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The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka · Audiobook Library

0:01
Speaker 1: One one morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from
0:06
Speaker 1: anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been
0:11
Speaker 1: changed into a monstrous, verminous bug. He lay on his
0:17
Speaker 1: armor hard back and saw, as he lifted his head
0:21
Speaker 1: up a little, his brown arched abdomen divided up into
0:26
Speaker 1: rigid bowl like sections. From this height, the blanket, just
0:32
Speaker 1: about ready to slide off completely, could hardly stay in place.
0:38
Speaker 1: His numerous legs, pitifully thin in comparison to the rest
0:43
Speaker 1: of his circumference, flickered helplessly before his eyes. What's happened
0:50
Speaker 1: to me? He thought? It was no dream. His room,
0:56
Speaker 1: a proper room for a human being, only somewhat too small,
1:01
Speaker 1: lay quietly between the four well known walls, above the
1:06
Speaker 1: table on which an unpacked collection of sample cloth goods
1:10
Speaker 1: was spread out. Samsa was a traveling salesman. Hung the picture,
1:14
Speaker 1: which he had cut out of an illustrated magazine a
1:17
Speaker 1: little while ago and set in a pretty gilt frame.
1:22
Speaker 1: It was a picture of a woman with a fur
1:24
Speaker 1: hat and a fur boa. She sat erect there, lifting
1:29
Speaker 1: up in the direction of the viewer a solid fur
1:32
Speaker 1: muff into which her entire forearm had disappeared. Gregor's glance
1:39
Speaker 1: then turned to the window. The dreary weather the rain
1:43
Speaker 1: drops were falling audibly down on the metal window ledge
1:47
Speaker 1: made him quite melancholy. Why don't I keep sleeping for
1:52
Speaker 1: a little while longer and forget all this foolishness, he thought.
1:58
Speaker 1: But this was entirely in practice, for he was used
2:02
Speaker 1: to sleeping on his right side, and in his present state,
2:06
Speaker 1: he couldn't get himself into this position. No matter how
2:10
Speaker 1: hard he threw himself on to his right side, he
2:13
Speaker 1: always rolled again onto his back. He must have tried
2:17
Speaker 1: it a hundred times, closing his eyes so that he
2:21
Speaker 1: would not have to see the wriggling legs, and gave
2:24
Speaker 1: up only when he began to feel a light, dull
2:27
Speaker 1: pain in his side, which he had never felt before.
2:32
Speaker 1: Oh God, he thought, what a demanding job I have chosen.
2:38
Speaker 1: Day in day out on the road. The stresses of
2:42
Speaker 1: selling are much greater than the work going on at
2:45
Speaker 1: head office. And in addition to that, I have to
2:48
Speaker 1: cope with the problems of traveling, the worries about train connections,
2:53
Speaker 1: irregular bad food, temporary and constantly changing human relationships which
3:00
Speaker 1: which never come from the heart to hell with it all.
3:05
Speaker 1: He felt a slight itching on the top of his abdomen.
3:09
Speaker 1: He slowly pushed himself on his back closer to the
3:13
Speaker 1: bedpost so that he could lift his head more easily
3:16
Speaker 1: found the itchy part, which was entirely covered with small
3:20
Speaker 1: white spots. He didn't know what to make of them,
3:24
Speaker 1: and wanted to fill the place with a leg, but
3:28
Speaker 1: he retracted it immediately, for the contact felt like a
3:32
Speaker 1: cold shower all over him. He slid back again into
3:37
Speaker 1: his earlier position. This getting up early, he thought, makes
3:43
Speaker 1: a man quite idiotic. A man must have his sleep.
