Chapter VI

All that year the animals worked like slaves. But they were happy in their work. They were aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves, and not for those idle men who were just thieves.

Throughout the spring and summer they worked a sixty-hour week. In August Napoleon made an announcement. They will work on Sunday afternoons as well. This work is strictly voluntary, but any animal who absents himself from it will have his rations reduced by half.

The harvest was less successful than in the previous year, and two fields were not sown. The winter will be a hard one.

The windmill presented unexpected difficulties. They saw limestone, plenty of sand and cement on the farm and in an outhouse. They had all the materials for building. But the problem was how to break up the stone into pieces. Picks and crowbars? No animal was able to use them, because nobody stood on his hind legs. Then the right idea occurred to somebody – namely, to utilize the force of gravity. They took huge boulders. The animals lashed ropes round these. Then all together, cows, horses, sheep-even the pigs sometimes joined in at critical moments-they dragged them with desperate slowness up the slope to the top of the quarry, where they were toppled over the edge, to shatter to pieces below. To transport the broken stone was comparatively simple. The horses carried it off in cart-loads, the sheep dragged single blocks. Even Muriel and Benjamin yoked themselves into an old cart. Then the building began, under the superintendence of the pigs.

But it was a slow, laborious process. Nothing was possible without Boxer, whose strength was enormous. When the boulder began to slip and the animals cried out in despair, it was always Boxer who strained himself against the rope and brought the boulder to a stop.

Clover warned him sometimes to be careful not to overstrain himself. Boxer never listened to her. His two slogans, “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right,” was a sufficient answer to all problems. He woke up three-quarters of an hour earlier in the mornings instead of half an hour. And in his free time, he went alone to the quarry, collected broken stones, and dragged them down.

The animals were not unhappy throughout that summer, in spite of the hardness of their work. They had no more food than in Jones’s day, but at least they did not have less. They must feed only themselves, and must not support five extravagant men! And the animal method of work was more efficient and saved labour. Since no animal now stole, it was unnecessary to fence off pasture from arable land.

Nevertheless, there was need of paraffin oil, nails, string, dog biscuits, and iron for the horses’ shoes. The farm produced nothing. Later they will also need seeds and artificial manures, besides various tools and, finally, the machinery for the windmill. How to get them? No one was able to imagine.

One Sunday morning, when the animals assembled to receive their orders, Napoleon announced a new policy. Animal Farm will engage in trade with the neighbouring farms. Not, of course, for any commercial purpose, but simply in order to obtain certain materials which were urgently necessary. The needs of the windmill must override everything else, he said. Therefore he made arrangements to sell hay and part of the current year’s wheat crop, and later on, eggs, for which there was always a market in Willingdon. The hens will welcome this sacrifice towards the building of the windmill.

Once again the animals were uneasy. Their resolutions were as these: never to have any business with men, never to engage in trade, never to use money. All the animals remembered such resolutions. At least they thought that they remembered them. Four young pigs raised their voices timidly, but they heard a tremendous growling from the dogs. Then, as usual, the sheep began to bleat “Four legs good, two legs bad!”

Finally Napoleon raised his trotter and announced that he made all the arrangements. No animal will come in contact with people, it is undesirable. He intended to take the whole burden upon his own shoulders. Mr. Whymper, a solicitor from Willingdon, agreed to act as intermediary between Animal Farm and the outside world. He will visit the farm every Monday morning to receive his instructions. Napoleon ended his speech with his usual cry of “Long live Animal Farm!”

Afterwards Squealer assured the animals that the resolution against trade money was pure imagination. It was Snowball’s invention. A few animals still felt faintly doubtful, but Squealer asked them shrewdly, “Are you certain, comrades? Do you have any record of such a resolution? Is it written down anywhere?” And the animals said that they were mistaken.

Every Monday Mr. Whymper visited the farm. He was a sly-looking little man with side whiskers, a solicitor. He realized earlier than anyone else that Animal Farm needed a broker. The animals watched him and avoided him as much as possible. Nevertheless, the sight of Napoleon, who stood on four legs and delivered orders to Whymper, who stood on two legs, roused their pride.

