3 - 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 three Gregor's serious wound, from which he suffered for over a

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month. Since no one ventured toremove the apple, it remained in his
flesh as a visible reminder, seemedby itself to have reminded the father that,
in spite of his present unhappy andhateful appearance, Gregor was a member
of the family, something one shouldnot treat as an enemy, and that

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it was, on the contrary,a requirement of family duty to suppress one's
aversion and to endure. Nothing else, just endure. And if through his
woo and Gregor had now apparently lostfor good his ability to move, and
for the time being needed many manyminutes to crawl across his room like an

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aged invalid, so far as creepingup high was concerned, that was unimaginable.
Nevertheless, for this worsening of hiscondition, in his opinion, he
did get completely satisfactory compensation because everyday, towards evening, the door to
the living room, which he wasin the habit of keeping a sharp eyon,

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even one or two hours beforehand wasopened, so that he, lying
in the darkness of his room,invisible from the living room, could see
the entire family at the illuminated table, and listened to their conversation to a
certain extent, with their common permission. A situation quite different from what had

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happened before. Of course, itwas no longer the animated social interaction of
former times, which Gregor, insmall hotel rooms, had always thought about
with a certain longing. When tiredout, he had had to throw himself
into the damp bedclothes. For themost part, what went on now was

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very quiet. After the evening meal, the father fell asleep quickly in his
arm chair. The mother and sistertalked guardedly to each other in the stillness.
Bent far over. The mother sewedfine undergarments for a fashion shop.
The sister, who had taken ona job as a sales girl in the

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evening, studied stenography and French soas perhaps later to obtain a better position.
Sometimes the father woke up, and, as if he was quite ignorant
that he'd been asleep, said tothe mother, how long have you been
sewing to day and went right backto slep, while the mother and the

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sister smiled tiredly to each other.With a sort of stubbornness, the father
refused to take off his servant's uniformeven at home, and while his sleeping
gown hung unused on the coat hook, the father dozed completely dressed in his
place, as if he was alwaysready for his responsibility, and even here

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was waiting for the voice of hissuperior. As a result, in spite
of all the care of the motherand sister, his uniform, which even
at the start was not new,grew dirty, and Gregor looked often for
the entire evening at this clothing withstains all over it, and with its

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gold buttons always polished, in whichthe old man, although very uncomfortable,
slept peacefully. Nonetheless, as soonas the clock struck ten, the mother
tried gently encouraging the father to wakeup, and then persuading him to go
to bed, on the ground thathe couldn't get a proper sleep here,

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and that the father, who hadto report for service at six o'clock,
really needed a good sleep. Butin his stubbornness which had gripped him since
he'd become a servant. He insistedalways on staying even longer by the table,
although he regularly fell asleep, andthen could only be prevailed upon with

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the greatest difficulty to trade his chairfor the bed, no matter how much
the mother and sister might at thatpoint work on him with small admonitions.
For a quarter of an hour,he would remain shaking his head slowly,
eyes closed, without standing up.The mother would pull him by the sleeve

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and speak flattering words into his ear. The sister would leave her work to
help her mother, but that wouldnot have the desired effect on the father.
He would settle himself even more deeplyin his arm chair. Only when
the two women grabbed him under thearmpits would he throw his eyes open,

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look back and forth at the motherand sister, and habitually say, this
is a life, this is thepeace and quiet of my old age.
And propped up by both women,he would heave himself up elaborately, as
if for him it was the greatestobstacle, allow himself to be led to
the door by the women, wavethem away there, and proceed on his

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own from there, while the motherquickly threw down her sewing implements, and
the sister her pen in order torun after the father and help him some
more. In this overworked and exhaustedfamily, who had time to worry any
longer about Gregor more than was absolutelynecessary, the household constantly getting smaller.

