Sunday, April 25, 2010

Animal Farm Continues...




The sight of the pigs standing on their hind legs, with faces that looked more human than animal, aroused a sense of rage that knew no bounds among the animals of the Manor Farm.... All of a sudden, the reason for their penury and the pigs' wealth became clear to the animals huddled outside the window... It was clover who enunciated this new-found clarity of thought... "All our lives we worked hard to rid ourselves of the despicable humans... How foolish were we, never to realize that we've replaced the humans with the pigs.... Down with the Pigs!!!... Down with Animalism...Glory to the Animals!!!!"... His speech, however was cut short with the growling of the dogs... Squealer, the pig, walked menacingly towards Clover, with a leash in his right hand. "Well...Well..Well..Didn't I just witness the dimwit horse heap ignominy on our glorious regime...Now that I can never let be....Dogs!... Arrest this thankless bastard and put him behind bars...He'll face Napoleon tomorrow at dawn...." By then, a huge crowd had gathered... Many of the animals nodded disapprovingly, but they were all powerless in front of the Dogs... "Glory to all Animals... Woe befall the pigs!... Down with Animalism", Clover managed to shout before 2 punches to his face quietened him.... His limp body was dragged away to the Jailhouse....

That night, no animal in Manor Farm slept.... Dogs kept a close watch on all animals...And their horrible growls kept most animals awake... Muriel the goat announced that her mind was made up... She would not let Clover be lost to the pigs' barbarity.... Along with a few sheep, she drew up a plan to storm the Jailhouse and free Clover... They would leave the Farm and never return... Better to die as a wild beast than to live as Pigs' slaves, she said... Moses, the Raven heard this and immediately took off...hovering above the barn, she yelled..."Animals of the world...Unite.... Glory to Clover... Long live Snowball... Down with the Pigs... Glory to the Animals...."

Moses' words had a magical effect on all animals... The hens created pickets out of their nests, setting a few alight so as to create torches that would frighten the dogs away...The cows wagged their tails with vigor, and anyone who'd come near them would go away whipped and badly bruised...The sheep brayed long and hard, with a passion found only in neo-converts...The army of animals attacked the Dog guarding the barn first... The loud braying of sheep temporarily deafened him, and he didn't even realize the tail that came and smacked him hard...He lay there...In a pool of his own blood..stirring, but barely alive...

Emboldened by their first victory, the animals marched straight towards the Pigs' Palace...By this time, a few of the animals had already defeated the Dogs guarding the Jailhouse and freed Clover... Clover had been badly tortured, but he marched on forth... His weak but determined Neighs still shouted "Glory to the Animals... Down with the Pigs"....

The Pigs had probably seen this coming... They cleverly deployed their Dogs to attack from the sides, and when that failed, they released the Piglets from the front and the humans from behind the animals... The animals were surrounded on all four sides, and were outgunned and badly outnumbered... The Dogs attacked the sheep and silenced their braying... The humans were carrying hacksaws and approached Muriel menacingly... Just when it seemed that the battle was lost and that the tyranny of Pigs' would continue, Moses emerged in the skies above, carrying a lit torch, which he dropped into Napoleon's room... In a matter of seconds, the whole Pigs' Palace was on fire...The defendants broke their lines and ran helter skelter, and the animals chased them... The humans were the first to flee, followed by the Dogs, yelping...

Napoleon and Squealer tried to flee but were caught before they could...A summary trial presided by Muriel sentenced the Pigs to death by sawing...A couple of dogs who were also apprehended met the same fate...Napoleon's last words, drowned in the din of the excited cheering of the animals were "I have done no crime... Death to the counter revolutionaries..."...Piece by piece his body was hacked by the saw operated by Clover and the sheep....Squealer tried to wriggle out of the execution, claiming that he had been brainwashed and that his sympathies lay with Animalism...His conviction and appeal won over many hearts... His punishment was changed from Death by Sawing to Death by hanging... In Muriel's words "Let his hanging body be an example of how we were led astray"...

The next morning, the Animalist Flag was torn from the staff... The horn and the hooves were stamped upon... One of the sheep cut out the horn & the hooves and that became the new flag of the Animal Farm, as it was to be called again...The board containing the Seven Commandments was brought down and thrown out of the Animal Farm... In its place was put up a plain white sheet containing the words "All Animals are the same and will be treated equally"....

Clover was nominated as the Animal-in-chief of the farm after a general assembly of all animals of the Animal Farm selected him... He served for a period of 6 months before his health turned for the worse... Muriel succeeded him...Last heard the Animal Farm was prospering & was the envy of all Neighboring farms...