3:49
Speaker 1: Other traveling salesmen live like haroom women. For instance, when
3:54
Speaker 1: I come back to the inn during the course of
3:56
Speaker 1: the morning to write up the necessary orders, these gentlemen
4:00
Speaker 1: are just sitting down to breakfast. If I were to
4:04
Speaker 1: try that with my boss, I'd be thrown out on
4:06
Speaker 1: the spot. Still, who knows whether that mightn't be really
4:11
Speaker 1: good for me. If I didn't hold back for my
4:14
Speaker 1: parent's sake, i'd have quit ages ago. I would have
4:18
Speaker 1: gone to the boss and told him just what I
4:20
Speaker 1: think from the bottom of my heart. He would have
4:24
Speaker 1: fallen right off his desk. How weird it is to
4:27
Speaker 1: sit up at that desk and talk down to the
4:30
Speaker 1: employee from way up there. The boss has trouble hearing,
4:35
Speaker 1: so the employee has to step up quite close to him. Anyway,
4:40
Speaker 1: I haven't completely given up that hope yet. Once I've
4:44
Speaker 1: got together the money to pay off my parent's debt
4:47
Speaker 1: to him, that should take another five or six years,
4:51
Speaker 1: I'll do it for sure. Then I'll make the big
4:55
Speaker 1: break in any case. Right now, I have to get up.
5:00
Speaker 1: My train leaves at five o'clock. He looked over at
5:04
Speaker 1: the alarm clock ticking away by the chest of drawers.
5:09
Speaker 1: Good god, he thought it was half past six, and
5:13
Speaker 1: the hands were going quietly on. It was past the
5:17
Speaker 1: half hour, already nearly quarter two. Could the alarm have
5:21
Speaker 1: failed to ring? One saw from the bed that it
5:25
Speaker 1: was properly set for four o'clock. Certainly it had rung, yes,
5:30
Speaker 1: But was it possible to sleep through that noise which
5:33
Speaker 1: made the furniture shake. Now it's true he hadn't slept quietly,
5:39
Speaker 1: but evidently he'd slept all the more deeply. Still, what
5:44
Speaker 1: should he do now? The next train left at seven o'clock.
5:49
Speaker 1: To catch that one, he would have to go in
5:51
Speaker 1: a mad rush, the sample collection wasn't packed up yet,
5:56
Speaker 1: and he really didn't feel particularly fresh and active. And
6:00
Speaker 1: even if he caught the train, there was no avoiding
6:03
Speaker 1: a blow up with the boss because the firm's errand
6:06
Speaker 1: boy would have waited for the five o'clock train and
6:09
Speaker 1: reported the news of his absence long ago. He was
6:13
Speaker 1: the boss's minion without backbone or intelligence. Well then what
6:19
Speaker 1: if he reported in sick, But that would be extremely
6:24
Speaker 1: embarrassing and suspicious because during his five years service Gregor
6:29
Speaker 1: hadn't been sick even once. The boss would certainly come
6:34
Speaker 1: with the doctor from the health insurance company and would
6:37
Speaker 1: reproach his parents for their lazy son and cut short
6:42
Speaker 1: all objections with the insurance doctor's comments for him, every
6:47
Speaker 1: one was completely healthy, but really lazy about work. And besides,
6:54
Speaker 1: would the doctor in this case be totally wrong. Apart
6:58
Speaker 1: from a really excessive drowsy after the long sleep, Gregor
7:02
Speaker 1: in fact felt quite well and even had a really
7:05
Speaker 1: strong appetite. As he was thinking all this over in
7:11
Speaker 1: the greatest haste, without being able to make the decision
7:15
Speaker 1: to get out of bed. The alarm clock was indicating
7:19
Speaker 1: exactly quarter to seven. There was a cautious knock on
7:22
Speaker 1: the door by the head of the bed Gregor. A
7:27
Speaker 1: voice called. It was his mother. It's quarter to seven.
7:32
Speaker 1: Don't you want to be on your way? The soft voice.