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The servant girl was now let go. A huge, bony cleaning woman with
white hair flying all over her head, came in the morning and evening to
do the heaviest work. The mothertook care of everything else in addition to
her considerable sewing work. It evenhappened that various pieces of family jewelry,

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which previously the mother and sister hadbeen overjoyed to wear on social and festive
occasions, were sold, as Gregorfound out in the evening from the general
discussion of the prices, they hadfetched. But the greatest complaint was always
that they could not leave this apartment, which was too big for their present

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means, since it was impossible toimagine how Gregor might be moved. But
Gregor fully recognized that it was notjust consideration for him which was preventing a
move, for he could have beentransported it easily in a sizeable box with
a few air holes. The mainthing holding the family back from a change

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in living quarters was far more theircomplete hopelessness and the idea that they had
been struck by a misfortune like noone else in their entire circle of relatives
and acquaintances. What the world demandsof poor people, they now carried out

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to an extreme degree. The fatherbought breakfast to the petty officials at the
bank. The mother sacrificed herself forthe undergarments of strangers. The sister behind
her desk was at the beck andcall of customers. But the family's energies
did not extend any further, andthe wound in his back began to pain

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Gregor all over again. When nowmother and sister, after they had escorted
the father back to bed, cameback, let their work lie, moved
close together and sat cheeked to cheek, And when his mother would now say,
pointing to Gregor's room, close thedoor, greta. And when Gregor

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was again in the darkness, whileclose by, the women mingled their tears
or quite dry eyed, stared atthe table. Gregor spent his nights and
days with hardly any sleep. Sometimeshe thought that the next time the door
opened he would take over the familyarrangements, just as he had earlier in

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his imagination, appeared again after along time. His employer and supervisor,
and the apprentices, the excessively spinelesscustodian, two or three friends from other
businesses, a chamber made from ahotel in the provinces, a loving fleeting
memory, a female cashier from ashop whom he had seriously but too slowly

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courted. They all appeared, mixedin with strangers or people he had already
forgotten, But instead of helping himand his family, they were all unapproachable,
and he was happy to see themdisappear. But then he was in
no mood to worry about his family. He was filled with sheer anger over

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the wretched care he was getting.Even though he couldn't imagine anything which he
might have an appetite for. Still, he made plans about how he could
take from the larder what he atall account deserved, even if he wasn't
hungry, without thinking any more abouthow they might be able to give Gregor

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special pleasure. The sister now kickedsome food or other very quickly into his
room in the morning and at noonbefore she ran off to her shop,
and in the evening, quite indifferent to whether the food had perhaps only
been tasted or what happened most frequentlyremained entirely undisturbed. She whisked it out

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with one sweep of her broom.The task of cleaning his room, which
she now always carried out in theevening, could not be done any more
quickly. Streaks of dirt ran alongthe walls. Here and there lay tangles
of dust and garbage. At first, when his sister arrived, Gregor positioned

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himself in a particularly filthy corner inorder, with this posture, to make
something of a protest. But hecould have well stayed there for weeks without
his sisters changing her ways. Infact, she perceived the dirt as much
as he did, but she haddecided just to let it stay. In

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this business with a touchiness which wasquite new to her, and which had
generally taken over the entire family,she kept watch to see that the cleaning
of Gregor's room remained reserved for her. Once his mother had undertaken a major
cleaning of Gregor's room, which shehad only completed successfully after using a few

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buckets of water, But the extensivedampness made Gregor sick, and he lay
supine, embittered and immobile on thecouch. However, the mother's punishment was
not delayed for long, for inthe evening, the sister had hardly observed
the change in Gregor's room before sheran into the living room mightily offended,

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and, in spite of her mother'shand lifted high in entreaty, broke out
into a fit of crying. Herparents. The father had of course,
woken up with a start in hisarmchair, at first looked at her,
astonished and helpless, until they startedto get agitated. Turning to his right,
the father heaped reproaches on the motherthat she was not to take over

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the cleaning of Gregor's room from thesister, and turning to his left,
he shouted at the sister that shewould no longer be allowed to clean Gregor's
room ever again. While the mothertried to pull the father beside himself in
his excitement into the bedroom, thesister, shaken by her crying fit,

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pounded on the table with her tinyfists, and Gregor hissed at all this,
angry that no one thought about shuttingthe door and sparing him the sight
of this commotion. But even whenthe sister, exhausted from her daily work,
had grown tired of caring for Gregoras she had before, even then

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the mother did not have to comeat all on her behalf, and Gregor
did not have to be neglected.For now the cleaning woman was there.
This old widow, who in herlong life must have managed to survive the
worst with the help of her bonyframe, had no real horror of Gregor,

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without being in the least curious,She had once, by chance opened
Gregor's door at the sight of Gregor, who, totally surprised, began to
scamper here and there. Although noone was chasing him, she remained standing
with her hands folded across her stomach, staring at him. Since then she

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did not fail to open the doorfurtively a little every morning and evening to
look in on Gregor. At first, she also called him to her with
words which she presumably thought were friendly, like come here for a bit,
old dung beetle, or hey,look at the old dung beetle. Addressed

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in such a manner, Gregor answerednothing, but remained motionless in his place,
as if the door had not beenopened at all, if only,
instead of allowing this cleaning woman todisturb him uselessly whenever she felt like it,
they had given her orders to cleanup his room every day. One

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day, in the early morning,a hard downpour, perhaps already a sign
of the coming spring, struck thewindow panes. When the cleaning woman started
up once again with her usual conversation, Gregor was so bitter that he turned
towards her as if for an attack, although slowly and weakly. But instead

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of being afraid of him, thecleaning woman merely lifted up a chair standing
close by the door, and asshe stood there with her mouth wide open,
her intention was clear. She wouldclose her mouth only when the chair
in her hand had been thrown downon Gregor's back. This goes on no
further, all right, she asked, as Gregor turned himself around again,

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and she placed the chair calmly backin the corner. Gregor ate hardly anything
any more. Only when he chancedto move past the food which had been
prepared, did he, as agame, take a bit into his mouth,
hold it there for hours, andgenerally spit it out again. At

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first, he thought it might behis sadness over the condition of his room,
which kept him from eating, Buthe very soon became reconciled to the
alterations in his room. People hadgrown accustomed to put into storage in his
room things which they couldn't put anywhereelse, and at this point there were
many such things. Now that theyhad rented one room of the apartment to

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three lodgers. These solemn gentlemen,all three had full beards, as Gregor
once found out through a crack inthe door, were meticulously intent on tidiness,
not only in their own room,but once they had now rented a
room there in the entire household,and particularly in the kitchen. They simply

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did not tolerate any useless or shoddystuff. Moreover, for the most part,
they had brought with them their ownpieces of furniture. Thus many items
had become superfluous, and these werenot really things one could sell or things
people wanted to throw out. Allthese items ended up in Gregor's room,

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even the box of ashes and thegarbage pail from the kitchen. The cleaning
woman, always in a hurry,simply flung anything that was momentarily useless into
Gregor's room. Fortunately, Gregor generallysaw only the relevant object and the hand
which held it. The cleaning womanperhaps was intending when time and opportunity allowed,

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to take the stuff out again,or to throw everything out all at
once, but in fact the thingsremained lying there wherever they had ended up
at the first throw, unless Gregorsquirmed his way through the accumulation of junk
and moved it. At first,he was forced to do this because otherwise
there was no room for him tocreep around, but later he did it

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with a growing pleasure, although aftersuch movements, tired to death and feeling
wretched, he didn't budge for hours. Because the lodgers sometimes took their evening
meal at home in the common livingroom, the door to the living room
stayed shut on many evenings, butGregor had no trouble at all going without

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the open door. Already, onmany evenings when it was open, he
had not availed himself of it,but without the family noticing, was stretched
out in the darkest corner of hisroom. However, once the cleaning woman
had left the door to the livingroom slightly ajar and it remained open even

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when the lodgers came in in theevening, and the lights were put on.
They sat down at the head ofthe table where in earlier days the
mother, the father, and Gregorhad eaten, unfolded their serviettes and picked
up their knives and forks. Themother immediately appeared in the door with a

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dish of meat, and right behindher the sister with a dish piled high
with potatoes. The food gave offa lot of steam. The gentlemen lodgers
bent over the plate set before themas if they wanted to check it before
eating, and in fact, theone who sat in the middle for the
other two he seemed to serve asthe authority, cut off a piece of

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meat still on the plate, obviouslyto establish whether it was sufficiently tender and
whether or not something should be shippedback to the kitchen. He was satisfied,
and mother and sister, who hadlooked on in suspense, began to
breathe easily and to smile. Thefamily itself ate in the kitchen in spite

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of that. Before the father wentinto the kitchen, he came into the
room and with a single bow capin hand, made a tour of the
table. The lodgers rose up collectivelyand murmured something in their beards. Then,
when they were alone, they atealmost in complete silence. It seemed

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odd to Gregor that out of allthe many different sorts of sounds of eating,
what was always audible was their chewingteeth, as if by that Gregor
should be shown that people needed theirteeth to eat, and that nothing could
be done even with the most handsome, toothless jawbone. I really do have

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an appetite, Gregor said to himselfsorrowfully, but not for these things.
How these lodgers stuffed themselves, andI am dying on this very evening.
The violin sounded from the kitchen.Gregor didn't remember hearing it. All.

