Hey there, and welcome back to Animal Farm: The Novelization. Well, it's off to a rather...moderate start. And this chapter will be the same, but it'll start getting to the plot.

The last chapter was the start of the original, though this was originally going to be the first chapter before I added the prologue. We got to meet one of the main protagonists (an OC), described but not named. Yet he'll be named here.

One more thing: I've decided to change said main POV character's age from six months to a year old.

Uploading Date: October 21, 2021

Enjoy!


Chapter 1: The Manor Farm

It was a cool afternoon in the countryside of rural England. Spring was soon to arrive, the trees were starting to blossom with new leaves, and the last of the winter snow had melted. A farm was nestled in the valley somewhere near Willington and Repton, away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. It was the Manor Farm, owned by a man named Mr. Jones.

On this farm, a rat was scurrying around the barn floor, looking for leftover oats to eat. Little did it know that it was being stalked by a slightly larger animal: a small dog with curly sandy-tan fur and black-tipped ears. The bigger animal got the rodent in its sights before pouncing with a bark. But he had mistimed his jump, landing in front of the rat, which made it squeak and run for the nearest shelter: a hole. The dog righted himself and made a frantic dash to the hole, but the rat had already slipped its tail through and was gone.

With a frown, the little dog peered down the hole where the rat was hiding. There was no way that the rat was going to come out now.

"That was a nice try, Sam," a voice barked behind him. "Rats are pretty clever animals."

Sam sat up and looked around. An older dog was approaching him, a female Border collie with tricolored fur: black-and-white with tan markings around her face and front legs. Her name was Jessie, and she was one of the motherly females in Animal Farm.

"Thanks, Miss Jessie," he said, wagging his tail. Ever since he had come to the farm at a year old, to help rid the farm of rats and mice, he had been friendly with the female Border collie.

The Border collie named Jessie smiled. "Just Jessie will do," she said. "Would you like to take a break from chasing rats? We can go for a walk, just to get out of the barnyard for a bit."

She was right. Hunting for the rats in the barn was starting to make the barn air feel stuffy. "Sure," he said. "Where are we going?"

"Wherever you'd like," replied Jessie. "To the hayfield, or just down the road."

"Maybe down the road, just to see the sights," said Sam.

Off they went together. Along the way, they did stop by to see some of the animals. The hens were busy preparing to lay their eggs and thus had no time to talk...yet Sam guessed that they always had time to talk to each other. The cows were hoping to be milked, so they had no time to talk. And the pigs, Sam wasn't sure about. They seemed preoccupied with discussing plans and didn't seem to try and be friendly with him or the other animals.

Soon, Sam and Jessie reached the road that led away from the Manor Farm. He could see that it was nestled in the valley between two immense hills. From somewhere on the smaller hills, one could see the entire farm: the farm buildings in the distance, the pool where the animals drank, the fields for plowing crops, and the road that the dogs were padding alongside. That was what Sam liked: being in the countryside and being free.

They hadn't gotten far when they came across some company. A cart drawn by a pretty white mare was drawing nearer. Four humans were riding on the cart - a man, a woman, and two children. The children were hitting sheep with slingshots, laughing rather nastily when the stones hit their targets. Sam frowned when the parents didn't even scold their children for this; in fact, the father even encouraged it.

"Does this happen every day?" Sam asked Jessie, and he winced when one of the sheep limped away.

"Sometimes," said Jessie. Her brown eyes narrowed as she watched the children hit a wandering pig with a slingshot. "The poor animals. They deserve to be treated better than this."

Sam could agree with that. To him, kids were kids, but there had to be a point to show them that there were boundaries that should not be crossed. Hitting animals with weapons was sure that they weren't going to grow up well.

As the dogs talked, Mr. Jones's angry voice was sounding from a nearby field. He was directing a big horse to plow the field to not much success. The horse - a huge male Clydesdale named Boxer - was trying his best to plow the field, though Mr. Jones's yelling wasn't helping matters. He was normally a very hard worker and very good at it too, but he was starting to get tired; he had gotten up from the crack of dawn to work. Another matter that didn't help was Jones drinking on the job.

It was then that a pigeon flew over from the direction of the farm buildings. They landed on the fence that Sam and Jessie were sitting near and cooed, catching their attention. Elsewhere, pigeons could be not the smartest animals one would meet. But on Manor Farm, these pigeons were pretty smart and delivered verbal messages.

"Old Major has called for a meeting," said the pigeon with a coo. "Tonight, in the barn when Mr. Jones is asleep. All animals on the farm are required to come. Spread the word."