7:37
Speaker 1: Gregor was startled when he heard his voice answering. It
7:41
Speaker 1: was clearly and unmistakably his earlier voice, but in it
7:46
Speaker 1: was intermingled, as if from below, an irrepressibly painful squeaking,
7:53
Speaker 1: which left the words positively distinct only in the first moment,
7:58
Speaker 1: and distorted them in the reverberation, so that one didn't
8:02
Speaker 1: know if one had heard correctly. Gregor wanted to answer
8:07
Speaker 1: in detail and explain everything, but in these circumstances he
8:12
Speaker 1: confined himself to saying, yes, yes, thank you, mother, I'm
8:17
Speaker 1: getting up right away. Because of the wooden door, the
8:22
Speaker 1: change in Gregor's voice was not really noticeable outside, so
8:27
Speaker 1: his mother calmed down with this explanation and shuffled off. However,
8:33
Speaker 1: as a result of the short conversation, the other family
8:36
Speaker 1: members became aware that Gregor was unexpectedly still at home,
8:41
Speaker 1: and already his father was knocking on one side door weakly,
8:45
Speaker 1: but with his fist Gregor Gregor he called out, what's
8:50
Speaker 1: going on, and after a short while he urged him
8:53
Speaker 1: on again in a deeper voice, Gregor Gregory at the
8:58
Speaker 1: other side door. However, his sister not lightly Gregor, are
9:03
Speaker 1: you all right? Do you need anything? Gregor directed answers
9:09
Speaker 1: in both directions, I'll be ready right away. He made
9:14
Speaker 1: an effort with the most careful articulation and by inserting
9:18
Speaker 1: long pauses between the individual words, to remove everything remarkable
9:24
Speaker 1: from his voice. His father turned back to his breakfast. However,
9:31
Speaker 1: the sister whispered, Gregor, open the door, I beg you.
9:36
Speaker 1: Gregor had no intention of opening the door, but congratulated
9:40
Speaker 1: himself on his precaution acquired from traveling of locking all
9:45
Speaker 1: doors during the night, even at home. First, he wanted
9:51
Speaker 1: to stand up, quietly and undisturbed, get dressed, above all,
9:56
Speaker 1: have breakfast, and only then consider firs action, for he
10:02
Speaker 1: noticed this clearly by thinking things over in bed he
10:06
Speaker 1: would not reach a reasonable conclusion. He remembered that he
10:11
Speaker 1: had already often felt a light pain or other in bed,
10:16
Speaker 1: perhaps the result of an awkward lying position, which later
10:20
Speaker 1: turned out to be purely imaginary. When he stood up,
10:24
Speaker 1: and he was eager to see how his present fantasies
10:27
Speaker 1: would gradually dissipate that the change in his voice was
10:32
Speaker 1: nothing other than the onset of a real chill and
10:35
Speaker 1: occupational illness of commercial travelers. Of that he had not
10:40
Speaker 1: the slightest doubt. It was very easy to throw aside
10:46
Speaker 1: the blanket. He needed only to push himself up a little,
10:50
Speaker 1: and it fell by itself. But to continue was difficult,
10:54
Speaker 1: particularly because he was so unusually wide he needed arm
11:00
Speaker 1: and hands to push himself upright. Instead of these, however,
11:05
Speaker 1: he had only many small limbs, which were incessantly moving
11:10
Speaker 1: with very different motions, and which, in addition, he was
11:16
Speaker 1: unable to control. If he wanted to bend one of them,
11:21
Speaker 1: then it was the first to extend itself, and if
11:24
Speaker 1: he finally succeeded in doing what he wanted with this limb,
11:29
Speaker 1: in the meantime, all the others, as if left free,
11:33
Speaker 1: moved around in an excessively painful agitation. But I must
11:39
Speaker 1: not stay in bed, uselessly, said Gregor to himself. At first,
11:47
Speaker 1: he wanted to get out of bed with the lower
11:49
Speaker 1: part of his body. But this lower part, which by
11:54
Speaker 1: the way, he had not yet looked at, and which
11:56
Speaker 1: he also couldn't picture clearly, proved itself too difficult to move.
12:03
Speaker 1: The attempt went so slowly, when having become almost frantic,
12:09
Speaker 1: he finally hurled himself forward with all his force, and
12:14
Speaker 1: without thinking, he chose his direction incorrectly, and he hit
12:19
Speaker 1: the lower bedpost hard. The violent pain he felt revealed
12:24
Speaker 1: to him that the lower part of his body was,
12:27
Speaker 1: at the moment probably the most sensitive. Thus he tried
12:32
Speaker 1: to get his upper body out of the bed first
12:36
Speaker 1: and turned his head carefully toward the edge of the bed.
