← This was just what Snowball had intended. As soon as they were well inside the yard, the three horses, the three cows, and the rest of the pigs, who had been lying in ambush in the cowshed, suddenly emerged in their rear, cutting them off. 🔊
← There was much discussion as to what the battle should be called. In the end, it was named the Battle of the Cowshed, since that was where the ambush had been sprung. 🔊
← It was decided to set the gun up at the foot of the Flagstaff, like a piece of artillery, and to fire it twice a year−once on October the twelfth, the anniversary of the Battle of the Cowshed, and once on Midsummer Day, the anniversary of the Rebellion. 🔊
← It was fully realised that though the human beings had been defeated in the Battle of the Cowshed they might make another and more determined attempt to recapture the farm and reinstate Mr. Jones. 🔊
← "He fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed," said somebody. "Bravery is not enough," said Squealer. 🔊
← "Loyalty and obedience are more important. And as to the Battle of the Cowshed, I believe the time will come when we shall find that Snowball's part in it was much exaggerated. 🔊
← To my mind this explains a great deal, comrades. Did we not see for ourselves how he attempted−fortunately without success−to get us defeated and destroyed at the Battle of the Cowshed?" 🔊
← But it was some minutes before they could fully take it in. They all remembered, or thought they remembered, how they had seen Snowball charging ahead of them at the Battle of the Cowshed, how he had rallied and encouraged them at every turn, and how he had not paused for an instant even when the pellets from Jones's gun had wounded his back. 🔊
← "I do not believe that," he said. "Snowball fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed. 🔊
← "What he has done since is different. But I believe that at the Battle of the Cowshed he was a good comrade." 🔊
← This was merely a legend which had been spread some time after the Battle of the Cowshed by Snowball himself. 🔊
← Boldly enough the animals sallied forth to meet them, but this time they did not have the easy victory that they had had in the Battle of the Cowshed. 🔊
← It now appeared that Snowball had not, as the animals had previously imagined, merely attempted to lose the Battle of the Cowshed by means of a stratagem, but had been openly fighting on Jones's side. 🔊