The Rebellion took place early and easily. In past years Mr. Jones was a good farmer. But now evil days arrived. He became much disheartened. He lost money in a lawsuit, and became a drunker. He liked to do absolutely nothing in his chair in the kitchen. He liked to read the newspapers, drink and occasionally feed Moses. His workers were idle and dishonest. The fields were full of weeds, the buildings ruined, and the animals were hungry.
June came and the hay was almost ready. On Midsummers Eve, which was a Saturday, Mr. Jones went into Willingdon and did not come back till midday on Sunday. The workers milked the cows in the early morning and then went out. They did not feed the animals. When Mr. Jones came back he immediately went to sleep on the sofa with the newspaper over his face. When evening came, the animals were still hungry. At last they began to protest.
One of the cows broke in the door of the store-shed with her horn. Then all the animals began to eat from the bins. It was just then that Mr. Jones woke up. The next moment he and his four men stood with whips in their hands. This was too much![10]
The hungry animals ran to their tormentors. The animals butted and kicked Jones and his men from all sides. This sudden rebellion of animals frightened the farmer and his workers a lot. Soon the men ran away. A minute later all five of them were in the cart-track that led to the main road. The animals pursued them in triumph.
Mrs. Jones looked out of the bedroom window. She saw what happened, hurriedly took a few bags and slipped out of the farm. Moses flapped after her, he croaked loudly. Meanwhile the animals chased Jones and his men on the road and slammed the five-barred gate behind them. So Jones was expelled, and the Manor Farm was not his anymore.
For the first few minutes the animals did not believe in their good fortune[11]. They ran round the boundaries of the farm to see that no man was there. Then they raced back to the farm buildings to wipe out the last traces of Joness reign.
The harness-room at the end of the stables was open. The bits, the nose-rings, the dog-chains, the cruel knives with which Mr. Jones castrated the pigs and lambs, were all on the ground. The animals threw the reins, the halters, the blinkers and the whips into the fire. All the animals moaned when they saw the whips in flames. Snowball also threw into the fire the ribbons with which the horses manes and tails were usually decorated on market days.
Ribbons, he said, are the mans clothes. All animals must go naked.
Soon the animals destroyed everything that reminded them of Mr. Jones. Napoleon then led them back to the store-shed and gave a double ration of corn to everybody. More over, each dog got two biscuits. Then they sang 'Beasts of England seven times, and after that they went to sleep peacefully.
But they woke at dawn as usual, and suddenly remembered the glorious victory. So they all ran to the pasture together. A little way down the pasture there was a knoll. The animals rushed to the top of it. Yes, it was theirs-everything was theirs! In the ecstasy, they gambolled round and round, they hurled themselves into the air. They rolled in the dew, they cropped mouthfuls of the sweet summer grass. They kicked up clods of the black earth. Then they made a tour of inspection of the whole farm. They surveyed the ploughland, the hayfield, the orchard, the pool, the spinney. They did not believe their eyes everything was theirs!
Then they came back to the farm buildings and halted outside the door of the farmhouse. It was their house too, but they were frightened to go inside. After a moment, however, Snowball and Napoleon opened the door with their shoulders and the animals entered. They tiptoed from room to room. They were afraid to speak loudly. They gazed with awe at the unbelievable luxury, at the beds with their feather mattresses, the looking-glasses, the horsehair sofa, the carpet, the lithograph of Queen Victoria over the mantelpiece. They came down the stairs and saw Mollie.
They went back and found that she was in the best bedroom. She took a piece of blue ribbon from Mrs. Joness dressing-table. She held it against her shoulder and admired herself in the mirror. The others reproached her. The animals took some hams from the kitchen to bury them. Boxers hoof kicked the barrel of beer in the scullery. They did not touch anything in the house. The farmhouse will be a museum. No animal must live there.
The animals had their breakfast. Then Snowball and Napoleon called them together again.
Comrades, said Snowball, it is half-past six. We have a long day before us. Today we begin the hay harvest. But there is another matter.