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Through this period, the lodgers hadalready ended their night meal. The middle
one had pulled out a newspaper andhad given each of the other two a
page, and they were now leaningback, reading and smoking. When the
violin started playing, they became attentive, got up, and went on tiptoe

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to the hall door, at whichthey remained standing pressed up against one another.
They must have been audible from thekitchen because the father called out,
Perhaps the gentlemen don't like the playing. It can be stopped at once.
On the contrary, stated the lodgerin the middle, Might the young woman
not come out into us and playin the room here, where it is

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really much more comfortable and cheerful.Oh thank you, cried out the father,
as if he were the one playingthe violin. The men stepped back
into the room and waited. Soonthe father came with the music stand,
the mother with the sheet music,and the sister with the violin. The

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sister calmly prepared everything for the recital. The parents, who had never previously
rented a room and therefore exaggerated theirpoliteness to the lodgers, dared not sit
on their own chairs. The fatherleaned against the door, his right hand
stuck between two buttons of his buttonedup uniform. The mother, however,

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accepted a chair offered by one lodger, since she left the chair sit where
the gentleman had chanced to put it. She sat to one side in a
corner. The sister began to play. The father and mother, one on
each side, followed attentively the movementsof her hands. Attracted by the playing,

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Gregor had ventured to advance a littlefurther forward, and his head was
already in the living room. Hescarcely wondered about the fact that recently he
had had so little consideration for theothers. Earlier, this consideration had been
something he was proud of, andfor that very reason he would have had
at this moment more reason to hideaway, because, as a result of

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the dust which lay all over hisroom and flew around with the slightest movement,
he was totally covered in dirt onhis back and his sides. He
carted around with him dust, threads, hair, and remnants of food.
His indifference to everything was much toogreat for him to lie on his back

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and scour himself on the carpet,as he often had done earlier during the
day. In spite of his condition, he had no timidity about inching forward
a bit on the spotless floor ofthe living room. In any case,
no one paid him any attention.The family was all caught up in the

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violin playing, the lodgers, bycontrast, who for the moment had placed
themselves hands in their trouser pockets behindthe music stand, much too close to
the sister, so that they couldall see the sheet music, something that
must certainly bother The sister soon drewback to the window conversing in low voices

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with bowed heads, where they thenremained worriedly observed by the father. It
now seemed really clear that, havingassumed they were to hear a beautiful or
entertaining violin recital, they were disappointed, and were allowing their peace and quiet
to be disturbed only out of politeness. The way in which they all blew

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the smoke from their cigars out oftheir noses and mouths, in particular,
led one to conclude that they werevery irritated. And yet his sister was
playing so beautifully. Her face wasturned to the side, her gaze followed
the score intently, and sadly.Gregor crept forward still a little further,

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keeping his head close against the floor, in order to be able to catch
her gaze. If possible, washe an animal that music so captivated him.
For him, it was as ifthe way to the unknown nourishment he
craved was revealing itself. He wasdetermined to press forward right to his sister,

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to tug at her dress, andto indicate to her in this way
that she might still come with herviolin into his room, Because here no
one valued the recital as he wantedto value it. He did not wish
to let her go from his roomanymore, at least not as long as
he lived. His frightening appearance wouldfor the first time become useful for him.

