if we feel like it. You do not appreciate, comrade, the mighty thing that +we have done. The enemy was in occupation of this very ground that we +stand upon. And now--thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon--we have +won every inch of it back again!" + +"Then we have won back what we had before," said Boxer. + +"That is our victory," said Squealer. + +They limped into the yard. The pellets under the skin of Boxer's leg +smarted painfully. He saw ahead of him the heavy labour of rebuilding the +windmill from the foundations, and already in imagination he braced +himself for the task. But for the first time it occurred to him that he +was eleven years old and that perhaps his great muscles were not quite +what they had once been. + +But when the animals saw the green flag flying, and heard the gun firing +again--seven times it was fired in all--and heard the speech that Napoleon +made, congratulating them on their conduct, it did seem to them after all +that they had won a great victory. The animals slain in the battle were +given a solemn funeral. Boxer and Clover pulled the wagon which served as +a hearse, and Napoleon himself walked at the head of the procession. Two +whole days were given over to celebrations. There were songs, speeches, +and more firing of the gun, and a special gift of an apple was bestowed on +every animal, with two ounces of corn for each bird and three biscuits for +each dog. It was announced that the battle would be called the Battle of +the Windmill, and that Napoleon had created a new decoration, the Order +of the Green Banner, which he had conferred upon himself. In the general +rejoicings the unfortunate affair of the banknotes was forgotten. + +It was a few days later than this that the pigs came upon a case of whisky +in the cellars of the farmhouse. It had been overlooked at the time when +the house was first occupied. That night there came from the farmhouse the +sound of loud singing, in which, to everyone's surprise, the strains of +'Beasts of England' were mixed up. At about half past nine Napoleon, +wearing an old bowler hat of Mr. Jones's, was distinctly seen to emerge +from the back door, gallop rapidly round the yard, and disappear indoors +again. But in the morning a deep silence hung over the farmhouse. Not a +pig appeared to be stirring. It was nearly nine o'clock when Squealer made +his appearance, walking slowly and dejectedly, his eyes dull, his tail +hanging limply behind him, and with every appearance of being seriously +ill. He called the animals together and told them that he had a terrible +piece of news to impart. Comrade Napoleon was dying! + +A cry of lamentation went up. Straw was laid down outside the doors of the +farmhouse, and the animals walked on tiptoe. With tears in their eyes they +asked one another what they should do if their Leader were taken away from +them. A rumour went round that Snowball had after all contrived to +introduce poison into Napoleon's food. At eleven o'clock Squealer came +out to make another announcement. As his last act upon earth, Comrade +Napoleon had pronounced a solemn decree: the drinking of alcohol was to be +punished by death. + +By the evening, however, Napoleon appeared to be somewhat better, and the +following morning Squealer was able to tell them that he was well on the +way to recovery. By the evening of that day Napoleon was back at work, and +on the next day it was learned that he had instructed Whymper to purchase +in Willingdon some booklets on brewing and distilling. A week later +Napoleon gave orders that the small paddock beyond the orchard, which it +had previously been intended to set aside as a grazing-ground for animals +who were past work, was to be ploughed up. It was given out that the +pasture was exhausted and needed re-seeding; but it soon became known that +Napoleon intended to sow it with barley. + +About this time there occurred a strange incident which hardly anyone was +able to understand. One night at about twelve o'clock there was a loud +crash in the yard, and the animals rushed out of their stalls. It was a +moonlit night. At the foot of the end wall of the big barn, where the +Seven Commandments were written, there lay a ladder broken in two pieces. +Squealer, temporarily stunned, was sprawling beside it, and near at hand +there lay a lantern, a paint-brush, and an overturned pot of white paint. +The dogs immediately made a ring round Squealer, and escorted him back to +the farmhouse as soon as he was able to walk. None of the animals could +form any idea as to what this meant, except old Benjamin, who nodded his +muzzle with a knowing air, and seemed to understand, but would say nothing. + +But a few days later Muriel, reading over the Seven Commandments to +herself, noticed that there was yet another of them which the animals had +remembered wrong. They had thought the Fifth Commandment was "No animal +shall drink alcohol," but there were two words that they had forgotten. +Actually the Commandment read: "No animal shall drink alcohol TO EXCESS." + + + + + Chapter IX + + + +Boxer's split hoof was a long time in healing. They had started the +rebuilding of the windmill the day after the victory celebrations were +ended. Boxer refused to take even a day off work, and made it a point of +honour not to let it be seen that he was in pain. In the evenings he would +admit privately to Clover that the hoof troubled him a great deal. Clover +treated the hoof with poultices of herbs which she prepared by chewing +them, and both she and Benjamin urged Boxer to work less hard. "A horse's +lungs do not