Boxer-windmill labor

Boxer was the indispensable force behind the windmill's construction. His strength, equal to that of all the other animals combined, made him the linchpin of the quarry work. When teams of animals struggled to drag a boulder up the slope and felt themselves slipping backward, Boxer would strain against the rope, his breath coming fast, his hoofs clawing the ground, and his sides matted with sweat, to bring the load to a stop. The other animals looked on with admiration. Clover warned him not to overstrain himself, but he never listened, relying on his twin slogans: "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right."

Even after the execution of the accused traitors, when the farm was shaken by terror, Boxer's response was to direct his energy into the windmill. He moved off at his lumbering trot to the quarry, collected two successive loads of stone, and dragged them down to the site before retiring for the night. This pattern of extra labor, often undertaken in the dark or after hours, became a defining feature of his contribution.

Boxer's hoof was split during the Battle of the Windmill and took a long time to heal. He refused to take a day off, making it a point of honor not to show pain. In the evenings he admitted privately to Clover that the hoof troubled him, and she treated it with poultices of chewed herbs. Both she and Benjamin urged him to work less hard, reminding him that a horse's lungs do not last forever. But Boxer would not listen. He confided that his sole remaining ambition was to see the windmill well under way before he reached the age for retirement.

After his hoof healed, Boxer worked harder than ever. The long hours on insufficient food were hard to bear, but he never faltered. His appearance changed: his hide grew less shiny, his great haunches seemed shrunken. Others said he would pick up when the spring grass came on, but he grew no fatter. On the slope leading to the top of the quarry, when he braced his muscles against the weight of some vast boulder, it seemed that nothing kept him on his feet except the will to continue. His lips would form the words "I will work harder," though he had no voice left.