Animal Farm (Chapter 11 and Chapter 12)

Chapter 11
The leaves had turned golden and brown, falling one by one to the muddied ground, covered with dried footprints of the animals who worked day in to day out. The leaves were as crisp as the air, as it brushed through the tall trees and through Animal Farm, or what Napoleon preferred then to call Manor Farm in its old name that made the animals' knees knock.

All of the animals, except for the pigs of course, were starving, their stomachs rumbling consistently, they were louder than the cries of the ones soon to be executed for crimes they had never committed.

They all put in the most labor that they could while the pigs rested endlessly, claiming they were doing, "work."

The animals never did notice the heavy scent of whiskey beneath the pigs' breath; maybe it was because the pigs kept their distance from the other animals they considered to be lowly creatures who did not deserve their time and patience.

The population dwindled, and of course Napoleon did not care, it did not matter to him.

As long as he lived, he was happy, and he continued to add more and more rules to his liking, with Squealer loyally at his side as he usually was.

The buildings were run-down, and the place a larger mess than usual. No longer did the animals care of their living quarters, as it seemed they never got time to sleep or even to rest for a brief second.

The air had a bitter taste to it that it never had before, and the animals feet and legs were always coated in mud and dirt, along with the dried blood of their loved ones from when they had watched them killed in front of their very own eyes.

The morning was cold as usual, with the sun leaking in through the fluffy gray clouds that seemed to resemble the color of their empty, dying hearts. The wind whipped at their fur, feathers, their ears, or their tails, making them shiver as each harsh wind swept by, their effects lasting as long as it took for the winds to pick up again.

That morning however, despite the dull weather and the dark clouds, their hope would be restored and their happiness replenished.

Napoleon was outside, which was very rare, with Squealer happily prancing at his side, both of their heads held high and clothing adorning them, they looked so much like people that it repulsed the farm animals. Yet there was nothing they could do, as the ferocious dogs, who had once been harmless young puppies, surrounded Napoleon and Squealer, emitting low, drawn-out growls as they normally did to ward off any animal who dared to near them.

The squish of mud beneath their hoofs repeated over and over, the animals all freezing in their spots as they watched him, slightly stepping back from the pig who they realized was far worse than Jones, with his accompaniment, Squealer, of whom spoke with such soothing words that sometimes they all forgot their troubles; that was until Squealer left and their memories undoubted themselves once more. "Bow to Comrade Napoleon!" one of the dogs barked, its teeth flashing white and covered with dried blood from the slashing of throats of the animals by commands of Napoleon: the dog did not ever feel guilt, never did feel his heart droop at the acts he committed. It was rumored that the dogs no longer had hearts and they had withered away while serving Napoleon's merciless orders. Perhaps they never did have hearts, and thus were perfect to be Comrade Napoleon's servants. Perhaps their hearts had been stolen as they had been stolen as puppies from their mother. "Bow now!" growled another dog with muscles that rippled beneath its short black fur, gnashing its teeth and taking a threatening step forth with eyes that gleamed an unnatural blood-red.

All the animals clenched their muscles, jumping from the sudden loudness that broke past their eardrums and flowed into their minds, yet they stood still, unable to respond. Even the largest animals had eyes so wide that they bulged out of their sockets.

"What did we say?" the first dog said. "Only traitors do not bow to their Leader."

Still, the animals were frozen; the fear had finally gotten to them. Their muscles seemed unable to work for them, and their eyes remained unblinking, their jaws agape.

Weeks passed and Benjamin continued to make the same inspiring statement in each meeting. The animals continued working a little less everyday just like what Benjamin had told them to do. Nevertheless, the dogs and the pigs did not notice the change in their work except for Napoleon. He noticed that there was not enough food produced but the pigs supervising the animals believed that it was because of the insects and the drought this year. Nevertheless, Napoleon continued to suspect that this was the animal’s plan to sabotage Manor Farm.

After the workday was over, the animals returned to the barn. The black cockerel crowed again and Napoleon entered into the barn guarded by three dogs.

The animals stood still as the upper animals passed by. Napoleon announced to the lower animals, “Starting tomorrow, there shall be dogs guard inside the farmhouse overnight. It seems that there has been a threat in this farm and someone has been stealing our food. Any animal caught in the farm stealing will be executed immediately.” The speech ended with the sheep’s bleating of “Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!”

The Bali myna starts to whistle at Napoleon when the sheep are in chanting cacophony.

After his statement, the lower animals were fed with their typical ration of food and the upper animals left the scene to enjoy the night in another party with Mr. Pilkington and other farmers.

As soon as the animals had finished their rations and settled down, Benjamin called an emergency meeting. The animals one by one gathered around him and waited patiently. Benjamin spoke in a firm tone, “I am well aware that we have all heard what Napoleon said, comrades. Hence forward, dogs will be guarding the barn every night starting the next day. Tonight, comrades, may just be the last day in which there will be a meeting. This is the sign that we are waiting for that we, comrades must strike together. Tomorrow will be the day in which we will attack and overthrow the wicked Napoleon.”

