Animal Farm

the  World over his  face, so  that  when evening came,  the animals were  still  unfed. At  last they could stand  it

no longer.  One of the cows broke in the  door of the store−shed with  her  horn and  all the  animals  began  to

help  themselves from the bins. It was just then that Mr. Jones  woke up. The next  moment he and his four men

were in the store−shed  with whips in their hands,  lashing out in all  directions.  This was  more than the hungry

animals could  bear.  With  one  accord,  though  nothing of  the  kind  had  been  planned  beforehand, they  flung

themselves upon  their tormentors. Jones and his men  suddenly  found  themselves  being  butted  and kicked

from all  sides.  The  situation  was quite out of their control. They had never seen animals behave  like  this

before, and this sudden uprising of creatures whom they  were used  to thrashing and maltreating  just as they

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chose, frightened  them almost out  of their  wits. After only a moment or  two they  gave  up  trying  to defend

themselves and took  to their heels. A minute  later all five of them were in  full flight down the  cart−track that

led to the main road, with the animals  pursuing them in triumph. 

Mrs.  Jones  looked  out  of  the  bedroom  window,  saw  what  was  happening, hurriedly flung a few possessions

into a carpet bag, and  slipped  out of the farm by another way. Moses sprang off his perch  and flapped after

her, croaking loudly. Meanwhile the animals had  chased Jones and his men out  on to the road and slammed

the  five−barred gate  behind them. And so, almost  before  they knew  what  was happening, the  Rebellion  had

been successfully  carried through:  Jones was expelled, and the Manor Farm was theirs. 

For the first few minutes the animals could hardly believe in their  good  fortune. Their  first act  was to gallop

in  a body  right  round  the  boundaries of the farm, as though to make quite sure that  no human being was

hiding anywhere upon it; then they raced back  to  the farm buildings to wipe  out  the last traces of Jones's

hated  reign. The harness−room at the end  of  the stables was broken open;  the bits, the nose−rings,  the

dog−chains, the  cruel  knives with  which Mr. Jones had been  used  to castrate the pigs  and  lambs,  were  all

flung down the well. The reins, the halters, the  blinkers,  the  degrading nosebags, were thrown on to the

rubbish fire which was  burning  in the yard. So  were the whips. All  the animals capered with  joy when they

saw the whips going  up in  flames. Snowball also threw  on to the  fire the  ribbons with which the horses'

manes and tails  had usually been decorated on  market days. 

"Ribbons," he said, "should be considered as clothes, which are the  mark of a human being. All animals

should go naked." 

When Boxer heard this he fetched the small straw  hat which he wore  in summer to keep  the flies out of his

ears,  and flung it on to  the  fire  with the rest. 

In a  very little  while the animals had  destroyed everything that  reminded them of  Mr. Jones. Napoleon then

led them back  to the  store−shed  and served out a double  ration  of corn to everybody,  with two biscuits for

each dog.  Then  they  sang Beasts of  England from end to  end  seven times  running, and after that they  settled

down for the night  and slept as they  had never slept before. 

But  they woke  at dawn as  usual,  and  suddenly  remembering  the  glorious  thing  that  had  happened, they all

raced  out into  the  pasture  together. A little way down  the pasture there  was a knoll  that commanded a  view of

most of  the farm. The  animals rushed to  the top of  it  and gazed  round them  in  the clear morning light.  Yes, it

was theirs−everything that  they could see was  theirs!  In  the ecstasy  of that  thought they gambolled  round  and

round,  they  hurled themselves into the  air in  great  leaps  of  excitement.  They  rolled in the dew,  they  cropped

mouthfuls of the  sweet  summer  grass, they kicked up  clods of the black earth  and snuffed its rich  scent. Then

they  made  a tour of inspection of the whole farm and  surveyed  with  speechless admiration  the ploughland,

the hayfield,  the  orchard, the  pool, the spinney. It was as though they had never  seen these things before,  and

even now they could hardly believe that  it was all their own. 

Then they filed back to the farm buildings and  halted  in  silence  outside  the door of  the farmhouse.  That  was

theirs too,  but they  were  frightened to go  inside.  After  a moment, however,  Snowball  and  Napoleon  butted

the door open with their shoulders and the  animals  entered in single  file, walking  with the utmost  care for  fear

of disturbing anything.  They  tiptoed from room to room, afraid  to speak above a whisper and gazing with a

kind  of  awe  at the  unbelievable luxury, at  the beds  with their  feather  mattresses, the  looking−glasses, the

horsehair sofa, the  Brussels  carpet,  the  lithograph  of Queen  Victoria  over the drawing−room mantelpiece.

They  were lust coming  down the stairs when  Mollie was discovered to  be missing.  Going  back, the  others

found  that she  had  remained  behind  in the best  bedroom.  She  had  taken  a  piece  of  blue  ribbon  from  Mrs.

Jones's  dressing−table, and was holding it  against her shoulder and admiring herself  in the  glass in a very

foolish manner. The  others  reproached her sharply,  and  they went  outside. Some hams hanging in the kitchen

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were taken out for  burial,  and the barrel of beer in the scullery was stove in with a kick from  Boxer's

hoof,−otherwise  nothing  in the  house  was touched.  A  unanimous  resolution was  passed on the spot that the

farmhouse  should be preserved as  a museum. All were agreed that no animal must  ever live there. 

The animals had  their  breakfast, and then  Snowball and  Napoleon  called them together again. 

"Comrades," said Snowball, "it is half−past six and we  have a long  day  before us. Today we begin the hay

harvest. But there is  another  matter  that must be attended to first." 

The  pigs now revealed that during  the past three months they  had  taught  themselves  to  read and write from an

old  spelling book  which had  belonged to Mr.  Jones's  children and which had been  thrown  on the rubbish

heap. Napoleon sent for pots of black  and  white paint  and led the way down  to the five−barred gate that gave

on  to the main road. Then Snowball (for it  was Snowball who was best  at  writing) took a brush between the

two knuckles  of his trotter, painted  out 

MANOR FARM

 from the top bar  of the gate and  in its place painted

ANIMAL FARM

.  This  was to  be the name of the  farm  from now onwards. After this they went back  to  the farm

buildings, where Snowball and Napoleon sent for  a ladder  which  they caused to be  set against the  end wall of

the big barn.  They explained  that by their studies of  the past  three months the  pigs had succeeded  in  reducing

the  principles of Animalism to  Seven  Commandments.  These  Seven  Commandments  would  now  be  inscribed

on the  wall;  they  would form  an  unalterable law by  which all the  animals on Animal  Farm must live for ever

after. With  some difficulty (for it is not easy for a pig to balance himself  on a  ladder) Snowball climbed up

and set to work, with Squealer a  few rungs  below him holding the paint−pot. The Commandments were

written on the  tarred  wall in great white letters that could  be read thirty yards  away.  They ran  thus: