2 - The Metamorphosis

Episode Transcript

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This is a LibriVox recording. AllLibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer,please visit LibriVox dot org. The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka, translated by IanJohnston, read for LibriVox by David Barnes.

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Two Gregor first woke up from hisheavy, swoon like sleep in the
evening twilight. He would certainly havewoken up soon afterwards without any disturbance,
for he felt himself sufficiently rested andwide awake, although it appeared to him

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as if a hurried step and acautious closing of the door to the hall
had aroused him. Light from theelectric street lamps lay pale here and there
on the ceiling and on the higherparts of the furniture, but underneath around
Gregor it was dark. He pushedhimself slowly toward the door, still groping

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awkwardly with his feelers, which henow learned to value for the first time,
to check what was happening there.His left side seemed one single,
long, unpleasantly stretched scar, andhe really had to hobble on his two
rows of legs. In addition,one small leg had been seriously wounded in

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the course of the morning incident.It was almost a miracle that only one
had been hurt. And dragged lifelesslybehind by the door, he first noticed
what had really lured him there.It was the smell of something to eat.

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A bowl stood there, filled withsweetened milk, in which swam tiny
pieces of white bread. He almostlaughed with joy, for he now had
a much greater hunger than in themorning, and he immediately dipped his head
almost up to and over his eyes, down into the milk. But he

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soon drew it back again in disappointment, not just because it was difficult for
him to eat on account of hisdelicate left side, he could eat only
if his entire panting body worked ina coordinated way, but also because the
milk, which otherwise was his favoritedrink, and which his sister had certainly

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placed there for that reason, didnot appeal to him at all. He
turned away from the bowl, almostwith aversion, and crept back into the
middle of the room. In theliving room, as Gregor saw through the
crack in the door, the gaswas lit, but where on other occasions

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at this time time of day hisfather was accustomed to read the afternoon newspaper
in a loud voice to his motherand sometimes also to his sister. At
the moment, no sound was audible. Now, perhaps this reading aloud,
about which his sister had always spokenand written to him, had recently fallen

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out of their general routine. Butit was so still all around, in
spite of the fact that the apartmentwas certainly not empty. What a quiet
life the family leads, said Greggorto himself, And as he stared fixedly
out in front of him into thedarkness, he felt a great pride that

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he had been able to provide sucha life in a beautiful apartment like this
for his parents and his sister.But how would things go if now all
tranquility, all prosperity, all contentmentshould come to a horrible end. In
order not to lose himself in suchthoughts, Gregor preferred to set himself moving,

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So he moved up and down inhis room once during the long evening.
One side door and then the otherdoor was opened just a tiny crack,
and quickly closed again. Someone presumablyneeded to come in, but had
then thought better of it. Gregorimmediately took up a position by the living

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room door, determined to bring inthe hesitant visitor somehow or other, or
at least to find out who itmight be. But now the door was
not opened any more, and Gregorwaited in vain. Earlier, when the
door had been barred, they hadall wanted to come in to him.

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Now, when he'd opened one door, and when the others had obviously been
opened during the day, no onecame any more, and the keys were
stuck in the locks on the outside. The light in the living room was
turned off only late at night,and now it was easy to establish that

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his parents and his sister had stayedawake all this time, for one could
hear clearly as all three moved awayon tiptoe. Now it was certain that
no one would come into Gregor anymore until the morning. Thus he had
a long time to think, undisturbedabout how he would reorganize his life from

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scratch. But the high, openroom in which he was compelled to lie
flat on the floor made him anxious, without his being able to figure out
the reason. For he had livedin the room for five years with a
half unconscious turn and not without aslight shame, he scull worried under the

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couch, where, in spite ofthe fact that his back was a little
cramped and he could no longer liftup his head, he felt very comfortable
and was sorry only that his bodywas too wide to fit completely under it.
There he remained the entire night,which he spent partly in a state

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of semi sleep, out of whichhis hunger constantly woke him with a start,
but partly in a state of worryand murky hopes, which all led
to the conclusion that for the timebeing he would have to keep calm and
with patience and the greatest consideration forhis family, tolerate the troubles which,

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in his present condition he was nowforced to cause them. Already early in
the morning, it was still almostnight, Gregor had an opportunity to test
the power of the disease he hadjust made. For his sister, almost
fully dressed, opened the door fromthe hall into his room and looked eagerly

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inside. She did not find himimmediately, but when she noticed him under
the couch, God he had tobe somewhere or other, for he could
hardly fly away. She got sucha shock that, without being able to
control herself, she slammed the doorshut once again from the outside. However,

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as if she was sorry for herbehavior, she immediately opened the door
again and walked in on her tiptoes, as if she was in the presence
of a serious invalid or a totalstranger. Gregor had pushed his head forward
just to the edge of the couchand was observing her. Would she really

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notice that he had left the milkstanding, not indeed from any lack of
hunger, and would she bring insomething else to eat more suitable for him?
If she did not do it onher own, he would sooner starve
to death than call her attention tothe fact. Although he had a really
powerful urge to move beyond the couch, throw himself at his sister's feet and

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beg her for something or other goodto eat. But his sister noticed right
away with astonishment that the ball wasstill full, with only a little milk
spilled around it. She picked itup immediately, although not with her bare
hands, but with a rag,and took it out of the room.

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Gregor was extremely curious what she wouldbring as a substitute, and he pictured
to himself different ideas about it,but he never could have guessed what his
sister. Out of the goodness ofher heart, in fact, did she
brought him to test his taste anentire selection, all spread out on an

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old newspaper. There were old,half rotten vegetables, bones from the evening
meal, covered in a white saucewhich had almost solidified, some raisins and
almonds, cheese which Gregor had declaredinedible two days earlier, a slice of
dry bread, and a slice ofsalted bread smeared with butter. In addition

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to all this, she put downa bowl, probably designated once and for
all as Gregor's, into which shehad poured some water, and out of
her delicacy of feeling, since sheknew that Gregor would not eat in front
of her, she went away veryquickly, and even turned the key in
the lock, so that Gregor wouldnow observe that he could make himself as

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comfortable as he wished. Gregor's smalllimbs buzzed now that the time for eating
had come. His wounds must,in any case of already healed completely.
He felt no handicap on that score. He was astonished at that, and
thought about how more than a monthago he'd cut his finger slightly with a

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knife, and how this wound hadhurt enough even the day before yesterday.
Am I now going to be lesssensitive? He thought, already sucking greedily
on the cheese, which had stronglyattracted him right away, more than all
the other foods. Quickly, andwith his eyes watering with satisfaction, he

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ate one after the other, thecheese, the vegetables, and the sauce.
The fresh food, by contrast,didn't taste good to him. He
couldn't bear the smell, and evencarried the things he wanted to eat a
little distance away. By the timehis sister slowly turned the key as a

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sign that he should withdraw, hewas long finished and now lay lazily in
the same spot. The noise immediatelystartled him, in spite of the fact
that he was already almost to sleep, and he scurried back again under the
couch. But it cost him greatself control to remain under the couch even

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for the short time his sister wasin the room, because his body had
filled out somewhat on account of therich meal, and in the narrow space
there he could scarcely breathe in themidst of minor attacks of asphyxiation. He
looked at her with somewhat protruding eyes. As his unsuspecting sister swept up with

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a broom, not just the remnants, but even the foods, which Gregor
had not touched at all, asif these were also now useless, And
as she dumped everything quickly into abucket, which he closed with a wooden
lid, and then carried all ofit out of the room, she had
hardly turned around before Gregor had alreadydragged himself out from the couch, stretched

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out and let his body expand.In this way, Gregor got his food
every day, once in the morning, when his parents and the servant girl
were still asleep, and a secondtime after the common noon meal, for
his parents were as before asleep thenfor a little while, and the servant

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girl was sent off by his sisteron some errand or other. They certainly
would not have wanted Gregor to starveto death, but perhaps they could not
have endured finding out what he ateother than by hearsay. Perhaps his sister
wanted to spare them what was possiblyonly a small grief, for they were

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really suffering quite enough already. Whatsorts of air excuses people had used on
that first morning to get the doctorand the locksmith out of the house.
Gregor was completely unable to ascertain sincethey could not understand him. No one,

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not even his sister, thought thathe might be able to understand others,
And thus when his sister was inher room, he had to be
content with listening now and then toher sighs and invocations to the saints.
Only later, when she had grownsomewhat accustomed to everything. Naturally, there

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could never be any talk of hergrowing completely accustomed to it. Gregor sometimes
caught a comment which was intended tobe friendly, or could be interpreted as
such. Well, today it tastedgood to him, she said, if
Gregor had really cleaned up what hehad to eat. Whereas in the reverse

