Hey there, and welcome back to Animal Farm: The Novelization. In the previous chapter, you saw a shout-out to another piece of British literature starring animals. In this new chapter, you'll see another, much older than the previous shout-out.
So yeah, Snowball makes a reappearance here. But here, he won't be as good as others thought he would be. He won't be evil, but George Orwell did say that Snowball wasn't completely benevolent and that he would've probably run Animal Farm to the ground too. He'd pretty much have the same faults as John Hammond from the first Jurassic Park movie: overconfidence and naivety.
Uploading Date: November 1, 2021
Enjoy!
Chapter 16: Snowball's Second Chance
Hearing the name, the three fugitives hurried away from Mollie's side to see if it was true. Mollie had taken this as her cue to leave and go back to her sanctuary. While she left, Sam, Jessie, and Benjamin walked closer until they could see the white Landrace pig in the flesh.
It was Snowball. He looked slightly younger than Sam and Jessie would have thought he looked. He was sitting upon a wooden platform in front of a barn that looked worn from old age, addressing plenty of animals. As Mollie said, these animals had either been rescued from abused farms or were just curious wild animals. The familiar Seven Commandments of Animalism had been painted on the wall behind Snowball, unaltered by corrupt pigs.
"Snowball," barked Jessie as they came closer. "We've found you."
Snowball turned around until he noticed Sam and Jessie. A wide smile came across his snout when he recognized them. "Comrades Sam, Jessie, and Benjamin," he declared. "Come on over here! Welcome! It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, it has," said Sam, and he and his companions walked over until they stood with the other gathered animals. "Mollie told us that you were here."
"I'm glad to hear that she still keeps in contact with our farm," said Snowball. "Sooner or later, she'd make a good comrade again."
"I'm surprised that you're even talking to her," Benjamin said sarcastically. "Thought you agreed that no one should mention Mollie ever again?"
Snowball had the decency to look ashamed of himself for that. Sam couldn't help but feel a little glad about that. He knew that if Napoleon had been asked the same question, he would have had the animals who asked either punished or killed.
Something tugged at Sam's fur, and he looked around. It was a young rabbit, barely a month old. "Are you gonna stay here?" he asked.
"No, we're not," said Sam, smiling down at the rabbit. "We just want to see Snowball and talk to him."
"He is right," said Snowball. "Hopefully, it won't take too long. Now everyone," he went on, waving a trotter to address them all, "the meeting is over for the day. Don't forget your chores for the week. Long live Forest Farm!"
The animals echoed the last four words and went their separate ways. Both farm animals and wild animals often mingled together, talking about the day's work or what activities they had planned. It was long ago that Animal Farm had seen this sort of thing, the animals gathering together and talking freely among themselves.
"What about us?" piped up a water vole, standing with three other animals: a mole, a badger, and a toad. They were the only ones left near the barn wall. "We don't live here. We just came for volunteer work before we go back home. I want to be back at the river."
"I'll go with you, Ratty," said the mole. "Wherever you go, I'll go."
"And I'd like to go back to the pond near the manor," added the toad. "So many cars to get back to. And the way they move...poop-poop, and off they go!"
Snowball smiled and approached the four friends. "I know you four want to go home," he said, patting the toad on the head. "Take some time away from here and go back to your homes. But I hope you continue to volunteer and enjoy the extra company."
The badger behind them snorted. "Hrm...company," he growled with a wrinkle of his black-and-white muzzle. "This is the reason why I never get involved in society for so long. Being underground in the woods by yourself is the life for me."
The four animals left, and Sam saw the mole and the water vole whispering to each other. Only the badger glanced over his shoulder, giving Snowball a distrusting frown before following his friends. From how Snowball seemed to be acting as if everything was perfect in the world, Sam guessed that the badger had a point.
"They'll come around. They always do," said Snowball when he saw Sam's look. When he noticed the other two animals watching, he cleared his throat. "Come with me, comrades, and let me show you around. See what Old Major's vision that Napoleon has abandoned truly looks like."
So they followed him. Forest Farm wasn't as big as Animal Farm, and there weren't a lot of fields for planting, but the animals did like making their home here. Oak trees towered over the farm buildings, providing the farmyard with plenty of shade. There was a stream south of the farm where the animals went to drink and wallow in the summer to keep cool. Sadly, as Snowball pointed out, they had to find a more reliable water source since there had been no rain for a month.
It was during their walk that several animals - in this case, a calf, a colt, a gosling, and an adolescent pig - came to greet Snowball along the way, showing no fear when talking with him. While the animals referred to Snowball as their leader, he seemed to be willing to spend time among his fellow animals; Napoleon, however, had made his own animals terrified of crossing his path. Even the wild animals had agreed to be friendly here if the water vole and his friends helping out was any indication. It seemed that Snowball's plan on getting wild animals to be comrades had finally worked here, after a lot of failures back at Animal Farm.
