← All men are enemies. All animals are comrades." At this moment there was a tremendous uproar. 🔊
← They were unfailing in their attendance at the secret meetings in the barn, and led the singing of Beasts of England, with which the meetings always ended. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← The animals listened first to Napoleon, then to Snowball, and could not make up their minds which was right; indeed, they always found themselves in agreement with the one who was speaking at the moment. 🔊
← At last the day came when Snowball's plans were completed. At the Meeting on the following Sunday the question of whether or not to begin work on the windmill was to be put to the vote. 🔊
← The plans, however, had all been prepared, down to the last detail. A special committee of pigs had been at work upon them for the past three weeks. 🔊
← If they had no more food than they had had in Jones's day, at least they did not have less. 🔊
← Afterwards Squealer made a round of the farm and set the animals' minds at rest. 🔊
← In the morning the animals came out of their stalls to find that the flagstaff had been blown down and an elm tree at the foot of the orchard had been plucked up like a radish. 🔊
← The plot was for Snowball, at the critical moment, to give the signal for flight and leave the field to the enemy. 🔊
← "I do not believe that Snowball was a traitor at the beginning," he said finally. 🔊
← "What he has done since is different. But I believe that at the Battle of the Cowshed he was a good comrade." 🔊
← In the autumn, by a tremendous, exhausting effort−for the harvest had to be gathered at almost the same time−the windmill was finished. 🔊
← The young pigs were piebald, and as Napoleon was the only boar on the farm, it was possible to guess at their parentage. 🔊
← At the appointed time the animals would leave their work and march round the precincts of the farm in military formation, with the pigs leading, then the horses, then the cows, then the sheep, and then the poultry. 🔊
← So that, what with the songs, the processions, Squealer's lists of figures, the thunder of the gun, the crowing of the cockerel, and the fluttering of the flag, they were able to forget that their bellies were empty, at least part of the time. 🔊
← The animals felt a little uneasy at this. Except for Mollie and Snowball, no other animal had ever left the farm, and they did not like to think of their sick comrade in the hands of human beings. 🔊
← Like all of Napoleon's speeches, it was short and to the point. He too, he said, was happy that the period of misunderstanding was at an end. 🔊
← But as the animals outside gazed at the scene, it seemed to them that some strange thing was happening. 🔊