Metamophasis

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Metamorphosis by Franz Cathker, translated byDavid Willie capital I. One morning,
when Gregor Samson woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed
into a horrible vermin. He layon his armorlike back, and if he
lifted his head a little, hecould see his brown belly slightly. It
owned and divided by arches in twostiff sections. The bedding was hardly able

(00:21):
to cover it, and seemed readyto slide off any moment. His many
legs, pitly fully thin compared withthe size of the rest of him,
waved about helplessly. As he looked, What's happened to me? He thought
it wasn't a dream. His room, a proper human room, although a
little too small, lay peacefully betweenits for familiar walls. A collection of
textile samples lay spread out on thetable. Samson was a traveling salesman,

(00:45):
and above it there hung a picturethat he had recently cut out of an
illustrated magazine and housed in an icegilded frame. It showed a lady fitted
out with a fur hat and furboa, who sat upright raising a heavy
fur muff that covered the whole ofher low arm towards the viewer. Gregor
them turned to look out the windowat the dull weather. Drops of rain
could be heard hitting the pane,which made him feel quite sad. How

(01:06):
about if I sleep a little bitlonger and forget all this nonsense, he
thought. But there was something hewas unable to do, because he was
used to sleeping on his right,and in his present state, couldn't get
into the position. However hard hethrew himself on to his right, he
always rolled back to where he was. He must have tried it to a
hundred times, shut his eyes sothat he wouldn't if to look at the

(01:26):
floundering legs, and only stopped whenhe began to feel a mild, dull
pain though that he had never feltbefore. Oh God, he thought,
what a strenuous career it is thatI've chosen. Traveling day in and day
out. Doing business like this takesmuch more effort than doing your own business
at home. And on top ofthat, there is the curse of traveling,
worries about making train connections, badand irregular food, contact with different

(01:49):
people all the time, so thatyou can never get to know anyone or
become friendly with them, it canall go to hell. He felt deslighted
up on his belly, pushed himselfslowly up on his back towards the headboard
so that he could lift his headbetter. Found where the it was and
saw that it was covered with lotsof little white spots, which she didn't
know what to make of. Andwhen he tried to feel the place with
one of his legs, he drewit quickly back because as soon as he

(02:13):
touched it he was overcome by acold shudder. He slid back into his
former position, getting up early.All the time, he thought, it
makes you stupid. You've got toget enough sleep. Other traveling salesmen live
a life of luxury. For instance, whenever I go back to the guest
house during the morning to copy outthe contract, these gentlemen are always still
sitting there eating their breakfasts. Iought to just try that with my boss.

(02:37):
I'd get kicked out on the spot, but who knows, maybe that
would be the best thing for me. If I didn't of my parents to
think about, I'd have given inmy notice a long time ago. I'd
have gone up to the boss andtold him just what I think tell him
everything. I would let him knowjust what I feel. He'd fall right
off his desk. And it's afunny sort of business to be sitting up
there at your desk, talking downat your subordinates from up there, especially

(03:00):
when you have to go right upclose because the boss is hard of hearing.
Well, there's still some hope onceI've got the money together to pay
off my parents' debt to him anotherfive or six years, I suppose that's
definitely what I'll do. That's whenI'll make the big change. First of
all, Loo, I've got toget up my training leagues at five,
and he looked over at the alarmclock clicking on the chest top drawers.

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God in Heaven, he thought itwas half past six, and the hands
were quietly moving forwards. It waseven later than half past, more like
quarter to seven. Had the alarmclock not drung. He could see from
the bed that it had been setfor four o'clock, as it should have
been. It certainly must have rung, yes, But was it possible to
quietly sleep through that furniture rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully,

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but probably all the more deeply becauseof that what should he do now?
The next train went at seven.If he were to catch that,
he would have to rush like madin the collection. Our samples were still
not packed, and he did notat all feel particularly fresh and lightly.
And even if he did catch atrain, he would not avoid his boss's
anger, as the office assistant wouldhave been there to see the five o'clock
train go. He would have putin his report about Gregor's not being there

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a long time ago. The officeassistant was the boss's man, spineless and
with no understanding. What about ifhe reported sick, but that would be
extremely strained and suspicious, as infive years of service Gregor had never once
yet been ill. His boss wouldcertainly come round with the doctor from the
medical insurance company, accuse his parentsof having Alazi's son, and accept the

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doctor's recommendation not to make any claim, as the doctor believed that no one
was ever ill, but that manywere workshy. And what's more, would
he have been entirely wrong in thiscase. Gregor did, in fact,
apart from excessive sleepiness after sleeping forso long, feel completely well and even
felt much hungrier than usual. Hewas still hurriedly thinking all this through,

(04:51):
unable to decide to get out ofthe bed. When the clock struck quarter
to seven, there was a cautiousknock at the door near his head.
Gregor some he called it was hismother. It's quarter to seven. Didn't
you want to go somewhere? Thatgentle voice. Gregor was shocked when he
heard his own voice answering. Itcould hardly be recognized as the voice he
had had before, as if fromdeep inside him. There was a painful

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and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it. The words could be made out at
first, but then there was asort of echo which made them month clear,
leaving the hearer ensure whether he hadheard properly or not. Gregor had
wanted to give a full answer andexplain everything, but in the circumstances,
contented himself with saying, yes,mother, Yes, thank you, I'm
getting up now. The change inGregor's voice probably could not be noticed outside

(05:38):
through the wooden door, as hismother was satisfied with this explanation and shuffled
away. But this short conversation madethe other members of the family where that
Gregor, against their expectations, wasstill at home, and soon his father
came knocking at one of the sidedoors gently but with his fist. Gregor
Gregor. He called, what's wrong? And after a short while he called

(05:58):
again, with a warning deepness init his voice, Gregor Gregor. At
the other side door, his sistercame plaintively, Gregor, Undo you well,
do you need anything? Gregor answeredto both sides, I'm ready now,
making an effort to remove all thestrangeness from his voice by enunciating very
carefully and putting long pauses between eachindividual word. His father went back to
his breakfast, but his sister whisperedGregor opened the door. I beg of

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you. Gregor, however, hadno thought of opening the door, and
insta congratulated himself for his cautious habitacquired from his traveling havelocking all doors at
night. Even when he was athome. The first thing he wanted to
do was to get up in peacewithout being disturbed, to get dressed,
and most of all, to havehis breakfast. Only then would he consider
what to do next. As hewas well orware that he would not bring

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his thoughts to any sensible conclusions bylying in bed, he remembered that he
had often felt dislike pain in bed, perhaps caused by lying awkwardly, But
that had always turned out to bepure imagination, and he undered how his
imaginings would slowly resolve themselves to day. He did not have the slightest doubt
that the change in his voice wasnothing more than the first sign of a
serious cold, which was an occupationalhazard for traveling salesmen. It was a

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simple matter to throw off the covers. He only had to blow himself up
a little, and they fell offby themselves. But it became difficult after
that, especially as he was soexceptionally broad. He would have used his
arms and his hands to push himselfup, but instead of them, he
only had all those little legs,continuously moving indifferent directions, and which he
was moreover unable to control. Ifhe wanted to bend one of them,

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then that was the first one thatwould stretch itself out, And if he
finally managed to do what he wantedwith that leg, all the others seemed
to be set free and wouve aboutpainfully. This is something that can't be
done in bed, gregg ha saidto himself, so don't keep trying to
do it. The first thing hewanted to do was get a lower part
of his body out of the bed, But he had never seen this slow

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part and could not emagine what itlooked like. It turned out to be
too hard to move. It wentso slowly, and finally almost in a
frenzy. When he carelessly shoved himselfforwards with all the force he could gather,
he chose the wrong direction, hithard against the lower bed boast,
and learned from the burning pain hefelt that the lower part of his body
might well at present be the mostsensitive. So then he tried to get

(08:16):
the top part of his body outof the bed, first, carefully turning
his head to the side. Thishe managed quite easily, and despite its
breadth and its weight, the bulkof his body eventurely followed slowly in the
direction of a head. But whenhe had at last got his head out
of the bed and in two thefresh ere, it occurred to him that
if he let himself fall, itwould be a miracle if his head were

(08:37):
not injured. So he became afraidto carry on pushing himself forward the same
way, and he could not knockhimself out now at any price. Better
to stay in bed than lose consciousness. It took just as much effort to
get back to where he had beenearlier. But when he lay there sighing
and was once more watching his legsas they struggled against each other even harder
than before, if that was possible, he could think of no way of

(08:58):
bringing peace and order to this chaos. He told himself once more that it
was not possible for him to stayin bed, and that the most sensible
thing to do would be to getfree of it in whatever way he could,
at whatever sacrifice. At the sametime, though he did not forget,
to remind himself that calm consideration wasmuch better than rushing to desperate conclusions.

(09:18):
At times like this, he woulddirect his eyes to the window and
look out as clearly as he could, But unfortunately, even the other side
of the narrow street was enveloped inmourning fog. In the view had little
confidence or cheer to offer him.Seven o'clock already, he said to himself,
when the clock struck again, seveno'clock, and there's still a fog
like this. And he lay therequietly, awhile longer, breathing lightly,

(09:41):
as if he perhaps expected the totalstillness to bring things back to their real
and natural state. But then hesaid to himself, before it strikes quarter
past seven, I'll definitely have tohave got properly out of bed, and
by then somebody will have come roundfrom work to ask what's happened to me,
as well as they open up atwork before seven o'clock. And so
he set in himself to the taskof swinging the entire length of his body

(10:03):
out of the bed all at thesame time. If he succeeded in falling
out of bed in this way,and kept his head raised as he did
so, he could probably avoid injuringit. His back seemed to be quite
hard, and probably nothing would happento it falling onto the carpet. His
main concern was for the loud noisehe was bound to make, and which
he even through all the doors,would probably raise concern, if not alarm,

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but it was something that had tobe risked. When Gregor was already
sticking half way out of the bed, the new method was more of a
game than an effort. All hehad to do was rock back and forth.
It occurred to him how simple everythingwould be if somebody came to help
him. Two strong people he hadhis father and the maid in mind would
have been more than enough. Theywould only have to push their arms under
the dome of his back, peelhim away from the bed, bend down

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with the load, and then bepatient and careful as he swung over on
to the floor, where hopefully thelittle legs would find a use should he
really call for help. Though,even apart from the fact that all the
doors were locked, despite all allthe difficulty he was in, he could
not suppress a smile at this thought. After a while, he had already
moved so far across that it wouldhave been hard for him to keep his

(11:07):
balance if he rocked too hard.The time was now ten past seven,
and he would have to make afinal decision very soon. Then there was
a ring at the door of theflat. That'll be someone from work,
he said to himself, and frozevery still, although his little legs only
became all the more lively as theydanced around. For a moment, everything
remained quiet. They are not openingthe door, Gregor said to himself,

(11:30):
caught in some nonsensical hope. Butthen, of course, the maid's firm
steps went to the door as everand opened it. Gregor only needed to
hear the visitor's first words of greeting, and he knew who it was,
the chief clerk himself. Why didGregor have to be the only one condemn
to work for a company where theyimmediately became highly suspicious of the slightest shortcoming?
Were all employees, every one ofthem louts? Was there not one

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of them who was faithful and devoted? Who would go so mad with pangs
of conscience that he couldn't get outof bed if he didn't spend at least
a couple of hours in the morningon company business. Was it really not
enough to let one of the traineesmake inquiries, assuming inquiries were even necessary?
Did the chief clerk have to comehimself? And did they have to
show the whole innocent family that thiswas so suspicious that only the chief clerk

(12:16):
could be trusted to have the wisdomto investigate it. And more, because
these thoughts had made him upset themthrough any proper decision, he swung himself
with all his force out of thebed. There was a loud thump,
but it wasn't really a loud noise. His fall was softened a little by
the carpet, and Gregg's back wasalso more elastic than he had thought,
which made a sound muffled and nottoo noticeable. He had not held his

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head carefully enough, though, andhit it as he fell. Annoyed and
in pain, he turned it andrubbed it against the carpet. Something's fallen
down in there, said the chiefclerk in the room on the left.
Greg You'll tried to imagine whether somethingI ever thought that had happened to him
today could ever happen to the chiefclerk too. You had to concede that
it was possible. But as ifin Graff replied to this question, the

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chief Clerk's firm footsteps in his highlypolished boots could now be heard in the
adjoining room. From the room onhis right, Gregor's sister whisper to him
to let him know, Gregor,the chief Clerk is here. Yes,
I know, said Gregor to himself, but without daring to raise his voice
loud enough for his sister to hearhim, Gregor said his father. Now
from the room to his left,the chief clerk has come round and want

(13:22):
to know why you didn't leave onthe early train. We don't know what
to say to him, and anyway, he wants to speak to you personally,
So please open up this door.I'm sure he'll be good enough to
forgive the untidliness of your room.Then the chief clerk called, good morning,
mister Samsor. He isn't well,said his mother to the chief clerk,
while his father continued to speak throughthe door. He isn't well.