last for ever," she said to him. But Boxer would not listen. +He had, he said, only one real ambition left--to see the windmill well +under way before he reached the age for retirement. + +At the beginning, when the laws of Animal Farm were first formulated, +the retiring age had been fixed for horses and pigs at twelve, for cows at +fourteen, for dogs at nine, for sheep at seven, and for hens and geese at +five. Liberal old-age pensions had been agreed upon. As yet no animal had +actually retired on pension, but of late the subject had been discussed +more and more. Now that the small field beyond the orchard had been set +aside for barley, it was rumoured that a corner of the large pasture was +to be fenced off and turned into a grazing-ground for superannuated +animals. For a horse, it was said, the pension would be five pounds of +corn a day and, in winter, fifteen pounds of hay, with a carrot or +possibly an apple on public holidays. Boxer's twelfth birthday was due in +the late summer of the following year. + +Meanwhile life was hard. The winter was as cold as the last one had been, +and food was even shorter. Once again all rations were reduced, except +those of the pigs and the dogs. A too rigid equality in rations, Squealer +explained, would have been contrary to the principles of Animalism. In any +case he had no difficulty in proving to the other animals that they were +NOT in reality short of food, whatever the appearances might be. For the +time being, certainly, it had been found necessary to make a readjustment +of rations (Squealer always spoke of it as a "readjustment," never as a +"reduction"), but in comparison with the days of Jones, the improvement +was enormous. Reading out the figures in a shrill, rapid voice, he proved +to them in detail that they had more oats, more hay, more turnips than +they had had in Jones's day, that they worked shorter hours, that their +drinking water was of better quality, that they lived longer, that a +larger proportion of their young ones survived infancy, and that they had +more straw in their stalls and suffered less from fleas. The animals +believed every word of it. Truth to tell, Jones and all he stood for had +almost faded out of their memories. They knew that life nowadays was harsh +and bare, that they were often hungry and often cold, and that they were +usually working when they were not asleep. But doubtless it had been worse +in the old days. They were glad to believe so. Besides, in those days they +had been slaves and now they were free, and that made all the difference, +as Squealer did not fail to point out. + +There were many more mouths to feed now. In the autumn the four sows had +all littered about simultaneously, producing thirty-one young pigs between +them. The young pigs were piebald, and as Napoleon was the only boar on +the farm, it was possible to guess at their parentage. It was announced +that later, when bricks and timber had been purchased, a schoolroom would +be built in the farmhouse garden. For the time being, the young pigs were +given their instruction by Napoleon himself in the farmhouse kitchen. They +took their exercise in the garden, and were discouraged from playing with +the other young animals. About this time, too, it was laid down as a rule +that when a pig and any other animal met on the path, the other animal +must stand aside: and also that all pigs, of whatever degree, were to have +the privilege of wearing green ribbons on their tails on Sundays. + +The farm had had a fairly successful year, but was still short of money. +There were the bricks, sand, and lime for the schoolroom to be purchased, +and it would also be necessary to begin saving up again for the machinery +for the windmill. Then there were lamp oil and candles for the house, +sugar for Napoleon's own table (he forbade this to the other pigs, on the +ground that it made them fat), and all the usual replacements such as +tools, nails, string, coal, wire, scrap-iron, and dog biscuits. A stump of +hay and part of the potato crop were sold off, and the contract for eggs +was increased to six hundred a week, so that that year the hens barely +hatched enough chicks to keep their numbers at the same level. Rations, +reduced in December, were reduced again in February, and lanterns in the +stalls were forbidden to save oil. But the pigs seemed comfortable enough, +and in fact were putting on weight if anything. One afternoon in late +February a warm, rich, appetising scent, such as the animals had never +smelt before, wafted itself across the yard from the little brew-house, +which had been disused in Jones's time, and which stood beyond the +kitchen. Someone said it was the smell of cooking barley. The animals +sniffed the air hungrily and wondered whether a warm mash was being +prepared for their supper. But no warm mash appeared, and on the following +Sunday it was announced that from now onwards all barley would be reserved +for the pigs. The field beyond the orchard had already been sown with +barley. And the news soon leaked out that every pig was now receiving a +ration of a pint of beer daily, with half a gallon for Napoleon himself, +which was always served to him in the Crown Derby soup tureen. + +But if there were hardships to be borne, they were partly offset by the +fact that life nowadays had a greater dignity than it had had before. +There were more songs, more speeches, more processions. Napoleon had +commanded that once a week there should be held something called a +Spontaneous Demonstration, the object of which was to celebrate the +struggles and triumphs of