Читать книгу Animal farm / Скотный двор. Уровень 2 - Джордж Оруэлл, George Orwell - Страница 5

Soon the news of the Animal Farm spread across half the county. Every day Snowball and Napoleon sent out pigeons and instructed them to mingle with the animals on neighbouring farms, to tell them the story of the Rebellion, and to teach them the tune of 'Beasts of England’.

Most of this time Mr. Jones spent in the taproom of the Red Lion at Willingdon. He complained to anyone who listened of the monstrous injustice he suffered. Some stupid animals turned him out of his property. The other farmers listened to him, but they did give him much help. It was lucky that the owners of the two farms which adjoined Animal Farm did not like each other. One of them, which was called Foxwood, was a large old-fashioned farm, with all its pastures and its hedges in a disgraceful condition. Its owner, Mr. Pilkington, was an easy-going[17] gentleman farmer who liked to fish or hunt more.

The other farm, which was called Pinchfield, was smaller. Its owner was a Mr. Frederick, a tough, shrewd man. He was perpetually involved in lawsuits. These two disliked each other much. It was difficult for them to come to any agreement.

Nevertheless, the rebellion on Animal Farm frightened them. They wanted to prevent their own animals from learning too much about it. At first they laughed to scorn the idea of animal managers on the farm for themselves. The Manor Farm (they called it the Manor Farm; they hated the name “Animal Farm”) will rapidly starve to death, of course. But the time passed and the animals did not evidently starve to death. So Frederick and Pilkington began to talk of the terrible wickedness that flourished on Animal Farm. The animals there practiced cannibalism, tortured one another with horseshoes, and had common females. This was against the laws of Nature, Frederick and Pilkington said.

However, the people did not believe these stories. Rumours of a wonderful farm, where the animals managed their own affairs, continued to circulate. Throughout that year a wave of rebelliousness ran through the countryside. Bulls which were always tractable suddenly became savage. Sheep broke down hedges and devoured the clover. Cows kicked the pail over. Above all, everyone knew the music and even the words of 'Beasts of England’. It spread with astonishing speed. The men did not contain their rage when they heard this song, though they said, “It’s ridiculous!”

And yet the song was irrepressible. The blackbirds whistled it in the hedges, the pigeons cooed it in the elms. And when the people listened to it, they secretly trembled.

Early in October, when the corn was cut and stacked, some pigeons alighted in the yard of Animal Farm in the wildest excitement. Jones and all his men, with half a dozen others from Foxwood and Pinchfield, entered the five-barred gate and came to the farm. They all carried sticks, except Jones, who marched ahead with a gun in his hands. Obviously they wanted to attempt the recapture of the farm.

The animals were ready. The made all preparations. Snowball, who studied an old book of Julius Caesar’s campaigns (he found it in the farmhouse), was in charge of the defensive operations. He gave his orders quickly, and in a couple of minutes every animal was at his post.

As the men approached the farm buildings, Snowball launched his first attack. All the pigeons flew over the men’s heads and muted upon them. Then the geese rushed out and pecked viciously at the calves of their legs. However, this was only a light manoeuvre. The animals intended to create a little disorder. The men easily drove the geese off with their sticks.

Snowball now launched his second line of attack. Muriel, Benjamin, and all the sheep, with Snowball at the head of them, rushed forward. They prodded and butted the men from every side. Benjamin turned around and lashed at them with his small hoofs. But once again the men were too strong for them. The people had their sticks and their heavy boots. Suddenly, Snowball gave a squeal. It was the signal for retreat. All the animals turned and fled through the gateway into the yard.

The men gave a shout of triumph. They rushed after their enemies. This was Snowball’s plan. As soon as the men were inside the yard, the three horses, the three cows, and the rest of the pigs suddenly emerged in their rear. Snowball gave the signal. He himself dashed straight for Jones. Jones raised his gun and fired. The pellets scored bloody streaks along Snowball’s back, and a sheep was dead.

Snowball flung against Jones’s legs. Jones was hurled into a pile of dung. He lost his gun. But the most terrifying spectacle of all was Boxer. He reared up on his hind legs and stroke out with his great hoofs like a stallion. He pushed a stable-lad[18] and stretched him lifeless in the mud.

At the sight, several men dropped their sticks and tried to run. Panic overtook them. The next moment all the animals together began to chase them round and round the yard. Every animal on the farm took vengeance on them. Even the cat suddenly leapt off a roof onto a cowman’s shoulders. She sank her claws in his neck. The cowman yelled horribly. The men were glad to rush out of the yard.

All the men were gone except one. Back in the yard Boxer pawed with his hoof at the stable-lad. The boy lay face down in the mud and did not move.

“He is dead,” said Boxer sorrowfully. “I forgot that I had iron shoes. Who will believe that I did not do this on purpose?”

“No sentimentality, comrade!” cried Snowball from whose wounds the blood still dripped. “War is war. The only good man is a dead man.”

“I don’t want to kill men,” repeated Boxer. His eyes were full of tears.

“Where is Mollie?” exclaimed somebody.

Indeed, where was Mollie? For a moment there was great alarm. In the end, however, they found her. She hid in her stall. Her head buried among the hay in the manger. And when the others came back, the stable-lad, who was only stunned, already recovered and ran away.

The animals now reassembled in the excitement. Everyone recounted his own exploits in the battle. They celebrated the victory! They ran up the flag and sang 'Beasts of England’. The poor sheep was buried. A hawthorn bush was planted on her grave.

At the graveside Snowball made a little speech. He emphasized the need for all animals to be ready to die for the Animal Farm. The animals decided unanimously to create a military decoration[19], “Animal Hero, First Class”. Snowball and Boxer were rewarded. It consisted of a brass medal (an old horse-brass from the harness-room). There was also “Animal Hero, Second Class”: the dead sheep was rewarded posthumously.

The animals named this fight “The Battle of the Cowshed”. The animals set Mr. Jones’s gun at the foot of the Flagstaff to fire it twice a year. October the twelfth was the anniversary of the Battle of the Cowshed. And Midsummer Day was the anniversary of the Rebellion.