The enemy both external and
internal
has been defeated.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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. JJe 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
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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
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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.
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
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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
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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
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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 beingdone 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
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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 Hero7 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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
Animal Farm by George Orwell
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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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. JJe 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
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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
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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.
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
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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
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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
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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 beingdone 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
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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 Hero7 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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