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Please believe me, Why else wouldGregor have missed to train the lad only
ever thinks about the business. Itnearly makes me cross the way. He
never goes out in the evenings.He has been in town for a week
now, but stayed home. Everyevening. He sits with us in the
kitchen and just reads the paper orstudies training timetables. His idea of relaxation
is working with his frets or.He's made a little frame, for instance.

(14:07):
It only took him two or threeevenings. You'll be amazed how nice
it is. It's hanging up inhis room. You'll see it as soon
as Gregor opens the door. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. We wouldn't
have been able to get Gregor toopen the door by ourselves. He's so
stubborn, and I'm sure he isn'twell. He said this morning that he
is, But he isn't. I'llbe there in a moment, said Gregor,

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slowly and thoughtfully, but without moving, so that he would not miss
any word of the conversation. Well, I can't think of any other way
of explaining it, missus Samson,said the chief clerk. I hope it's
nothing serious. But on the otherhand, I must say that if we
people and commerce are become slightly unwell, then fortunately or unfortunately, as you
like, we simply have to overcomeit because of business considerations. Can the

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chief clerk come in to see younow, then asked his father, impatiently,
knocking at the door again. No, said Gregor. In the room
on his right, there followed apainful silence. In the room on his
left, his sister began to cry. So white did his sister not go
and join the others? She hadprobably only just got up and had not
even begun to get dressed. Andwhy was she crying? Was it because

(15:13):
he had not got up and hadnot let the chief clerk in, Because
he was in danger of losing hisjob, and if that happened, his
boss would once more pursue their parentswith the same demands as before. There
was no need to worry about thingslike that. Yet Gregor was still there
and had not the slightest intention ofabandoning his family for the time being.
He just lay there on the carpet, and no one who knew the condition

(15:33):
he was in would seriously have expectedhim to let the chief clerk in.
It was only a minor discourtesy,and a suitable excuse could easily be found
for it later on. It wasnot something for which Gregor could be sacked
on the spot, and it seemedto Gregor much more sensible to leave him
now in peace. In's turn ofdisturbing him with talking at him and crying.
But the others didn't know what washappening. They were worried that would

(15:54):
excuse their behavior. The Chief Clerknow raised his voice, Mr Samson,
Sir, He called to him,what is wrong? You barricade yourself in
your room. Give us no morethan yes or no foreign answer. You
are causing serious and unnecessary concern toyour parents, and you fail, and
I mention this just by the wayyou fail to carry out your business duties

(16:15):
in a way that is quite unheardof. I am speaking here on behalf
of your parents and of your employer, and really must request to clear and
immediate explanation. I am astonished,quite astonished. I thought I knew you
as a calm and sensible person,and now you suddenly seem to be showing
off with peculiar whims. This morning, your employers did suggests a possible reason
for your failure to appear. It'strue it had to do with the money

(16:37):
that was recently entrusted to you,But I came here to giving him my
word of honevid that could not bethe right explanation. But now that I
see your incomprehensible stubbornness, I nolonger feel any wish whatsoever to intercede on
your behalf, and nor is yourposition all that secure. I had originally
intended to say all this to youin private, but since you caused me
to waste my time here for nogood reason, I don't see why your

(17:00):
parents should not also learn of it. Your turnover has been very unsatisfactory of
late. I grant you that it'snot the time of year to do especially
good business. We recognize that,but there's simply is no time of year
to do no business at all,mister Samsor. We cannot allow there to
be but sir called Gregor beside himself, and forgetting all else in the excitement.

(17:22):
I'll open up immediately. Just amoment. I'm slightly unwell, an
attack of dizziness. I haven't beenable to get up. I'm still in
bed now. I'm quite fresh againnow though I'm just getting out of bed.
Just a moment. Be patient.It's not quite as easy as I
thought. I'm quite all right now, though it's shocking what can suddenly happen
to a person. I was quiteall right last night. My parents know

(17:45):
about it, perhaps better than me. I had a small symptom of it
last night already. They must havenoticed it. I don't know why I
didn't let you know at work,but you always think you can get over
an illness without staying at home.Please don't make my pair and suffer.
There's no basis for any of theaccusations you're making. Nobody'd ever said a
word to me about any of thesethings. Maybe you haven't dread the latest

(18:08):
contracts I sent in. I'll setoff with the eight o'clock train as well.
These few hours of rest have givenme strength. You don't need to
wait, sir, I'll be inthe office soon after you. And please
be so good as to tell thatto the boss and recommend me to him.
And while Greggor gushed out these words, hardly knowing what he was saying,
he made his way over to thechest of drawers. This was easily

(18:30):
done, probably because of the practicehe had already had in bed, where
he now tried to get himself upright. He really did want to open
the door, really did want tolet them see him, to speak with
the chief clerk. The others werebeing so insistent, and he was curious
to learn what, though, wewould say when they caught sight of him.
If they were shocked, then itwould no longer be Gregor's responsibility and
he could rest. If, however, they took everything calmly, he would

(18:53):
still have no reason to be upset, and if he hurried, he really
could be at the station four eighto'clock. The first few times he tried
to climb up on the smooth chesttop draw as, he just slid down
again, but he finally gave himselfone last swing and stood there up right.
The lower part of his body wasin serious pain, but he no
longer gave any attention to it.Now he let himself fall against the back

(19:15):
of a nearby chair and held tightlyto the edges of it with his little
legs. By now he had alsocalmed down and kept quiet so that he
could listen to what the chief clerkwas saying. Did you understand a word
level that? The chief clerk askedhis parents. Surely he's not trying to
make fools of us, Oh God, called his mother, who was already
in tears. He could be seriouslyill, and we're making him suffer.

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Greet greetchy, and cried mother.His sister called from the other side.
They communicated across Gregor's room. You'llhave to go for the doctor straight away,
gregorrizill quick get the doctor. Didyou hear the way Gregor spoke just
now? That was the voice ofan animal, said the chief clerk,
with a calmness that was in contrastwith his mother's screams. Anna, Anna,

(19:59):
His father called it to the kitchenthrough the entrance hall, clapping his
hands. Get to a locksmath herenow, and the two girls, their
skirts swishing, immediately ran out throughthe hall, wrenching open the front door
of the flat as they went.How had his sister managed to get dressed
so quickly? There was no soundof the door banging shut again. They
must have left it open, peopleoften do in homes where something offul has

(20:21):
happened. Gregor, in contrast,had become much calmer, so they couldn't
understand his words anymore, although theyseemed clear enough to him, clearer than
before. Perhaps his ears had becomeused to the sound. They had realized,
though, that there was something wrongwith him and were ready to help.
The first response to his situation hadbeen confident and wise, and that
made him feel better. He feltthat he had been drawn back in among

(20:45):
people, and from the doctor inthe locksmith. He expected great and surprising
achievements, although he did not reallydistinguish one from the other. Whatever was
said next would be crucial, Soin order to make his voice as clear
as possible, he coughed a little, but taking care to do this not
too loudly, as even this mightwell sound different from the way that a
human coughs, and he was nolonger sure he could judge for himself.

(21:07):
Meanwhile, it had become very quietin the next room. Perhaps his parents
were set at the table whispering withthe chief clerk, or perhaps they were
all pressed against the door and listening. Greggy slowly pushed his way over to
the door with the chair. Oncethere, he let go of it and
threw himself on to the door,holding himself upright against it using the adhesive
on the tips of his legs.He rested there a little while he recovered

(21:30):
from the effort involved, and thenset himself to the task of turning the
key in the lock with his mouth. He seemed, unfortunately, to have
no proper teeth. How was hethen to grasp the key. But the
lack of teeth was of course madeup for with a very strong jaw.
Using the jaw, he really wasable to start the key turning, ignoring
the fact that he must have beencausing some kind of damage as a brown

(21:52):
fluid came from his mouth, flowedover the key and ripped onto the floor.
Listen, said the chief clerk inthe next room. He's turning the
key. Gregor was greatly encouraged bythis. But they all should have been
calling to him, his father andhis mother. Too. Well done,
Gregor. They should have cried,keep at it, keep hold out the
lock, and with the idea thatthey were all excitedly following his efforts,

(22:15):
he bit on the key with allhis strength, paying no attention to the
pain he was causing himself. Asthe key turned round, he turned around
the lock with it only, holdinghimself upright with his mouth and hung on
to the key or pushed it downagain with the whole weight of his body
as needed. The clear sound ofthe lock as it snapped back was Gregor's
sign that he could break his concentration, and as he regained his breath,

(22:36):
he said to himself, so Ididn't need the locks me after all.
Then he laid his head on thehandle of the door to open it completely.
Because he had to open the doorin this way, it was already
wide open before he could be seen. He had first to slowly turn himself
around one of the double doors,and he had to do it very carefully
if he did not want to fallflat on his back before entering the room.

(22:56):
He was still occupied with this difficultmovement, unable to pay attention to
anything else, when he heard thechief clerk exclaim aloudo, which sounded like
the soughing of the wind. Nowhe also saw him. He was the
nearest to the door, his handpressed against his open mouth and slowly retreating
as if driven by a steady andinvisible force. Gregor's mother, a hair

(23:17):
stilled, disheveled from bed despite thechief clerk's being there, looked at his
father. Then she unfolded her arms, took two steps forward towards Gregor,
and sank down onto the floor intoher skirts that spread themselves out around her
as I had disappeared down onto herbreast. His father looked hostile and clenched
his fists as if wanting to knockGregor back into his room. Then he
looked uncertainly round the living room,covered his eyes with his hands, and

(23:41):
wept so that his powerful chest shook. So Gregor did not go into the
room, but leant against the insideof the other door, which was still
held bolted in place. In thisway, only half of his body could
be seen, along with his headabove it, which she leant over to
one side, as he peered outat the other's. Meanwhile, the day
had become much low. Part ofthe endless, grayly black building on the

(24:03):
other side of the street, whichwas a hospital, could be seen quite
clearly with the austere and regular lineof windows piercing its facade. The rain
was still falling now, throwing downlarge individual droplets which hit the ground one
at a time for washing up frombreakfast lay on the table. There was
so much of it because for Gregor'sfather, breakfast was the most important meal
of the day, and he wouldstretch it out for several hours as he

(24:26):
sat reading a number of different newspapers. On the wall exactly opposite there was
photograph of Gregor when he was aleeftenant in the army, his sword in
his hand and a carefully smile onhis face as he called forth respect for
his uniform and bearing. The doorto the entrance hall was open, and
as the front door of the flatwas also open, he could see on
to the landing and the stairs wherethey began their way down below. Now,

(24:48):
then, said Gregor, well awarethat he was the only one to
have kept calm. I'll get dressedstraight away, now, pack up my
samples and set off. Will youplease just let me leave. You can
see he said to the chief clerkthat I'm not stubborn, and I like
to do my job. Being acommercial traveler is arduous, but Without traveling,
I couldn't earn my living. Sowhere are you going into the office?

