Pigs have right of way on paths

In the period following the pigs' consolidation of power, a decree was issued that codified a new hierarchy: when a pig met any other animal on a path, the other animal was required to stand aside. Alongside this, all pigs received the privilege of wearing green ribbons on their tails on Sundays. This directive directly contradicted Old Major's foundational teaching that no animal should tyrannize over his own kind and that all animals are equal. The rule represented a concrete, daily enforcement of the pigs' superior status.

The right-of-way decree did not arise in a vacuum. It was the latest in a series of measures that had progressively dismantled the original equality of the Rebellion. The pigs had already reserved the milk and apples for themselves, justifying it as necessary for their brainwork. They had moved into the farmhouse, slept in beds, and engaged in trade with humans, each time reinterpreting the Seven Commandments to justify the change. The sheep had been trained to bleat "Four legs good, two legs bad" at crucial moments, drowning out dissent. The pigs had also taken exclusive control of education and decision-making, abolishing the weekly meetings and reducing the animals' role to passive obedience. The right-of-way rule simply made explicit what had been implicit: the pigs were now a privileged class entitled to physical deference.

The trajectory did not stop there. Eventually, the pigs began walking on their hind legs, carrying whips, and wearing human clothes. Napoleon himself appeared in Mr. Jones's black coat and ratcatcher breeches, and the farm was renamed back to the Manor Farm. The final alteration of the Commandments reduced them to a single, paradoxical line: "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others." When the pigs and the human farmers sat down together, their faces became indistinguishable. The right-of-way rule had been a small but telling step on the path to that complete reversal.