Animal Farm. At the appointed time the animals +would leave their work and march round the precincts of the farm in +military formation, with the pigs leading, then the horses, then the cows, +then the sheep, and then the poultry. The dogs flanked the procession and +at the head of all marched Napoleon's black cockerel. Boxer and Clover +always carried between them a green banner marked with the hoof and the +horn and the caption, "Long live Comrade Napoleon!" Afterwards there were +recitations of poems composed in Napoleon's honour, and a speech by +Squealer giving particulars of the latest increases in the production of +foodstuffs, and on occasion a shot was fired from the gun. The sheep were +the greatest devotees of the Spontaneous Demonstration, and if anyone +complained (as a few animals sometimes did, when no pigs or dogs were near) +that they wasted time and meant a lot of standing about in the cold, the +sheep were sure to silence him with a tremendous bleating of "Four legs +good, two legs bad!" But by and large the animals enjoyed these +celebrations. They found it comforting to be reminded that, after all, +they were truly their own masters and that the work they did was for their +own benefit. So that, what with the songs, the processions, Squealer's +lists of figures, the thunder of the gun, the crowing of the cockerel, +and the fluttering of the flag, they were able to forget that their +bellies were empty, at least part of the time. + +In April, Animal Farm was proclaimed a Republic, and it became necessary +to elect a President. There was only one candidate, Napoleon, who was +elected unanimously. On the same day it was given out that fresh documents +had been discovered which revealed further details about Snowball's +complicity with Jones. It now appeared that Snowball had not, as the +animals had previously imagined, merely attempted to lose the Battle of +the Cowshed by means of a stratagem, but had been openly fighting on +Jones's side. In fact, it was he who had actually been the leader of the +human forces, and had charged into battle with the words "Long live +Humanity!" on his lips. The wounds on Snowball's back, which a few of the +animals still remembered to have seen, had been inflicted by Napoleon's +teeth. + +In the middle of the summer Moses the raven suddenly reappeared on the +farm, after an absence of several years. He was quite unchanged, still did +no work, and talked in the same strain as ever about Sugarcandy Mountain. +He would perch on a stump, flap his black wings, and talk by the hour to +anyone who would listen. "Up there, comrades," he would say solemnly, +pointing to the sky with his large beak--"up there, just on the other side +of that dark cloud that you can see--there it lies, Sugarcandy Mountain, +that happy country where we poor animals shall rest for ever from our +labours!" He even claimed to have been there on one of his higher flights, +and to have seen the everlasting fields of clover and the linseed cake and +lump sugar growing on the hedges. Many of the animals believed him. Their +lives now, they reasoned, were hungry and laborious; was it not right and +just that a better world should exist somewhere else? A thing that was +difficult to determine was the attitude of the pigs towards Moses. They +all declared contemptuously that his stories about Sugarcandy Mountain +were lies, and yet they allowed him to remain on the farm, not working, +with an allowance of a gill of beer a day. + +After his hoof had healed up, Boxer worked harder than ever. Indeed, all +the animals worked like slaves that year. Apart from the regular work of +the farm, and the rebuilding of the windmill, there was the schoolhouse +for the young pigs, which was started in March. Sometimes the long hours +on insufficient food were hard to bear, but Boxer never faltered. In +nothing that he said or did was there any sign that his strength was not +what it had been. It was only his appearance that was a little altered; +his hide was less shiny than it had used to be, and his great haunches +seemed to have shrunken. The others said, "Boxer will pick up when the +spring grass comes on"; but the spring came and Boxer grew no fatter. +Sometimes on the slope leading to the top of the quarry, when he braced +his muscles against the weight of some vast boulder, it seemed that +nothing kept him on his feet except the will to continue. At such times +his lips were seen to form the words, "I will work harder"; he had no +voice left. Once again Clover and Benjamin warned him to take care of his +health, but Boxer paid no attention. His twelfth birthday was approaching. +He did not care what happened so long as a good store of stone was +accumulated before he went on pension. + +Late one evening in the summer, a sudden rumour ran round the farm that +something had happened to Boxer. He had gone out alone to drag a load of +stone down to the windmill. And sure enough, the rumour was true. A few +minutes later two pigeons came racing in with the news; "Boxer has fallen! +He is lying on his side and can't get up!" + +About half the animals on the farm rushed out to the knoll where the +windmill stood. There lay Boxer, between the shafts of the cart, his neck +stretched out, unable even to raise his head. His eyes were glazed, his +sides matted with sweat. A thin stream of blood had trickled out of his +mouth. Clover dropped to her knees at his side. + +"Boxer!" she cried, "how are you?" + +"It is my lung," said Boxer in a weak voice. "It does not matter. I think +you will be able to finish the windmill without me. There is