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situation, which gradually repeated it moreand more frequently, she used to say,
sadly, now everything has stopped again. But while Gregor could get no
new information directly, he did heara good deal from the room next door,
and as soon as he heard voices, he scurried right away to the

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appropriate door and pressed his entire bodyagainst it. In the early days,
especially, there was no conversation whichwas not concerned with him. In some
way or another, even if onlyin secret. For two days. At
all meal times, discussions on thatsubject could be heard on how people should

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now behave, But they also talkedabout the same subject in the times between
meals, for there were always atleast two family members at home, since
no one really wanted to remain inthe house alone, and people could not,
under any circumstances leave the apartment completelyempty. In addition, on the

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very first day, the servant girl, it was not completely clear what and
how much she knew about what hadhappened on her knees, had begged his
mother to let her go immediately,and when she said goodbye about fifteen minutes
later, she thanked them for thedismissal with tears in her eyes, as

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if she was receiving the greatest favorwhich people had shown her there and without
anyone demanding it from her. Sheswore a fearful oath not to betray anyone,
not even the slightest bit. Nowhis sister had to team up with
his mother to do the cooking,although that didn't create much trouble because people

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were eating almost nothing. Again andagain, Gregor listened as one of them
vainly invited another one to eat andreceive no answer other than thank you,
I've had enough, or something likethat, and perhaps they had stopped having
anything to drink too. His sisteroften asked his father whether he wanted to

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have a beer, and gladly offeredto fetch it herself, and when his
father was silent, she said,in order to remove any reservations he might
have, that she could send thecaretaker's wife to get it. But then
his father finally said a resounding no, and nothing more would be spoken about

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it. Already during the first day, his father laid out all the financial
circumstances and prospects to his mother andto his sister as well. From time
to time, he stood up fromthe table and pulled out of the small
lock box salvage from his business whichhad collapsed five years previously, some doc

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document or other, or some notebook. The sound was audible as he opened
up the complicated lock and, afterremoving what he was looking for, locked
it up again. These explanations byhis father were in part the first enjoyable
thing that Gregor had the chance tolisten to since his imprisonment. He had

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thought that nothing at all was leftover for his father from that business.
At least, his father had toldhim nothing to contradict that view, and
Gregor, in any case, hadn'tasked him about it. At the time.
Gregor's only concern had been to useeverything he had in order to allow
his family to forget as quickly aspossible the business misfortune which had brought them

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all into a state of complete hopelessness. And so at that point he'd started
to work with a special intensity,and from an assistant had become all me
most overnight, a traveling salesman whonaturally had entirely different possibilities for earning money,
and whose successes at work were convertedimmediately into the form of cash commissions,

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which could be set out on thetable at home in front of his
astonished and delighted family. Those hadbeen beautiful days, and they had never
come back afterwards, at least notwith the same splendor. In spite of
the fact that Gregor later earned somuch money that he was in a position

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to bear the expenses of the entirefamily, costs which he in fact did
bear, they had become quite accustomedto it, both the family and Gregor
as well. They took the moneywith thanks, and he happily surrendered it.
But the special warmth was no longerpresent. Only the sister had remained

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still close to Gregor, and itwas his seat secret plan to send her
next year to the Conservatory, regardlessof the great expense which that necessarily involved,
and which would be made up inother ways. In contrast to Gregor,
she loved music very much and knewhow to play the violin charmingly.

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Now and then, during Gregor's shortstays in the city, the Conservatory was
mentioned in conversations with his sister,but always only as a beautiful dream whose
realization was unimaginable. And their parentsnever listened to these innocent expectations with pleasure.

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But Gregor thought about them with scrupulousconsideration, and intended to explain the
matter ceremoniously on Christmas Eve. Inhis present situation, such futile ideas went
through his head while he pushed himselfright up against the door and and listened.