The animals were shocked and amazed to hear. One of the horses asked, “How do we fight them? Some of us are afraid. The dogs are ferocious and the pigs have humans to help them.” The crowd of animals murmured in agreement but Benjamin was not surprised by the question.

“I understand your fear. I lived through the rebellion of Mr. Jones and witnessed many deaths on the battlefield. What the pigs have told you about the rebellion are false. I used to have a great friend and he was a great warrior in the rebellion. He was a brave stallion, strong but gentle. In the rebellion, he charged without falling back and continued attacking the opponent. He was shot at a few times but continued to fight as if he had received no pain. He never wanted to kill anyone, only to drive the enemy away. I wish that at tomorrow‘s battle, all of us would be like that. I believe that it is better to die free than to spend the rest of our lives living as slaves. I will risk my life tomorrow and if something were to happen to me, tell the future generations of animals what happened in the battle tomorrow.” At the moment, the animals were inspired to fight. They were ready and didn’t care whether they lived. All they want to do is end Napoleon’s rule.

More and more Indian elephants began plowing before the final showdown.

Chapter 12
The following morning, the farm animals were ready. They stood in line, waiting for that door to open. At the signal of the click that meant that the barn was unlocked, the sheep, chickens, goats, ducks, geese, pigeons, horses, and cows rushed towards the door with Benjamin the donkey leading them in action while the rest of the animals followed. Outside the barn, the door was flung out with a stampede of animals rushing out. The dogs and pigs sent to deliver orders were caught off guard and as a result, trampled on. The ambush then turned towards the farm.

When a Bengal tiger roared loudly, Napoleon, other fellow pigs, and the rest of the dogs gathered inside the farmhouse as the stampede could be heard through the war cries of Benjamin and the other animals. The dogs and several of the pigs had rushed towards the ambush to fight. Napoleon had stayed behind to call Mr. Pilkington to gather his men to help.

One hundred zebras and wildebeests join the farm animals for the final showdown. On the battlefield, vultures watch in every direction followed by two cheetahs, ten hyenas, one Bengal tiger, and more zoo animals including Parce the African leopard. Dogs inside the farmhouse were trying to chew and bite the animals that were in their way. The horses used their hooves to forcefully kick the dogs away. The cows stepped on and gored the dogs. The chickens were scratching the pigs using their claws. The sheep were butting their heads at the pigs making them fall. The pigs inside the farm house tried to use their whips to hit the animals and gnawed and bit into the animals as a backup. Benjamin kicked the pigs away and helped his fellow animals. Many of the animals that had fallen to the ground was crushed by the heavier animals. Tamino, an orphaned red-crowned crane appeared with Joshua, her bald eagle and Georgia her golden-breasted starling began squawking to the dogs one by one.

A few minutes later with Napoleon’s reinforcements, Pilkington’s men had come to Manor Farm let out enthusiastic cheering, meanest applause, and stamping of feet. Loud noises ran from the farmhouse.

The noises alarmed the animals for a second with the loudest enthusiastic cheering, meanest applause, and stamping of feet had scared off fighters on both sides with Virginia, an Indian blue peacock.

The lower animals immediately continued fighting as Benjamin kicked and crushed a dog to its death.

Suddenly, when the the men and pigs picked up their guns and bullets ready to fire and hit the farmhouse wall, the animals turned towards the voice that yelled, "Help that sheep!" and instantly they gasped in shock: it was Snowball!

He was a bright a pink as he ever was, perhaps an even healthier pink than when they had last seen him. Snowball seemed healthier than the animals there, with his head held high and a sad sparkle shown in his solemn eyes. Behind him were many other animals, of all shapes and sizes, with their mouths drawn to a straight line as they looked over the scrap of a place of which they could not call either a farm nor a proper home.

A tear dripped down Snowball's face as he watched over the animals he once called friend with visible ribs and such desperate looks in their eyes that it tore at the strings of his heart as fragile as glass. Napoleon had done no good by them.

The dog that was so close to the sheep's throat had frozen and had closed its jaw, drool making its fur shine. "Snowball?" Napoleon said, growling faintly, his eyes narrowing at his lifetime rival.

Squealer quickly glanced about, his jaw agape and his eyes just as wide as the moon. With a swift shake of his head, he gathered himself and spoke in his calming, smooth voice, "Comrades, remember it was Snowball who took down our windmill! Remember all that he did to us, sabotaging us?"

The animals turned their heads towards Squealer, and even the sheep who was attacked had went to a trance-like state, its eyes transforming to milky-white; the wool around the sheep's neck was dripping wet with drool from the frothing, ferocious dog whose ears had perked up.*Squealer, how can you spread lies so easily?" Snowball's voice was drawn to a soft whisper that could barely be heard. He shook his head and trotted forward. His head turned to Napoleon, a frown upon Snowball's face. "Napoleon, how could you? These animals deserve better!" "Comrades!" Squealer piped up again, taking a step back as the dogs hunkered to the ground with low, drawn-out growls that rumbled in their throats like the old factor Jones used to own. "Do not listen to Snowball! He abandoned you all and let Napoleon take over as he was smarter back then."