a pretty good +store of stone accumulated. I had only another month to go in any case. +To tell you the truth, I had been looking forward to my retirement. And +perhaps, as Benjamin is growing old too, they will let him retire at the +same time and be a companion to me." + +"We must get help at once," said Clover. "Run, somebody, and tell Squealer +what has happened." + +All the other animals immediately raced back to the farmhouse to give +Squealer the news. Only Clover remained, and Benjamin who lay down at +Boxer's side, and, without speaking, kept the flies off him with his long +tail. After about a quarter of an hour Squealer appeared, full of sympathy +and concern. He said that Comrade Napoleon had learned with the very +deepest distress of this misfortune to one of the most loyal workers on +the farm, and was already making arrangements to send Boxer to be treated +in the hospital at Willingdon. The animals felt a little uneasy at this. +Except for Mollie and Snowball, no other animal had ever left the farm, +and they did not like to think of their sick comrade in the hands of human +beings. However, Squealer easily convinced them that the veterinary +surgeon in Willingdon could treat Boxer's case more satisfactorily than +could be done on the farm. And about half an hour later, when Boxer had +somewhat recovered, he was with difficulty got on to his feet, and managed +to limp back to his stall, where Clover and Benjamin had prepared a good +bed of straw for him. + +For the next two days Boxer remained in his stall. The pigs had sent out a +large bottle of pink medicine which they had found in the medicine chest +in the bathroom, and Clover administered it to Boxer twice a day after +meals. In the evenings she lay in his stall and talked to him, while +Benjamin kept the flies off him. Boxer professed not to be sorry for what +had happened. If he made a good recovery, he might expect to live another +three years, and he looked forward to the peaceful days that he would +spend in the corner of the big pasture. It would be the first time that he +had had leisure to study and improve his mind. He intended, he said, to +devote the rest of his life to learning the remaining twenty-two letters +of the alphabet. + +However, Benjamin and Clover could only be with Boxer after working hours, +and it was in the middle of the day when the van came to take him away. +The animals were all at work weeding turnips under the supervision of a +pig, when they were astonished to see Benjamin come galloping from the +direction of the farm buildings, braying at the top of his voice. It was +the first time that they had ever seen Benjamin excited--indeed, it was +the first time that anyone had ever seen him gallop. "Quick, quick!" he +shouted. "Come at once! They're taking Boxer away!" Without waiting for +orders from the pig, the animals broke off work and raced back to the farm +buildings. Sure enough, there in the yard was a large closed van, drawn by +two horses, with lettering on its side and a sly-looking man in a +low-crowned bowler hat sitting on the driver's seat. And Boxer's stall was +empty. + +The animals crowded round the van. "Good-bye, Boxer!" they chorused, +"good-bye!" + +"Fools! Fools!" shouted Benjamin, prancing round them and stamping the +earth with his small hoofs. "Fools! Do you not see what is written on the +side of that van?" + +That gave the animals pause, and there was a hush. Muriel began to spell +out the words. But Benjamin pushed her aside and in the midst of a deadly +silence he read: + +"'Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer +in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied.' Do you not understand what that +means? They are taking Boxer to the knacker's!" + +A cry of horror burst from all the animals. At this moment the man on the +box whipped up his horses and the van moved out of the yard at a smart +trot. All the animals followed, crying out at the tops of their voices. +Clover forced her way to the front. The van began to gather speed. Clover +tried to stir her stout limbs to a gallop, and achieved a canter. "Boxer!" +she cried. "Boxer! Boxer! Boxer!" And just at this moment, as though he +had heard the uproar outside, Boxer's face, with the white stripe down his +nose, appeared at the small window at the back of the van. + +"Boxer!" cried Clover in a terrible voice. "Boxer! Get out! Get out +quickly! They're taking you to your death!" + +All the animals took up the cry of "Get out, Boxer, get out!" But the van +was already gathering speed and drawing away from them. It was uncertain +whether Boxer had understood what Clover had said. But a moment later his +face disappeared from the window and there was the sound of a tremendous +drumming of hoofs inside the van. He was trying to kick his way out. The +time had been when a few kicks from Boxer's hoofs would have smashed the +van to matchwood. But alas! his strength had left him; and in a few +moments the sound of drumming hoofs grew fainter and died away. In +desperation the animals began appealing to the two horses which drew the +van to stop. "Comrades, comrades!" they shouted. "Don't take your own +brother to his death!" But the stupid brutes, too ignorant to realise +what was happening, merely set back their ears and quickened their pace. +Boxer's face did not reappear at the window. Too late, someone thought of +racing ahead and shutting the five-barred gate; but in another moment the +van was through it and rapidly disappearing down the road. Boxer was never +seen again. + +Three days later it was announced that he had died in the hospital at +Willingdon, in spite of receiving every attention a horse could have. +Squealer came to announce the news to the others. He had, he said, been +present during Boxer's last hours. + +"It was the most affecting sight I have ever seen!" said Squealer, lifting +his trotter and wiping away a tear. "I was at his bedside at the very +last. And at the end, almost too weak to speak, he whispered in my ear +that his sole sorrow was to have passed on before the windmill was +finished. 