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Sometimes, in his general exhaustion,he couldn't listen anymore and let his
head bang listlessly against the door,But he immediately pulled himself together, for
even the small sound which he madeby this motion was heard nearby and silenced
everyone there. He goes on again, said his father, after a while,

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clearly turning towards the door, andonly then would the interrupted conversation gradually
be resumed again, Gregor found outclearly enough for his father tended to repeat
himself often in his explanations, partlybecause he'd not personally concerned himself with these

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matters for a long time now,and partly also because his mother didn't understand
everything right away the first time,that in spite all bad luck, a
fortune, although a very small one, was available from the old times,
which the interest, which had notbeen touched, had in the intervening time,

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gradually allowed to increase a little.Furthermore, in addition to this,
the money which Gregor had brought homeevery month he had kept only a few
florins for himself had not been completelyspent and had grown into a small capital
amount. Gregor, behind his door, nodded eagerly, rejoicing over this unanticipated

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foresight and frugality. True, withthis excess money, he could have paid
off more of his father's debt tohis employer, and the day on which
he could be rid of this positionwould have been a lot closer, But
now things were doubtless better the wayhis father had arranged them. At the
moment, however, this money wasnot nearly sufficient to permit the family to

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live on the interest paid. Perhapsit would be enough to maintain the family
for one or at most two years, that's all. Thus it only added
up to an amount which one shouldnot really draw upon, and which must
be set aside for an emergency.But the money to live on had to

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be earned now. Although his fatherwas old, he was a healthy man
who had not worked at all forfive years, and thus could not be
counted on for very much. Hehad in these five years, the first
holidays of his trouble filled but unsuccessfullife, put on a good deal of

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fat, and thus had become reallyheavy. And should his old mother now
perhaps work for money. A womanwho suffered from asthma, for whom wandering
through the apartment even now was agreat strain, and who spent every second
day on the sofa by the openwindow, laboring breath. Should his sister

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earn money? A girl who wasstill a seventeen year old child, whose
earlier lifestyle had been so very delightfulthat it had consisted of dressing herself nicely,
sleeping in late, helping around thehouse, taking part in a few
modest enjoyments, and above all,playing the violin. When it came to

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talking about this need to earn money, at first, Gregor went away from
the door and threw himself on thecold leather sofa beside the door, for
he was quite hot from shame andsorrow. Often he lay there all night
long. He didn't sleep a moment, and just scratched on the leather for

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hours at a time. He undertookthe very difficult task of shoving a chair
over to the window. Then hecrept up on the window sill and braced
on the chair, leaned against thewindow to look out, obviously with some
memory or other of the satisfaction whichthat used to bring him in earlier times.

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Actually, from day to day heperceived things with less and less clarity,
even those a short distance away.The hospital across the street, the
all too frequent sight of which hehad previously cursed, was not visible at
all anymore. And if he hadnot been precisely aware that he lived in
the quiet but completely urban Charlotte Street, he could have believed that from his

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window he was peering out at afeatureless waste land in which the gray heaven
and the gray earth had merged andwere indistinguishable. His attentive sister must have
observed a couple of times that thechair stood by the window, then,
after cleaning up the room, eachtime she pushed the chair back right against

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the window, and from now onshe even left the inner casement open.
If Gregor had only been able tospeak to his sister and thank her for
everything that she had to do forhim, he would have tolerated her service
more easily. As it was,he suffered under it. The sister admittedly

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sought to cover up the awkwardness ofeverything as much as possible, and as
time went by she naturally got moresuccessful at it. But with the passing
of time Gregor also came to understandeverything more precisely. Even her entrance was
terrible for him. As soon asshe entered, she ran straight to the

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window without taking the time to shutthe door, in spite of the fact
that she was otherwise very considerate insparing anyone the sight of Gregor's room,
and yanked the window open with eagerhands, as if she was almost suffocating,
and remained for a while by thewindow, breathing deeply, even when

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it was still so cold. Withthis running and noise, she frightened Gregor
twice every day, the entire timehe trembled under the couch, And yet
he knew very well that she wouldcertainly have spared him gladly if it had
only been possible to remain with thewindow closed in a room where Gregor lived.

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On one occasion, about one monthhad already gone by since Gregor's transformation,
and there was now no particular reasonany more for his sister to be
startled at Gregor's appearance. She arriveda little earlier than usual and came upon
Gregor as he was still looking outthe window, immobile and well positioned to

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frighten someone. It would not havecome as a surprise to Gregor if she
had not come in, since hisposition was preventing her from opening the window
immediately. But she not only didnot step inside, she even retreated and
shut the door. A stranger reallymight have concluded from this that Gregor had

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been lying in wait for her andwanted to bite her. Of course,
Gregor immediately concealed himself under the couch, but he had to wait until the
noon meal before his sister returned,and she seemed much less calm than usual.
From this, he realized that hisappearance was still constantly intolerable to her,