(25:11):
Yes, will you report everything accurately? Then it's quite possible for someone
to be temporarily unable to work,but that's just the right time to remember
what's being achieved in the past andconsider it later on. Once the difficulty
has been removed, he will certainlywork with all the more diligence and concentration.
You're well aware that I'm seriously indebt to our employer as well as

(25:32):
having to look after my parents andmy sister, so that I'm trapped in
a difficult situation. But I willwork my way out of it. Again.
Please don't make things any harder forme than they are already, and
don't take sights against me at theoffice. I know that nobody likes the
travelers. They think we earn anenormous wage as well as having a soft
time of it. That's just prejudice, but they have no particular reason to

(25:52):
think better of it. But you, sir, you have a better overview
than the rest of the staff.In fact, if I can't say this
confidence, a better overview than theboss himself. It's very easy for a
business man liked him to make mistakesabout his employees and judge them more harshly
then he should. And you're alsowell aware that we travelers spend almost the
whole year away from the office,so that we can very easily fall victim

(26:15):
to gossip and chance and groundless complaints. And it's almost impossible to defend yourself
from that sort of thing. Wedon't usually even hear about them, or
if at all. It's when wearrive back home exhausted from a trip,
and that's when we feel the harmfuleffects of what's been going on without even
knowing what caused them. Please don'tgo away, at least first say something

(26:37):
to show that you grant that I'mat least partly right. But the chief
clerk had turned away as soon asGregor had started to speak, and with
protruding lips, only stared back athim over his trembling shoulders. As he
left. He did not keep stillfor a moment while Gregor was speaking,
but moved steadily towards the door withouttaking his eyes off him. He moved
very gradually, as if there hadbeen some secret prohibition on lee the room.

(27:00):
It was only when he had reachedthe entrance hall that he made a
sudden movement, drew his foot fromthe living room and rushed forward in a
panic. In the hall, hestretched his right hand far out towards the
stoway, as if out there therewas some supernatural force waiting to save him.
Gregor realized that it was out ofthe question to let the chief Clerk
go away in this mood. Ofhis position in the firm was not to

(27:22):
be put into extreme danger. Thatwas something his parents did not understand very
well. Over the years, theyhad become convinced that this job would provide
for Gregor for his entire life.And besides, they had so much to
worry about at present that they hadlost sight of any thought for the future.
Gregor, though did think about thefuture. The chief clerk had to
be held back, calmed down,convinced, and finally won over. The

(27:45):
future of Gregor and his family dependedon it. If only his sister were
here. She was clever. Shewas already in tears while Gregor was still
lying peacefully on his back, andthe chief Clerk was a lover of women.
Surely she could persuade him. Shewould close the front door in the
entrance hall and talk him out ofhis shot state. But his sister was
not there. Gregor would have todo the job himself, and without considering

(28:07):
that he still was not familiar withhow well he grew about in his present
state, or that his speech stillmight not or probably would not be understood,
he let go out of the door, pushed himself through the opening,
tried to reach the chief clerk onthe landing Hoo ridiculously was holding on to
the banister with both hands, butGreggor fell immediately over end with a little
scream as he sought something to holdon to, landed on his numerous little

(28:32):
legs. Hardly had that happened.Then, for the first time the day,
he began to feel all aright withhis body. The little legs had
the solid ground under them. Tohis pleasure, they did exactly as he
told them. They were even makingthe effort to carry him where he wanted
to go, and he was soonbelieving that all his sorrows would soon be
finally at an end. He heldback the urge to move, but swayed

(28:52):
from side to side as he crouchedthere on the floor. His mother was
not far away in front of him, and seemed at first white, engrossed
in herself, But then she suddenlyjumped up with arms outstretched and her fingers
spread, shouting help, for pity'ssake. Help. The way she held
her had suggested she wanted to seeGregor better, but the unthinking way she
was hurrying backwards showed that she didnot. She had forgotten that the table

(29:15):
was behind her, with all thebreakfast things on it. When she reached
the table, she sat quickly downon it without knowing what she was doing,
without even seeming to notice that thecoffee pot had been knocked over and
a gush of coffee was pouring downonto the carpet. Mother Mother, said
Gregor gently, looking up at her. He had completely forgotten the chief clerk
for the moment, but could nothelp himself, snapping in the air with

(29:37):
his jaws at the sight of thefloe of coffee that set his mother screaming
anew. She fled from the tableand into the arms of his father as
he rushed towards her, Gregor,who had no time to spare for his
parents. Now the chief clerks hadalready reached the stairs. With his chin
on the banister. He looked backfor the last time. Gregor made a
run for him. He wanted tobe sure of reaching him. The chief

(30:00):
clerk must have expected something, ashe leapt down several steps at once and
disappeared, his shouts resounding all aroundthe staircase. The flight of the chief
clerk seemed, unfortunately, to putGregor's father into a panic as well.
Until then, he had been relativelyself controlled. But now, instead of
running after the chief clerk himself,or at least not impeding Gregor as he

(30:22):
ran after him, Gregor's father seizedthe chief Clerk's stick in his right hand.
The chief clerk had left it behindon a chair, along with his
head and overcoat, picked up alarge newspaper from the table with his left,
and used them to drive Gregor backinto his room, stamping his foot
at him as he went. Gregor'sappeals to his father were of no help.
His appeals were simply not understood.However much he humbly turned his head,

(30:45):
his father merely stamped his foot allthe harder across the room, despite
the chilly weather. Gregor's mother hadpulled open a window, leant far out
of it, and pressed her handsto her face. A strong draft of
air flew in from the street towardsthe stowe. The curtains flew up,
the newspapers on the table fluttered,and some of them were alowne onto the
floor. Nothing would stop Gregor's fatheras he drove him back, making hissing

(31:08):
noises at him like wild man.Gregor had never had any practice and moving
backwards, and was only able togo very slowly. If Gregor had only
been allowed to turn round, hewould have been back in his room straight
away, but he was afraid thatif he took the time to do that,
his father would become impatient, andthere was the threat of a lethal
blow to his back or head fromthe stick in his father's and any moment.

(31:29):
Eventually, though, Gregor realized thathe had no choice, as he
saw, to his disgust that hewas quite incapable of going backwards in a
straight line. So he began asquickly as possible and with frequent anxious glances
at his father, to turn himselfround. It went very slowly, but
perhaps his father was able to seehis good intentions, as he did nothing
to hinder him. In fact,now and then he used the tip of

(31:52):
his stick to give directions from adistance as to which way to turn,
if only his father would stop thatunbearable hissing. It was meant King Gregor
quite confused. When he had nearlyfinished turning round, still listening to that
hissing, he made a mistake andturned himself back a little away he had
just come. He was pleased whenhe finally had his head in front of
the doorway, but then saw thatit was too narrow and his body was

(32:15):
too broad to get through it withoutfurther difficulty. In his present mood,
it obviously did not occur to hisfather to open the other of the double
doors so that Gregor would have enoughspace to get through. He was merely
fixed on the idea that Gregor shouldbe got back into his room as quickly
as possible, Nor would he everhave allowed Gregor the time to get himself
upright as preparation for getting through thedoorway. What he did, making more

(32:37):
noise than ever, was to driveGregor forwards all the harder, as if
there had been nothing in the way. It sounded to Gregor as if there
was now more than one father behindhim. It was not a pleasant experience,
and Gregor pushed himself into the doorwaywithout regard for what might happen.
One side of his body lifted itself. He lay at an angle in the
doorway. One flank scraped on thewhite door and was painfully injured, leaving

(33:00):
vile brown flecks on it. Soonhe was stuck fast and would not have
been able to move at all byhimself. The little legs along one side
hung quivering in the while those onthe other side were breast painfully against the
ground. Then his father gave hima hefty shove from behind, which released
him from where he was held andsent him flying and heavily bleeding, deep
into his room. The door wasslammed shut with a stick. Then finally

(33:23):
all was quiet. Two. Itwas not until it was getting dark at
evening that Gregor awoke from his deepand coma like sleep. He would have
woken soon afterwards anyway, even ifhe hadn't been disturbed, as he had
had enough sleep and felt fully rested. But he had the impression that some
hurriot steps and the sound of thedoor leading into the front room being carefully
shut at woken him. The lightfrom the electric street lamps shode palely here,

(33:46):
and thereon to the ceiling and topsof the furniture, but down below,
where Gregor was it was dark.He pushed himself over to the door,
feeling his way clumsily with his antennaeof which he was now beginning to
learn a value, in order tosee what had been happening there. The
whole of his left side seemed likeone painfully stretched scar, and he limped

(34:06):
badly on his two rows of legs. One of the legs had been badly
injured in the events of that morning. It was nearly a miracle that only
one of them had been and draggedalong lifelessly. It was only when he
had reached the door that he realizedwhat it actually was that had drawn him
over to it. It was thesmell of something to eat. By the
door, there was a dish filledwith sweetened milk, with little pieces of
white bread floating in it. Hewas so pleased he almost laughed, as

(34:30):
he was even hungrier than he hadbeen that morning, and immediately dipped his
head into the milk, nearly coveringhis eyes with it. But he soon
drew his head back again in disappointment. Not only did the pain in his
tender left side make it difficult toeat the food. He was only able
to eat it for his hole,but he worked together as a snuffling hole.
But the milk did not taste itall. Nice milk like this was

(34:51):
normally his favorite drink, and hissister had certainly left it there for him
because of that. But he turned, almost against his own will, away
from the dish and crawled back intothe center of the room. Through the
crack in the door, Gregor couldsee that the gas had been lit in
the living room. His father atthis time would normally be set with his
evening paper, reading it out ina loud voice to Gregor's mother and sometimes

(35:12):
to his sister, But there wasnow not a sound to be heard.
Gregor's sister would often write and tellhim about this reading. But maybe his
father had lost the habit in recenttimes. It was so quiet all around
too, even though there must havebeen somebody in the flat. What a
quiet life it is the family led, said Gregor to himself, and gazing
into the darkness, felt a greatpride that he was able to provide a

(35:35):
life like that in such a nicehome for his sister and parents. But
what now if all this peace andwealth and comfort should come to a horrible
and fright in England. That wassomething that Gregor did not want to think
about too much, so he startedto move about, crawling up and down
the room. Once during that longevening, the door on one side of
the room was opened very slightly andhurriedly closed again. Later on the door

(35:58):
on the other side here the same. It seemed that someone needed to enter
the room, but thought better ofit. Greggia went and waited immediately by
the door, resolved either to bringthe timorous visitor into the room in some
way, or at least to findout who it was. But the door
was opened no more that night,and Gregg awaited in vain. The previous
morning, while the door was welllocked, everyone had wanted to get in
there to him. But now nowthat he had opened up one other doors

(36:22):
and the other had clearly been unlockedsome time during the day, no one
came, and the keys were inthe other sides. It was not until
late at night that the gaslight inthe living room was put out, and
now it was easy to see thathis parents and sister had stayed awake all
the time, as they all couldbe distinctly heard as they went away together
on tiptoe. It was clear thatno one would come into Gregor's room any

(36:43):
more until morning. That gave himplenty of time to think undisturbed about how
he would have ter re arrange hislife. For some reason, the tall,
empty room where he was forced toremain made him feel uneasy as he
lay there flat on the floor,even though he had been living in it
for five years, Hardly aware ofwhat he was doing other than a slight
feeling of shame, he hurried underthe couch. It pressed down on his

(37:05):
back a little, and he wasno longer able to lift his head,
but he nonetheless felt immediately at decent. His only regret was that his body
was too broad to get it allunderneath. He spent the whole night there.
Some of the time he passed ina light sleep, although he frequently
woke from it in alarm because ofhis hunger, and some of the time
was spent in worries and vague hopes, which, however, always led to
the same conclusion. For the timebeing, he must remain calm, He

(37:30):
must show patience and the greatest considerationso that his family could bear the unpleasantness
that he in his present condition wasforced to impose on them. Gregg soon
had the opportunity to test the strengthof his decisions. As early the next
morning, almost before the night hadended, his sister, nearly fully dressed,
opened the door from the front roomand looked anxiously in. She did

(37:52):
not see him straight away, butwhen she did notice him under the couch
he had to be somewhere. ForGod's sake, he could have flown away.
Was so shocked that she lost controlof herself and slammed the door shut
again from outside. But she seemedto regret her behavior as she opened the
door again straight away and came inon tiptoes. If entering the room have
someone seriously or even of a stranger. Gregg I had pushed his head forward

(38:15):
right to the edge of the couchand watched her. Would she noticed that
he had left the milk as itwas realized that it was not from any
lack of hunger, and bring himin some other food that was more suitable
If she did do it herself,He would rather go hungry than draw her
attention to it. Although he didfeel a terrible urge to rush forward from
under the couch throw himself at hissister's feet and beg her for something good

(38:37):
to eat. However, his sisternoticed the faal dish immediately and looked at
it and the few drops of milksplashed around it with some surprise. She
immediately picked it up using a ragnot a bare hands, and carried it
out. GREGGI was extremely curious asto what she would bring in its place,
imagining the wildest possibilities, but henever could have guessed what his sister,

(38:57):
in her goodness, actually did bringin in order to test his taste,
she brought him a whole selection ofthings, all spread out on an
old newspaper. There were old halfrout and vegetables, bones from the evening
meal covered in white sauce that hadgone hard, a few raisins and almonds,
some cheese that Gregor had declared inedibletwo days before, a dry roll,
and some bread spread with butter andsalt, as well as all that.