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He wanted to be at all thedoors of his room simultaneously and snarl
back at the attackers. However,his sister should not be compelled, but
would remain with him voluntarily. Shewould sit next to him on the sofa,
bend down her ear to him,and he would then confide in her
that he firmly intended to send herto the conservatory, and that if his

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misfortune had not arrived in the interim, he would have declared all this last
Christmas, had Christmas really already comeand gone, and would have brooked no
argument. After this explanation, hissister would break out in tears of emotion,
and Gregor would lift himself up toher armpit and kiss her throat,

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which she from the time she startedgoing to work, had left exposed without
a band or a collar. MisterSamsa called out the middle lodger to his
father, and without uttering a furtherword, pointed his index finger at Gregor
as he was moving slowly forward theviolin fell silent. The middle lodger smiled,

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first, shaking his head once athis friend's and then looked down at
Gregor once more. Rather than drivingGregor back again, the father seemed to
consider it of prime importance to calmdown the lodgers, although they were not
at all upset, and Gregor seemedto entertain them more more than the violin

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recital, The father hurried over tothem and with outstretched arms tried to push
them into their own room and simultaneouslyto block their view of Gregor with his
own body. At this they becamereally somewhat irritated, although one no longer
knew whether that was because of thefather's behavior or because of knowledge they had

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just acquired that they had without knowingit a neighbor like Gregor. They demanded
explanations from his father, raised theirarms to make their points, tugged agitatedly
at their beards, and moved backtowards their room quite slowly. In the
meantime, the isolation which had suddenlyfallen upon his sister after the sudden breaking

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off of the recital, had overwhelmedher. She had held on to her
violin and bow in her limp handsfor a little while, and had continued
to look at the sheet music asif she was still playing. All at
once she pulled herself together put theinstrument in her mother's lap. The mother

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was still sitting in her chair,having trouble breathing, for her lungs were
laboring, and had run into thenext room, which the lodgers, pressured
by the father, were already approachingmore rapidly. One could observe how,
under the sister's practiced hands, thesheets and pillows on the beds were thrown

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on high and arranged. Even beforethe lodgers had reached the room. She
was finishing fixing the beds and wasslipping out. The father seemed so gripped
once again with his stubbornness, thathe forgot about the respect which he always
showed to his renters. He pressedon and on until at the door of

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the room the middle gentleman stamped loudlywith his foot, and thus brought the
father to a standstill. I herebydeclare, the middle lodger, said,
raising his hands and casting his glanceboth on the mother and the sister,
that, considering the disgraceful conditions prevailingin this apartment and family. With this,
he spat decisively on the floor.I immediately cancel my room. I

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will of course pay nothing at allfor the days which I have lived here.
On the contrary, I shall thinkabout whether or not I will initiate
some sort of action against you,something which, believe me, will be
very easy to establish. He fellsilent and looked directly in front of him,
as if he was waiting for something. In fact, his two friends

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immediately joined in with their opinions.We also give immediate notice. At that
he seized the door handle, bangedthe door shut, and locked it.
The father groped his way, totteringto his chair and let himself fall in
it. It looked as if hewere stretching out for his usual evening snooze,

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but the heavy nuess nodding of hishead, which looked as if it
was without support, showed that hewas not sleeping at all. Gregor had
lain motionless the entire time on thespot where the lodgers had caught him.
Disappointment with the collapse of his plan, and perhaps also weakness brought on by
his severe hunger, made it impossiblefor him to move. He was certainly

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afraid that a general disaster would breakover him at any moment, and he
waited. He was not even startledwhen the violin fell from the mother's lap,
out from under her trembling fingers,and gave off a reverberating tone.
My dear parents, said the sister, banging her hand on the table by

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way of an introduction. Things cannotgo any longer in this way. Maybe
if you don't understand that, wellI do. I will not utter my
brother's name in front of this monster, and thus I say only that we
must try to get rid of it. We have tried what is humanly possible
to take care of it, andto be patient. I believe that no

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one can criticize us in the slightest. She is right in a thousand ways,
said the father to himself. Themother, who was still incapable of
breathing properly, began to cough numbly, with her hand held up over her
mouth and a manic expression in hereyes. The sister hurried over to her

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mother and held her forehead. Thesister's words seemed to have led the father
to certain reflections. He sat upright, played with his uniform hat among the
plates, which still lay on thetable from the lodger's evening meal, and
looked now and then at the motionlessGregor. We must try to get rid

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of it, the sister now saiddecisively to the father, for the mother,
in her coughing fit, was notlistening to anything. It is killing
you both. I see it coming. When people have to work as hard
as we all do, they cannotalso tolerate this endless torment at home.
I just can't go on any more. And she broke out into such a

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crying fit that her tears flowed outdown onto her mother's face. She wiped
them off her mother with mechanical motionsof her hands. Child, said the
father, sympathetically and with obvious appreciation. Then what should we do? The
sister only shrugged her shoulders as asign of perplexity, which, in contrast

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to her previous confidence, had comeover her while she was crying. If
he only understood us, said thefather in a semi questioning tone. The
sister, in the midst of hersobbing, shook her hand energetically as a
sign that there was no point thinkingof that. If he only understood us,

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repeated the father, and by shuttinghis eyes, he absorbed the sister's
conviction of the impossibility of this point. Then perhaps some compromise would be possible
with him. But as it is, it must be gotten rid of,
cried the sister. That is theonly way, father, You must try
to get rid of the idea thatthis is Gregor, the fact that we

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have believed for so long, thatis truly our real misfortune. But how
can it be Gregor. If itwere Gregor, he would have long ago
realized that a communal life among humanbeings is not possible with such an animal,
and would have gone away voluntarily.Then we would not have a brother,

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but we could go on living andhonor his memory. But this animal
plagues us, it drives away.The lodgers will obviously take over the entire
apartment and leave us to spend thenight in the alley. Just look,
father, she suddenly cried out.He's already starting up again with a fright,

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which was totally incomprehensible to Gregor.The sister even left. The mother
pushed herself away from her chair asif she would sooner sacrifice her mother than
remaining Gregor's vicinity, and rushed behindher father who excited merely by her behavior,
also stood up and half raised hisarms in front of the sister,
as though to protect her. ButGregor did not have any notion of wishing

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to create problems to any one,and certainly not for his sister. He
had just started to turn himself roundin order to creep back into his room.
Quite a startling sight, since asa result of his suffering condition,
he had to guide himself through thedifficulty of turning round, with his head

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in this process, lifting and bangingit against the floor several times. He
paused and looked around. His goodintentions seemed to have been recognized. The
fright had lasted only for a moment. Now they looked at him in silence
and sorrow. His mother lay inher chair with her legs stretched out and

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pressed together. Her eyes were almostshot from weariness. The father and sister
sat next to one another. Thesister had set her hands around the father's
neck. Now, perhaps I canactually turn myself around, thought Gregor,
and began to task again. Hecouldn't stop puffing at the effort and had

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to rest now and then. Besides, no one was urging him on.
It was all left to him.On his own. When he had completed
turning round, he immediately began towander straight back. He was astonished at
the great distance which separated him fromhis room, and did not understand and

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in the least how in his weaknesshe had covered the same distance a short
time before, almost without noticing it. Constantly, intent only on creeping along
quickly, he hardly paid any attentionto the fact that no word or cry
from his family interrupted him. Onlywhen he was already at the door did

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he turn his head, not completely, because he felt his neck growing stiff.
At any rate, he still sawthat behind him nothing had changed.
Only the sister was standing up.His last glimpse brushed over the mother,
who was now completely asleep. Hardlywas he inside his room when the door

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was pushed shut very quickly, boltedfast and barred. Gregor was startled by
the sudden commotion behind him, somuch so that his little limbs bent double
under him. It was his sisterwho'd been in such a hurry. She
had stood up right away, hadwaited, and had then sprung forward nimbly.

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Gregor had not heard anything of herapproach. She cried out finally to
her parents as she turned the keyin the lock. What now, Gregor
asked himself, and looked around himin the darkness. He soon made the
discovery that he could no longer moveat all. He was not surprised at

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that. On the contrary, itstruck him as unnatural that up to this
point he had really been able tomove around with these little, thin legs.
Besides, he felt relatively content.True, he had pains throughout his
entire body, but it seemed tohim that they were gradually becoming weaker and

(37:50):
weaker and would finally go away completely. The rotten apple in his back and
the inflamed surrounding area entirely covered withwhite dust he hardly noticed. He remembered
his family with deep feelings of love. In this business, his own thought
that he had to disappear was,if possible, even more decisive than his

(38:15):
sisters. He remained in this stateof empty and peaceful reflection until the tower
clock struck three o'clock in the morning. From the window, he witnessed the
beginning of the general dawning outside.Then, without willing it, his head
sank all the way down, andfrom his nostrils flowed out weakly. His

