Answer:
Squealer thought Napoleon was dying because he, along with the other pigs, were all so quiet after drinking the whiskey they found in the cellars.
Napoleon was actually having a hangover from the drinking experience.
Explanation:
George Orwell's "Animal Farm" is an allegorical novel about farm animals and their 'revolution' against the human masters. And in presenting the animals with their intention to rule on their own, Orwell is metaphorically talking about the Russian Revolution.
The scene about the 'supposed' dying of Napoleon is from Chapter VIII where the animals had discovered "a case of whisky in the cellars of the farmhouse [that] had been overlooked at the time when the house was first occupied." And with their very first 'experience' of getting drunk, the whole farm was so quiet that the animals thought Napoleon was dying. In fact, Squealer told the other animals that Napoleon was dying.
But Napoleon wasn't dying. It was just a case of an extreme hangover from the drinking.
