1 First came the hoisting of the flag.
2 It would be a plain green flag from now onwards.
3 and this was sung every Sunday morning after the hoisting of the flag.
4 His visitors might have observed, too, the green flag which flew from the masthead.
5 After the hoisting of the flag all the animals trooped into the big barn for a general assembly which was known as the Meeting.
6 After the hoisting of the flag, the animals were required to file past the skull in a reverent manner before entering the barn.
7 The flag was run up and 'Beasts of England' was sung a number of times, then the sheep who had been killed was given a solemn funeral, a hawthorn bush being planted on her grave.
8 The flag was green, Snowball explained, to represent the green fields of England, while the hoof and horn signified the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race had been finally overthrown.
9 So that, what with the songs, the processions, Squealer's lists of figures, the thunder of the gun, the crowing of the cockerel, and the fluttering of the flag, they were able to forget that their bellies were empty, at least part of the time.
10 But when the animals saw the green flag flying, and heard the gun firing again--seven times it was fired in all--and heard the speech that Napoleon made, congratulating them on their conduct, it did seem to them after all that they had won a great victory.
11 And when they heard the gun booming and saw the green flag fluttering at the masthead, their hearts swelled with imperishable pride, and the talk turned always towards the old heroic days, the expulsion of Jones, the writing of the Seven Commandments, the great battles in which the human invaders had been defeated.