There was general exultation. Major raised his left foot for silence again.
“And now, comrades, I’ll tell you about my dream of last night.
I can’t remember it all; however, it was a dream about the future as it will be when Man has disappeared. But it reminded me of something that I had forgotten. Many years ago, when I was a little pig, my mother used to sing an old song of which she only knew the melody and the first three words. Last night the music came back to me in my dream. What is incredible is that all the lyrics also came back during the dream! And when I woke up, I could remember all the words! Now I’ll sing you that song, comrades.
I’m old and my voice is hoarse²⁰, but when I’ve taught you the tune, you can sing it better for yourselves. It’s called Beasts of England.”
Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing. As he had said, his voice was hoarse, but he sang well enough, and it was a nice and catchy²¹ tune, something very similar to Oh, my darling Clementine.