3 Animals Out
It was a time all the animals had been waiting for. Mr. and Mrs. Jones were to be gone for the next three days. Stable hands would be feeding them, but besides that, the farm was theirs. Not only was Jones gone but also it was time for the Tri-athlete games. This was a sports competition that the animals had once a year. Each team was made up of a sheep, a pig and a horse. Snowball, Boxer and Joe the sheep made up the white team and Squealer, Clover and Bob the sheep were the red team. The favorite team to win this year was the white team, for Boxer was a dominant horse, Joe was one of the best athletic young sheep you'll ever see and of course Snowball had brains and skill.
The night before the games were to begin, the white team held a meeting in an old shed.
"And remember, what do we do if we're losing?" Snowball asked.
"Work harder!" chanted Boxer and Joe. Just then Napoleon burst in.
"May I have a word with Boxer?"
"Sure" replied Boxer and he walked out of the shed.
"I know as well as you do that Jones doesn't feed you enough. I have a plan to get both of us more rations. Look, everybody knows that you'll win the tri-athlete games. So if you lose on purpose, and I bet our rations on you losing." Boxer did not entirely get the plan but he was very mad because the stable boy had forgotten to feed him that night and it was true that he was underfed.
"So, I don't work harder?" asked Boxer slightly disappointed.
"Of course you do," responded Napoleon, "But you work harder at losing, not winning." This made Boxer slightly happier and he agreed to the plan.
During the middle of the night when almost all of the animals were asleep Napoleon went to talk to Snowball and Joe. Coincidentally Joe and Snowball's stalls were next to each other and neither was asleep, due to the upcoming games. Napoleon called Joe into Snowball's stall and began. He told them what he'd told Boxer, but the reactions he got were different. Joe had simply said "I don't know" and Snowball had told him he was crazy.
"Look, I've already got Boxer on my side. You'd be fools not to do it. This is just a silly competition, but food is life. You know that we're practically starved."
"Look Napoleon. I can't do this to the other animals that you'll be cheating out of their food. I can't do this to the fans. The Reds don't want to win because we cheated. They want to play a fair game. I'd be an idiot not to tell the others" Just then Napoleon lunged at him and whispered,
"I can do unimaginable things to you Snowball. I won't make you lose, but I won't let you tell"
The next morning Snowball was ready for the games he had entirely forgot about his talk with Napoleon until he reached his food bowl. It had been licked, but there was still some around the edges so he knew it had been there before. His stomach growled as he walked to the big barn. Boxer and Clover were putting on their horseshoes and he and Squealer began rubbing protective oil over their feet for grip. Joe was keeping his hoofs dry, something he always had done though no one knew why. Just then he looked down. His pot of oil had been replaced by glue. He had just dipped his front left hoof in glue! As Napoleon left the shed, he saw glue on his hands. Snowball knew the time had come. He walked up to Napoleon, his foot half de-glued and saw him talking to Joe. "I'm in" was all he heard Joe say. He told Napoleon he would not tell and then left to go to the starting
line for the heavyweight race. All three team members would be strapped to a cart full of stone and race along a course.
The race started out fine, the white team had a huge lead. Then out of the blue, Joe made an obvious fake trip, fell down and tripped Boxer. Both seemed unable to get up until the Reds had passed. Finally they got up and started racing ahead, but when they got close to the Red team Boxer and Joe started to slow their pace despite Snowballs huge efforts to sprint to the end. Near the finish they sped up but only so they came just after the others. The Whites had lost.
After the race the entire farm erupted in loud discussion. Some thought Boxer had lost his power; others said that the Reds were on performance enhancing drugs. Some thought Boxer was tired and others said that Joe was all hype finally Benjamin shouted
"If you were as old as me you'd know. That race was fixed!"
"The Whites obviously lost on purpose!" Old Major called back. After telling the others animals why they suspected this, many animals changed their views but many others refused to believe they were cheating. The games went on. The next match was horse only. Boxer lost. The third game was pigs only ad Snowball creamed Squealer. After two more lost matches, the entire farm was arguing about what was going on. The next match was sheep only. Snowball was filled with grief to know that when Joe lost this game, the whites would have won five games and the tournament. To Snowball's surprise it seemed that Joe had had a change of heart, because he won the game. When Snowball asked him later Joe said
"The food has stopped coming. If he doesn't keep his end I don't keep mine." Boxer must have noticed this too because in the next game, Boxer dominated and the Whites won.
That night however Napoleon took Boxer to the small shed. Tied up in the corner was Boxer's son, who lived on Foxwood.
"If you don't lose," Napoleon screamed, "I'll kill him!"
In the next game, Joe and Snowball could do nothing, for it was horses only. Boxer lost and the Reds had won the tournament. By that time, however, the majority of the farm believed that the Whites had thrown the games. A hearing was held and all three were banned from the games forever, Boxer and Joe for throwing the games and Snowball for not telling the other animals. Mollie, Minimus and George replaced them. The incident was never to be mentioned again (though it still is) and the team name was changed from the Whites to the Blacks. They were to be cursed for 86 years.