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and must remain intolerable in future,and that she really had to exert
a lot of self control not torun away from a glimpse of only the
small part of his body which stuckout from under the couch. In order
to spare her even this sight,one day, he dragged the sheet on

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his back and onto the couch.This task took him four hours and arranged
it in such a way that hewas now completely concealed, and his sister,
even if she bent down, couldnot see him. If this sheet
was not necessary as far as shewas concerned, then she could remove it,

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for it was clear enough that Gregorcould not derive any pleasure from isolating
himself so completely. But she leftthe sheet just as it was, and
Gregor believed he even caught a lookof gratitude when, on one occasion he
carefully lifted up the sheet a littlewith his head to check as his sister

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took stock of the new arrangement.In the first two weeks, his parents
could not bring themselves to visit him, and he often heard how they fully
acknowledged his sister's present work, whereasearlier they had often got annoyed at his
sister because she had seemed to thema somewhat useless young woman. However,

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now both his father and his motheroften waited in front of Gregor's door while
his sister cleaned up inside, andas soon as she came out, she
had to explain in detail how thingslooked in the room, what Gregor had
eaten, how he had behaved thistime, and whether perhaps a slight improvement

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was perceptible. In any event,his mother, comparatively soon wanted to visit
Gregor, but his father and hissister restrained her at first with reasons which
Gregor listened to very attentively and whichhe completely endorsed. Later, however,
they had to hold her back forcefully, and when she then cried, let

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me go to Gregor. He's myunlucky son. Don't you understand that I
have to go to him? Gregorthen thought that perhaps it would be a
good thing if his mother came in, not every day, of course,
but maybe once a week. Sheunderstood everything much better than his sister,
who, in spite of all hercourage, was still a child, and,

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in the last analysis, had perhapsundertaken such a difficult task only out
of childish recklessness. Gregor's wish tosee his mother was soon realized. While
during the day, Gregor, outof consideration for his parents, did not

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want to show himself by the window, he couldn't crawl around very much on
the few square meters of the floor. He found it difficult to bear lying
quietly during the night, and sooneating no longer gave him the slightest pleasure.
So for diversion he acquired the habitof crawling back and forth across the

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walls and ceiling. He was especiallyfond of hanging from the ceiling. The
experience was quite different from lying onthe floor. It was easier to breathe,
a slight vibration went through his body, and in the midst of the
almost happy amusement which Gregor found upthere, it could happen that, to

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his own surprise, he let goand hit the floor. However, now
he naturally controlled his body quite differently, and he did not injure himself in
such a great fall. His sisternoticed immediately the new amusement which Gregor had
found for himself, for as hecrept around, he left behind here and

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there traces of his sticky stuff.And so she got the idea of making
Gregor's creeping around as easy as possible, and thus of removing the furniture which
got in the way, especially thechest of drawers and the writing desk.
But she was in no position todo this by herself. She did not

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dare to ask her father to help, and the servant girl would certainly not
have assisted her, for although thisgirl, about sixteen years old, had
courageously remained since the dismissal of theprevious cook, she had begged for the
privilege of being allowed to stay permanentlyconfined to the kitchen, and of having
to open the door only in answerto a special summons. Thus, his

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sister had no other choice but toinvolve his mother. While his father was
absent. His mother approached Gregor's roomwith cries of excited joy, but she
fell silent at the door. Ofcourse, his sister first checked whether everything
in the room was in order.Only then did she let his mother walk

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in in great haste. Gregor haddrawn the sheet down even further and wrinkled
it more. The whole thing reallylooked just like a coverlet thrown carelessly over
the couch. On this occasion,Gregor held back from spying out from under
the sheet. Thus he refrained fromlooking at his mother this time, and

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was just happy that she had come. Come on, he's not visible,
said his sister, and evidently ledhis mother by the hand. Now Gregor
listened as these two weak women shiftedthe still heavy old chest of drawers from
its position, and his sister constantlytook on herself the greatest part of the

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work, without listening to the warningsof his mother, who was afraid that
she would strain herself. The worklasted a long time. After about a
quarter of an hour had already goneby, his mother said it would be
better if they left the chest ofdrawers where it was, because in the
first place, it was too heavy, they would not be finished before his

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father's arrival, and leaving the chestof drawers in the middle of the room
would block all Gregor's pathways. Butin the second place, they could not
be certain that Gregor would be pleasedwith the removal of the furniture. To
her, the reverse seemed to betrue. The sight of the empty walls
pierced her right to the heart.And why should Gregor not feel the same,

