Chapter 21 Chapter 19 Animal Hero Medal First Class

The animals were terrified.In their minds, Snowball became an invisible demon, infiltrating the air around them, and causing all kinds of troubles to them anytime and anywhere.When evening came, Squealer called them all together, and said with a look of dismay that he had something very serious to announce to them all. "Comrades," said Squealer, jumping nervously a few times, "a terrible discovery has been made. Snowball has betrayed himself to Frederick of Narrow Fields. Frederick is planning an attack on us." , to seize our farm. Snowball acted as his guide from the very beginning of the attack. But this is not the worst news! We thought that Snowball joined the rebellion only out of his vanity and personal ambition. We were wrong Yes, comrades. Do you know the real reason? Snowball has been in secret connexion with Jones from the very beginning! He has been one of Jones' agents. It has been proved. We found out. I think a lot of things can now be clarified. At the Battle of the Cowshed, he tried—fortunately, his plot didn't succeed!—to defeat us and wipe out our army. Didn't everyone see it with their own eyes? ?”

The animals were stunned.This was a far more serious crime than Snowball's destruction of the windmill.But they could not yet accept Squealer's statement.Because they all remembered, or thought they remembered, seeing Snowball lead the charge at the Battle of the Cowshed, how at every critical moment he could rally his ranks, boost morale, and even at Jones's bullet When he hurt his back, he didn't flinch at all.At first, the scenes they remembered made it difficult for them to accept that Snowball was on Jones' side.Even Boxer, who rarely asked questions, was puzzled.He lay down on the ground, tucked his front legs under him, closed his eyes, and tried to organize his thoughts.

"I don't believe it," he said, "Snowball fought very bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed. I saw it with my own eyes. Aren't we going to award him 'Animal Hero, First Class' right away?" "That was our mistake, Comrade. Because we've all figured it out now—everything is clearly written in the secret papers we found—that he was actually leading us to our destruction." "But he's wounded," said Boxer, "and we all saw him bleeding." "It was arranged, too," cried Squealer. "Jones' bullet just scratched his skin. If you can read, I can show you the material written in his own hand. According to their plot, Snow The ball gave the signal to retreat at the critical moment, leaving the field to the enemy. His plot almost succeeded - and I might even say, comrades, that they would have succeeded without our heroic leader, Comrade Napoleon Don't you remember? At the moment Jones and his party broke into the yard, Snowball suddenly turned and ran, and many animals followed him. One more thing you Don't you remember? At this moment, when all the animals were terrified and seeing that the situation was over, Comrade Napoleon stepped forward, shouted the slogan of "destroy human beings", and bit Jones on the thigh. Of course you Haven't forgotten that, comrades?" cried Squealer, jumping from side to side.

After Squealer's vivid description, the animals seemed to remember such a thing.At least they remembered that in the decisive moment of the war, Snowball had turned his back and fled.But despite this, Boxer was still uneasy. "I don't believe Snowball was a mole in the first place," said Boxer at last. "What he did afterward is another matter, but at the Battle of the Cowshed I believe he was a good comrade." "Our leader, Comrade Napoleon," said Squealer slowly but firmly, "has unequivocally—very unequivocally, comrade—announced that Snowball was Jones' agent from the very beginning. Yes, long before we all I never thought it was before the rebellion."

"Oh, that's different," said Boxer, "if Napoleon said so, he couldn't be wrong." "That's the right attitude, comrade!" said Squealer, but the animals noticed that he gave Boxer a vicious look from his little bright eyes.He turned to go away, but stopped and said in a stern tone: "I remind every animal on the farm to keep their eyes wide open. For we have reason to believe that at this moment, Snowball's Agents are lurking among us!" Four days later, in the second half of the afternoon, Napoleon ordered all the animals to assemble in the yard.When the animals had assembled, Napoleon came out of the farm house wearing his two medals (he had recently awarded himself the titles "Animal Hero First Class" and "Animal Hero Second Class").His nine large dogs scuttled around, their throaty growls sending chills down the spines of all the animals.Every animal curled up quietly in its seat, as if it had a premonition that something terrible would happen on this day.