'Forward, comrades!' he whispered. 'Forward in the name of the +Rebellion. Long live Animal Farm! Long live Comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is +always right.' Those were his very last words, comrades." + +Here Squealer's demeanour suddenly changed. He fell silent for a moment, +and his little eyes darted suspicious glances from side to side before he +proceeded. + +It had come to his knowledge, he said, that a foolish and wicked rumour +had been circulated at the time of Boxer's removal. Some of the animals +had noticed that the van which took Boxer away was marked "Horse +Slaughterer," and had actually jumped to the conclusion that Boxer was +being sent to the knacker's. It was almost unbelievable, said Squealer, +that any animal could be so stupid. Surely, he cried indignantly, whisking +his tail and skipping from side to side, surely they knew their beloved +Leader, Comrade Napoleon, better than that? But the explanation was really +very simple. The van had previously been the property of the knacker, and +had been bought by the veterinary surgeon, who had not yet painted the old +name out. That was how the mistake had arisen. + +The animals were enormously relieved to hear this. And when Squealer went +on to give further graphic details of Boxer's death-bed, the admirable +care he had received, and the expensive medicines for which Napoleon had +paid without a thought as to the cost, their last doubts disappeared and +the sorrow that they felt for their comrade's death was tempered by the +thought that at least he had died happy. + +Napoleon himself appeared at the meeting on the following Sunday morning +and pronounced a short oration in Boxer's honour. It had not been +possible, he said, to bring back their lamented comrade's remains for +interment on the farm, but he had ordered a large wreath to be made from +the laurels in the farmhouse garden and sent down to be placed on Boxer's +grave. And in a few days' time the pigs intended to hold a memorial +banquet in Boxer's honour. Napoleon ended his speech with a reminder of +Boxer's two favourite maxims, "I will work harder" and "Comrade Napoleon +is always right"--maxims, he said, which every animal would do well to +adopt as his own. + +On the day appointed for the banquet, a grocer's van drove up from +Willingdon and delivered a large wooden crate at the farmhouse. That night +there was the sound of uproarious singing, which was followed by what +sounded like a violent quarrel and ended at about eleven o'clock with a +tremendous crash of glass. No one stirred in the farmhouse before noon on +the following day, and the word went round that from somewhere or other +the pigs had acquired the money to buy themselves another case of whisky. + + + + + Chapter X + + + +Years passed. The seasons came and went, the short animal lives fled by. +A time came when there was no one who remembered the old days before the +Rebellion, except Clover, Benjamin, Moses the raven, and a number of the +pigs. + +Muriel was dead; Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher were dead. Jones too was +dead--he had died in an inebriates' home in another part of the country. +Snowball was forgotten. Boxer was forgotten, except by the few who had +known him. Clover was an old stout mare now, stiff in the joints and with +a tendency to rheumy eyes. She was two years past the retiring age, but in +fact no animal had ever actually retired. The talk of setting aside a +corner of the pasture for superannuated animals had long since been +dropped. Napoleon was now a mature boar of twenty-four stone. Squealer was +so fat that he could with difficulty see out of his eyes. Only old +Benjamin was much the same as ever, except for being a little greyer about +the muzzle, and, since Boxer's death, more morose and taciturn than ever. + +There were many more creatures on the farm now, though the increase was +not so great as had been expected in earlier years. Many animals had been +born to whom the Rebellion was only a dim tradition, passed on by word of +mouth, and others had been bought who had never heard mention of such a +thing before their arrival. The farm possessed three horses now besides +Clover. They were fine upstanding beasts, willing workers and good +comrades, but very stupid. None of them proved able to learn the alphabet +beyond the letter B. They accepted everything that they were told about +the Rebellion and the principles of Animalism, especially from Clover, for +whom they had an almost filial respect; but it was doubtful whether they +understood very much of it. + +The farm was more prosperous now, and better organised: it had even been +enlarged by two fields which had been bought from Mr. Pilkington. The +windmill had been successfully completed at last, and the farm possessed a +threshing machine and a hay elevator of its own, and various new buildings +had been added to it. Whymper had bought himself a dogcart. The windmill, +however, had not after all been used for generating electrical power. It +was used for milling corn, and brought in a handsome money profit. The +animals were hard at work building yet another windmill; when that one was +finished, so it was said, the dynamos would be installed. But the luxuries +of which Snowball had once taught the animals to dream, the stalls with +electric light and hot and cold water, and the three-day week, were no +longer talked about. Napoleon had denounced such ideas as contrary to the +spirit of Animalism. The truest happiness, he said, lay in working hard +and living frugally. + +Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the +animals themselves any richer-except, of course, for the pigs and the +dogs. Perhaps this was partly because there were so many pigs and so many +dogs. It was not that these creatures did not work, after their fashion. +There was, as Squealer was never tired of explaining, endless work in the +supervision and organisation of the farm. Much of this work was of a kind +that the other animals were too ignorant to understand. For example, +Squealer told them that the pigs had to expend enormous labours every day +upon mysterious things called "files," "reports," "minutes," and +"memoranda". These were large sheets of paper which had to be closely +covered with writing, and as soon as they were so covered, they were burnt +in the furnace. This was of the highest importance for the welfare of the +farm, Squealer said. But still, neither pigs nor dogs produced any food by +their own labour; and there were very many of them, and their appetites +were always good. + +As for the others, their life, so far as they knew, was as it had always +been. They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the +pool, they laboured in the fields; in winter they were troubled by the +cold, and in summer by the flies. Sometimes the older ones among them +racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early +days of the Rebellion, when Jones's expulsion was still recent, things had +been better or worse than now. They could not remember. There was nothing +with which they could compare their present lives: they had nothing to go +upon except Squealer's lists of figures, which invariably demonstrated +that everything was getting better and better. The animals found the +problem insoluble; in any case, they had little time for speculating on +such things now. Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of +his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be +much better or much worse--hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so +he said, the unalterable law of life. + +And yet the animals never gave up hope. More, they never lost, even for an +instant, their sense of honour and privilege in being members of Animal +Farm. They were still the only farm in the whole county--in all +England!--owned and operated by animals. Not one of them, not even the +youngest, not even the newcomers who had been brought from farms ten or +twenty miles away, ever ceased to marvel at that. And when they heard the +gun booming and saw the green flag fluttering at the masthead, their +hearts swelled with imperishable pride, and the talk turned always towards +the old heroic days, the expulsion of Jones, the writing of the Seven +Commandments, the great battles in which the human invaders had been +defeated. None of the old dreams had been abandoned. The Republic of the +Animals which Major had foretold, when the green fields of England should +be untrodden by human feet, was still believed in. Some day it was coming: +it might not be soon, it might not be with in the lifetime of any animal +now living, but still it was coming. Even the tune of 'Beasts of England' +was perhaps hummed secretly here and there: at any rate, it was a fact +that every animal on the farm knew it, though no one would have dared to +sing it aloud. It might be that their lives were hard and that not all of +their hopes had been fulfilled; but they were conscious that they were not +as other animals. If they went hungry, it was not from feeding tyrannical +human beings; if they worked hard, at least they worked for themselves. +No creature among them went upon two legs. No creature called any other +creature "Master." All animals were equal. + +One day in early summer Squealer ordered the sheep to follow him, and led +them out to a piece of waste ground at the other end of the farm, which +had become overgrown with birch saplings. The sheep spent the whole day +there browsing at the leaves under Squealer's supervision. In the evening +he returned to the farmhouse himself, but, as it was warm weather, told +the sheep to stay where they were. It ended by their remaining there for a +whole week, during which time the other animals saw nothing of them. +Squealer was with them for the greater part of every day. He was, he said, +teaching them to sing a new song, for which privacy was needed. + +It was just after the sheep had returned, on a pleasant evening when the +animals had finished work and were making their way back to the farm +buildings, that the terrified neighing of a horse sounded from the yard. +Startled, the animals stopped in their tracks. It was Clover's voice. She +neighed again, and all the animals broke into a gallop and rushed into the +yard. Then they saw what Clover had seen. + +It was a pig walking on his hind legs. + +Yes, it was Squealer. A little awkwardly, as though not quite used to +supporting his considerable bulk in that position, but with perfect +balance, he was strolling across the yard. And a moment later, out from +the door of the farmhouse came a long file of pigs, all walking on their +hind legs. Some did it better than