Freddy and Simon the Dictator Read Free

where they had been innocently nibbling at a wilted lettuce leaf.
    â€œBut enough of this, friends. I am not here tonight to tell you of these things. Every one of you knows of the wrongs and cruelties he himself has suffered at the hands of these men. Every one of you bitterly resents the oppression which he is powerless to overcome.”
    A small shrill voice cut across the speaker’s roaring tones. “Mr. Bean is kind to his animals.”
    â€œI know that he has that reputation,” came the reply. “I know that he says he is kind to them. And no doubt to some of them he does show kindness at times. A horse or a dog will work harder for a kind master than for an unkind one. But is it kindness to beat young rabbits into insensibility? Is it kindness to make a stew of the father of a large family and serve him up for supper? No, friends, such kindness is not what we have a right to expect.”
    Jinx put his mouth close to Freddy’s ear. “Something familiar about that voice,” he muttered.
    â€œIs to me, too,” said the pig. “But only one of the cows would have as big a one. Like Mrs. Wiggins when she gets to laughing.”
    â€œâ€™Tisn’t a cow,” said Jinx. “Look, I’m going to climb a tree and see if I can get a squint at the guy. I want to see who’s here, too. This business could be serious.”
    How serious it could be, Freddy was to learn later. Now he listened as the big voice went on. “I said a moment ago that we animals were powerless. As long as we are each of us acting alone, that is true. One animal by himself can do nothing. But suppose ten thousand animals, on the farms about Centerboro, banded together in the cause of freedom! Suppose ten million animals in New York State! Friends, in one night we could cast off our chains! We could take over these farms—yes, and the villages, too, and later, even the cities. We could run them for ourselves, for the workers who are today deprived of the fruit of their labors by their masters, the farmers.
    â€œMany of you, I know, will find it hard to think of humans as your enemies. You have lived beside them in peace for generations. But there was peace only because you submitted to their rule. What happened when you rebelled? What happened to the rats, the one group of animals who never submitted to the Beans and their like? You are told that rats are hateful, sly, and vicious; that they are thieves and outlaws. But who tells you that? The farmers. And why? Because the rats chose to be free, to take orders from no human. For what is their crime? To take a little grain from the farmers’ store—grain which grows on the land, and which should be free to all. And for that they were chased and shot at, driven out into the woods like criminals, and finally exiled to Montana.
    â€œBut enough of this. I have shown you what we must do. If we wish to live free lives, in a free country—to do as we please, rather than as Mr. Bean or Mr. Witherspoon pleases—then we must organize. That is a matter which I will take up at our next meeting. In the meanwhile, think over what I have said, consider carefully what you wish to do. If you wish to continue living as slaves, then I am wasting my time here. But if you have the will to burst your shackles and enter into the glorious life of free animals, then I will show you the way.
    â€œNow, are there any questions?”
    For a moment there was silence. Then the small voice which had spoken before—it was a rabbit’s, and Freddy thought it was 12’s—said: “Why don’t you tell us who you are?”
    â€œWho I am,” was the reply, “will be revealed in due course. This, I will tell you: I am not a human.”
    â€œYou a bug?” the little voice asked.
    There were a few faint snickers, but it is a measure of the seriousness with which the listeners took the speaker that there was no laughter. This, as