12:40
Speaker 1: He managed to do this easily, and in spite of
12:43
Speaker 1: its width and weight, his body mass at last slowly
12:47
Speaker 1: followed the turning of his head. But as he finally
12:51
Speaker 1: raised his head outside the bed in the open air,
12:55
Speaker 1: he became anxious about moving forward any further in this manner,
13:00
Speaker 1: for if he allowed himself eventually to fall by this process,
13:04
Speaker 1: it would take a miracle to prevent his head from
13:06
Speaker 1: getting injured, and at all costs, he must not lose
13:10
Speaker 1: consciousness right now, he preferred to remain in bed. However,
13:18
Speaker 1: after a similar effort, while he lay there again sighing
13:22
Speaker 1: as before, and once again saw his small limbs fighting
13:26
Speaker 1: one another, if anything, worse than earlier, and didn't see
13:31
Speaker 1: any chance of imposing quiet and order on this arbitrary movement.
13:37
Speaker 1: He told himself again that he couldn't possibly remain in bed,
13:41
Speaker 1: and that it might be the most reasonable thing to
13:44
Speaker 1: sacrifice everything if there was even the slightest hope of
13:48
Speaker 1: getting himself out of bed in the process. At the
13:52
Speaker 1: same moment, however, he didn't forget to remind himself from
13:56
Speaker 1: time to time of the fact that calm, indeed the
14:00
Speaker 1: calmest reflection, might be better than the most confused decisions. At
14:08
Speaker 1: such moments, he directed his gaze as precisely as he
14:12
Speaker 1: could toward the window, but unfortunately there was little confident
14:18
Speaker 1: cheer to be had from a glance at the morning mist,
14:22
Speaker 1: which concealed even the other side of the narrow street.
14:26
Speaker 1: It's already seven o'clock, he told himself at the latest
14:31
Speaker 1: striking of the alarm clock. Already seven o'clock, and still
14:36
Speaker 1: such a fog. And for a little while longer he
14:40
Speaker 1: lay quietly with weak breathing, as if perhaps waiting for
14:45
Speaker 1: normal and natural conditions to re emerge out of the
14:49
Speaker 1: complete stillness. But then he said to himself, before it
14:55
Speaker 1: strikes a quarter past seven, whatever happens, I must be
14:59
Speaker 1: care completely out of bed. Besides, by then someone from
15:03
Speaker 1: the office will arrive to inquire about me, because the
15:07
Speaker 1: office will open before seven o'clock. And he made an
15:11
Speaker 1: effort then to rock his entire body length out of
15:15
Speaker 1: the bed with a uniform motion. If he let himself
15:19
Speaker 1: fall out of the bed in this way, his head,
15:23
Speaker 1: which in the course of the fall he intended to
15:26
Speaker 1: lift up sharply, would probably remain uninjured. His back seemed
15:32
Speaker 1: to be hard. Nothing would really happen to that as
15:35
Speaker 1: a result of the fall. His greatest reservation was a
15:40
Speaker 1: worry about the loud noise which the fall must create,
15:44
Speaker 1: and which presumably would arouse, if not fright, then at
15:48
Speaker 1: least concern on the other side of all the doors. However,
15:53
Speaker 1: it had to be tried. As Gregor was in the
15:57
Speaker 1: process of lifting himself half out of bed, the new
16:01
Speaker 1: method was more of a game than an effort. He
16:05
Speaker 1: needed only to rock with a constant rhythm. It struck
16:09
Speaker 1: him how easy all this would be if someone were
16:12
Speaker 1: to come to his aid. Two strong people, he thought
16:16
Speaker 1: of his father and the servant girl, would have been
16:20
Speaker 1: quite sufficient. They would have only had to push their
16:23
Speaker 1: arms under his arched back to get him out of
16:26
Speaker 1: the bed, to bend down with their load, and then
16:30
Speaker 1: merely to exercise patience and care that he completed the
16:34
Speaker 1: flip onto the floor, where his diminutive legs were. Then
16:38
Speaker 1: he hoped acquire a purpose, now quite apart from the
16:44
Speaker 1: fact that the doors were locked, should he really call
16:47
Speaker 1: out for help? In spite of all his distress, he
16:52
Speaker 1: was unable to suppress a smile at this idea. He
16:57
Speaker 1: had already got to the point where by looking more
17:00
Speaker 1: strongly he maintained his equilibrium with difficulty, and very soon
17:06
Speaker 1: he would finally have to decide. For in five minutes
17:09
Speaker 1: it would be a quarter past seven. Then there was
17:13
Speaker 1: a ring at the door of the apartment. That's someone
17:17
Speaker 1: from the office, he told himself, and he almost froze,
17:20
Speaker 1: while his small limbs only danced around all the faster.
