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The animals believed every word of it.

Truth to tell, Jones and all he stood for had almost faded out of their memories.

They knew that life nowadays was harsh and bare, that they were often hungry and often cold, and that they were usually working when they were not asleep.

But doubtless it had been worse in the old days.

They were glad to believe so.

Besides, in those days they had been slaves and now they were free, and that made all the difference, as Squealer did not fail to point out.

There were many more mouths to feed now.

In the autumn the four sows had all littered about simultaneously, producing thirty-one young pigs between them.

The young pigs were piebald, and as Napoleon was the only boar on the farm, it was possible to guess at their parentage.

It was announced that later, when bricks and timber had been purchased, a schoolroom would be built in the farmhouse garden.

For the time being, the young pigs were given their instruction by Napoleon himself in the farmhouse kitchen.

They took their exercise in the garden, and were discouraged from playing with the other young animals.

About this time, too, it was laid down as a rule that when a pig and any other animal met on the path, the other animal must stand aside: and also that all pigs, of whatever degree, were to have the privilege of wearing green ribbons on their tails on Sundays.

The farm had had a fairly successful year, but was still short of money.

There were the bricks, sand, and lime for the schoolroom to be purchased, and it would also be necessary to begin saving up again for the machinery for the windmill.

Then there were lamp oil and candles for the house, sugar for Napoleon's own table (he forbade this to the other pigs, on the ground that it made them fat), and all the usual replacements such as tools, nails, string, coal, wire, scrap-iron, and dog biscuits.

A stump of hay and part of the potato crop were sold off, and the contract for eggs was increased to six hundred a week, so that that year the hens barely hatched enough chicks to keep their numbers at the same level.

Rations, reduced in December, were reduced again in February, and lanterns in the stalls were forbidden to save oil.

But the pigs seemed comfortable enough, and in fact were putting on weight if anything.

One afternoon in late February a warm, rich, appetising scent, such as the animals had never smelt before, wafted itself across the yard from the little brew-house, which had been disused in Jones's time, and which stood beyond the kitchen.

Someone said it was the smell of cooking barley.

The animals sniffed the air hungrily and wondered whether a warm mash was being prepared for their supper.

But no warm mash appeared, and on the following Sunday it was announced that from now onwards all barley would be reserved for the pigs.

The field beyond the orchard had already been sown with barley.

And the news soon leaked out that every pig was now receiving a ration of a pint of beer daily, with half a gallon for Napoleon himself, which was always served to him in the Crown Derby soup tureen.

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