(39:21):
She had poured some water into thedish, which had probably been permanently
set aside for Gregor's use, andplaced it beside them. Then, out
of consideration for Gregor's feelings, asshe knew that he would not eat in
front of her. She hurried outagain and even turned the key in the
lock, so that Gregor would knowhe could make things as comfortable for himself
as he liked. Gregor's little legsworred. At last he could eat.

(39:43):
What's more, his injuries must alreadyhave completely healed, as he found no
difficulty in moving. This amazed him, as more than a month earlier he
had cut his fingers slightly with aknife. He thought of how his finger
had still hurt the day before yesterday. Am I less sensitive than I used
to be? Then? He thought, and was already sucking greedily at the
cheese, which had immediately, almostcompellingly, attracted him much more than the

(40:06):
other foods on the newspaper. Quickly, one after another, his eyes watering
with pleasure, he consumed the cheese, the vegetables, and the sauce.
The fresh foods, on the otherhand, he didn't like at all,
and even braggna things he did wantto eat a little way away from them,
because he couldn't stand the smell.Long after he had finished eating and
lay lethargic in the same place,his sister slowly turned the key in the

(40:29):
lock as assigned to him. Thathe should withdraw. He was immediately startled,
although he had been half asleep,and he hurried back under the couch,
But he needed great self control tostay there even for the short time
that his sister was in the room, as eating so much food a rounded
out his body a little, andhe could hardly breathe in that narrow space.
Half suffocating, he watched with bulgingeyes as his sister and silf consciously

(40:51):
took a broom and swept up theleft overs, mixing them in with the
food he had not even touched atall, as if it could not be
used any more. She quickly droppedit all in and to have been closed
it with its wooden lid, andcarried everything out. She had hardly turned
her back before Gregor came out againfrom under the couch and stretched himself.
This was how Gregor received his foodeach day, now, once in the

(41:12):
morning while his parents and the maidwere still asleep, and the second time
after everyone had eaten their meal atmidday, as his parents would sleep for
a little while than as well,and Gregor's sister would send the maid away
on some errand Gregor's father and mothercertainly did not want him to starve either,
but perhaps it would have been morethan they could stand to have any
more experience of his feeding then beingtold about it, and perhaps his sister

(41:34):
on tit to spare them what distressshe could, as they were indeed suffering
enough. It was impossible for Gregorto find out what they had told the
Otter and the locksmeath that first morningto get them out of the flat,
as nobody could understand him. Nobody, not even his sister, thought that
he could understand them, so hehad to be content to hear his sister's
size and appeals to the sense asshe moved about his room. It was

(41:55):
only later when she had become alittle more used to everything. There were,
of course no question of, however, becoming fully used to the situation
that Gregor would sometimes catch a friendlycomment, or at least a comment that
could be construed as friendly. He'senjoyed is dinner to day, she might
say. When he had diligently clearedaway all the food left for him,

(42:15):
or if he left most of it, which slowly became more and more frequent,
she would often say, sadly,now everything's just been left there again.
Although Gregor wasn't able to hear anynews directly. He did listen to
much of what was said in thenext rooms, and whenever he heard anyone
speaking, he would scurry straight tothe appropriate door and press his hole already
against it. There was soldom anyconversation, especially at first, that was

(42:37):
not about him in some way,even if only in secret. For two
whole days, all the talk atevery meal time was about what they should
do now, But even between mealsthey spoke about the same subject. As
there were always at least two membersof the family at home, nobody wanted
to be at home by themselves,and it was out of the question to
leave the flat entirely empty. Andon the very first day, the maid

(42:59):
had fallen to her knees and beggedGregor's mother to let her go without delay.
It was not very clear how muchshe knew of what had happened,
but she left within a quarter ofan hour, tear fully thanking Gregor's mother
for her dismissal, as if shehad done her an enormous service. She
even swore emphatically not to tell anyonethe slightest about what had happened, even
though no one had asked that ofher Now. Gregor's sister also had to

(43:21):
help his mother with the cooking,although that was not so much bother as
no one ate very much. Gregaoften heard how one of them would unsuccessfully
urge another to eat and receive nomore answer than no thanks, I've had
enough, or something similar. Noone drank very much either. His sister
would sometimes ask his father whether hewould like a beer, hoping for the
chance to go and fetch it herself. When his father then said nothing,

(43:44):
she would add, so that hewould not feel selfish, that she could
send the house keep her for it. But then his father would close the
matter with a big, loud no, and no more would be said.
Even before the first day had cometo an end, his father had explained
to Gregor's mother and sist of whattheir finances and prospects were now, And
then he stood up from the tableand took some receipt or document from the

(44:04):
little cash box he had saved fromhis business when it had collapsed five years
earlier. Gregor heard how he openedthe complicated lock and then closed it again
after he had taken the item hewanted. What he heard his father say
was some of the first good newsthat Gregor heard. Since he had first
been incarcerated in his room, hehad thought that nothing at all remained from
his father's business. At least hehad never told him anything different, and

(44:27):
Gregor had never asked him about itanyway. That business misfortune had reduced a
family to a state of total despair, and Gregor's only concern at that time
had been to arrange things so thatthey could all forget about it as quickly
as possible. So then he startedworking especially hard, with a fiery vigor
that raised him from a junior salesmanto a traveling representative almost overnight, bringing

(44:47):
with it the chance to earn moneyin quite different ways. Gregor converted his
success at work straight into cash thathe could lay on the table at home
for the benefit of his astonished anddelighted family. They had been good times,
and they had never come again,at least not with the same splendor,
Even though Gregor had later earned somuch that he was in a position
to bear the costs of the wholefamily, and did bear them. They

(45:09):
had even got used to it,both Gregor and the family. They took
the money with gratitude, and hewas glad to provide it, although there
was no longer much warm affection givenin return, Gregor only remained close to
his sister. Now. Unlike him, she was very fond of music and
a gifted and expressive violinist. Itwas his secret plan to send her to
the conservatory next year, even thoughit would cause great expense that would have

(45:31):
to be made up for in someother way. During Gregor's short periods in
town, conversation with his sister wouldoften turn to the conservatory, but it
was only ever mentioned as a lovelydream that could never be realized. Their
parents did not like to hear thisinnocent talk, but Gregor thought about it
quite hard and decided he would letthem know what he planned with a grand
announcement of it on Christmas Day.That was the sort of totally pointless thing

(45:54):
that went through his mind. Inhis present state, pressed upright against the
door and listening. There were timeswhen he simply became too tired to continue
listening, when his head would fallwearily against the door, and he would
pull it up again with her startas even the slightest noise he caused would
be heard next door and they wouldall go silent. What's that he is
doing now, his father would sayafter a while, clearly having gone over

(46:16):
to the door, and only thenwould the interrupted conversation slowly be taken up
again. When explaining things, hisfather repeated himself several times, partly because
it was a long time since hehad been occupied with these matters himself,
and partly because Gregor's mother did notunderstand everything the first time. From these
repeated explanations, Gregor learned to hispleasure that despite all their misfortunes, there

(46:38):
was still some money available from theold days. It was not a lot,
but it had not been touched inthe meantime, and some interest had
accumulated. Besides that, they hadnot been using up all the money that
Gregor had been bringing home every month, keeping only a little for himself,
so that that too had been accumulatingbehind the door. Gregor nodded with enthusiasm,

(47:00):
his pleasure at this unexpected thrift,and caution he could act surely have
used this surplus money to reduce hisfather's debt to his boss, and the
day when he could have freed himselffrom that job would have come much closer.
But now it was certainly better theway his father had done things.
This money, however, was certainlynot enough to enable the family to live
after the interest. It was enoughto maintain them that perhaps one or two

(47:22):
years, no more. That's tosay, it was money that should not
really be touched, but set asidefor emergencies. Money to live on had
to be earned. His father washealthy, but old and lacking in self
confidence. During the five years thathe had not been working the first holiday
in a life that had been forlove, strain and no success, he
had put on a lot of weightand become very slow and clumsy. Would

(47:44):
Gregg's elderly mother now have to goand earn money. She suffered from asthma,
and it was a strain for herjust to move about the home.
Every other day would be spent strugglingfor breath on the sofa by the open
window. Would his sister have togo and earn money? She was still
a child to have seventeen A lifelife up till then had been very enviable,
consisting of wearing nice clothes, sleepinglate, helping out in the business,

(48:07):
joining in with a few mirdest pleasures, and most of all, playing
the violin. Whenever they began totalk of the knee turn money. Gregor
would always first let go of thedoor and throw himself arm to the cool
leather so for next to it,as he became quite hot with shame and
regret. He would often lie therethe whole night through, not sleeping a
wink, but scratching at the leatherfor hours on end. Or he might

(48:27):
go to all the effort of pushinga chair to the window, climbing up
onto the cell end, propped upin the chair, leaning on the window
to stare out of it. Hehad used to feel a great sense of
freedom from doing this, but doingit now was obviously something more remembered than
experienced, as what he actually sawin this way was becoming less distinct every
day, even things that were quitenear. He had used to curse the

(48:50):
ever present view or of the hospitalacross the street, but now he could
not see it at all. Andif he had not known that he lived
in Charlodon's Dress, which was aquiet street despite being in the middle of
the city, he could have thoughtthat he was looking out the window at
a barren waist where the gray skyand the gray earth mingled inseparably. His
observant sister only needed to notice thechair twice before. She would always push

(49:10):
it back to its exact position bythe window after she had tied it up
the room, and even left theinner pane of the window open from then
on. If Gregor had only beenable to speak to his sister and thanked
her for all that she had todo for him, it would have been
easier for him to bear it.But as it was, it caused him
pain. His sister naturally tried asfar as possible to pretend there was nothing

(49:30):
burden soon about it, and thelonger it went on, of course,
the better she was able to doso. But as time went by,
Gregor was also able to see throughit all so much better. It had
even become very unpleasant for him nowwhenever she entered the room, no sooner
had she come, and then shewould quickly close it all as a precaution,
so that no one would have tosuffer the view in two Gregor's room.

(49:52):
Than she would go straight to thewindow and pull it hurriedly open,
almost as if she were suffrocating,even if it was cold. She would
stay at the window, breathing dearsep for a little while. She would
alarm Gregor twice a day. Withthis running about and noise making, he
would stay under the couch, shiveringthe whole while knowing full well that she
would certainly have liked to spare himthis audial but it was impossible for her

(50:12):
to be in the same room withhim with the windows closed. One day,
about a month after Gregor's transformation,when his sister no longer had any
particular reason to be shocked at hisappearance, she came into the room a
little earlier than usual and found himstill staring out the window, motionless and
just where he would be most terriblein itself. His sister's not coming in
too that a room would have beenno surprise for Gregor, as it would

(50:35):
have been difficult for her to immediatelyopen the window while he was still there.
But not only did she not comein, she went straight back and
closed the door behind her. Astranger would have thought he had threatened her
and tried to bite her. Gregorawent straight to hide himself under the couch,
of course, but he had towait until midday before his sister came
back, and she seemed much moreuneasy than usual. It made him realize

(50:57):
that she still found his appearance unbearable, and would continue to do so.
She probably even had to overcome theurge to flee when she saw the little
bit of him that protruded from underthe couch. One day, in order
to spare her even this sight,he spent full hours carrying the bed sheet
over to the couch on his backand arranged it so that he was completely
covered and his sister would not beable to see him even if she bent
down. If she did not thinkthis sheet was necessary, then all she

(51:21):
had to do was take it offagain. As it was clear enough that
it was no pleasure for Gregor tocut himself off so completely, she left
the sheet where it was. Gregla even thought he glimpsed to look of
gratitude one time when he carefully lookedout from under the sheet to see how
his sister liked the new arrangement.For the first fourteen days, Gregor's parents
could not bring themselves to come intothe room to see him. He would

(51:42):
often hear them say how they appreciatedall the new work his sister was doing,
even though before they had seen heras a girl who was somewhat useless
and frequently been annoyed with her,but now the two of them, father
and mother would often both wait outsidethe door of Gregor's room while his sister
tied it up in there, andsoon as she went out again, she
would have to tell them exactly howeverything looked, what Gregor had eaten,