17:25
Speaker 1: For one moment, everything remained still. They aren't opening, Gregor
17:31
Speaker 1: said to himself, caught up in some absurd hope. But
17:35
Speaker 1: of course, then as usual, the servant girl, with her
17:39
Speaker 1: firm tread, went to the door and opened it. Gregor
17:44
Speaker 1: needed to hear only the first word of the visitor's
17:47
Speaker 1: greeting to recognize immediately who it was the manager himself.
17:54
Speaker 1: Why was Gregor the only one condemned to work in
17:57
Speaker 1: a firm where at the slight lapse someone immediately attracted
18:03
Speaker 1: the greatest suspicion? Were all the employees then collectively one
18:08
Speaker 1: and all scoundrels among them? There was then no truly
18:13
Speaker 1: devoted person, who, if he failed to use just a
18:17
Speaker 1: couple of hours in the morning for office work, would
18:20
Speaker 1: become abnormal from pangs of conscience and really be in
18:24
Speaker 1: no state to get out of bed. Was it really
18:28
Speaker 1: not enough to let an apprentice make inquiries if such
18:31
Speaker 1: questioning was even necessary? Must the manager himself come? And
18:37
Speaker 1: in the process, must it be demonstrated to the entire
18:40
Speaker 1: innocent family that the investigation of this suspicious circumstance could
18:45
Speaker 1: be entrusted only to the intelligence of the manager. And
18:50
Speaker 1: more as a consequence of the excited state in which
18:53
Speaker 1: this idea put Gregor than as a result of an
18:57
Speaker 1: actual decision, he swung himself with all his might out
19:02
Speaker 1: of the bed. There was a loud thud, but not
19:06
Speaker 1: a real crash. The fall was absorbed somewhat by the carpet,
19:11
Speaker 1: and in addition, his back was more elastic than Gregor
19:15
Speaker 1: had thought. For that reason, the dull noise was not
19:20
Speaker 1: quite so conspicuous. But he had not held his head
19:24
Speaker 1: up with sufficient care and had hit it. He turned
19:29
Speaker 1: his head, irritated and in pain, and rubbed it on
19:32
Speaker 1: the carpet. Something has fallen in there, said the manager.
19:38
Speaker 1: In the next room on the left. Gregor tried to
19:41
Speaker 1: imagine to himself whether anything similar to what was happening
19:45
Speaker 1: to him today could have also happened at some point
19:49
Speaker 1: to the manager. At least one had to concede the
19:52
Speaker 1: possibility of such a thing. However, as if to give
19:57
Speaker 1: a rough answer to this question, the manager, now with
20:01
Speaker 1: a squeak of his polished boots, took a few determined
20:05
Speaker 1: steps in the next room. From the neighboring room on
20:08
Speaker 1: the right, the sister was whispering to inform Gregor. Gregor,
20:13
Speaker 1: the manager is here, I know, said Gregor to himself,
20:18
Speaker 1: but he did not dare make his voice loud enough
20:21
Speaker 1: so that his sister could hear. Gregor. His father now said,
20:27
Speaker 1: from the neighboring room on the left, mister manager has
20:30
Speaker 1: come and is asking why you have not left on
20:33
Speaker 1: the early train. We don't know what we should tell him. Besides,
20:39
Speaker 1: he also wants to speak to you personally, so please
20:42
Speaker 1: open the door. He will be good enough to forgive
20:45
Speaker 1: the mess in your room. In the middle of all this,
20:50
Speaker 1: the manager called out, in a friendly way, good morning,
20:53
Speaker 1: mister Samsa. He's not well, said his mother to the manager,
20:58
Speaker 1: while his father was still talking at the door. He
21:02
Speaker 1: is not well, believe me, mister manager. Otherwise how would
21:06
Speaker 1: Gregor miss a train. The young man has nothing in
21:10
Speaker 1: his head except business. I'm almost angry that he never
21:13
Speaker 1: goes out at night. Right now, he's been in the
21:17
Speaker 1: city eight days, but he's been at home every evening.
21:21
Speaker 1: He sits here with us at the table and reads
21:24
Speaker 1: the newspaper quietly, or studies his travel schedules. It's quite
21:29
Speaker 1: a diversion for him to busy himself with fret work.