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since he had been accustomed to theroom furnishings for a long time,
and in an empty room would feelhimself abandoned? And is it not the
case? Said his mother, concluding, very quietly, almost whispering, as
if she wished to prevent Gregor,whose exact location she really didn't know,

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from hearing even the sound of hervoice, for she was convinced that he
did not understand her words. Andisn't it a fact that by removing the
furniture where showing that where giving upall hope of an improvement and leaving him
to his own resources without any consideration. I think it would be best if

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we tried to keep the room exactlyin the condition it was in before,
so that when Gregor returns to us, he finds everything unchanged and can forget
the intervening time all the more easily. As he heard his mother's words,
Gregor realized that the lack of allimmediate human contact, together with the monotonous

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life surrounded by the family over thecourse of these two months must have confused
his understanding, because otherwise he couldn'texplain to himself how he, in all
seriousness, could have been so keento have his room emptied. Was he
really eager to let the warm room, comfortably furnished with pieces he had inherited,

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be turned into a cavern, inwhich he would, of course then
be able to crawl about in alldirections without disturbance, but at the same
time with a quick and complete forgettingof his human past as well? Was
he then, at this point alreadyon the verge of forgetting? And was

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it only the voice of his mother, which he had not heard for a
long time, that had aroused him. Nothing was to be removed. Everything
must remain. In his condition,He could not function without the beneficial influences
of his furniture. And if thefurniture prevented him from carrying out his senseless

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crawling about all over the place,then there was no harm in that,
but rather a great benefit. Buthis sister, unfortunately thought otherwise she had
grown accustomed. Certainly, not withoutjustification, so far as the discussion of
matter concerning Gregor was concerned. Toact as a special expert with respect to

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their parents, and so now themother's advice was for his sister sufficient reason
to insist on the removal not onlyof the chest of drawers and the writing
desk, which were the only itemsshe had thought about at first, but
also of all the furniture, withthe exception of the indispensable couch. Of

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course, it was not only childishdefiance and her recent, very unexpected and
hard won self confidence which led herto this demand. She had also actually
observed that Gregor needed a great dealof room to creep about. The furniture,
on the other hand, as faras one could see, was not
of the slightest use. But perhapsthe enthusiastic sensibility of young women of her

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age also played a role. Thisfeeling sought release at every opportunity, and
with it Greta now felt tempted towant to make Gregor's situation even more terrifying,
so that then she would be ableto do even more for him than
now. For surely, no oneexcept Greta would ever trust themselves to enter

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a room in which Gregor ruled theempty walls all by himself, and so
she did not let herself be dissuadedfrom her decision by her mother, who
in this room seemed uncertain of herselfin her sheer agitation, and soon kept
quiet, helping his sister with allher energy to get the chest of draws

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out of the room. Now Gregorcould still do without the chest of draws
if need be, but the writingdesk really had to stay, and scarcely
had the women left the room withthe chest of draws groaning as they pushed
it, when Gregor stuck his headout from under the sofa to take a
look how he could intervene cautiously andwith as much consideration as possible, But

(39:09):
unfortunately it was his mother who cameback into the room first. While Greta
had her arms wrapped around the chestof drawers in the next room and was
rocking it back and forth by herselfwithout moving it from its position. His
mother was not used to the sightof Gregor. He could have made her

(39:30):
ill and so frightened. Gregor scurriedbackwards, right to the other side of
the sofa, but he could nolonger prevent the sheet from moving forward a
little. That was enough to catchhis mother's attention. She came to a
halt, stood still for a moment, and then went back to Greta.

(39:53):
Although Gregor kept repeating to himself overand over that really nothing unusual all was
going on, that only a fewpieces of furniture were being rearranged, he
soon had to admit to himself thatthe movements of the women to and fro,
their quiet conversations, and the scratchingof the furniture on the floor affected

(40:17):
him like a great swollen commotion onall sides. And so firmly was he
pulling in his head and legs andpressing his body to the floor. He
had to tell himself unequivocally that hewouldn't be able to endure all this much
longer. They were cleaning out hisroom, taking away from him everything he

(40:40):
cherished. They had already dragged outthe chest of drawers in which the fretsaw
and other tools were kept, andthey were now loosening the writing desk,
which was fixed tight to the floor, the desk on which he, as
a business student, a school student, indeed, even as an element entary

