Animal Farm

Chapter I

was usually to make some cynical remark--for instance, he would say that

God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner

have had no tail and no flies. Alone among the animals on the farm he

never laughed. If asked why, he would say that he saw nothing to laugh at.

Nevertheless, without openly admitting it, he was devoted to Boxer; the

two of them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock

beyond the orchard, grazing side by side and never speaking.

The two horses had just lain down when a brood of ducklings, which had

lost their mother, filed into the barn, cheeping feebly and wandering from

side to side to find some place where they would not be trodden on. Clover

made a sort of wall round them with her great foreleg, and the ducklings

nestled down inside it and promptly fell asleep. At the last moment

Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came

mincing daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar. She took a place near the

front and began flirting her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the

red ribbons it was plaited with. Last of all came the cat, who looked

round, as usual, for the warmest place, and finally squeezed herself in

between Boxer and Clover; there she purred contentedly throughout Major's

speech without listening to a word of what he was saying.

All the animals were now present except Moses, the tame raven, who slept

on a perch behind the back door. When Major saw that they had all made

themselves comfortable and were waiting attentively, he cleared his throat

and began:

"Comrades, you have heard already about the strange dream that I had last

night. But I will come to the dream later. I have something else to say

first. I do not think, comrades, that I shall be with you for many months

longer, and before I die, I feel it my duty to pass on to you such wisdom

as I have acquired. I have had a long life, I have had much time for

thought as I lay alone in my stall, and I think I may say that I

understand the nature of life on this earth as well as any animal now

living. It is about this that I wish to speak to you.

"Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it:

our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given

just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us

who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength;

and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are

slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning

of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is

free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.