(38:38):
last breath. Early in the morning, the cleaning woman came in her sheer
energy and haste. She banged allthe doors in precisely the way people had
already asked her to avoid, somuch so that once she arrived, a
quiet sleep was no longer possible anywherein the entire higher apartment. In her

(39:01):
customarily brief visit to Gregor, sheat first found nothing special. She thought
he lay so immobile there because hewanted to play the offended party. She
gave him credit for as complete anunderstanding as possible. Since she happened to
be holding the long broom in herhand, she tried to tickle Gregor with

(39:24):
it from the door. When thatwas quite unsuccessful, she became irritated and
poked Gregor a little. And onlywhen she had shoved him from his place
without any resistance did she become attentive. When she quickly realized the true state
of affairs, her eyes grew large. She whistled to herself. However,

(39:50):
she didn't restrain herself for long.She pulled open the door of the bedroom
and yelled in a loud voice intothe darkness, Come and look, it's
the bucket is lying there totally snuffed. The Samsa married Copple sat upright in
their marriage bed and had to getover their fright at the cleaning woman before

(40:10):
they managed to grasp her message.And then mister and Missus Samsa climbed very
quickly out of bed, one oneither side. Mister Samsa threw the bed
spread over his shoulders. Missus Samsacame out only in her night shirt,
and like this they stepped into Gregor'sroom. Meanwhile, the door of the

(40:34):
living room in which Greta had sleptsince the lodgers had arrived on the scene
had also opened. She was fullyclothed, as if she had not slept
at all. Her white face alsoseemed to indicate that dead, said Missus
Samsa, and looked questioningly at thecleaning woman, although she could check everything

(40:55):
on her own and even understand withouta check, I should say so,
said the cleaning woman, and byway of proof, poked Gregor's body with
the broom a considerable distance more tothe side. Missus Samson made a movement
as if she wished to restrain thebroom, but didn't do it well,

(41:16):
said mister Samson. Now we cangive thanks to God. He crossed himself,
and the three women followed his example. Greta, who did not take
her eyes off the corpse, said, look how thin he was. He
had eaten nothing for such a longtime. The meals which came in here

(41:38):
came out again exactly the same.In fact, Gregor's body was completely flat
and dry. That was apparent reallyfor the first time, now that he
was no longer raised on his smalllimbs, and nothing else distracted one's gaze.
Greta, come in to us fora month moment, said missus Samsa

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with a melancholy smile, and Gretawent, not without looking back at the
corpse behind her parents, into theliving room. The cleaning woman shut the
door and opened the window wide.In spite of the early morning, the
fresh air was partly tinged with warmth. It was already the end of March.

(42:27):
The three lodgers stepped out of theirroom and looked around for their breakfast,
Astonished that they had been forgotten.Where is the breakfast, asked the
middle one of the gentlemen, grumpilyto the cleaning woman. However, she
laid her finger to her lips andthen quickly and silently indicated to the lodgers
that they could come into Gregor's room. So they came and stood in the

(42:52):
room, which was already quite brightaround Gregor's corpse, their hands in the
pockets of their somewhat water jackets.Then the door of the room opened,
and mister Samsa appeared in his uniform, with his wife on one arm and
his daughter on the other. Allwere a little tear stained now, and

(43:14):
then Greta pressed her face into herfather's arm. Get out of my apartment,
immediately, said mister Samson, andpulled open the door without letting go
of the women. What do youmean, said the middle lodger, somewhat
dismayed, and with a sugary smile. The two others kept their hands behind

(43:35):
them and constantly rubbed them against eachother, as if enjoyful anticipation of a
great squabble which must end in theirfavor. I mean exactly what I say,
replied mister Samsa, and went directlywith his two female companions up to
the lodger. The latter at firststood there motionless and looked at the floor

(43:58):
as if matters were a ranging themselvesin a new way. In his head,
all right, then, we'll go, he said, and looked up
at mister Samsa, as if suddenlyovercome by humility. He was asking fresh
permission for this decision. Mister Samsonmerely nodded to him repeatedly with his eyes

