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 8, 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.