Скотный двор / Animal Farm

All were agreed that no animal must ever live there.

The animals had their breakfast, and then Snowball and Napoleon called them together again.

В«Comrades,В» said Snowball, В«it is half-past six and we have a long day before us. Today we begin the hay harvest. But there is another matter.В»

The pigs now revealed that during the past three months they were teaching themselves to read and write from an old book which belonged to Mr. Jones’s children. Napoleon sent for pots of black and white paint and led the way down to the gate.

Then Snowball (Snowball was the best writer) took a brush between the two knuckles of his trotter, painted out MANOR FARM from the top bar of the gate and in its place painted ANIMAL FARM. This was the name of the farm from now onwards.

After this they went back to the farm buildings, where Snowball and Napoleon sent for a ladder. They set it against the end wall of the big barn. They explained that by their studies of the past three months the pigs reduced the principles of Animalism to Seven Commandments.

These Seven Commandments will now be inscribed on the wall. They will form an unalterable law by which all the animals on Animal Farm must live for ever after.

With some difficulty (for it is not easy for a pig to balance himself on a ladder) Snowball climbed up and set to work. Squealer was holding the paint-pot[12 - paint-pot – банка с краской]. The Commandments were written on the tarred wall in great white letters.

They ran thus:

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The Seven Commandments

1.В Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.

2.В Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.

3.В No animal shall wear clothes.

4.В No animal shall sleep in a bed.

5.В No animal shall drink alcohol.

6.В No animal shall kill any other animal.

7.В All animals are equal.

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It was very neatly written, and except that «friend» was written «freind» and one of the «S’s» was the wrong way round[13 - was the wrong way round – было развёрнуто в другую сторону], the spelling was correct.

Snowball read it aloud for the benefit of the others. All the animals nodded in complete agreement, and the cleverer ones at once began to learn the Commandments by heart.

В«Now, comrades,В» cried Snowball, throwing down the paint-brush, В«to the hayfield! Let us get in the harvest more quickly than Jones and his men could do.