others, one or two were even a trifle +unsteady and looked as though they would have liked the support of a +stick, but every one of them made his way right round the yard +successfully. And finally there was a tremendous baying of dogs and a +shrill crowing from the black cockerel, and out came Napoleon himself, +majestically upright, casting haughty glances from side to side, and with +his dogs gambolling round him. + +He carried a whip in his trotter. + +There was a deadly silence. Amazed, terrified, huddling together, the +animals watched the long line of pigs march slowly round the yard. It was +as though the world had turned upside-down. Then there came a moment when +the first shock had worn off and when, in spite of everything-in spite of +their terror of the dogs, and of the habit, developed through long years, +of never complaining, never criticising, no matter what happened--they +might have uttered some word of protest. But just at that moment, as +though at a signal, all the sheep burst out into a tremendous bleating of-- + +"Four legs good, two legs BETTER! Four legs good, two legs BETTER! Four +legs good, two legs BETTER!" + +It went on for five minutes without stopping. And by the time the sheep +had quieted down, the chance to utter any protest had passed, for the pigs +had marched back into the farmhouse. + +Benjamin felt a nose nuzzling at his shoulder. He looked round. It was +Clover. Her old eyes looked dimmer than ever. Without saying anything, she +tugged gently at his mane and led him round to the end of the big barn, +where the Seven Commandments were written. For a minute or two they stood +gazing at the tatted wall with its white lettering. + +"My sight is failing," she said finally. "Even when I was young I could +not have read what was written there. But it appears to me that that wall +looks different. Are the Seven Commandments the same as they used to be, +Benjamin?" + +For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what +was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single +Commandment. It ran: + +ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL +BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS + +After that it did not seem strange when next day the pigs who were +supervising the work of the farm all carried whips in their trotters. It +did not seem strange to learn that the pigs had bought themselves a +wireless set, were arranging to install a telephone, and had taken out +subscriptions to 'John Bull', 'Tit-Bits', and the 'Daily Mirror'. It did +not seem strange when Napoleon was seen strolling in the farmhouse garden +with a pipe in his mouth--no, not even when the pigs took Mr. Jones's +clothes out of the wardrobes and put them on, Napoleon himself appearing +in a black coat, ratcatcher breeches, and leather leggings, while his +favourite sow appeared in the watered silk dress which Mrs. Jones had been +used to wearing on Sundays. + +A week later, in the afternoon, a number of dog-carts drove up to the farm. +A deputation of neighbouring farmers had been invited to make a tour of +inspection. They were shown all over the farm, and expressed great +admiration for everything they saw, especially the windmill. The animals +were weeding the turnip field. They worked diligently hardly raising their +faces from the ground, and not knowing whether to be more frightened of +the pigs or of the human visitors. + +That evening loud laughter and bursts of singing came from the farmhouse. +And suddenly, at the sound of the mingled voices, the animals were +stricken with curiosity. What could be happening in there, now that for +the first time animals and human beings were meeting on terms of equality? +With one accord they began to creep as quietly as possible into the +farmhouse garden. + +At the gate they paused, half frightened to go on but Clover led the way +in. They tiptoed up to the house, and such animals as were tall enough +peered in at the dining-room window. There, round the long table, sat half +a dozen farmers and half a dozen of the more eminent pigs, Napoleon +himself occupying the seat of honour at the head of the table. The pigs +appeared completely at ease in their chairs. The company had been enjoying +a game of cards but had broken off for the moment, evidently in order to +drink a toast. A large jug was circulating, and the mugs were being +refilled with beer. No one noticed the wondering faces of the animals that +gazed in at the window. + +Mr. Pilkington, of Foxwood, had stood up, his mug in his hand. In a +moment, he said, he would ask the present company to drink a toast. But +before doing so, there were a few words that he felt it incumbent upon him +to say. + +It was a source of great satisfaction to him, he said--and, he was sure, +to all others present--to feel that a long period of mistrust and +misunderstanding had now come to an end. There had been a time--not that +he, or any of the present company, had shared such sentiments--but there +had been a time when the respected proprietors of Animal Farm had been +regarded, he would not say with hostility, but perhaps with a certain +measure of misgiving, by their human neighbours. Unfortunate incidents had +occurred, mistaken ideas had been current. It had been felt that the +existence of a farm owned and operated by pigs was somehow abnormal and +was liable to have an unsettling effect in the neighbourhood. Too many +farmers had assumed, without due enquiry, that on such a farm a spirit of +licence and indiscipline would prevail. They had been nervous about the +effects upon their own animals, or