DAY 2: Window #3

Animal Farm #1

Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing. As

he had said, his voice was hoarse, but he sang well enough,

and it was a stirring tune, something between Clementine and

La Cucaracha. The words ran:

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime,

Hearken to my joyful tidings Of the golden future time.

Soon or late the day is coming,

Tyrant Man shall be o’verthrown, And the fruitful fields of England

Shall be trod by beasts alone. ,

Rings shall vanish from our noses, And the harness from our back, Bit and spur shall rust forever, Cruel whips n more shall crack.

Rings more than mind can picture, Wheat and barley, oats and hay,

Clover, beans, and mangel-wurzels Shall be ours upon that day.

Bright will shine the fields of England,

Purer shall its waters be, Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes

On the day that sets us free.

For that day we all must labour, Though we die before it break;

Cows and horses, geese and turkeys, All must toil for freedom’s sake.

Beasts of England, beasts of Ireland,

Beasts of every land and clime, Hearken well and spread my tidings

Of the golden future time.

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. Even the stupidest of them had already picked up the tune and a few of the words, and as for the clever ones, such as the pigs and dogs, they had the entire song by heart within a few minutes. And then, after a few preliminary tries, the whole farm burst out into Beasts of England in tremendous unison. The cows lowed it, the dogs whined it, the sheep bleated it, the horses whinnied it, the ducks quacked it. They were so delighted with the song that they sang it right through five times in succession, and might have continued signing it all night if they had not been interrupted.

Animal Farm #2

Napoleon was now never spoken of simply as

“Napoleon.” He was always referred to in formal style as “our Leader, Comrade Napoleon,” and the pigs liked to invent for him such titles as Father of All Animals, Terror of Mankind, Protector of Sheep-fold, Ducklings’ Friend, and the like. In his speeches, Squealer would talk with the tears rolling down his cheeks of Napoleon’s wisdom, the goodness of his heart, and the deep love he bore to all animals everywhere, even and especially the unhappy animals who still lived in ignorance and slavery on other farms. It had become usual to give Napoleon the credit for every successful achievement and every stroke of good fortune. You would often hear one hen remark to another, “Under the guidance our Leader, Comrade Napoleon, I have laid five eggs in six days”; or two cows, enjoying a drink at the pool, would exclaim, “Thanks to the leadership of Comrade Napoleon, how excellent this water tastes!” The general feeling on the farm was well expressed in a poem entitled Comrade Napoleon, which was composed by Minimus and which ran as follows:

Friend of fatherless! Fountain of happiness!

Lord of the swill-bucket! Oh, how my soul is on Fire when I gaze at thy

Calm and commanding eye, Like the sun in the sky,

Comrade Napoleon!

Thou are the giver or All that thy creatures love,

Ful belly twice a day, clean straw to roll upon; Every beast great or small Sleeps at peace in his stall,

Thou watchest over all, Comrade Napoleon!

Had I a sucking-pig,

Ere he had grown as big Even as a pint bottle or as a rolling-pin

He should have learned to be Faithful and true to thee,

Yes, his first squeak should be “Comrade Napoleon!”

Napoleon approved of this poem and caused it to be

inscribed on the wall of the big barn, at the opposite end from the Seven Commandments. It was surmounted by a portrait of Napoleon, in profile, executed by Squealer in white paint. Excerpted from: Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Plume, 1996. Print. 9-10 and 66-68.