← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← While Major was speaking four large rats had crept out of their holes and were sitting on their hindquarters, listening to him. 🔊
← Major raised his trotter for silence. 🔊
← Major continued: "I have little more to say. I merely repeat, remember always your duty of enmity towards Man and all his ways. 🔊
← It is called Beasts of England." Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← THREE nights later old Major died peacefully in his sleep. His body was buried at the foot of the orchard. 🔊
← Major's speech had given to the more intelligent animals on the farm a completely new outlook on life. 🔊
← They did not know when the Rebellion predicted by Major would take place, they had no reason for thinking that it would be within their own lifetime, but they saw clearly that it was their duty to prepare for it. 🔊
← The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white. These three had elaborated old Major's teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism. 🔊
← Napoleon, with the dogs following him, now mounted on to the raised portion of the floor where Major had previously stood to deliver his speech. 🔊
← The skull of old Major, now clean of flesh, had been disinterred from the orchard and set up on a stump at the foot of the flagstaff, beside the gun. 🔊
← These scenes of terror and slaughter were not what they had looked forward to on that night when old Major first stirred them to rebellion. 🔊
← If she herself had had any picture of the future, it had been of a society of animals set free from hunger and the whip, all equal, each working according to his capacity, the strong protecting the weak, as she had protected the lost brood of ducklings with her foreleg on the night of Major's speech. 🔊
← None of the old dreams had been abandoned. The Republic of the Animals which Major had foretold, when the green fields of England should be untrodden by human feet, was still believed in. 🔊