Their relations with the human race were now different. The men hated Animal Farm more than ever. Every human was sure that the windmill was a failure. They met in the public-houses and proved to one another that the windmill was a silly idea. And yet, against their will, they developed a certain respect for the efficiency with which the animals managed their own affairs. One symptom of this was that they began to call Animal Farm by its proper name. They stopped to call it the Manor Farm.

Jones went to live in another part of the county. Except through Whymper, there was no contact between Animal Farm and the outside world. But there were constant rumours that Napoleon entered into a definite business agreement either with Mr. Pilkington of Foxwood or with Mr. Frederick of Pinchfield-but never with both simultaneously.

Soon the pigs moved into the farmhouse. Again the animals remembered a resolution against this in the early days. Again Squealer was able to convince them that this was not the case. It was absolutely necessary, he said, for the pigs, who were the brains of the farm, to have a quiet place to work in. It was also necessary for the Leader (he spoke of Napoleon under the title of “Leader”) to live in a house than in a mere sty. Nevertheless, some of the animals were disturbed when they heard that the pigs not only took their meals in the kitchen and used the drawing-room as a recreation room. The pigs also slept in the beds. Boxer said “Napoleon is always right!”, but Clover went to the end of the barn and tried to read the Seven Commandments. But she was unable to read more than individual letters. So she called Muriel.

“Muriel,” she said, “read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it say anything about beds?”

With some difficulty Muriel read it.

“It says, 'No animal must sleep in a bed with sheets,”' she announced finally.

Curiously enough, Clover did not remember that the Fourth Commandment mentioned sheets. At this moment Squealer, attended by two or three dogs, passed by. And he explained everything.

“You know then, comrades,” he said, “that we pigs now sleep in the beds of the farmhouse. And why not? You did not suppose, surely, that there was ever a rule against beds? A bed merely means a place to sleep in. A pile of straw in a stall is a bed. The rule was against sheets, which are a human invention. We removed the sheets from the farmhouse beds, and sleep between blankets. It is rather comfortable. But not more comfortable than we need, I can tell you, comrades. You will give us some rest, won’t you, comrades? Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?”

The animals reassured him on this point immediately. Some days afterwards, the pigs made an announced. The pigs will get up an hour later in the mornings than the other animals.

By the autumn the animals were tired but happy. They had a hard year, and after the sale of part of the hay and corn, the stores of food for the winter were not very plentiful, but the windmill compensated for everything. It was almost ready now. After the harvest there was clear dry weather. The animals toiled harder than ever with blocks of stone. Boxer even came out at nights and worked for an hour or two by the light of the moon. In their free time the animals walked round and round the future mill. They admired the strength and perpendicularity of its walls. Only old Benjamin refused to be enthusiastic about the windmill. As usual, he uttered the cryptic remarks that donkeys lived a long time.

November came, with south-west winds. Building stopped because it was now too wet to mix the cement. Finally there came a night when the gale was very violent. A cry of despair broke from every animal’s throat. A terrible sight met their eyes. The windmill was in ruins.

They dashed down to the spot. Napoleon raced ahead of them all. Yes, there it lay, the fruit of all their struggles. Unable at first to speak, they stood and gazed mournfully at their windmill. Napoleon walked in silence. His tail twitched sharply from side to side. It was a sign of intense mental activity. Suddenly he halted.

“Comrades,” he said quietly, “do you know who is responsible for this? Do you know the enemy who came in the night and overthrew our windmill? Snowball!” he suddenly roared in a voice of thunder. “Snowball did this thing! In sheer malignity, this traitor crept here under cover of night and destroyed our work! Comrades, here and now I pronounce the deathsentence^[25] upon Snowball. 'Animal Hero, Second Class,’ and half a bushel of apples to any animal who brings him to justice. A full bushel to anyone who captures him alive!”

The animals were shocked to learn that Snowball was guilty of such an action. There was a cry of indignation. Everyone began to think: how to catch Snowball? Almost immediately the animals discovered footprints of a pig in the grass at a little distance from the knoll. They led to a hole in the hedge. Napoleon snuffed deeply at them and said that they were Snowball’s. Snowball probably came from the direction of Foxwood Farm.