"We'll spread the word," said Jessie. "Thank you, pigeons."

The pigeon nodded and took off. Just in time, the white mare was drawing nearer with the cart, stopping at the field that Mr. Jones was working at. The humans had stopped to talk with Mr. Jones, not knowing that Jessie and Sam were padding closer.

"Jones, you old drunk!" called the man in the carriage. "How are you doing today?"

"Hello to you and the missus, Pilkington," said Mr. Jones, tipping his hat to his neighbors. "You brought Mollie back for a visit."

"Yes. We're dropping her off," said Mr. Pilkington, nodding towards Mollie. "Once she's back at that farm of yours, she's yours again."

While the humans talked, Jessie padded over to the white mare. Mollie looked around at Jessie and Sam with a smile.

"Hello, you two," she said. "It's a nice day for a stroll in the countryside."

"Yeah, it sure is," Sam agreed, breathing in the cool air. In his short life, he had come to like the cooler weather. "But we came to tell you something important."

"There's a meeting going on in the barn tonight," said Jessie. "It's mandatory for all of us to go."

The white mare nodded. "All right, you two. I'll be there."

The dogs nodded and turned their attention back to the humans. They were talking about a party that Mr. Jones was hosting at the Red Lion, which would be happening tonight.

"It's nice that you're inviting us over to the party," Mrs. Pilkington was saying.

"Oh, it's nothing special. Just having the neighbors over for a drink," said Mr. Jones.

"That's very generous," said Mr. Pilkington, though he said this with a leer. "We wouldn't miss this little party for the world, would we?"

That was when Mr. Jones had a concerned look, almost ready to sweat. "Look, about the money I owe you - "

"See here, dear boy," said Mr. Pilkington, waving Jones off. "This isn't a time to talk about how much money you owe me. We'll talk about that tonight, at your little party."

And with that, he hitched the reins, and off they went. Mollie turned to whinny a goodbye to us before trotting off.

A curse drew their attention back to the field. Mr. Jones had walked back to the plow and tried to direct Boxer in plowing the field. But poor Boxer was unsure what to do, and he was starting to look tired. He had been working out in the field for hours, sweat trickling down his face and sides. In the end, Boxer ended up pulling the plow out of Jones's hands by accident.

"Damn stupid beast! I oughta boil you down to glue for this!" Jones was yelling. "Lousy good-for-nothing brute!"

Even the threats of a beating were too much for the dogs to bear. With a volley of barks, they hopped through the fence and flung themselves at the farmer. Sam grabbed onto Mr. Jones's pants leg, to try and prevent him from kicking at Boxer. While he did this, Jessie pounced as a cat would on a mouse, knocking him onto his back.

"What's going on? Leave him be! Leave him be!"

The dogs both looked up and noticed the animal flying to the dogs from the direction of the farm buildings. It was Moses, the tame raven that hung around with Mr. Jones. He would often be fed bread soaked with beer, and he was also known to be a spy and a tale-bearer yet clever all the same.

"What have you done?" Moses exclaimed, landing on Mr. Jones's leg. "Thou shalt not kill!"

Boxer plodded forward, sniffing Mr. Jones. He looked over at Moses, saying, "No, he's not dead. He's coming to."

"So I guess we didn't hurt him badly after all," Sam added. He went over to try and lick Mr. Jones awake and then recoiled, for the stench of beer was too strong.

"Besides, he was hurting Boxer," added Jessie with a glare. "We couldn't stand by and let it continue."

Moses ruffled his feathers in indignation. "But no animal should ever harm a human!"

"No human should ever harm an animal," retorted Jessie. "I don't care the reason what the animal has done. There's no excuse for a human to abuse an animal."

Before Moses could retort back, a shriek from across the field startled the animals. "JONES!" came the shrill voice of Mrs. Jones. "WHERE ARE YOU?! I'VE GOT A TRAIN TO CATCH!"

"Jessie, Sam, go," whinnied Boxer. "Quick!"

"Hurry, hurry!" Moses squawked, flapping his wings. "She's coming this way!"

So Jessie and Sam ran off as fast as they could. They could still hear Mrs. Jones's angry voice behind them, directed at her husband. Moses was already taking off to the air, and Boxer was galloping back towards the barn. As the dogs stopped and looked around behind them, Mrs. Jones was dumping a bucket of water over her husband's face, ranting at him and flailing her arms.

They couldn't help but jeer at this sight before they went to tell the nearest animals - the sheep - of the meeting. After this night's meeting, things would start going differently for the animals of Manor Farm.

To be continued...