George Orwell. Animal Farm
George Orwell "Animal Farm", 1946
Table of contents
I
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:
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.
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.
land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who
dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times no! The soil of England is
fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance
to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it. This single
farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of
sheep-and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost
beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this miserable condition?
Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us by
human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is
summed up in a single word-Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove
Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished
for ever.
not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he
cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals.
He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will
prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labour
tills the soil, our dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that
owns more than his bare skin. You cows that I see before me, how many
thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year? And what
has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdy calves?
Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how
many eggs have you laid in this last year, and how many of those eggs ever
hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market to bring in money
for Jones and his men. And you, Clover, where are those four foals you bore,
who should have been the support and pleasure of your old age? Each was sold
at a year old-you will never see one of them again. In return for your four
confinements and all your labour in the fields, what have you ever had
except your bare rations and a stall?
their natural span. For myself I do not grumble, for I am one of the lucky
ones. I am twelve years old and have had over four hundred children. Such is
the natural life of a pig. But no animal escapes the cruel knife in the end.
You young porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will
scream your lives out at the block within a year. To that horror we all must
come-cows, pigs, hens, sheep, everyone. Even the horses and the dogs have no
better fate. You, Boxer, the very day that those great muscles of yours lose
their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your throat
and boil you down for the foxhounds. As for the dogs, when they grow old and
toothless, Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the
nearest pond.
this life of ours spring from the tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of
Man, and the produce of our labour would be our own. A1most overnight we
could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work night and day,
body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to
you, comrades: Rebellion! I do not know when that Rebellion will come, it
might be in a week or in a hundred years, but I know, as surely as I see
this straw beneath my feet, that sooner or later justice will be done. Fix
your eyes on that, comrades, throughout the short remainder of your lives!
And above all, pass on this message of mine to those who come after you, so
that future generations shall carry on the struggle until it is victorious.
argument must lead you astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and
the animals have a common interest, that the prosperity of the one is the
prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interests of no
creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity,
perfect comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are
comrades."
speaking four large rats had crept out of their holes and were sitting on
their hindquarters, listening to him. The dogs had suddenly caught sight of
them, and it was only by a swift dash for their holes that the rats saved
their lives. Major raised his trotter for silence.
wild creatures, such as rats and rabbits-are they our friends or our
enemies? Let us put it to the vote. I propose this question to the meeting:
Are rats comrades?"
majority that rats were comrades. There were only four dissentients, the
three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both
sides. Major continued:
duty of enmity towards Man and all his ways. Whatever goes upon two legs is
an enemy. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. And
remember also that in fighting against Man, we must not come to resemble
him. Even when you have conquered him, do not adopt his vices. No animal
must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink
alcohol, or smoke tobacco, or touch money, or engage in trade. All the
habits of Man are evil. And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over
his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers. No
animal must ever kill any other animal. All animals are equal.
cannot describe that dream to you. It was a dream of the earth as it will be
when Man has vanished. But it reminded me of something that I had long
forgotten. Many years ago, when I was a little pig, my mother and the other
sows used to sing an old song of which they knew only the tune and the first
three words. I had known that tune in my infancy, but it had long since
passed out of my mind. Last night, however, it came back to me in my dream.
And what is more, the words of the song also came back-words, I am certain,
which were sung by the animals of long ago and have been lost to memory for
generations. I will sing you that song now, comrades. I am old and my voice
is hoarse, but when I have taught you the tune, you can sing it better for
yourselves. It is called Beasts of England."
voice was hoarse, but he sang well enough, and it was a stirring tune,
something between Clementine and La Cucaracha. The words ran:
- Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
- Beasts of every land and clime,
- Hearken to my joyful tidings
- Of the golden future time.
- Soon or late the day is coming,
- Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,
- And the fruitful fields of England
- Shall be trod by beasts alone.
- Rings shall vanish from our noses,
- And the harness from our back,
- Bit and spur shall rust forever,
- Cruel whips no more shall crack.
- Riches more than mind can picture,
- Wheat and barley, oats and hay,
- Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels
- Shall be ours upon that day.
- Bright will shine the fields of England,
- Purer shall its waters be,
- Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
- On the day that sets us free.
- For that day we all must labour,
- Though we die before it break;
- Cows and horses, geese and turkeys,
- All must toil for freedom's sake.
- Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,
- Beasts of every land and clime,
- Hearken well and spread my tidings
- Of the golden future time.
- Beasts of every land and clime,
excitement. Almost before Major had reached the end, they had begun singing
it for themselves. Even the stupidest of them had already picked up the tune
and a few of the words, and as for the clever ones, such as the pigs and
dogs, they had the entire song by heart within a few minutes. And then,
after a few preliminary tries, the whole farm burst out into Beasts of
England in tremendous unison. The cows lowed it, the dogs whined it, the
sheep bleated it, the horses whinnied it, the ducks quacked it. They were so
delighted with the song that they sang it right through five times in
succession, and might have continued singing it all night if they had not
been interrupted.
making sure that there was a fox in the yard. He seized the gun which always
stood in a corner of his bedroom, and let fly a charge of number 6 shot into
the darkness. The pellets buried themselves in the wall of the barn and the
meeting broke up hurriedly. Everyone fled to his own sleeping-place. The
birds jumped on to their perches, the animals settled down in the straw, and
the whole farm was asleep in a moment.