21:33
Speaker 1: For instance, he cut out a small frame over the
21:37
Speaker 1: course of two or three evenings. You'd be amazed how
21:40
Speaker 1: pretty it is. It's hanging right inside the room. You'll
21:44
Speaker 1: see it immediately as soon as Gregor opens the door. Anyway,
21:48
Speaker 1: I'm happy that you're here, mister manager. By ourselves, we
21:52
Speaker 1: would never have made Gregor open the door. He's so stubborn,
21:56
Speaker 1: and he's certainly not well, although he denied that this morning.
22:02
Speaker 1: I'm coming right away, said Gregor, slowly and deliberately, and
22:08
Speaker 1: didn't move so as not to lose one word of
22:11
Speaker 1: the conversation. My dear lady, I cannot explain it to
22:15
Speaker 1: myself in any other way, said the manager. I hope
22:19
Speaker 1: it is nothing serious. On the other hand, I must
22:22
Speaker 1: also say that we business people, luckily or unluckily, however
22:27
Speaker 1: one looks at it, very often simply have to overcome
22:31
Speaker 1: a slight indisposition for business reasons. So can mister manager
22:37
Speaker 1: come in to see you now, asked his father impatiently,
22:40
Speaker 1: and knocked once again on the door. No, said Gregor.
22:46
Speaker 1: In the neighboring room on the left, a painful stillness descended.
22:51
Speaker 1: In the neighboring room on the right, the sister began
22:55
Speaker 1: to sob. Why didn't his sister go to the others.
23:00
Speaker 1: She'd probably just got up out of bed now and
23:03
Speaker 1: hadn't even started to get dressed yet. Then why was
23:07
Speaker 1: she crying? Because he wasn't getting up and wasn't letting
23:11
Speaker 1: the manager in, because he was in danger of losing
23:15
Speaker 1: his position, and because then his boss would badger his
23:18
Speaker 1: parents once again with the old demands. Those were probably
23:24
Speaker 1: unnecessary worries. Right now, Gregor was still here and wasn't
23:29
Speaker 1: thinking at all about abandoning his family at the moment.
23:33
Speaker 1: He was lying right there on the carpet, and no
23:37
Speaker 1: one who knew about his condition would have seriously demanded
23:41
Speaker 1: that he let the manager in. But Gregor wouldn't be
23:45
Speaker 1: casually dismissed right away because of this small discourtesy, for
23:50
Speaker 1: which he would find an easy and suitable excuse later on.
23:55
Speaker 1: It seemed to Gregor that it might be far more
23:58
Speaker 1: reasonable to leave him in peace at the moment instead
24:02
Speaker 1: of disturbing him with crying and conversation. But it was
24:07
Speaker 1: the very uncertainty which distressed the others and excused their behavior.
24:14
Speaker 1: Mister Samsa, the manager, was now shouting. His voice raised,
24:18
Speaker 1: what's the matter? You are barricading yourself in your room?
24:23
Speaker 1: Answer with only a yes or a no? Are you
24:26
Speaker 1: making serious and unnecessary troubles for your parents and neglecting
24:32
Speaker 1: I mention this only incidentally your commercial duties in a
24:36
Speaker 1: truly unheard of manner. I am speaking here in the
24:40
Speaker 1: name of your parents and your employer, and I'm requesting you,
24:45
Speaker 1: in all seriousness, for an immediate and clear explanation. I'm amazed.
24:52
Speaker 1: I am amazed. I thought I knew you as a calm,
24:56
Speaker 1: reasonable person, and now you appear suddenly to war want
25:00
Speaker 1: to start parading round in weird moods. The Chief indicated
25:05
Speaker 1: to me earlier this very day a possible explanation for
25:09
Speaker 1: your neglect. It concerned the collection of cash entrusted to
25:13
Speaker 1: you a short while ago. But in truth I almost
25:17
Speaker 1: gave him my word of honor that this explanation could
25:20
Speaker 1: not be correct. However, now I see here your unimaginable
25:25
Speaker 1: pig headedness, and I'm totally losing any desire to speak
25:30
Speaker 1: up for you in the slightest and your position is
25:33
Speaker 1: not at all the most secure. Originally I intended to
25:37
Speaker 1: mention all this to you privately, but since you are
25:40
Speaker 1: letting me waste my time here uselessly, I don't know
25:44
Speaker 1: why the matter shouldn't come to the attention of your parents.