During the past three months the pigs taught themselves to read and write from an old book which belonged to Mr. Joness children. Napoleon took the black and white paint and went to the gate. Then Snowball (Snowball was the best writer) took a brush between the two knuckles of his trotter. He paintedout[12] MANOR FARM from the top of the gate and in its place painted ANIMAL FARM. This was the real name of the farm!
After this they went back to the farm buildings. Snowball and Napoleon sent for a ladder. They set it against the end wall of the big barn. They explained the pigs reduced the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandments. These Seven Commandments will now be written on the wall. They will form an unalterable law for all the animals on Animal Farm.
With some difficulty (for it is not easy for a pig to balance himself on a ladder) Snowball climbed up and began to work. Squealer held the paint-pot[13]. The Commandments were written on the wall in great white letters:
The Seven Commandments1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal must wear clothes.
4. No animal must sleep in a bed.
5. No animal must drink alcohol.
6. No animal must kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.
It was very good. Except that the word friend was written freind and one of the Ss was the wrong way round[14], the spelling was correct. Snowball read it aloud. All the animals nodded in agreement. The cleverer animals began to learn the Commandments by heart.
Now, comrades, cried Snowball and threw down the paint-brush, to the hayfield! Let us work more quickly than Jones and his men!
But at this moment the three cows began to moo. They were not milked for twenty-four hours. After a little thought, the pigs sent for buckets and milked the cows successfully. Soon there were five buckets of milk. Many of the animals looked at the buckets with interest.
What will happen to that milk? said someone.
Jones sometimes mixed some of it in our mash, said one of the hens.
Dont think about the milk, comrades! cried Napoleon and stood in front of the buckets. The harvest is more important. Comrade Snowball will lead the way. I shall follow in a few minutes. Forward, comrades! The hay waits for us!
So the animals went to the hayfield to begin to work. When they came back in the evening the milk disappeared.
Chapter III
How they toiled and sweated! But their efforts were rewarded. The harvest was even bigger than they hoped.
Sometimes the work was hard. The instruments were for men and not for animals. At first, no animal was able to use any tool. But the pigs were very clever. They found the way. As for the horses, they knew every inch of the field, and understood the business better than Jones and his men.
Chapter III
How they toiled and sweated! But their efforts were rewarded. The harvest was even bigger than they hoped.
Sometimes the work was hard. The instruments were for men and not for animals. At first, no animal was able to use any tool. But the pigs were very clever. They found the way. As for the horses, they knew every inch of the field, and understood the business better than Jones and his men.
The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. They had their superior knowledge, so they were the leaders.
Boxer and Clover harnessed themselves to the cutter or the horse-rake. No bits or reins, of course. Then they and tramped steadily round and round the field. A pig walked behind and called out Gee up, comrade! or Whoa back, comrade!
Every animal worked. They turned the hay and gathered it. Even the ducks and hens toiled all day in the sun. They carried tiny wisps of hay in their beaks. In the end they finished the harvest sooner than usually did Jones and his men. Moreover, it was the biggest harvest on the farm. There was no wastage. The hens and ducks with their sharp eyes gathered up every stalk. And nobody on the farm stole anything.
In that summer the work of the farm went like clockwork. The animals were happy. Every mouthful of food was their big pleasure. It was truly their own food. They produced it by themselves and for themselves! The worthless parasitical men are gone, there was more food for everyone. There was more leisure too.
But the animals met with many difficulties. For instance, when they harvested the corn, they treaded it out blew away the chaff with their breath. But the pigs with their cleverness and Boxer with his tremendous muscles always helped them. Everybody admired Boxer. He was a hard worker even in Joness time. Now he worked like three horses. There were days when the entire work of the farm rested on his mighty shoulders. From morning to night he pushed and pulled something. One of the cockerels called him very early in the mornings to start his work. His answer to every problem was I will work harder! It was his personal motto.
