Скотный двор / Animal Farm

Jones went into Willingdon and got so drunk[10 - got so drunk – так напился] at the Red Lion that he did not come back till midday on Sunday. The workers milked the cows in the early morning and then went out. They did not feed the animals. When Mr. Jones got back he immediately went to sleep on the drawing-room sofa with the newspaper over his face. When evening came, the animals were still hungry. At last they could stand it no longer[11 - they could stand it no longer – их терпение истощилось].

One of the cows broke in the door of the store-shed with her horn and all the animals began to help themselves from the bins. It was just then that Mr. Jones woke up. The next moment he and his four men were in the store-shed with whips in their hands. This was more than the hungry animals could bear.

They flung themselves upon their tormentors. The animals butted and kicked Jones and his men from all sides. The situation was quite out of their control. This sudden uprising of animals whom they thrashed and maltreated, frightened them a lot.

Soon the men gave up, they were trying to defend themselves. A minute later all five of them were in the cart-track that led to the main road. The animals were pursuing them in triumph.

Mrs. Jones looked out of the bedroom window. She saw what was happening, hurriedly flung a few possessions into a carpet bag, and slipped out of the farm. Moses sprang off his perch and flapped after her, croaking loudly. Meanwhile the animals chased Jones and his men out on to the road and slammed the five-barred gate behind them.

And so Jones was expelled, and the Manor Farm was theirs.

For the first few minutes the animals could hardly believe in their good fortune. Their first act was to gallop round the boundaries of the farm to make sure that no human being was hiding anywhere upon it. Then they raced back to the farm buildings to wipe out the last traces of Jones’s hated reign.

The harness-room at the end of the stables was broken open.

The bits, the nose-rings, the dog-chains, the cruel knives with which Mr. Jones castrated the pigs and lambs, were all flung down. The reins, the halters, the blinkers were thrown on to the rubbish fire which was burning in the yard. So were the whips. All the animals capered with joy when they saw the whips in flames. Snowball also threw on to the fire the ribbons with which the horses’ manes and tails were usually decorated on market days.