25:47
Speaker 1: Your productivity has also been very unsatisfactory recently. Of course,
25:53
Speaker 1: it's not the time of year to conduct exceptional business,
25:57
Speaker 1: we recognize that, but a time of the year for
26:00
Speaker 1: conducting no business. There is no such thing. At all,
26:04
Speaker 1: mister Samsa, and such a thing must never be. But
26:09
Speaker 1: mister manager called Gregor beside himself, and in his agitation
26:14
Speaker 1: forgetting everything else, I'm opening the door immediately this very moment,
26:20
Speaker 1: a slight indisposition, a dizzy spell has prevented me from
26:24
Speaker 1: getting up. I'm still lying in bed right now, but
26:28
Speaker 1: I'm quite refreshed. Once again, I am in the midst
26:31
Speaker 1: of getting out of bed. Just have patience for a
26:34
Speaker 1: short moment. Things are not going as well as I thought,
26:39
Speaker 1: but things are all right. How suddenly this can overcome someone?
26:43
Speaker 1: Only yesterday evening everything was fine with me. My parents
26:47
Speaker 1: certainly know that. Actually, just yesterday evening I had a
26:51
Speaker 1: small premonition. People must have seen that in me. Why
26:56
Speaker 1: have I not reported that to the office. But people
26:59
Speaker 1: always think that they'll get over sickness without having to
27:03
Speaker 1: stay at home, mister manager, and take it easy on
27:07
Speaker 1: my parents. There is really no basis for the criticisms
27:11
Speaker 1: which you are now making against me, And really nobody
27:14
Speaker 1: has said a word to me about that. Perhaps you've
27:17
Speaker 1: not read the latest orders which I shipped. Besides, now
27:22
Speaker 1: I'm getting out on my trip on the eight o'clock train.
27:26
Speaker 1: The few hours rest have made me stronger. Mister manager,
27:30
Speaker 1: do not stay. I will be in the office in
27:33
Speaker 1: person right away, but please have the goodness to say
27:37
Speaker 1: that and to convey my respects to the chief. While
27:42
Speaker 1: Gregor was quickly blurting all this out, hardly aware of
27:46
Speaker 1: what he was saying, he had moved close to the
27:49
Speaker 1: chest of draws without effort, probably as a result of
27:53
Speaker 1: the practice he had already had in bed, and now
27:56
Speaker 1: he was trying to raise himself up on it. Actually,
28:00
Speaker 1: he wanted to open the door. He really wanted to
28:03
Speaker 1: let himself be seen by and to speak with the manager.
28:08
Speaker 1: He was keen to witness what the others now asking
28:11
Speaker 1: about him would say when they saw him. If they
28:15
Speaker 1: were startled, then Gregor had no more responsibility and could
28:19
Speaker 1: be calm. But if they accepted everything quietly, then he
28:24
Speaker 1: would have no reason to get excited, and if he
28:28
Speaker 1: got a move on, he could really be at the
28:30
Speaker 1: station around eight o'clock. At first, he slid down a
28:35
Speaker 1: few times on the smooth chest of drawers, but at
28:39
Speaker 1: last he gave himself a final swing and stood upright there.
28:44
Speaker 1: He was no longer at all aware of the pains
28:47
Speaker 1: in his lower body, no matter how they might still sting.
28:52
Speaker 1: Now he let himself fall against the back of a
28:54
Speaker 1: nearby chair, on the edge of which he braced himself
28:58
Speaker 1: with his thin limbs. By doing this, he gained control
29:02
Speaker 1: over himself and kept quiet, for he could now hear
29:06
Speaker 1: the manager. Did you understand a single word? The manager
29:12
Speaker 1: asked his parents. Is he playing the fool with us?
29:16
Speaker 1: For God's sake? Cried the mother, nearly in tears. Perhaps
29:20
Speaker 1: he is very ill and we're upsetting him. Greta, Greta,
29:25
Speaker 1: she yelled. At that point, mother called the sister from
29:28
Speaker 1: the other side. They were making themselves understood through Gregor's room.
29:34
Speaker 1: You must go to the doctor right away. Gregor is sick.