(41:00):
school student, had written out hisassignments. At that moment, he really
didn't have any more time to checkthe good intentions of the two women whose
existence he had in any case almostforgotten, because in their exhaustion they were
working really silently, and the heavystumbling of their feet was the only sound

(41:22):
to be heard, And so hescuttled out. The women were just propping
themselves up on the writing desk inthe next room in order to take a
breather, changing the direction of hispath four times, he really didn't know
what he should rescue first. Thenhe saw, hanging conspicuously on the wall,

(41:43):
which was otherwise already empty, thepicture of the woman dressed in nothing
but fur. He quickly scurried upover it and pressed himself against the glass,
which held it in place, andwhich made his hot abdomen feel good.
At least this picture, which Gregorat the moment completely concealed. Surely

(42:05):
no one would now take it away. He twisted his head towards the door
of the living room to observe thewomen as they came back in. They
had not allowed themselves very much restand were coming back right away. Greta
had placed her arm around her motherand held her tightly. So what shall
we take now, said Greta,and looked around her. Then her glance

(42:30):
met Gregor's from the wall. Shekept her composure only because her mother was
there. She bent her face towardsher mother in order to prevent her from
looking round, and said, althoughin a trembling voice, and too quickly
come, wouldn't it be better togo back to the living room for just
another moment. Greta's purpose was clearto Gregor. She wanted to bring his

(42:54):
mother to a safe place and thenchase him down from the wall. Well,
let her just try. He squattedon his picture and did not hand
it over. He would sooner springinto Greta's face. But Greta's words had
immediately made the mother very uneasy.She walked to the side, caught sight

(43:19):
of the enormous brown splotch on theflowered wallpaper, and before she became truly
aware that what she was looking atwas Gregor, screamed out in a high
pitched, raw voice, Oh God, Oh God, and fell with outstretched
arms as if she were surrendering everything, down onto the couch and lay there

(43:40):
motionless. Gregor, you, criedout his sister, with a raised fist
and an urgent glare. Since histransformation. These were the first words which
she had directed right at him.She ran into the room next door to
bring some spirits or other with whichshe could revive her mother from her fainting

(44:00):
spell. Gregor wanted to help uswell. There was time enough to save
the picture, but he was stuckfast on the glass and had to tear
himself loose forcefully. Then he alsoscurried into the next room as if he
could give his sister some advice,as in earlier times, But then he

(44:22):
had to stand there idly behind herwhile she rummaged around among various small bottles.
Still, she was frightened. Whenshe turned round, the bottle fell
on to the floor and shattered.A splinter of glass wounded Gregor in the
face. Some corrosive medicine or otherdripped over him. Now, without lingering

(44:45):
any longer, Greta took as manysmall bottles as she could hold and ran
with them into her mother. Sheslammed the door shut with her foot.
Gregor was now shut off from hismother, who was perhaps near death thanks
to him. He could not openthe door, and he did not want
to chase away his sister, whohad to remain with her mother. At

(45:08):
this point, he had nothing todo but wait, and, overwhelmed with
self reproach, and worry. Hebegan to creep and crawl over everything,
walls, furniture, and ceiling.Finally, in his despair, as the
entire room started to spin around him, he fell onto the middle of the

(45:30):
large table. A short time elapsed. Gregor lay there limply. All around
was still. Perhaps that was agood sign. Then there was a ring
at the door. The servant girlwas naturally shut up in her kitchen,

(45:51):
and therefore Greta had to go toopen the door. The father had arrived.
What's happened were his first words.Greta's appearance had told him everything,
Greta replied with a dull voice.Evidently she was pressing her face against her
father's chest. Mother fainted. Butshe's getting better now. Gregor has broken

(46:15):
loose. Yes, I have expectedthat, said his father. I always
told you that, but you womendon't want to listen. It was clear
to Gregor that his father had badlymisunderstood Greta's short message and was assuming that
Gregor had committed some violent crime orother. Thus Gregor now had to find

(46:38):
his father to calm him down,for he had neither the time nor the
ability to explain things to him,and so he rushed away to the door
of his room and pushed himself againstit so that his father could see right
away as he entered from the hall, that Gregor fully intended to return at

(46:59):
once to his room, and thatit was not necessary to drive him back,
but that one only needed to openthe door and he would disappear immediately.
But his father was not in themood to observe such niceties. Ah,
he yelled as soon as he entered, with a tone as if he