(52:05):
how he had behaved this time,and whether perhaps any slight improvement could be
seen. His mother also wanted togo in and visit Gregor relatively soon,
but his father and sister at firstpersuaded her against it. Gregor listened very
closely to all this and approved fullylater, though she had to be held
back by force, which made hercall out, let me go and see
Gregor. He is my unfortunate son. Can't you understand? I have to

(52:29):
see him? And Gregor would thinkto himself that maybe it would be better
if his mother came in, notevery day, of course, but one
day a week. Perhaps she couldunderstand everything much better then his sister,
who, for all her courage,was still just a child after all,
and really might not have had anadult suppreciation of the burdensome job she had
taken on. Gregor's wished to seehis mother was soon realized out of consideration

(52:52):
for his parents Gregor wanted to avoidbeing seen at the window during the day.
The few square meters of the floordid not get hi much room to
crawl about. It was hard tojust lie quietly through the night. His
food soon stopped giving him any pleasureat all, and so to entertain himself
he got into the habit of crollingup and down the walls and ceiling.
He was especially fond of hanging fromthe ceiling. It was quite different from

(53:15):
lying on the floor. He couldbreathe more freely, his body had a
light swing to it, and upthere, relaxed and almost happy. It
might happen that he would surprise evenhimself by letting go of a ceiling and
landing on the floor with a crash. But now, of course, he
had far better control of his bodythan before, and even with a fall
as great as that, caused himselfno damage. Very soon his sister noticed

(53:37):
Gregor's new way of entertaining himself.He had, after all, left traces
of the adhesive from his feet ashe crawled about, and got it into
her head to make it as easyas possible for him by removing the furniture
that got in his way, especiallythe chest of drawers, isn't the desk?
Now? This was not something thatshe would be able to do by
herself. She did not dare toask for help from her fading father.

(54:00):
The sixteen year old maid had carriedon bravely since the cook had left,
but she certainly would not have helpedin this. She had even asked to
be allowed to keep the kitchen lockedat all times and never to have to
open the door unless it was especiallyimportant. So his sister had no choice
but to choose some time when Gregor'sfather was not there and fetch his mother
to help her. As she approachedthe room, Gregor could hear his mother

(54:22):
express her joy, but once atthe door, she went silent. First,
of course, his sister came inand looked round to see that everything
in the room was all right,and only then did she let her mother
enter. Gregor had hurriedly pulled thesheet down low over the couch and put
more folds into it, so thateverything really looked as if it had just
been thrown down by chance. Gregoralso refrained this time from spying out from

(54:45):
under the sheet. He gave upthe chance to see his mother until later,
and was simply glad that she hadcome. You can come in.
He can't be seen, said hissister, obviously leading her in by the
hand. The old chest of drawerswas too heavy for a pair of feeble
women to be he about, butGregor listened as they pushed it from its
place, his sister always taking onthe heaviest part of the work for herself

(55:07):
and ignoring her mother's warnings that shewould strain herself. This lasted a very
long time. After laboring at itfor fifteen minutes, Ormore his mother said
it would be better to leave thechest where it was. For one thing,
it was too heavy for them toget the job finished before Gregor's father
got home, and leaving it inthe middle of the room it would be
in his way even more. Andfor another thing, it wasn't even sure

(55:28):
that taking the furniture away would reallybe any help to him. She thought,
just the opposite. The sight ofthe bear walls sad and a right
to her heart, And why wouldn'tGregor feel the same way about it.
He'd been used to this furniture inhis room for a long time, and
it would make him feel abandoned tobe in an empty room like that then
quietly almost whispering, as if wantingGregor whose whereabouts she did not know to

(55:50):
hear, not even the tone ofher voice. As she was convinced that
he did not understand her words,she added, and by taking the furniture
away, don't it seem like weare showing that weave given up all hope
of improvement and were abandoning him tocope for himself. I think it would
be best to leave the room exactlythe way it was before, so that
when Gregor comes back to us again, he'll find everything unchanged, and he'll
be able to forget the time inbetween all the easier. Hearing these words

(56:15):
from his mother made Gregor realize thatthe lack of any direct human communication,
along with the monotonous life led bythe family during these two months, must
have made him confused. He couldthink of no other way of explaining to
himself why he had seriously wanted hisroom emptied out. Had he really wanted
to transform his room into a cave, a warm room fitted out with the

(56:35):
nice furniture he had inherited, thatwould have let him crawl around unimpeded in
any direction, but it would alsohave let him quickly forget his past.
When he had still been human.He had come very close to forgetting,
and it had only been the voiceof his mother, unheard for so long,
that had shaken him out of it. Nothing should be removed. Everything
had to stay. He could notdo without the good influence the furniture had

(56:57):
on his condition. And if thefurniture made it difficult for heim him to
crawl about mindlessly, that was nota loss, but a great advantage.
His sister, unfortunately, did notagree. She had become used to the
idea, not without reason, thatshe was Gregor's spokesmanun to his parents about
the things that concerned him. Thismeant that his mother's advice now was sufficient
reason for her to insist on removingnot only the chest of drawers is in

(57:19):
the desk, as she had thoughtat first, but all the furniture,
apart from the all important couch.It was more than childish perversity, of
course, all the unexpected confidence shehad recently acquired that made insist. She
had indeed noticed that Gregor needed alot of room to crawl about in,
whereas the furniture, as far asanyone could see, was of no use
to him at all. Earls ofthat age, though, to become enthusiastic

(57:44):
about things and feel they must gettheir way whenever they can. Perhaps this
was what tempted Greet to make Gregor'ssituation seem even more shocking than it was,
so that she could do even morefor him. Greek would probably be
the only one who would their empryroom dominated by Gregor crawling about the bere
walls by him, so she refusedto let her mother dissuade her. Gregor's
mother already looked uneasy in his room. She soon stopped speaking and helped Gregor's

(58:07):
sister to get the chest of drawersout with what strength she had. The
chest of drawers was something that Gregorcould do without if he had, but
the writing desk had to stay hardlyhad the two women pushed the chest of
drawers groaning out of the room,then Gregor poked his head out from under
the couch to see what he coulddo about it. He meant to be
as careful and considerate as he could, but unfortunately it was his mother who

(58:30):
came back first. While Greet inthe next room had her arms round the
chest, pushing and pulling at itfrom side to side by herself, without
of course moving it to an inch. His mother was not used to the
sight of Gregor. He might havemade her ill, so Gregor hurried backwards
to the far end of the couchin his startlement. Though he was not
able to prevent the sheet at itsfront from moving a little, it was

(58:52):
enough to attract his mother's attention.She stood very still, remained there a
moment, and then went back outto greet Gregor kept trying to assure Or
himself that nothing unusual was happening.It was just a few pieces of furniture
being moved, after all. Buthe soon had to admit that the women
going to and fro, their littlecalls to each other, the scraping of
the furniture on the floor, allthese things made him feel as if you

(59:14):
were being assailed from all sides.With his head and legs pulled in against
him and his body pressed to thefloor, he was forced to admit to
himself that he could not stand allof this much longer. They were emptying
his room out, taking away everythingthat was dear to him. They had
already taken out the chest containing hisfretsaw and other tools. Now they threatened
to remove the writing desk, withits place clearly worn into the floor.

(59:37):
The desk way he had done hishomework as a business trainee at high school,
even while he had been at infantschool. He really could not wait
any longer to see whether the twowomen's intentions were good. He had nearly
forgotten they were there anyway, asthey were now too tired to say anything
while they worked, and he couldonly hear their feet as they stepped heavily
on the floor. So while thewomen were leant against the desk in the

(59:59):
other room room catching their breath,he sallied out changed direction for times,
not knowing what he should save first, before his attention was suddenly caught by
the picture on the wall, whichwas already denuded of everything else that had
been on it, of the ladydressed in copious fur. He hurried up
on to the picture and breast himselfagainst its glass. It held him firmly

(01:00:19):
and felt good on his hot belly. This picture, at least, now
totally covered by Gregor, would certainlybe taken away by no one. He
turned his head to face the doorinto the living room so that he could
watch the women when they came back. They had not allowed themselves a long
rest, and came back quite soon. Greet had put her around her mother
and was nearly carrying her. Whatshow'll we take now, then, said

(01:00:39):
Greet, and looked around her eyesmea thows of Gregor on the wall.
Perhaps only because her mother was there, she remained calm, bent her face
to her so that she would notlook round, and said, all bit
hurriedly and with a tremor in hervoice, come on, let's go back
in the living room for a while. Gregor could see what Greet had in
mind. She wanted to take hermother somewey a safe and chase him down

(01:01:00):
from the wall. Well, shecould certainly try it, he sat and
yielding on his picture. He wouldrather jump at Greede's face. But Greet's
words had made her mother quite worried. She stepped to one side, saw
the enormous brown patch against the flowersof the wallpaper, and before she even
realized it was Gregor that she saw, screamed, oh God, oh God's

(01:01:21):
arms outstretched, she fell on tothe couch as if she had given up
everything, and stayed there immobile.Gregg shouted his sister glowering at him and
shaking her fist. That was thefirst words she had spoken to him directly
since his transformation. She ran intothe other room to fetch some kind of
smelling salts to bring her mother outof her faint. Gregor wanted to help
too, he could save his picturelater, although he stuck fast to the

(01:01:44):
glass and had to pull himself halfby force. Than he too ran into
the next room as if he couldadvise his sister like in the old days,
but he had to just stand behindher doing nothing. She was looking
into various bottles. He startled her. When she turned round, a bottle
fell to the ground and broke.A splinter cut Gregor's face. Some kind
of courstic medicine splashed all over him. Now, without delaying any longer,

(01:02:07):
greet took hold of all the bottles. She couldn't run with them into her
mother. She slammed the door shutwith her foot. So now Gregor was
shut out from his mother, who, because of him, might be near
to death. He could not openthe door if he did not want to
chase his sister away, and shehad to stay with his mother. There
was nothing for him to do butwait and abreast with anxiety and self reproach,

(01:02:30):
he began to crawl about. Hecrawled over everything, walls, furniture,
ceiling, and finally, in hisconfusion, as the whole room began
to spin around him, he felldown into the middle of a dinner table.
He lay there for a while,numbered imobel all around him. It
was quiet. Maybe that was agood sign. Then there was someone near
the door. The maid, ofcourse, had locked herself in her kitchen,

(01:02:52):
so that Greet would have to goand answer it. His father had
arrived home. What's happened? Werehis first words. Greet's appearance must have
made everything clear to him. Sheanswered him with subdued voice and openly breast
her face into his chest. Mothersfainted. But she's better now. Gregg
had got out just as I expected, said his father, just as I

(01:03:13):
always said. But you women wouldn'tlisten, would do? It was clear
to Gregor that Greet had not saidenough, and that his father took it
to mean that something bad had happened, that he was responsible for some act
of violence. That meant Gregor wouldnow have to try to calm his father,
as he did not have the timeto explain things to him, even
if that had been possible. Sohe fled to the door of his room
and breast himself against it, sothat his father, when he came in

(01:03:37):
from the hall, could see straightaway that Gregor had the best intentions and
would go back into his room withoutdelay, that it would not be necessary
to drive him back, but thatthey had only to open the door and
he would disappear. His father,though, was not in the mood to
notice subtleties like that. Ahle,he shouted as he came in, sounding
as if he were both angry andglad at the same time. Gregor drew

(01:03:58):
his head back from the door andlifted it towards his father. He really
had not imagined his father the wayhe stood there now have late, with
his new habit of crawling about,he had neglected to pay attention to what
was going on the rest of theflat the way he had done before.
He really ought to have expected thingsto have changed. But still still,
was that really his father, thesame tired man as used to be laying

(01:04:20):
there, entombed in his bed.When Gregor came back from his business trips,
who would receive him sitting in thearm chair in his night gown when
he came back in the evenings,who was hardly even able to stand up,
but as a sign of his pleasure, would just raise his arms.
And who, on the couple oftimes a year when they went for a
walk together on a Sundae or publicJulody, wrapped up tightly in his overcoat

(01:04:41):
between Gregor and his mother, wouldalways labor his way forward a little more
slowly than them, who were alreadywalking slowly for his sake, Who would
place his stick down carefully, andif he wanted to say something, would
invariably stop and gather his companions aroundhim. He was standing up straight enough
now, dressed in a smart blueuniform with gold buttons, the sort worn
by the employee is at the bankinginstitute. Above the high stiff collar of