"But..." a sheep spoke, her head tilted as a clever memory tapped at the top of her head. "Wasn't Snowball driven away?"

The memory shifted in all of the animal's minds, and even the dullest minded creatures could hold that memory in their small minds.

Chickens tilted their heads and Clover whinnied softly. "Yes." Snowball said, his eyes focused on Napoleon with a look of distaste and sorrow that any could recognize as an animal seeing their family mistreated. "I was driven away. "The sheep that had been alive picked themselves off the ground and bleated loudly in welcome, remembering the leader they once had, the leader that held so much love for them all, "Snowbaaaall is baaack home!"

Napoleon's eyes glinted something evil, something that anything with a heart could not have in their eyes. "Kill the sheep," he ordered with a tone so monotone that it seemed almost impossible that it belonged to a living creature. It shattered Snowball's heart and his companions 'that had joined him to help the animals at Animal Farm.

The caged dog turned back around and tried to dive the sheep's neck, the sheep's eyes widening immediately as the sheep's heart pounded ever so quickly. Hubie an American alligator, Bea a male elephant seal, Waldo a male walrus, and Rocko an Orinoco crocodile let out a simple snap, the caged dog let out a loud howl of pain and crumpled to the ground with fluttering eyes, the dog's neck stained a dark red to the splattering mud about when the caged dog made contact with the cold, wet ground.

Snowball's eyes flared and he let out a thunderous shout, "Charge!" And he, with his newfound companions, raced across the mud, kicking it everywhere without a single care in the world.

Squealer and Tamino exchanged looks, their eyes wider than ever, and then they fled like the cowards they were and always had been. Tamino watched in horror that Napoleon did not deserve his beautiful, shining medals.

The dogs stayed behind, fulfilling their duty to Napoleon, protecting him always as they had been trained to do.

Snowball raced headfirst into the scene, butting into a dog that was about the same size as himself and yet plowed the large, muscular creature over, knocking the dog unconscious. He continued on, galloping as quickly as his little legs could go. From behind him, he heard his companions and even the former residents of Animal Farm handling the dogs for him.

Snowball followed the tracks in the mud and felt the breeze pushing him closer and closer to the pigs that had broken their promise to Old Major.

Old Major would be disappointed in them, at what Animal Farm had become, at what lay in what had once been a respectable establishment that now was no more than a drunken pig's ruling that did not play the rules fairly.

Taking a swift left, Snowball's ears flapped back, his eyes narrowing more and more almost to the point of where they were almost closed.

Finally he caught sight of Tamino and Squealer of whom were swerving slightly, tripping over their own hooves. "Tamino, Squealer!" Snowball said, and both swiveled around, panting heavily. "I sentence both of you to banishment!”

The vultures circled and squawked around Napoleon ready for the kill. Tamino realized that she was in the right flock of aviary animals.

“Like you can do such a thing, Snowball!" Napoleon shouted in terror, taking a step back.

"I can," Snowball replied, "I'm doing this for the sake of animalism throughout the world. Now get going before I get the others and you'll be forced to leave then." Determination glittered in Snowball's eyes.

He would make sure the animals would live in harmony and peace if it were the last thing he would do. "We'll be here with you, Snowball. Tell Napoleon to be killed, forever." growled Squealer, trotting to Snowball as Napoleon snapped his head in anger and distaste. "I can promise that, Snowball."

"Get along now," Snowball said, nodding his head toward the distant foliage that had an unhealthy look to it. "You're lucky I don't do worse after what you have done to this farm, the animals, the zoo, and YOU! You changed Animal Farm into Manor Farm! It's you who need us! Get out of our farm, NOW!"

With that, Napoleon was killed with Pilkington's men by his guard dogs. Parce ran and climbed back to his tree all whilst doing so.

Snowball headed back to where his comrades, both new and old, awaited him. When the vultures and Moses the raven watched the guard dogs eating Pilkington's men and Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer noticed, and they all had half-smiles and half-frowns upon their faces. They all surrounded the sheep that have survived the farm with Clover. That would be the last killed animal, Napoleon.

Snowball and Tamino strutted to their dear friends, their loved ones, their family. "Where I come from, there's a lot of food, and a windmill," Snowball started. "It's beautiful there, and we'll all be very happy there. We'll leave when you are all ready. We can bury Napoleon there." Despite the saddening death, it seemed that the clouds cleared, and the sun warmed the ground and their shaking bodies. Thus, from there, animalism prospered to its greatest potential under Snowball as a good leader. He always protected them and made sure none starved or were treated better than another. Beasts of England filled the air once more, and the air tasted so much sweeter than it had been before. Harmony stretched across the rolling hills and lush fields forever more, and the rules were never bent to another's liking again.