(Chapter-1 from the Project Gutenberg Australia on 8 March 2008.)
As soon as the light in the bedroom went out there
was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. Word had gone
round during the day that old Major, the prize Middle White boar, had had a
strange dream on the previous night and wished to communicate it to the other
animals.
It had been
agreed that they should all meet in the big barn as soon as Mr. Jones was
safely out of the way. Old Major (so he was always called, though the name
under which he had been exhibited was Willingdon Beauty) was so highly regarded
on the farm that everyone was quite ready to lose an hour's sleep in order to
hear what he had to say.
At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was already ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam. He was twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut.
Before long the
other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their
different fashions. First came the three dogs, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher,
and then the pigs, who settled down in the straw immediately in front of the
platform. The hens perched themselves on the window-sills, the pigeons
fluttered up to the rafters, the sheep and cows lay down behind the pigs and
began to chew the cud.
The two
cart-horses, Boxer and Clover, came in together, walking very slowly and
setting down their vast hairy hoofs with great care lest there should be some
small animal concealed in the straw. Clover was a stout motherly mare
approaching middle life, who had never quite got her figure back after her
fourth foal. Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as
strong as any two ordinary horses put together. A white stripe down his nose
gave him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact he was not of first-rate
intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character
and tremendous powers of work.
After the horses
came Muriel, the white goat, and Benjamin, the donkey. Benjamin was the oldest
animal on the farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did,
it 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.
"But is this simply part of the order of
nature? Is it because this 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.
"Man is the only creature that consumes without
producing. He does 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?
"And even the miserable lives we lead are not
allowed to reach 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.
"Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that
all the evils of 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. Almost
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.
"And remember, comrades, your resolution must
never falter. No 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."
At this moment
there was a tremendous uproar. While Major was 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.
"Comrades,"
he said, "here is a point that must be settled. The 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?"
The vote was
taken at once, and it was agreed by an overwhelming 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:
"I have little more to say. I merely repeat,
remember always your 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.
"And now, comrades, I will tell you about my
dream of last night. I 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'."
Old Major
cleared his throat and began to sing. As he had said, his 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.
The singing of this song threw the animals into the wildest 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.
Unfortunately, the uproar awoke Mr. Jones, who sprang out of bed, 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.