(01:05:05):
the coat, his strong double chainemerged under the bushy eyebrows. His piercing
dark eyes looked out fresh and alert. His normally unkempt white he was combed
down painfully, closed to his scalp. He took his cap with its gold
monogram flum probably some bank, andthrew it in an art right across the
room on to the sofa, puthis hands in his trouser pockets, pushing

(01:05:27):
back the bottom of his long uniformcoat, and with look of determination,
walked towards Gregor. He probably didnot even know himself what he had in
mind, but nonetheless lifted his feetunusually high. Gregor was amazed at the
enormous size of the soles of hisboots, but wasted no time with that.
He knew full well right from thefirst day of his new life,
that his father thought it necessary toalways be extremely strict with him, and

(01:05:50):
so he ran up to his father, stopped when his father stopped, scurried
forwards again when he moved even slightly. In this way, they went round
the room several times times without anythingdecisive happening, without even giving the impression
of a chase, as everything wentso slowly, Gregor remained all this time
on the floor, largely because hefeared his father might see it as especially

(01:06:11):
provoking if he fled on to thewall or ceiling. Whatever he did,
Gregor had to admit that he certainlywould not be able to keep up this
running about for long, as foreach step his father took he had to
carry out countless movements. He becamenoticeably short of breath. Even in his
earlier life, his lungs had notbeen very reliable. Now, as he
lurched about in his efforts to musterall the strength he could for running,

(01:06:32):
he could hardly keep his eyes open. His thoughts became too slow for him
to think of any other way ofsaving himself. Then running, He almost
forgot that the wolds were there forhim to use, although here they were
concealed behind carefully carved furniture full ofnotches and protrusions. Then right beside him,
lightly tossed something, flew down androlled in front of him. It

(01:06:53):
was an apple. Then another oneimmediately flew at him. Gregor froze in
shock. There was no longer anypoint in running. Was his fame.
His father had decided to bombard him. He had filled his pockets with fruit
from the bowl on the sideboard,and now, without even taking the time
for careful aim, through one appleafter another, these little red apples rolled
about on the floor, knocking intoeach other as if they had electric motors.

(01:07:15):
An apple throne, without much force, glanced against Gregor's back and slid
off without doing any harm. Anotherone, however, immediately following it,
hit squarely and lodged in his back. Gregor wanted to drag himself away,
as if he could remove the surprising, the incredible pain by changing his position,
but he felt as if nailed tothe spot and spread himself out,
all his senses in confusion. Thelast thing he saw was the door of

(01:07:39):
his room being pulled open. Hissister was screaming. His mother ran out
in front of her in her blouse. As his sister had taken off some
other clothes after she had fainted tomake it easier for her to breathe.
She ran to his father, herskirts unfastened and sliding one after another to
the ground. Stumbling over the skirts, she pushed herself to his father,
her arms around him, uniting herselfwith him totally. Now Gregor lost his

(01:08:01):
ability to see anything, her handsbehind his father's head, begging him to
spare Gregor's life. Three no oneair to remove the apple lodged in Gregor's
flesh, so it remained there isa visible reminder of his injury. He
had suffered it there for more thana month, and his condition seemed serious
enough to remind even his father thatGregor, despite his current sad and revolting

(01:08:21):
form was a family member who couldnot be treated as an enemy. On
the contrary, as a family therewas a duty to swallow any revulsion for
him and to be patient, justto be patient. Because of his injuries,
Gregor had lost much of his mobility, probably permanently. He had been
reduced to the condition of an ancientand valued and it took him a long,

(01:08:41):
long minutes to crawl across his room. Crawling over the ceiling was out
of the question. But this deteriorationin his condition was fully, in his
opinion, made up for by thedoor to the living room being left open
every evening. He got into thehabit of closely watching it for one or
two hours before it was opened,and then lying in the darkness of his
room room, where he could notbe seen from the living room, he
could watch the family in the lightof the dinner table and listen to their

(01:09:05):
conversation with everyone's permission. In away, and thus quite differently from before,
they no longer held the lively conversationsof earlier times, of course,
the ones that Gregor always thought aboutwith longing when he was tired and getting
into the damp bed in some smallhotel room all of them were usually very
quiet nowadays. Soon after dinner,his father would go to sleep in his

(01:09:27):
chair. His mother and sister wouldurge each other to be quiet. His
mother, bent deeply under the lamp, would so fancy underwear for a fashioned
shop. His sister, who hadtaken a sale's job, learned shorthand in
French in the evenings so that shemight be able to get a better position
later on. Sometimes his father wouldwake up and say to Gregor's mother,
you are doing so much sewing againtoday, as if he did not know

(01:09:48):
that he had been dozing, andthen he would go back to sleep again,
while mother and sister would exchange atired grin with a kind of stubbornness.
Gregor's father refused to take his uniformoff, even at home. While
his night gown hung unused on youreg Gregor's father would slump or where he
was fully dressed, as if alwaysready deserve and expecting to hear the voice

(01:10:08):
of his superior even here. Theuniform had not been new to start with,
but as a result of this itslowly became even shabbier. Despite the
efforts of Gregor's mother and sister tolook after it. Gregor would often spend
the whole evening looking at all thestains on this coat, with its gild
buttons always kept polished and shiny,while the old man in it would sleep
highly uncomfortable but peaceful. As soonas it struck ten, Gregor's mother would

(01:10:31):
speak gently to his father to wakenand try to persuade him to go to
bed, as he couldn't sleep properlywhere he was, and he really had
to get his sleep if he wasto be up at six to get to
work. But since he had beenin work, he had become more obstinate
and would always insist on staying longerat the table, even though he regularly
fell asleep, and it was doneharder than ever to persuade him to exchange

(01:10:51):
the chair for his bed. Then, however much mother and sister would importune
him with little reproaches and warnings,he would keep slowly shaking his head for
a quarter of an hour with hiseyes closed and refusing to get up.
Gregor's mother would tug let his sleevewhisper endearment sin to his ear. Gregor's
sister would leave her work to helpher mother, but nothing would have any
effect. On him, he wouldjust sink deeper into his chair. Only

(01:11:15):
when the two women took him underthe arms, he would abruptly open his
eyes, look at them one afterthe other, and say, what a
life, This is what peace Iget in my old age, And supported
by the two women, he wouldlift himself up carefully, as if he
were carrying the greatest load himself.Let the women take him to the door,
send them off, and carry onby himself, while Gregor's mother would
throw down her needle and his sisterher pencil that they could run after his

(01:11:36):
father and continue being of help tohim, who, in this tired and
overworked family would have had time togive more attention to Gregor than was absolutely
necessary. The household budget became evensmaller, so now the maid was dismissed.
An enormous thick bone child woman withwhite head that flapped around her head,
came every morning and evening to dothe heaviest work. Everything else was

(01:11:58):
looked after by Gregor's mother. Ontop of the large amount of sewing work
she did. Greg Lare even learned, listening to the evening conversation about what
price they had hoped that several itemsof jewelry belonging to the family had been
sold, even though both mother andsister had been very fond of wearing them
at functions and celebrations. But theloudest complaint was that although the flat was
much too big for their present circumstances, they could not move out of it.

(01:12:21):
There was no imaginable way of transferringGregor to the new address. He
could see quite well though, thatthere were more reasons than consideration for him
that made it difficult for them tomove. It would have been quite easy
to transport him in any suitable cratewith a few ales in it. The
main thing holding the family back fromtheir decision to move was much more to
do with their total despair and thethought that they had been struck with a

(01:12:44):
misfortune unlike anything experienced by anyone elsethey knew or were related to. They
carried out absolutely everything that the worldexpects from poor people. Gregor's father brought
bank employees their breakfast, His mothersacrificed herself by washing clothes for strangers.
His sister ran back and forth behindher desk at the behest of the customers.
But they just did not have astrength to do any more, and

(01:13:06):
the injury in Gregor's back began tohurt as much as when it was new.
After they had come back from takinghis father to bed, Gregor's mother
and sister would now leave their workwhere it was and sit close together,
cheek to cheek. His mother wouldpoint to Gregor's room and say, close
the door, greet and then whenhe was in the dark again, they
would sit in the next room andtheir tears would mingle, or they would

(01:13:28):
simply sit there, staring dry eyedat the table. Greggor hardly slept it
all, either night or day.Sometimes he would think of taking over the
family's affairs, just like before,the next time the door was opened.
He had long forgotten about his bossand the chief clerk, but they would
appear again in his thoughts. Thesalesman and the apprentices, that stupid tea
boy, two or three friends fromother businesses, one of the chambermates from

(01:13:50):
a provincial hotel, a tender memorythat appeared and disappeared again, a cashier
from a hatch shop for whom hisattention had been serious but too slow.
All of them appeared to him,mixed together with strangers and others he had
forgotten, but instead of helping himand his family. They were all of
them inaccessible, and he was gladwhen they disappeared. Other times, he

(01:14:10):
was not at all in the moodto look after his family. He was
filled with simple rage about the lackof attention he was shown, and although
he could think of nothing he wouldhave wanted, he made plans of how
he could get into the pantry,where he could take all the things he
was entitled to, even if hewas not hungry. Gregor's sister no longer
thought about how she could please him, but would hurriedly push some food or
other into his room with her footbefore she rushed out to work in the

(01:14:33):
morning, and at midday and inthe evening she would sweep it away again
with the broom indifferent as to whetherit had been eaten or, more often
than not, had been left totallyuntouched. She still cleared up the room
in the evening, but now shecould not have been any quicker about it.
Smears of dirt were left on thewalls here, and there were little
balls of dust and fill. Atfirst, Greggor went into one of the

(01:14:56):
worst of these places when his sisterarrived as a reproach to her but he
could have stayed there for weeks withouthis sister doing anything about it. She
could see that dirt as well ashe could, but she had simply decided
to leave him to it. Atthe same time, she became touchy in
a way that was quite a newfound which everyone in the family understood.
Cleaning up Gregor's room was for herand alone. Gregor's mother did once thoroughly

(01:15:16):
clean his room, and needed touse several bucketfuls of water to do it,
although that much temperness also made Gregorill, and he laid flat on
the couch, bitter and immobile.But his mother was to be punished still
more for what she had done,as hardly had his sister arrived home in
the evening than she noticed the changeand Gregor's room end. Highly aggrieved,
ran back into the living room,where, despite her mother's raised and imploring

(01:15:40):
hands, she broke into convulsive tears. Her father, of course, was
startled out of his chair, andthe two parents looked on, astonished and
helpless. Then they too became agitated. Gregor's father, standing to the right
of his mother, accused her ofnot leaving the cleaning of Gregor's room to
his sister from her left. Gregor'ss mister screened to that she was never

(01:16:00):
to clean Gregor's room again, whilehis mother tried to draw his father,
who was beside himself with anger,into the bedroom. His sister, quaking
with tears, thhunt on the tablewith her small fists, and Gregor hursed
in anger that no one had eventhought of closing the door to save him
the sight of this and all itsnoise. Gregor's sister was exhausted from going
out to work, and looking afterGregor as she had done before, was

(01:16:24):
even more work for her. Buteven so his mother ought certainly not to
have taken her place. Gregor,on the other hand, ought not to
be neglected now. Though the childwoman was here, this elderly widow,
with a robust bone structure that madeher able to withstand the hardest of things
in her long life, wasn't reallyrepelled by Gregor. Just by chance,
one day, rather than any realcuriosity, she opened the door to Gregor's

(01:16:47):
room and found herself face to facewith him. He was taken totally by
surprise. No one was chasing him, but he began to rush to and
for a while she just stood therein amazement with her hands crossed in front
of her. From then on,she never failed to open the door slightly
every evening and morning and looked brieflyin on him. At first. She
would call to him as she didso, with words that she probably considered

(01:17:09):
friendly, such as, come on, then, you old dung beetle,
or look at the old dung beetlethere. Gregor never responded to being spoken
to in that way, but justremained where he was, without moving,
as if the door had never evenbeen opened. If only they had told
this chilwoman to clean up his roomevery day instead of letting her disturb him
for no reason whenever she felt likeit. One day, early in the