"What was also that song you sung earlier?" asked Jessie when they reached the edge of the forest. "It sounded like it has the same theme as 'Beasts of England.'"
Snowball nodded. "That is true. I had this song sung to me in my dream. It seemed that Old Major had learned more than just 'Beasts of England' when he was a piglet. And yes, we still sing 'Beasts of England' on Forest Farm." He tapped his trotter on a rock and pointed out to a nearby clearing. "Take a look over there, comrades. Does this idea look familiar?"
The three animals followed where he pointed his trotter. In a more clear area of the forest, there stood a similar landmark: a windmill. This windmill looked older than the one at Animal Farm had been. Its walls looked thick on all sides, the blades were already lazily spinning around in the light wind, and its foundation was sturdy and held the structure in place.
"You've built a windmill, Snowball," remarked Jessie.
Snowball nodded. "Of course. If Napoleon was going to take credit for the plan I had for Animal Farm, then I would carry it out elsewhere. My visions of resting from one's labors by building the windmill have worked here," he added as he puffed out his chest with pride. "The dynamos are right now being added, gained from farms with its humans overthrown."
"Have you heard what Napoleon has done to Animal Farm?" asked Benjamin.
"Oh, yes. Some of the pigeons and rats have told me about everything going on at Animal Farm," replied Snowball. "My blood boils with fury towards Napoleon for all he's done to his comrades. I was there on the night that the first windmill was knocked down, and you might've seen my tracks already; I had to disguise my scent so that most of the other animals would get confused." Here, he allowed himself a smirk. "Mud can work wonders in shielding scents."
"Then that was you who knocked it down?" asked Sam.
At that question, Snowball gave Sam a rather critical look, as if he were looking at someone very stupid. "Look at me, comrade. Can a pig knock over something so large as a windmill with just a trotter?"
At this point, Sam had to admit that it was stupid of him to even think of that at all. That was when Snowball continued.
"I was there to observe the damage done by the storm, leaving when I noticed all of you arriving," he went on. "The walls were too thin, and the foundations weren't strong enough. Even the animals on the other farms said the same thing. That is why we took precautions and built our windmill's walls thick ahead of the storm from a long while ago."
"Napoleon said otherwise," said Jessie. "It's not that all of us believed him."
Snowball sighed. "I know," he said. "I knew Napoleon when we were piglets, and I know he was always gruff. But I never expected him to do what he had done. If only he had opened his eyes fully, realized that human beings are the true enemy and not his fellow animals - "
"Look where that got the farm," Sam suddenly retorted. "You overthrew a bad farmer, and for what? The farm ended up having a flat-out dictator take over. And this dictator is a pig, an animal...a so-called 'comrade'."
Jessie and Snowball both looked at Sam, mouths agape in surprise at the outburst. Only Benjamin didn't react, though he did snort at the words coming out. Sam didn't know how the words just tumbled out, but hearing Snowball rant about Animalism made something inside him snap. He wanted the bad feeling to go away, and he dug his paws deeper into the dirt.
Snowball took a deep breath and addressed Sam. "It doesn't have to end up like that here," he pressed on. "Perhaps if we spread even more Animalism to more farms, let them review the Commandments to their fullest before they join us - "
"No. No more Animalism. I've had enough of it," barked Sam. "Not all animals need Animalism. I only supported it to help out some friends, not because I fully believed in it." He narrowed his eyes as he said, "I thought we could turn to you for help, Snowball. But if you want to keep repeating what got Animal Farm into the mess that Napoleon made worse, then we'll do it without your help."
Snowball had looked dismayed while Sam ranted against Animalism. Then he turned and addressed the other two. "Jessie and Benjamin, you've been on the farm longer than even I know of. Surely you can see that Animalism and rebellion are the answers to all of our problems?"
Jessie looked to the side, unsure of how to answer that. Benjamin, however, was less than polite.
"I've never been for this revolution or Animalism in the first place," the Aniatina donkey said with a hard stare. "It's been a whole mess, I can tell you. Things wouldn't change at Animal Farm even with new masters. Maybe your farm might end up the same way by the time we all die, and maybe might go the same way Boxer did." He gave a bitter laugh and then looked away with a snort. "Then again, donkeys live a long time. None of you has ever seen a dead donkey."
Now Snowball looked even more dismayed at the refusal. To him, he had never had animals turning down a chance for Animalism in a long time. Yet he seemed to admit defeat with a nod of his head.
