← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← 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. 🔊
← Then they sang Beasts of England from end to end seven times running, and after that they settled down for the night and slept as they had never slept before. 🔊
← The Meeting always ended with the singing of Beasts of England, and the afternoon was given up to recreation. 🔊
← Any animal caught singing it was given a flogging on the spot. And yet the song was irrepressible. 🔊
← These would meet in private and afterwards communicate their decisions to the others. The animals would still assemble on Sunday mornings to salute the flag, sing Beasts of England, and receive their orders for the week; but there would be no more debates. 🔊
← Napoleon read out the orders for the week in a gruff soldierly style, and after a single singing of Beasts of England, all the animals dispersed. 🔊
← Napoleon ended his speech with his usual cry of "Long live Animal Farm!" and after the singing of Beasts of England the animals were dismissed. 🔊
← At last, feeling this to be in some way a substitute for the words she was unable to find, she began to sing Beasts of England. 🔊
← The other animals sitting round her took it up, and they sang it three times over−very tunefully, but slowly and mournfully, in a way they had never sung it before. 🔊
← They had just finished singing it for the third time when Squealer, attended by two dogs, approached them with the air of having something important to say. 🔊
← From now onwards it was forbidden to sing it. The animals were taken aback. "Why?" 🔊
← and this was sung every Sunday morning after the hoisting of the flag. But somehow neither the words nor the tune ever seemed to the animals to come up to Beasts of England. 🔊
← It had been overlooked at the time when the house was first occupied. That night there came from the farmhouse the sound of loud singing, in which, to everyone's surprise, the strains of Beasts of England were mixed up. 🔊
← Even the tune of Beasts of England was perhaps hummed secretly here and there: at any rate, it was a fact that every animal on the farm knew it, though no one would have dared to sing it aloud. 🔊
← Squealer was with them for the greater part of every day. He was, he said, teaching them to sing a new song, for which privacy was needed. 🔊