(01:17:30):
morning, while a heavy rain struckthe windowpanes, perhaps indicating that spring was
coming, she began to speak tohim in that way once again. Gregor
was so resentful of it that hestarted to move toward her. He was
slow and infirm, but it waslike a kind of attack. Instead of
being afraid, the childwoman just liftedup one of the chairs from near the
door and stood there with her mouthopen, clearly intending not to close her

(01:17:51):
mouth until the chair in her handhad been slammed down into Gregor's back,
And you coming any closer, then, she asked, when Gregor turned round
again, and she calmly put thechair back in the corner. Gregor had
almost entirely stopped eating. Only ifhe happened to find himself next to the
food that had been prepared for him, he might take some of it into
his mouth to play with it,leave it there a few hours, and

(01:18:14):
then, more often than not,spit it out again. At first,
he thought it was distress that thestate of his room that stopped him eating,
but he had soon got used tothe changes made there. They had
got into the habit of putting thingsinto this room that they had no room
for anywhere else, and there werenow many such things, as one of
the rooms in the flat had beenrented out to three gentlemen. These earnest
gentlemen, all three of them hadfull beards, as Gregor learned peering through

(01:18:39):
the crack in the door one day, were painfully insistent on things being tidy.
This meant not only in their ownroom, but since they had taken
a room in this establishment, inthe entire flat, and especially in the
kitchen, unnecessary clutter was something theycould not tolerate, especially if it was
dirty. They had moreover, broughtmost of their own furnishings and equipment with
them. For this reason, manythings had become superfluous, which, although

(01:19:01):
they could not be sold, thefamily did not wish to discard. All
these things found their way into Gregor'sroom. The dust beans from the kitchen
found their way in there too.The child woman was always in a hurry,
and anything she couldnt use for thetime being, she would just chuck
him there. He fortunately, wouldusually see no more than the object and
the hand that held it. Thewoman most likely meant to fetch the things

(01:19:25):
back out again when she had timeand the opportunity, or to throw everything
out in one go. But whatact surely happened was that they were left
where they landed when they had firstbeen thrown, unless Gregor made his way
through the junk and moved it somewhereelse. At first he moved because,
with no other room for where hecould crawl about, he was forced to,
but later on he came to enjoyit. Although moving about in that

(01:19:45):
way he left him sad and tiredto death, and he would remain immobile
for hours afterwards. The gentleman whorented the room would sometimes take their evening
meal at home in the living roomthat was used by everyone, and so
the door to this room was oftenkept closed in the evening, but Gregor
found it easy to give up havingthe door open. He had, after
all, often failed to make useof it when it was open, and

(01:20:06):
without the family having noticed it,lain in his room in its darkest corner.
One time, though, the childwoman left the door to the living
room slightly open, and it remainedopen when the gentleman who rented the room
came in in the evening and thelight was put on. They sat up
at the table where formerly Gregor hadtaken his meals with his father and mother.

(01:20:26):
They unfolded the serviettes and picked uptheir knives and forks. Gregor's mother
immediately appeared in the doorway with adish of meat, and soon behind her
came his sister with a dish piledhigh with potatoes. The food was steaming
and filled the room with its smell. The gentlemen bent over the dishes set
in front of them, as ifthey wanted to test the food before eating
it, and the gentleman in themiddle, who seemed to count as an

(01:20:47):
authority for the other two, didindeed cut off a piece of meat while
it was still in its dish,clearly wishing to establish whether it was sufficiently
cooked or whether it should be sentback to the kitchen. It was to
his satisfy faction, and Gregor's motherand sister, who had been looking on
anxiously, began to breathe the gameand smiled. The family themselves ate in
the kitchen. Nonetheless, Gregor's fathercame into the living room before he went

(01:21:12):
into the kitchen, bowed once withhis cap in his hand, and did
his round other table. The gentlemenstood as one and mumbled something into their
beards. Then, once they werealone, they ate in near perfect silence.
It seemed remarkable to Gregor that,above all the various noises of eating,
their chewing teeth could still be heard, as if they had wanted to
show Gregor that you need teeth inorder to eat, and it was not

(01:21:33):
possible to perform anything with jaws thatare toothless, however nice they might be.
I'd like to eat something, saidGregor anxiously, but not anything like
they are eating. They do feethemselves and here I am dying. Throughout
all this time, Gregor could notremember having heard a violin being played,
But this evening it began to beheard from the kitchin The three gentlemen had

(01:21:54):
already finished their meal. The onein the middle had produced a newspaper,
given a page to each of theother, and now they leant back in
their chairs, reading them and smoking. When the violin began playing, they
became attentive, stood up, andwent on tiptoe over to the door of
the hallway, where they stood pressedagainst each other. Someone must have heard
them in the kitchen, as Gregor'sfather called out, is the playing perhaps

(01:22:15):
unpleasant for the gentleman? We canstop it straight away. On the contrary,
said the middle gentleman, would ayoung lady not like to come in
and play for us here in theroom, where it is, after all,
much more cozy and comfortable. Ohyes, we'd love to, called
back Gregor's father, as if hehad been the violin player himself. The
gentleman stepped back into the room andwaited. Gregor's father soon appeared with the

(01:22:39):
music stand, his mother with themusic and his sister with the violin.
She calmly prepared everything for her tobegin playing. His parents, who had
never rented a room out before andtherefore showed an exaggerated courtesy towards the three
gentlemen, did not even dare tosit on their own chairs. His father
leant against the door with his righthand pushed in between two buttons on his

(01:22:59):
uniform. His mother, who wasoffered a seat by one other gentleman,
and sat leaving the chair where thegentleman happened to have placed it out of
the way in a corner. Hissister began to play. Father and mother
paid close attention, one on eachside, to the movements of her hands,
drawn in by the playing. Greggorhad dared to come forward a little,
and already at his head in theliving room. Before he had taken

(01:23:21):
great pride in how considerate he was, But now it hardly occurred to him
that he had become so thoughtless aboutthe others. What's more, there was
now all the more reason to keephimself hidden, as he was covered in
the dust that lay everywhere in hisroom, and flew up at the slightest
movement. He carried threads, theirsand remains of food about on his back
and sides. He was much tooindifferent to everything now to lay on his

(01:23:43):
back and wipe himself on the carpetlike he had used to do several times
a day. And despite this condition, he was not too shy to move
forward a little arm to the immaculatefloor of the living room. No one
noticed him, though the family wastotally preoccupied with the violin playing. At
first, the three gentlemen had puttheir hands in their pockets and come up
far too close behind the music standto look at all the notes being played,

(01:24:06):
and they must have disturbed Gregor's sister. But soon, in contrast with
the family, they withdrew back tothe window, with their heads sunk and
talking to each other at half volume, and they stayed by the window while
Gregor's father observed them anxiously. Itreally now seemed very obvious that they had
expected to hear some beautiful or entertainingviolin playing, that had been disappointed that

(01:24:28):
they had had enough of the wholeperformance, and it was only now out
of politeness that they allowed their peaceto be disturbed. It was especially unnerving
the way they all blew the smokefrom their cigarettes upwards from their mouth and
noses, Yet Gregor's sister was playingso beautifully her face was lent to one
side, following the lines of musicwith a careful and melancholy expression. Gregor
crawled a little further forward, keepinghis head close to the ground, so

(01:24:51):
that he could meet her eyes ifthe chance came. Was he an animal
if music could captivate to him.So it seemed to him that he was
being shown away to the un ownnourishment he had been yearning. Four.
He was determined to make his wayforward to his sister and toddler to skirt,
to show how she might come intohis room with her violin. As
no one appreciated her playing here asmuch as he would, he never wanted

(01:25:12):
to let her out of his room, not while he lived. Anyway,
his shocking appearance should for once beof some use to him. He wanted
to be at every door of hisroom at once to hiss and spit at
the attackers. His sister should notbe forced to stay with him, though,
but stay off her own free will. She would sit beside him on
the couch, with her ear bentdown to him, while he told her
how he had always intended to sendher to the conservatory, how he would

(01:25:35):
have told everyone about at last Christmas, had Christmas really come and gone already,
if this misfortune hadn't got in theway, and refused to let anyone
dissuade him from it. On hearingall this, his sister would break out
in tears of emotion, and Gregorwould climb up to her shoulder and kiss
her neck, which, since shehad been going out to work, she
had kept free without any necklace orcollar. Mmr Samsor, shouted the middle

(01:26:00):
gentleman to Gregor's father, pointing withoutwasting any more words, with his forefinger
at Gregor. As he slowly movedforward. The violin went silent. The
middle of the three gentlemen first smiledat his two friends, shaking his head,
and then looked back at Gregor.His father seemed to think it more
important to calm the three gentlemen beforedriving Gregor out, even though they were
not at all upsit and seemed tothink Gregor was more entertaining than the violin

(01:26:24):
playing had been. He rushed upto them with his arms spread out and
attempted to drive them back into theirroom at the same time as trying to
block their view or Gregor with hisbody. Now, they did become a
little annoyed, and it was notclear whether it was his father's behavior that
annoyed them of the dawning realization thatthey had had a neighbor like Gregor in
the next room without knowing it,they asked Gregor's father for explanations, raised

(01:26:45):
their arms like he had tugged excitedlyat their bed, and moved back towards
their room only very slowly. Meanwhile, Gregor's sister had overcome the despair she
had fallen into when her playing wassuddenly interrupted. She had let her hands
drop and let violin and bow hanglimply for a while, but continue to
look at the music as if stillplaying. But then she suddenly put herself

(01:27:05):
together, lay the instrument on hermother's lap, whose still settlaboriously struggling for
breath where she was, and raninto the next room, which, under
pressure from her father, the threegentlemen were more quickly moving, dowed under
his sister's experienced hand. The pillowsin covers on the beds flew up and
were put into order, and shehad already finished making the bediicine slipped out

(01:27:26):
again before the three gentlemen had reachedthe room, Gregor's father seemed so obsessed
with what he was doing that heforgot all the respect he owed to his
tenants. He urged them and pressedthem, until when he was already at
the door of the room, themiddle of the three gentlemen shouted like thunder
and stamped his foot, and therebybrought Gregor's father to a halt. I
declare here and now, he said, raising his hand and glancing at Gregor's

(01:27:48):
mother and sister, to gain theirattention to that with regard to the repugnant
conditions that prevail in this flat andwith this family here. He looked briefly
but decisively at the floor, Igive immediately notice on my room for the
days that I have been living here. I will of course pay nothing at
all. On the contrary, Iwill consider whether to proceed with some kind

(01:28:08):
of action for damages from you.And believe me, it would be very
easy to set out the grounds forsuch an action. He was silent and
looked straight to head, as ifwaiting for something. And indeed his two
friends joined in with the words,and we also give immediate notice. With
that, he took hold of thedoor handle and slammed the door. Greggor's
father staggered back to his seat,feeling his way with his hands, and

(01:28:30):
fell into it. It looked asif he was stretching himself out for his
usual evening nap, but from theuncontrolled way his head kept nodding, it
could be seen that he was notsleeping at all. Throughout all this,
Greggor had lain still where the threegentlemen had first seen him. His disappointment
at a failure of his plan,and perhaps also because he was weak from
hunger, made it impossible for himto move. He was sure that everyone

(01:28:53):
would turn on him any moment,and he waited. He was not even
startled out of this state when theviolin on his mother's lap fell from her
trembling fingers and landed loudly on thefloor. Father mother said, his sister,
hitting the table with her hand asintroduction. We can't carry on like
this. Maybe you can't see it, but I can. I don't want
to call this monster my brother.All I can say is we have to

(01:29:15):
try and get rid of it.We've done all that's humanly possible to look
after it and be patient. Idon't think anyone could use us off doing
anything wrong. She's absolutely right,said Gregor's father to himself. His mother,
who still had not had time tocatch her breath, began to cough
dully, her hand held out infront of her and a deranged expression in
her eyes. Gregor's sister rushed tohis mother and put her hand on her

(01:29:38):
forehead. Her words seemed to giveGregor's father some more definite ideas he sat
upright, played with his uniform capbetween the plates left by the three gentlemen
after their meal, and occasionally lookeddown at Gregor as he lay there immobile.
We have to try and get ridof it, said Gregor's sister,
now speaking only to her father asher mother was too occupied with coughing to

(01:29:59):
listen. It'll be the death ofboth of you. I can see it
coming. We can't all work ashard as we have to and then come
home to be tortured like this.We can't endure it. I can't endure
it anymore. And she broke outso heavily in tears that they flowed down
the face of her mother, andshe wiped them away with mechanical hand movements.
My child, said her father,with sympathy and obvious understanding. What

(01:30:19):
are we to do? His sisterjust shrugged her shoulders as a sign of
the helplessness and tears that had takenhold of her, displacing her earlier certainty.
If he could just understand us,said his father, almost as a
question. His sister shook her handvigorously through her tears, as a sign
that of that there was no question. If he could just understand us,
repeated Gregor's father, closing his eyesin acceptance of his sister's certainty. That

(01:30:44):
that was quite impossible, then perhapswe could come to some kind of arrangement
with him. But as it is, it's got to go, shouted his
sister. That's the only way,father, You've got to get rid of
the idea that that's Gregor. We'veonly harmed ourselves by believing it for so
long. How can but to beGregor. If it were Ogregor, he
would have seen long ago that it'snot possible for human beings to live with

(01:31:04):
an animal like that, and hewould have gone off his own free will.
We wouldn't have a brother anymore then, but we could carry on with
our lives and remember him with respect. As it is, this animal is
persecuting us. It's driven out ourtenants. It obviously wants to take over
the whole flat and force us tosleep on the streets. Father, look,
just look, She suddenly screamed,he's starting again in her alarm,

(01:31:28):
which was totally beyond Gregor's comprehension.His sister even abandoned his mother as she
pushed herself vigorously out of her chair, as if more willing to sacrifice her
own mother than stay any way nearGregor. She rushed over to behind her
father, who had become excited merelybecause she was, and stood up half
raising his hands in front of Gregor'ssister as if to protect her. But
Gregor had had no intention out offrightening anyone, least of all his sister.

