Suggestion: Read The Animal Farm by George Orwell before reading the following story
There was a celebration down at Manor Farm. Mr. Jones and his family sat at the table fully dressed with a fork and a spoon in hand feasting on food the likes of which the house hadn't seen for days. Mr. Mouse and his wife looked on from the crack in the wall in awe and were salivating at the thought of all the delicious leftovers they would be feasting on soon.
A week passed and Mr. Mouse was a worried mouse these days. There was a lot of excitement building up in the farm and everyone was singing “Beasts of England”. That night, he confided his worries to his wife. “I wonder what plans these rotten animals have, Mr. Jones has been our source of survival for so many generations, I wonder what ghost has gotten into them that they want to go against him. How do they plan to survive without him?” His wife gave a loud sigh and went to sleep. She didn't want to be troubled by all this
One morning there was uproar outside that woke everyone in the house up. They huddled together as they heard hooves stomping and the most inhuman of sounds formed by all the animals howling at once followed by the sounds of men screaming and shouting as they ran away. This was followed by the sounds of celebration and the heat of a bonfire in the center of the farm.
Mr. Mouse went out to investigate what was happening and all he could hear was animals shouting “We are free” and “The humans are gone”. Carried away by the frenzy around him, he joined in and started singing “Beasts of England” with everyone else, ate plentifully at the store house and went home very late.
Mrs. Mouse nearly wept in relief on seeing him and run towards him “Are you hurt? What is going on out there?”
A beaming Mr. Mouse replied “We have driven out the humans; we now own this land and can take care of ourselves without the treacherous humans harming any of us.” and then handed her a huge chunk of cheese
Mrs. Mouse was worried, “But, without our usual supply of leftovers from the humans, what can we do? This won’t last forever”
“We just work like everyone else for the good of the farm” was the all the reply Mr. Mouse gave before going to bed.
The next morning, Mr. Mouse left early and came back by lunchtime telling Mrs. Mouse in quick, excited tones “This is definitely going to work, We now have a new set of laws that ensure that the Cat won’t us and ensure that we are as much members of this farm as everyone else I’ll be out with the others if you want me, we don’t need to hide in this hole anymore” and he left as quickly as he had come.
It took a while for it to sink in but when it did Mrs. Mouse lept in joy and ran out and saw the gleeful green grass and bright skies and danced before going back home for another bite of the delicious cheese. The World was such a nice place.
Several days passed peacefully. Mrs. Mouse used her newfound freedom to regularly explore the kitchen and the house for new food. She ate some and hid the rest in a growing pile near the back of the hole. Mr. Mouse couldn’t help smiling at the naiveté. Why would they need stored food now that they owned the farm?
A few days later, Mr. Mouse came back home in the afternoon and said that work for the day had been suspended due to a lot of unexpected happening. They ate a little of the stored food for that day. The next day onwards, she noticed that the pigs had started using the rooms in the house and she made sure she stayed in the shadows.
One evening, Mr. Mouse came home looking like a shadow of himself. He sat down and in a voice barely over a whisper said “It’s over, the cat nearly tried to kill me today, and a friends tells me that the rules of the farm have changed, the pigs rule us now”
Mrs. Mouse gave a grim smile, took him by hand and led him into the corner of the bedroom and there Mr. Mouse saw something that stunned him, the pigs sat at the table fully dressed with a fork and a spoon in hand. He saw them eating and the leftovers being taken aside. “Nothing’s Changed,” He whispered "They're all the same"
