Скотный двор / Animal Farm

The very first question she asked Snowball was:

В«Will there still be sugar after the Rebellion?В»

«No,» said Snowball firmly. «We can’t make sugar on this farm. Besides, you do not need sugar. You will have all the oats and hay you want.»

В«And will I still wear ribbons in my mane?В» asked Mollie.

В«Comrade,В» said Snowball, В«those ribbons of yours are the badge of slavery. Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than ribbons?В»

Mollie agreed, but she did not sound very convinced.

The pigs had an even harder struggle to counteract the lies put about by Moses, the tame raven. Moses, who was Mr. Jones’s especial pet, was a spy and a tale-bearer. But he was also a clever talker. He knew of the existence of a mysterious country called Sugarcandy Mountain[9 - Sugarcandy Mountain – Леденцовая Гора], to which all animals went when they died. It was situated somewhere up in the sky, a little distance beyond the clouds, Moses said. In Sugarcandy Mountain it was Sunday seven days a week, clover was in season all the year round, and lump sugar and linseed cake grew on the hedges.

The animals hated Moses because he told tales and did no work. But some of them believed in Sugarcandy Mountain, and the pigs argued very hard to persuade them that there was no such place.

Their most faithful disciples were the two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover. These two had great difficulty in thinking. But they accepted the pigs as their teachers, and then they absorbed everything that the pigs told them.

These horses passed it on to the other animals by simple arguments. They were the first animals at the secret meetings in the barn, and led the singing of �Beasts of England’, with which the meetings always ended.

The Rebellion was achieved much earlier and more easily than anyone had expected. In past years Mr. Jones, although a hard master, was a capable farmer. But now evil days arrived. He became much disheartened.

He lost money in a lawsuit, and was drinking much. For whole days he was lounging in his chair in the kitchen, reading the newspapers, drinking, and occasionally feeding Moses on crusts of bread. His men were idle and dishonest, the fields were full of weeds, the buildings ruined, the hedges were neglected, and the animals were underfed.

June came and the hay was almost ready for cutting. On Midsummer’s Eve, which was a Saturday, Mr.