even upon their human employees. But +all such doubts were now dispelled. Today he and his friends had visited +Animal Farm and inspected every inch of it with their own eyes, and what +did they find? Not only the most up-to-date methods, but a discipline and +an orderliness which should be an example to all farmers everywhere. He +believed that he was right in saying that the lower animals on Animal Farm +did more work and received less food than any animals in the county. +Indeed, he and his fellow-visitors today had observed many features which +they intended to introduce on their own farms immediately. + +He would end his remarks, he said, by emphasising once again the friendly +feelings that subsisted, and ought to subsist, between Animal Farm and its +neighbours. Between pigs and human beings there was not, and there need +not be, any clash of interests whatever. Their struggles and their +difficulties were one. Was not the labour problem the same everywhere? +Here it became apparent that Mr. Pilkington was about to spring some +carefully prepared witticism on the company, but for a moment he was too +overcome by amusement to be able to utter it. After much choking, during +which his various chins turned purple, he managed to get it out: "If you +have your lower animals to contend with," he said, "we have our lower +classes!" This BON MOT set the table in a roar; and Mr. Pilkington once +again congratulated the pigs on the low rations, the long working hours, +and the general absence of pampering which he had observed on Animal Farm. + +And now, he said finally, he would ask the company to rise to their feet +and make certain that their glasses were full. "Gentlemen," concluded +Mr. Pilkington, "gentlemen, I give you a toast: To the prosperity of +Animal Farm!" + +There was enthusiastic cheering and stamping of feet. Napoleon was so +gratified that he left his place and came round the table to clink his +mug against Mr. Pilkington's before emptying it. When the cheering had +died down, Napoleon, who had remained on his feet, intimated that he too +had a few words to say. + +Like all of Napoleon's speeches, it was short and to the point. He too, +he said, was happy that the period of misunderstanding was at an end. For +a long time there had been rumours--circulated, he had reason to think, +by some malignant enemy--that there was something subversive and even +revolutionary in the outlook of himself and his colleagues. They had been +credited with attempting to stir up rebellion among the animals on +neighbouring farms. Nothing could be further from the truth! Their sole +wish, now and in the past, was to live at peace and in normal business +relations with their neighbours. This farm which he had the honour to +control, he added, was a co-operative enterprise. The title-deeds, which +were in his own possession, were owned by the pigs jointly. + +He did not believe, he said, that any of the old suspicions still +lingered, but certain changes had been made recently in the routine of the +farm which should have the effect of promoting confidence still further. +Hitherto the animals on the farm had had a rather foolish custom of +addressing one another as "Comrade." This was to be suppressed. There had +also been a very strange custom, whose origin was unknown, of marching +every Sunday morning past a boar's skull which was nailed to a post in the +garden. This, too, would be suppressed, and the skull had already been +buried. His visitors might have observed, too, the green flag which flew +from the masthead. If so, they would perhaps have noted that the white +hoof and horn with which it had previously been marked had now been +removed. It would be a plain green flag from now onwards. + +He had only one criticism, he said, to make of Mr. Pilkington's excellent +and neighbourly speech. Mr. Pilkington had referred throughout to +"Animal Farm." He could not of course know--for he, Napoleon, was only +now for the first time announcing it--that the name "Animal Farm" +had been abolished. Henceforward the farm was to be known as "The Manor +Farm"--which, he believed, was its correct and original name. + +"Gentlemen," concluded Napoleon, "I will give you the same toast as +before, but in a different form. Fill your glasses to the brim. Gentlemen, +here is my toast: To the prosperity of The Manor Farm!" + +There was the same hearty cheering as before, and the mugs were emptied to +the dregs. But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to +them that some strange thing was happening. What was it that had altered +in the faces of the pigs? Clover's old dim eyes flitted from one face to +another. Some of them had five chins, some had four, some had three. But +what was it that seemed to be melting and changing? Then, the applause +having come to an end, the company took up their cards and continued the +game that had been interrupted, and the animals crept silently away. + +But they had not gone twenty yards when they stopped short. An uproar of +voices was coming from the farmhouse. They rushed back and looked through +the window again. Yes, a violent quarrel was in progress. There were +shoutings, bangings on the table, sharp suspicious glances, furious +denials. The source of the trouble appeared to be that Napoleon and +Mr. Pilkington had each played an ace of spades simultaneously. + +Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, +now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside +looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; +but already it was impossible to say which was which. -- cgit v1.2.3