Unfortunately, the uproar awoke Mr. Jones, who sprang out of bed, making sure that there was a fox in the yard. He seized the gun which always stood in a corner of his bedroom, and let fly a charge of number 6 shot into the darkness. The pellets buried themselves in the wall of the barn and the meeting broke up hurriedly. Everyone fled to his own sleeping-place. The birds jumped on to their perches, the animals settled down in the straw, and the whole farm was asleep in a moment.

THREE nights later old Major died peacefully in his sleep. His body was buried at the foot of the orchard.

This was early in March. During the next three months there was much secret activity. 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 work of teaching and organising the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognised as being the cleverest of the animals. Pre-eminent among the pigs were two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon, whom Mr. Jones was breeding up for sale. Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way. Snowball was a more vivacious pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character. All the other male pigs on the farm were porkers. The best known among them was a small fat pig named Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice. He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive. 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. Several nights a week, after Mr. Jones was asleep, they held secret meetings in the barn and expounded the principles of Animalism to the others. At the beginning they met with much stupidity and apathy. Some of the animals talked of the duty of loyalty to Mr. Jones, whom they referred to as ‚Master,’ or made elementary remarks such as ‚Mr. Jones feeds us. If he were gone, we should starve to death.’ Others asked such questions as ‚Why should we care what happens after we are dead?’ or ‚If this Rebellion is to happen anyway, what difference does it make whether we work for it or not?’, and the pigs had great difficulty in making them see that this was contrary to the spirit of Animalism. The stupidest questions of all were asked by Mollie, the white mare. The very first question she asked Snowball was: ‚Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?’

‚No,’ said Snowball firmly. ‚We have no means of making sugar on this farm. Besides, you do not need sugar. You will have all the oats and hay you want.’

‚And shall I still be allowed to wear ribbons in my mane?’ asked Mollie.

‚Comrade,’ said Snowball, ‚those ribbons that you are so devoted to are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons? ‚

Mollie agreed, but she did not sound very convinced.

 

unfortunately	niestety
uproar	hałas, wrzawa
awoke	zbudził
to spring out of bed	wyskoczyć z łóżka
to make sure that	upewniać się
fox	lis
yard	podwórko, ogródek
seized	chwycił
gun	pistolet
to stand (stood)	stać
corner	róg
bedroom	sypialnia
shot	wystrzał, strzał
darkness	ciemność
pellet	kulka śrutu
barn	stodoła
buried	wbiły się
wall	ściana
meeting	spotkanie, zebranie
to break up	skończyć się
hurriedly	pospiesznie, w pośpiechu
to flee (fled)	uciekać
sleeping-place	miejsce do spania
to jump	skakać
bird	ptak
perch	grzęda
straw	słoma
to settle	porządkować, zasiedlać
to die	umierać
peacefully	spokojnie
sleep	sen
body	ciało
to bury	zakopać
orchard	sad
foot	podłoże
early	wcześnie
in march	w marcu
next	następny
month	mieisąc
secret	tajny, potajemny
activity	działalność
speech	mowa, przemówienie
completely	zupełnie, całkowicie, kompletnie
new outlook on life	nowy pogląd na życie
rebellion	rebelia, bunt
to predict	przewidywać
would take place	będzie miała miejsce
reason	powód
thinking	myślenie
within	w przeciągu
lifetime	życie
clearly	wyraźnie
duty	obowiązek
to prepare	przygotowywać
work	praca
organising	organizowanie
fell	spadło
naturally	naturalnie
recognised	uznawane
cleverest	njazdolniejsze, najsprytniejsze, najbardziej bystre
eminent	znakomity, wybitny
among	między, wśód
boar	knur
named	o imieniu
breeding up for sale	hodowane na sprzedaż
rather	dość, dosyć
fierce	dziki
vivacious	żywotny
quicker	szybszy
in speech	w mowie
inventive	pomysłowy
considered to	uważany za
depth	głębia
character	charakter
male	męski, płci męskiej
porker	wieprz
fat	tłusty, gruby
round	okrągły
cheek	policzek
twinkling	skrzące, migoczące
eye	oko
nimble	zwinny, bystry
movements	ruchy
shrill	piskliwy
brilliant	błyskotliwy
talker	mówca
to argue	kłócic się, sprzeczać; argumentować
difficult	trudny
piont	punkt, sedno sprawy
to skip	podskakiwać
tail	ogon
somehow	jakoś
persuasive	przekonujący
turn black into white	zamienić czarne w białe
elaborated	złożony, zawiły
teachings	nauki, nauczania
thought	myśl
several	kilka
after	po tym, jak
held secret meetings	odbywali tajemne spotkania
to expound	wykładać
principles	zasady
at the beginning	na początku
stupidity	głupota
apathy	apatia
loyalty	lojalność
elementary	elementarny
remarks	uwagi
feeds us	karmił nas
starve to death	zagłodzić się na śmierć
to care	troszczyć się, martwić się
to happen	zdarzać się
difference	różnica
whether	czy
contrary	przeciwieństwo
spirit	dusza, duch
mare	klacz
very first	zupełnie pierwsze
sugar	cukier
firmly	pewnie, stanowczo
besides	poza tym
to need	potrzebować
to allow	pozwalać
ribbons	wstążki, taśmy
mane	grzywa
shall i still be allowed to wear	czy nadal będę mogła nosić
devoted	ofiarny, oddany
badge	oznaka
slavery	niewolnictwo, niewola
to understand	rozumieć
liberty	wolność, swoboda
worth	warta
to agree	zgadzać się
to sound	brzmieć
convinced	przekonany