(44:19):
open wide. Following that the lodgeractually went with long strides immediately into the
hall. His two friends had alreadybeen listening for a while with their hands
quite still, and now they hoppedsmartly after him, as if afraid that
mister Samsa could step into the hallahead of them and disturb their reunion with

(44:42):
their leader. In the hall,all three of them took their hats from
the coat rack, pulled their canesfrom the cane holder, bowed silently,
and left the apartment in what turnedout to be an entirely groundless mistrust.
Mister Samsa stepped with the two womenout onto the landing, leaned against the

(45:02):
railing, and looked over as thethree lodgers slowly but steadily made their way
down the long staircase, disappeared oneach floor in a certain turn of the
stairwell, and in a few secondscame out again. The deeper they proceeded,
the more the Samsa family lost interestin them, and when a butcher

(45:24):
with a tray on his head cameto meet them, and then with a
proud bearing ascended the stairs high abovethem, mister Samsa, together with the
women, left the banister and theyall returned as if relieved, back into
their apartment. They decided to passthat day resting and going for a stroll.

(45:46):
Not only had they earned this breakfrom work, but there was no
question that they really needed it,and so they sat down at the table
and wrote three letters of apology,Samsa to his superior missus, Samsa to
her client, and Greta to herproprietor. During the writing, the cleaning

(46:08):
woman came in to say that shewas going off for her morning work was
finished. The three people writing atfirst merely nodded without glancing up. Only
when the cleaning woman was still unwillingto depart did they look up. Angrily,
well, asked mister Samsa. Thecleaning woman stood smiling in the doorway

(46:31):
as if she had a great strokeof luck to report to the family,
but would only do it if shewas asked directly. The almost upright small
ostrich feather in her hat, whichhad irritated mister Samsa during her entire service,
swayed lightly in all directions. Allright, then, what do you

(46:52):
really want, asked Missus Samson,whom the cleaning lady still usually respected well,
answered the cleaning woman, smiling sohappily she couldn't go on speaking right
away about how that rubbish from thenext room should be thrown out. You
mustn't worry about it. It's alltaken care of. Missus Samsa and Greta

(47:15):
bent down to their letters as thoughthey wanted to go on writing. Mister
Samsa, who noticed that the cleaningwoman wanted to start describing everything in detail,
decisively prevented her with an outstretched hand. But since she was not allowed
to explain, she remembered the greathurry she was in and called out clearly

(47:38):
insulted bye bye. Every One turnedround furiously and left the apartment with a
fearful slamming of the door. Thisevening, she'll be let go, said
mister Samsa, but he got noanswer from either his wife or from his
daughter, because the cleaning woman seemedto have upset set once again the tranquility

(48:01):
they had just attained, They gotup, went to the window and remained
there with their arms about each other. Mister Samsa turned around in his chair
in their direction and observed them quietlyfor a while. Then he called out,
all right, come here, then, let's finally get rid of old

(48:23):
things and have a little consideration forme. The women attended to him at
once. They rushed to him,caressed him, and quickly ended their letters.
Then all three left the apartment together, something they had not done for
months now, and took the electrictram into the open air outside the city.

(48:47):
The car in which they were sittingby themselves was totally engulfed by the
warm sun. Leaning back comfortably intheir seats, they talked to each other
about future prospects, and they discoveredthat on closer observation these were not at
all bad. For the three ofthem had employment about which they had not

(49:08):
really questioned each other at all,which was extremely favorable, and with especially
promising prospects. The greatest improvement intheir situation at this moment, of course,
had to come from a change ofdwelling. Now they wanted to rent
an apartment, smaller and cheaper,but better suited and generally more practical than

(49:30):
the present one which Gregor had found. While they amused themselves in this way,
it struck mister and missus Samson,almost at the same moment, how
their daughter, who was getting moreanimated all the time, had blossomed recently,
in spite of all the troubles whichhad made her cheeks pale, into

(49:52):
a beautiful and voluptuous young woman,growing more silent and almost unconsciously understanding each
other in their glances. They thoughtthat the time was now at hand to
seek out a good, honest manfor her, And it was something of
a confirmation of their new dreams andgood intentions, when, at the end

(50:14):
of their journey their daughter got upfirst and stretched her young body. End
of the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka,translated by Ian Johnston, read for LibriVox
by David Barnes,