chapter1-4

"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he istoo weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. Hesets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the resthe keeps for himself. 

Our labour tills the soil, our dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that ownsmore than his bare skin. You cows that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have yougiven during this last year? 

And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdycalves? Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have youlaid in this last year, and how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone tomarket to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you, Clover, where are those four foals you bore, whoshould have been the support and pleasure of your old age? 

Each was sold at a year old−you will never seeone of them again. In return for your four confinements and all your labour in the fields, what have you everhad except your bare rations and a stall?

 "And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span. For myself I do notgrumble, for I am one of the lucky ones. I am twelve years old and have had over four hundred children. Suchis the natural life of a pig. But no animal escapes the cruel knife in the end. You young porkers who aresitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year. To that horrorwe all must come−cows, pigs, hens, sheep, everyone.