Everyone worked according to his capacity. The hens and ducks, for instance, saved five bushels of corn at the harvest. They gathered up the stray grains. Nobody stole, nobody grumbled over his rations. The quarrels and jealousy which were normal features of life in the old days almost disappeared. Nobody shirked-or almost nobody.
Mollie, it was true, did not like to get up early in the mornings. She was always ready to leave work early when she saw a stone in her hoof. And the behaviour of the cat was peculiar. When there was work the cat was always absent. She vanished for hours, and then reappeared at meal-times, or in the evening after work. But she always made excellent excuses, and purred affectionately. It was impossible not to believe in her good intentions.
Old Benjamin, the donkey, seemed unchanged since the Rebellion. He did his work slowly as in Joness time. He never shirked and never volunteered for extra work either. He expressed no opinion about the Rebellion and its results. When the others asked him whether he was happy or not, he said only Donkeys live a long time. None of you saw dead donkey, right?
On Sundays there was no work. Breakfast was an hour later than usual. After breakfast there was a ceremony. First came the hoisting of the flag. Snowball found in the harness-room an old green tablecloth of Mrs. Joness. He painted on it a hoof and a horn in white. This was the flag in the farmhouse garden. The flag was green, Snowball explained, to represent the green fields of England. And the hoof and horn signified the future Republic of the Animals. This Republic will arise when the human race is finally disappeared.
After that all the animals trooped into the big barn for a general assembly. It was called the Meeting. Here they planned the work of the next week and put forward some resolutions. It was always the pigs who put forward the resolutions. The other animals understood how to vote, but they never thought of their own resolutions.
Snowball and Napoleon were the most active in the debates. But these clever pigs were never in agreement. Whatever suggestion either of them made, the other was against it. Even when the animals resolved to set aside the small paddock behind the orchard as a home of rest for the old animals, there was a stormy debate over the correct retiring age[15] for each class of animal. The Meeting always ended with the song 'Beasts of England.
The harness-room was a headquarters for the pigs. Here, in the evenings, they studied necessary arts from books which they brought out of the farmhouse. Snowball also organized the other animals into 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 that there were classes in reading and writing.
But these projects were a failure. The attempt to tame the wild creatures, for instance, broke down almost immediately. If someone treated the wild animals with generosity, they simply took advantage of it. The cat joined the Re-education Committee and was very active in it for some days. One day she sat on a roof and talked to some sparrows. She told them that all animals were now comrades and invited sparrows to 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.
As for the pigs, they read and wrote perfectly. The dogs learned to read fairly well, but were not interested in this art. They read the Seven Commandments only. Muriel, the goat, read better than the dogs, and sometimes read to the others in the evenings from scraps of newspaper which she found on the rubbish heap.
Benjamin read as well as a pig, but never exercised his faculty. He said, this was useless. Clover learned the alphabet, but to put words together was a problem. Boxer knew the first four letters of the alphabet only. He wrote A, B, C, D, in the dust with his great hoof, and then stared at the letters. Sometimes he shook his forelock, and tried to remember what came next. He never succeeded. On several occasions, indeed, he learned E, F, G, H, but he suddenly forgot A, B, C, and D. Finally he decided to be content with the first four letters. He wrote them once or twice every day to refresh his memory.
Mollie learned six letters which spelt her own name. She made these letters from some twigs, and then decorated them with flowers and walked round them.
The other animals on the farm knew the letter A only. And this was enough. The stupider animals, such as the sheep, hens, and ducks, were unable to learn the Seven Commandments by heart. Snowball offered to reduce the Seven Commandments to a single maxim: Four legs good, two legs bad. This, he said, contained the essential principle of Animalism. The birds at first objected, since they also had two legs, but Snowball said,
A birds wing, comrades, is an organ of propulsion and not of manipulation. Therefore it is a leg. The mark of man is the HAND, the instrument with which he does all his mischief.
The birds did not understand Snowballs long words, but they accepted his explanation. All the humbler animals began 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. The animals liked this maxim very much. Often as they lay in the field they started to bleat Four legs good, two legs bad! Four legs good, two legs bad! for hours.