(01:31:51):
All he had done was begin toturn round so that he could go
back into his room, Although thatwas in itself quite startling. Was his
pain racked condition meant that turning roundrequired a great deal of effort, and
he was using his head to helphimself do it, repeatedly raising it and
striking it against the floor. Hestopped and looked round. They seemed to

(01:32:11):
have realized his good intention, andhad only been alarmed briefly. Now they
all looked at him in unhappy silence. His mother lay in a chair with
her legs stretched out and pressed againsteach other, her eyes nearly closed with
exhaustion. His sister sat next tohis father with arms around his neck.
Maybe now they all let me turnround, thought Gregor, and went back
to work. He could not helppanting loudly with the effort, and had

(01:32:32):
sometimes to stop and take a rest. No one was making him rush anymore.
Everything was left up to him.As soon as he had finally finished
turning round, he began to movestraight ahead. He was amazed at the
great distance that separated him from hisroom, and could not understand how he
had covered that distance in his weekstate a little while before, and almost
without noticing it. He concentrated oncrawling as fast as he could, and

(01:32:56):
hardly noticed that there was not aword, not any cry from his head
his family to distract him. Hedid not turn his head until he had
reached the doorway. He did notturn it all the way round, as
he felt his neck becoming stiff,but it was nonetheless enough to see that
nothing behind him had changed. Onlyhis sister had stood up with his last
glance, he saw that his motherhad now fallen completely asleep. He was

(01:33:17):
hardly inside his room before the doorwas hurriedly shut, bolted and blucked.
The sudden noise behind Gregor so startledhim that his little legs collapsed under him.
It was his sister who had beenin so much other rouche. She
had been standing there waiting and sprungforward lightly. Gregor had not heard her
coming at all, and as sheturned the key in the lock, she
said loudly to her parents. Atlast, What now, then, Gregor

(01:33:41):
asked himself. As he looked roundin the darkness, He soon made the
discovery that he could no longer moveat all. This was no surprise to
him. It seemed rather that beingable to act surely move around on those
spindly little legs until then was unnatural. He also felt relatively comfortable. It
is true that his entire body wasegching, but the pain seemed to be
slowly getting weaker and weaker, andwould finally disappear altogether. He could already

(01:34:02):
hardly feel the decapable in his backor the inflamed areas around it, which
was entirely covered in white dust.He thought back of his family with emotion
and love. If it was possible, he felt that he must go away,
even more strongly than his sister.He remained in this state of empty
and peaceful rumination until he heard theclock tower strike three in the morning.

(01:34:23):
He watched as it slowly began toget lights everywhere outside the window to Then,
without his willing it, his headsank down completely, and his last
breath flowed weakly from his nostrils.When the cleaner came in early in the
morning, they'd often asked her notto keep slamming the doors, but with
her strength and in a hurry,she still did, so that everyone in
the flat knew when she'd arrived,and from then on it was impossible to

(01:34:45):
sleep in peace. She made ausual brief look in on Gregor and at
first found nothing special. She thoughthe was laying there, so still on
purpose playing the martyr, she attributedall possible understanding to him. She happened
to be holding the long broom inher hand, so she tried to tickle
Gregor with it from the doorway.When she had no success with that,
she tried to make a nuisance ofherself and poke to him a little,

(01:35:06):
and only when she found she couldshove him across the floor with no resistance
at all did she start to payattention. She soon realized what had really
happened, opened her eyes wide,whistled to herself, but did not waste
time to yank open the bedroom tooils and shout loudly into the darkness,
have the bedrooms come and ourvere,Look at this. It's dead, just

(01:35:27):
lying there stone dead. Mister andMissus Samson sat upright there in their marriage
bed and had to make an effortto get over the shock caused by the
cleaner before they could grasp what shewas saying. But then each from his
own side, they hurried out ofbed. Mister Samson threw the blanket over
his shoulders. Missus Samson just cameout in her night dress, and that
is how they went into Gregor's room. On the way, they opened the

(01:35:48):
door to the living room, whereGreet had been sleeping since the three gentlemen
had moved in. She was fullydressed as if she had never been asleep,
and the paleness of her face seemedto confirm miss asked Missus Samson,
looking at the child woman inquiringly,even though she could have checked for herself
and could have known it even withoutchecking. That's what I said, replied

(01:36:09):
the cleaner, and to prove it, she gave Greggor's body another shove with
the broom, sending it sideways acrossthe floor. Missus Samson made a movement
as if she wanted to hold backthe broom, but did not complete it.
Now then said mister Samsor, let'sgive thanks to God for that.
He crossed himself, and the threewomen followed his example. Greet, who
had not taken her eyes from thecorpse, said, just look how thin

(01:36:32):
he was. He didn't eat anythingfor so long. The food came out
again, just the same as whenit went in. Gregor's body was indeed
completely dried up and flat. Theyhad not seen it until then, but
now he was not lifted up onhis little legs, nor did he do
anything to make them look away.Greet, come with us in here for
a little while, said Missus Samsonwith a pained smile, and Greet followed

(01:36:53):
her parents into the bedroom, butnot without looking back at the body.
The cleaner shut the door and openedthe window wide. Although it was still
early in the morning. The freshI had something of warmth mixed in with
it. It was already the endof March, after all. The three
gentlemen stepped out of their room andlooked round in amazement for their breakfasts.
They had been forgotten about. Whereis our breakfast, the middle gentleman asked

(01:37:15):
the cleaner irritably. She just puther finger on her lips and made a
quick and silent sign to the menthat they might like to come into Gregor's
room. They did so, andstood around Gregor's corpse with their hands in
the pockets of their well worn coats. It was now quite light in the
room. Then the door of thebedroom opened, and mister Samson appeared in
his uniform, with his wife onone arm and his daughter on the other.

(01:37:38):
All of them had been crying alittle greet now, and then pressed
her face against her father's arm.Leave my home now, said mister Samsor,
indicating the door, and without lettingthe women from him. What do
you mean, asked the middle ofthe three gentlemen, somewhat disconcerted, and
he smiled sweetly. The other twoheld their hands behind their backs and continually
rubbed them together in lethal anticipation.A loud quarrel which could only end in

(01:38:00):
their favor. I mean just whatI said, answered mister Samson, and
with his two companions went in astraight line toward the man. At first,
he stood there, still looking atthe ground, as if the contents
off his head were arranging themselves intonew positions. All right, we'll go
al, he said, and lookedup at mister Samson, as if he
had been suddenly overcome with humility andwanted permission again from mister Samsor for his

(01:38:25):
decision. Mister Samson merely opened hiseyes wide and briefly nodded to him several
times. At that and without delay, the man actually did take long strides
in two the front hallway. Histwo friends had stopped rubbing they hands some
time before and had been listening towhat was being said. Now, they
jumped off after their friend, asif taken with a sudden fear that mister

(01:38:45):
Samson might go into the hallway infront of them and break the connection with
their leader. Once there, allthree took their heads from the stand,
took their sticks from the holder,bowed without a word, and left the
premises. Mister Samson and the twowomen followed them out on to the landing,
but they had I had no reasonto mistrust the men's intentions, And
as they leaned over the landing,they saw how the three gentlemen made slow
but steady progress down the many steps. As they turned the corner on each

(01:39:09):
floor, they disappeared and would reappeara few moments later. The further down
they went, the more that theSamson family lost interest in them. When
a butcher's boy, proud of posture, with his tray on his head,
passed them on his way up andcame nearer than they were, Mister Samson
and the women came away from thelanding and went, as if relieved,
back into the flat. They decidedthe best way to make use of that

(01:39:30):
there was for relaxation and to gofor a walk. Not only had they
earned a break from work, butthey were in serious need of it.
So they sat at the table andwrote three letters of excusal, Mister Samson
to his employers, Missus Samson toher contractor, and greet to her principle.
The cleaner came in while they werewriting to tell them she was going
she'd finished her work for that morning. The three of them at first just

(01:39:53):
nodded without looking up from what theywere writing, and it was only when
the cleaner still did not seem towant to leave that they looked up in
irritation. Well, asked mister Samsor. The charwoman stood in the doorway with
a smile on her face, asif she had some tremendous good news to
report, but would only do itif she was clearly asked. To the
almost vertical little ostrich feather on herhat, which had been the source of

(01:40:14):
the rotation to mister Samsor all thetime she had been working for them,
swayed gently in all directions. Whatis it you want, then, asked
Missus Samson, whom the cleaner hadthe most respect for. Yes, she
answered, and broke into a friendlylaugh that made her unable to speak straight
away. Well, then the thingin there you needn't worry about how you're
going to get rid of it.That's all been sorted out. Missus Samson

(01:40:38):
and Greek bent down over their lettersas if intent on continuing with what they
were writing. Mister Samson saw thatthe cleaner on Tito start describing everything in
detail gut without stretched hand. Hemade it quite clear that she was not
so as she was prevented from tellingthem all about it. She suddenly remembered
what a hurry she was in endclearly peeved, called out cheery. Oh.

(01:40:58):
Then everyone turned round sharply and left, slamming the door terribly as she
went. Tonight she gets sacked,said mister Samson, but he received no
reply from either his wife or hisdaughter. As the charwomen seemed to have
destroyed the peace they had only justgained, they got up and went over
to the window, where they remainedwith their arms around each other. Mister
Samson twisted round in his chair tolook at them, and sat there watching

(01:41:20):
for a while. Then he calledout, come here, then, let's
forget about all that old stuff,shall we come and give me a bit
of attention. The two women immediatelydid as he said, hurrying over to
him, where they kissed him andhugged him, and then they quickly finished
their letters. After that, thethree of them left a flat together,
which was something they had not donefor months, and took the tram out

(01:41:42):
to the open country outside the town. They had a tram filled with warm
sunshine all to themselves. Leant backcomfortably on their seats, they discussed their
prospects, and found that on closerexamination they were not at all bad until
when they had never asked each otherabout their work, but all three had
jobs which were very good and heldparticularly good promise for the future. The
greatest improvement for the time being,of course, would be achieved quite easily

(01:42:06):
by moving house. What they needednow was a flat that was smaller and
cheaper than the current one which hadbeen chosen by Gregor, one that was
in a better location and most ofall, more practical. All the time,
Greek was becoming livelier with all theworry they had been having avlaid.
Her cheeks had become pale. Butwhile they were talking, mister and missus

(01:42:27):
Samson were struck almost simultaneously with thethought of how their daughter was blossoming into
a well built and beautiful young lady. They became quieter just from each other's
glance, and almost without knowing it, they agreed that it would soon be
time to find a good man forher, and, as if in confirmation
of their new dreams and good intentions, as soon as they reached their destination,
Greed was the first to get upand stretch out her young body,

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