Snowbal had made a close study of some back numbers of the Farmer and Stockbreeder whi ch he had found in the farmhouse, and was ful of plans for innovations and improvements. He talked learnedly about field drains, silage, and basic slag, and had worked out a complicated scheme for al the animals to drop their dung directly in the fields, at a different spot every day, to save the labour of cartage. Napoleon produced no schemes of his own, but said quietly that Snowbal 's would come to nothing, and seemed to be biding his time. But of al their controversies, none was so bitter as the one that took place over the windmil . In the long pasture, not far from the farm buildings, there was a smal knol which was the highest point on the farm. After surveying the ground, Snowbal declared that this was just the place for a windmil , which could be made to operate a dynamo and supply the farm with electrical power. This would light the stal s and warm them in winter, and would also run a circular saw, a chaff-cutter, a mangel-slicer, and an electric milking machine. The animals had never heard of anything of this kind before ( for the farm was an oldfashioned one and had only the most primitive machinery), and they listened in astonishment while Snowbal conjured up pictures of fantastic machines which would do their work for them while they grazed at their ease in the fields or improved their minds with reading and conversation.

Within a few weeks Snowbal 's plans for the windmil were ful y worked out. The mechanical details came mostly from three books which had belonged to Mr. Jones-One Thousand Useful Things to Do About the House, Every Man His Own Bricklayer, and Electricity for Beginners. Snowbal used as his study a shed which had once been used for incubators and had a smooth wooden floor, suitable for drawing on. He was closeted there for hours at a time. With his books held open by a stone, and wi th a piece of chalk gripped between the knuckles of his trotter, he would move rapidly to and fro, drawing in line after line and uttering little whimpers of excitement. Gradual y the plans grew into a complicated mass of cranks and cog-wheels, covering more than half the floor, which the other animals found completely unintel igible but very impressive. Al of them came to look at Snowbal 's drawings at least once a day. Even the hens and ducks came, and were at pains not to tread on the chalk marks. Only Napoleon held aloof. He had declared himself against the windmil from the start. One day, however, he arrived unexpectedly to examine the plans. He walked heavily round the shed, looked closely at every detail of the plans and snuffed at them once or twice, then stood for a little while contemplating them out of the corner of his eye; then suddenly he lifted his leg, urinated over the plans, and walked out without uttering a word.

The whole farm was deeply divided on the subject of the windmil . Snowbal did not deny that to build it would be a difficult business. Stone would have to be carried and built up into wal s, then the sails would have to be made and after that there would be need for dynamos and cables. (How these were to be procured, Snowbal did not say.) But he maintained that it could al be done in a year. And thereafter, he declared, so much labour would be saved that the animals would only need to work three days a week. Napoleon, on the other hand, argued that the great need of the moment was to increase food production, and that if they wasted Page 14

Orwell, George : Animal Farm

time on the windmil they would al starve to death. The animals formed themselves into two factions under the slogan, "Vote for Snowbal and the three-day week" and "Vote for Napoleon and the ful manger." Benjamin was the only animal who did not side with either faction. He refused to believe either that food would become more plentiful or that the windmil would save wor k. Windmil or no windmil , he said, life would go on as it had always gone on-that is, badly.