Two eggs.
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Orwell Diaries 1938-1942 
Mr Orwell.
We have a future.
I wrote an essay on Nineteen-eighty Four today, and referred to you as One Egg, accidentally. Now the marker is going to be confused.
Contemplate not the egg,
the rooster said to the hen.
Nor from whence it came.
Ah, but two eggs! That is
quite another matter.
too precious.
three eggs
Finally. I’ve been waiting for this for weeks.
Genius!
Again, the hen realizing that the extra effort of production did not benefit her directly. Rather, those that toiled not should partake of her bounty. Extra feed was dispersed earlier and thus she produced and extra egg this day. Still, who is this one who takes her eggs? He seems useless and only seeks his own gratification on the back of her labor! Tomorrow he will be surprised.
Once I saw this entry flash up in my RSS reader I knew it would be a revelation on the site. My only disappointment is in the inexcusable lack of elation in the comments.
2 eggs people. A first for Marrakech!
Chris:
Look at 6/11. Same old “Two eggs” entry, but just in a different context. Beware of those things that appear to be new, but are just a facsimile of that which has already happened.
It’s about time! At last Eileen can stop grazing in the nasturtiums and have a boiled egg.
Do you think he shared the second egg? Or just went for the double egg muffin combo?
two eggs! can i have the one??? hehe
Two eggs – *better*!
;))
xxx
Bob
If you will it, it is no dream.
It is the small things,
Two things in particular,
That show what hope is.
Four eggs good; two eggs bad!
I’ll see your two eggs and raise you one.
Oh, thank god. I was getting worried.
Oh. My. God.
TWO!
I’m thinking they’re gonna run out of eggs in Marrakech if he keeps this up.
A chicken can lay an egg a day.
As I recall, he has three hens, having lost two to some sort of pest or illness. He’s never mentioned roosters, and roosters aren’t needed for egg production, only for chick production.
Okay, now I think I know what’s going on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number
Bacon?
wow
Maybe he’s not even eating the eggs… maybe it’s just the number of eggs that the chicken laid that day.
He’s saving them all up for a massive anti-communist omlette.
So no egg yesterday?
Two Eggs! I loved that he switched it up.
Also, Wally, Ha!
This could be one of the turning points in George’s life: the moment when the young English novelist, frustrated by lack of critical acclaim and embittered by the Republican failure in Spain, realised he could turn his back on the literary world and become a successful poultry entrepreneur in North Africa. He was divorced a few weeks later.
Somehow, George, I can’t picture you eating a solo egg. Do you have tea, toast and marmalade, too? Scones and tea? Or are you simply putting them in the larder to later become cakes, tarts and meringue? I assume, of course, that you have, at the very least, an icebox.
At the beginning of this blog you mentioned several newspapers available in your locale; how about radio? Where do you get your news? Or do you?
Is The Skull clean yet?
Answer me, darn it!
By the way, I clicked on the Fibonacci Number link, and I was not offended even though my eyeballs exploded one at a time, Then, the top of my head blew off and is currently stuck to the ceiling.
Is it a diary entry a page? Or is he economical (like he is with words) and does he draw a line under each entry and write the date in the corner? He could get a month to a page that way.
Surprisingly, I was not offended either.
re: Fibonacci spiral..my “Etch a Sketch” drew that in 1965… but I’me not offended…
Steve;thats an interesting point…DO you need a rooster? I thought one had to be at least “hanging around”….Any poultry experts out there?
@dave:
They’re not needed – it can actually be worse because you get fertilized eggs that have a little spot of blood inside, which is kinda gross.
I’m not a poultry expert, but we do have a good-sized home flock of chickens that we keep for eggs and because they’re fun to watch. We happen to have several roosters, because that’s what happens when you hatch chickens from eggs — a certain number turn out to be male. (A while back someone here speculated that Orwell’s “bad” egg might have been fertile, having a blood spot in it. We just eat those, and I’ll bet he would have, too.)
Anyway, it’s true that roosters aren’t needed. Certainly the poor hens producing supermarket eggs in battery cages are bereft of male companionship. And human females ovulate whether there’s a male around or not.
A friend who once lived in South America told us that the people there, while knowing that a rooster isn’t required, did believe having a rooster helped egg production, so they’d simulate mating by pressing on the backs of their hens with their foot once every day or so. They didn’t think roosters were important enough not to be eaten, though.
FWIW, the world record egg-layer was a black Australorp who laid 340 eggs in one year. I don’t know whether there was a rooster around.
It’s worth noting that people paid attention to this sort of thing in the early 20th Century (Google ‘lady mcduff hen’), and it might have been very common for people to record egg production in their diaries.
Steve – many thanks for such an informative and intelligent contribution.
2 eggs :)
I know a lot of people have already said it, but I’m completely fascinated by this egg stuff. Quite a zen view of life, if you think of it.
I had egg and toast this morning to celebrate this truly great occasion.
“…the world record egg-layer was a black Australorp who laid 340 eggs in one year.”
Presumably, someone forgot to step on her back for the other 25 days…
;?
xxx
Bob
Steve; kudos for all that.that was me reminiscing about blood spots in my grandmas eggs…We shall have to find a copy of Mrs Beetons book on Household management {circa 1890)
Hen.
Zen.
Pez.
:shock:
George lingers over breakfast…
I apologise for my insensitivity in posting that Fibonacci link – I should have realised that not everyone is comfortable with “edgy” arithmetic content like that.
Thanks, Steve, for the interesting chicken and egg information. Now I think we have thoroughly covered that whole topic.
I’m still waiting for George to give us something about the lead-up to WWII.
Yes, that’s why I was wondering about what kind of news he is getting there, aside from what he has already described as a biased media, that is. Travelers. Tourists. Correspondence. Radio.
I also wonder if he has seen any episodic films lately.
maybe that American film with the two brothers in the Foreign Legion…?Gunga Din. Expect he would get BBC by shortwave,letters by camel express. Two week old UK newspapers…
It sounds like he is consciously avoiding the “outside world” and enjoying his chickens.
CAL; you can never say too much about eggs;my intake has doubled since reading GO…..
It seems like the fewer words in the diary entry, the more comments there are.
50 comments to ‘2 eggs’! Amazing. It’s the way the man builds suspense, then explodes in a double yolk blaze of glory. I don’t know what I was expecting from today’s entry, but it definitely wasn’t two eggs. Orwell is quite the innovator- hats off to you sir!
“Palabras, palabras, palabras…”