"If that's the way you feel, then I shall not stop you," said Snowball, bowing his head. "But it won't do you any good if you travel on an empty stomach. At least eat and rest here for the night, and then you may continue on your way the next morning."
Sam opened his mouth again, ready to protest, but then he closed his mouth. His belly growled for the other animals to hear, and his body felt sore from fighting the fox earlier in the day.
"You're right," he admitted out loud. "We'll eat and sleep here tonight. Then we'll find a way to help the animals back at Animal Farm, with or without you."
"Good," said Snowball, smiling now. "I'm glad you accepted my invitation to spend the night. There's plenty of food for you two comrades - "
"And stop calling us comrades," Benjamin snapped. "I've gotten sick of that too. We're not friends here."
Again, Snowball looked dismayed. But all he could say was, "As you wish, Comra - I mean, Benjamin. I hope you eat and rest well tonight."
He gave them one more nod and headed back towards the farm. The dogs and donkey followed him, though Jessie did give Sam and Benjamin a reproachful look as if to scold them for being rude to Snowball. If Sam wanted to confess out loud, he had been rude when telling off Snowball. Animalism did help some animals, he had to admit, but he had wanted to get his view of Animalism off his chest.
Only Benjamin held aloof in his opinion. "Jessie, don't give us that look," he told the Border collie, who still kept up the disapproving stare. "I don't care if we were even making a mess on the barn floor. Someone needed to have some sense in all this madness and tell Snowball how it is. Animalism was a stupid idea then, and it's a stupid idea now."
"As much as you two had been rude, it doesn't matter," said Jessie, waving off the argument. "It's near sunset. We need to settle down for the night."
"We will. But one thing, Sam," said Benjamin, and he stood in the little dog's way. "Are you sure you want to go back to Animal Farm? And if you do want to, what will you do to help the others?"
Sam looked down at his front paws. "I don't know," he admitted. "I said that I would years ago, and I only recently said that because of Snowball. If I did want to go back there, I don't know how to help them."
Benjamin yawned and smacked his lips. "Well, let's sleep on it. You'll probably have a clear mind by the time you wake up."
He was right about that. Sam yawned as well, stretching his front paws. As Jessie said, the sun was starting to go down. A good night's sleep and some food in his belly would make him feel better in the morning. Perhaps it would help him figure out whether to return to Animal Farm or not.
...
That night, Sam and Jessie had eaten their fill of dog biscuits. Days of eating human food scraps and even hunting wild meat made the biscuits taste like manna from heaven. Benjamin grazed on the hay as if this hay was the last hay on earth. Some of the animals of Forest Farm commented on how it had been a while since they had eaten anything so good.
Soon, they were ready to lay down for the night. There was a pile of straw for each animal to rest in: the smaller animals burrowing and getting cozy, the bigger animals simply laying down upon the straw, and the birds forming a nest (some even had eggs soon to hatch). It was sort of a relief for the three fugitives that Snowball was sleeping on a bed of straw too; it at least meant that Snowball wasn't as hypocritical as Napoleon.
Sam couldn't fall asleep as easily as Jessie and Benjamin. His thoughts turned to Old Major and all the old pig said before he died. It had been years since the old Middle White boar had passed on his words for the animals to follow. While he wasn't a firm believer in Animalism, he wondered how Old Major would have reacted upon seeing Animal Farm disrespecting his memory. As he was ready to shut his eyes for the night, Sam remembered a certain part of the speech that he had carried with him for years.
"When they tell you that man and animals can work together," Old Major had said on that night, "that animals have served humans for a long time, do not listen. It is all lies. No human is a friend, and no animal is an enemy. Man cares only about himself and no animals. So let us animals live in perfect unity during this struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades."
Oh, how Sam wanted to tell Old Major that he was wrong...or at least half-wrong. It was as Mollie had said: Old Major made some good points about how some farms were oppressed by their human masters and how some humans were bad. But he was wrong about all animals being friends and all humans being bad. Napoleon and his pigs and dogs had proved that not all animals were friends. Even Animal Farm's sheep weren't friends; they would always shout down disagreements about Napoleon with that stupid phrase called "Four legs good, two legs bad". And Sam's owners and the humans taking care of Mollie had proved that there were good humans along with the bad.
As for Forest Farm...it wasn't as bad here as Animal Farm had gotten, but this didn't make sense to Sam either. Here, Snowball was willing to continue the tradition of Animalism, to inspire a rebellion against humans and that animals could rule the earth. Sam found himself thinking, not for the first time, how such a farm could do that. No animal could conquer the world.
Thus, he went to bed with a full belly and an even fuller mind. He had decided, before he drifted off the sleep, that they were returning to Animal Farm.
To be continued...