(47:20):
were all at once angry and pleased. Gregor pulled his head back from the
door and raised it in the directionof his father. He had not really
pictured his father as he now stoodthere, of course, what with his
new style of creeping all around.He had in the past while neglected to
pay attention to what was going onin the rest of the apartment as he

(47:44):
had done before, and really shouldhave grasped the fact that he would encounter
different conditions. Nevertheless, nevertheless,was that still his father. Was that
the same man who had lain exhausted, buried in bed in earlier days when
Gregor was setting out on a businesstrip, who had received him on the

(48:06):
evenings of his return in a sleepinggown and arm chair, totally incapable of
standing up, who had only liftedhis arm as a sign of happiness,
and who, in their rare strollstogether a few sundays a year, and
on the important holidays, made hisway slowly forwards between Gregor and his mother,

(48:29):
who themselves moved slowly, always abit more slowly than them, bundled
up in his old coat, allthe time, setting down his walking stick
carefully, and who, when hehad wanted to say something, almost always
stood still and gathered his entourage aroundhim. But now he was standing up

(48:52):
really straight, dressed in a tightfitting blue uniform with gold buttons like the
one servants where in a banking company. Above the high stiff collar of his
jacket, his firm double chin stuckout prominently beneath his bushy eyebrows. The
glance of his black eyes was freshlypenetrating and alert. His otherwise disheveled white

(49:17):
hair was combed down into a carefullyexact, shining part. He threw his
cap, on which a gold monogramapparently the symbol of the bank, was
affixed in an arc across the entireroom, onto the sofa, and moved
throwing back the edge of the longcoat of his uniform, with his hands

(49:38):
in his trouser pockets and a grimface right up to Gregor. He really
didn't know what he had in mind, but he raised his foot uncommonly high
anyway, and Gregor was astonished atthe gigantic size of the sole of his
boot. However, he did notlinger on that point, for he knew

(50:02):
from the first day of his newlife that, as far as he was
concerned, his father considered the greatestforce the only appropriate response, and so
he scurried away from his father,stopped when his father remained standing, and
scampered forward again when his father merelystirred. And in this way they made

(50:24):
their way round the room repeatedly withoutanything decisive taking place. In fact,
because of the slow pace, itdidn't look like a chase. Gregor remained
on the floor for the time being, especially since he was afraid that his
father could take a flight up ontothe wall or the ceiling as an act

(50:46):
of real malice. At any event, Gregor had to tell himself that he
couldn't keep up this running round fora long time, because whenever his father
took a single step he had togo through an enormous number of movements.
Already he was starting to suffer froma shortage of breath, just as in

(51:07):
his earlier days, when his lungshad been quite unreliable, as he now
staggered around in this way in orderto gather all his energies for running,
hardly keeping his eyes open and feelingso listless that he had no notion at
all of any escape other than byrunning, and had almost already forgotten that

(51:30):
the walls were available to him,although they were obstructed by carefully carved furniture
full of sharp objects and spikes.At that moment, something or other thrown
casually flew down close by and rolledin front of him. It was an
apple. Immediately a second one flewafter it. Gregor stood still in fright.

(51:55):
Further running away was useless, forhis father had decided to bombard him
from the fruit bowl on the sideboard. His father had filled his pockets,
and now, without for the momenttaking accurate aim, he was throwing apple
after apple. These small red applesrolled around on the floor as if electrified,

(52:20):
and collided with each other. Aweakly thrown apple grazed Gregor's back,
but skidded off harmlessly. However,another thrown immediately after that one drove into
Gregor's back really hard. Gregor wantedto drag himself off, as if the
unexpected and incredible pain would go awayif he changed his position, but he

(52:44):
felt as if he was nailed inplace, and lay stretched out, completely
confused in all his senses. Onlywith his final glance did he notice how
the door of his room was pulledopen, and how right in front of
his sister, who was yelling,his mother ran out in her undergarments,

(53:04):
for his sister had undressed her inorder to give her some freedom to breathe
in her fainting spell. And howhis mother then ran up to his father.
On the way, her tied upskirts slipped toward the floor one after
the other, and how tripping overher skirts, she hurled herself on to
his father and throwing her arms aroundhim in complete union with him. But

(53:29):
at this moment Gregor's powers of sightgave way, as her hands reached to
the back of his father's head andshe begged him to spare Gregor's life.
End of Part two