29:38
Speaker 1: Hurry to the doctor. Have you heard Gregor speak yet?
29:42
Speaker 1: That was an animal's voice, said the manager, remarkably quietly
29:47
Speaker 1: in comparison to the mother's cries. Anna, Anna yelled the
29:52
Speaker 1: father through the hall into the kitchen, clapping his hands.
29:56
Speaker 1: Fetch a locksmith right away. The two young women already
30:00
Speaker 1: running through the hall with swishing skirts. How had his
30:04
Speaker 1: sister dressed herself so quickly and yanked opened the doors
30:08
Speaker 1: of the apartment. One couldn't hear the doors closing at all,
30:12
Speaker 1: They probably had left them open, as his customary in
30:15
Speaker 1: an apartment where a huge misfortune has taken place. However,
30:21
Speaker 1: Gregor had become much calmer. All right. People did not
30:26
Speaker 1: understand his words anymore, although they seemed clear enough to him,
30:31
Speaker 1: clearer than previously, perhaps because his ears had got used
30:35
Speaker 1: to them. But at least people now thought that things
30:39
Speaker 1: were not all right with him and were prepared to
30:42
Speaker 1: help him. The confidence and assurance with which the first
30:47
Speaker 1: arrangements had been carried out made him feel good. He
30:51
Speaker 1: felt himself included once again in the circle of humanity,
30:56
Speaker 1: and was expecting from both the doctor and the locksmith,
31:00
Speaker 1: without differentiating between them with any real precision, splendid and
31:05
Speaker 1: surprising results. In order to get as clear a voice
31:10
Speaker 1: as possible for the critical conversation which was imminent, he
31:14
Speaker 1: coughed a little, and certainly took the trouble to do
31:17
Speaker 1: this in a really subdued way. Since it was possible
31:21
Speaker 1: that even this noise sounded something different from a human cough,
31:27
Speaker 1: he no longer trusted himself to decide anymore. Meanwhile, in
31:32
Speaker 1: the next room it had become really quiet. Perhaps his
31:36
Speaker 1: parents were sitting with the manager at the table whispering.
31:40
Speaker 1: Perhaps they were all leaning against the door listening. Gregor
31:45
Speaker 1: pushed himself slowly towards the door with the help of
31:49
Speaker 1: the easy chair, let go of it. There, threw himself
31:53
Speaker 1: against the door, held himself upright against it. The balls
31:58
Speaker 1: of his tiny limbs had a little sticky stuff on them,
32:02
Speaker 1: and rested there momentarily from his exertion. Then he made
32:07
Speaker 1: an effort to turn the key in the lock with
32:10
Speaker 1: his mouth. Unfortunately, it seemed that he had no real teeth.
32:16
Speaker 1: How then was he to grab hold of the key.
32:20
Speaker 1: But to make up for that, his jaws were naturally
32:23
Speaker 1: very strong. With their help, he managed to get the
32:27
Speaker 1: key really moving. He didn't notice that he was obviously
32:31
Speaker 1: inflicting some damage on himself, for a brown fluid came
32:35
Speaker 1: out of his mouth, flowed over the key and dripped
32:40
Speaker 1: onto the floor. Just listen for a moment, said the
32:44
Speaker 1: manager in the next room. He's turning the key for Gregor.
32:49
Speaker 1: That was a great encouragement. But they all should have
32:52
Speaker 1: called out to him, including his father and mother. Come on, Gregor,
32:56
Speaker 1: They should have shouted, keep going, keep working on the
33:01
Speaker 1: imagining that all his efforts were being followed with suspense.
33:06
Speaker 1: He bit down frantically on the key with all the
33:09
Speaker 1: force he could muster. As the key turned more, he
33:14
Speaker 1: danced round the lock. Now he was holding himself upright
33:19
Speaker 1: only with his mouth, and he had to hang on
33:22
Speaker 1: to the key or then press it down again with
33:25
Speaker 1: the whole weight of his body as necessary. The quite
33:29
Speaker 1: distinct click of the lock as it finally snapped really
33:33
Speaker 1: woke Gregor up, breathing heavily. He said to himself, so
33:38
Speaker 1: I didn't need the locksmith, and he set his head
33:42
Speaker 1: against the door handle to open the door completely. Because
33:48
Speaker 1: he had to open the door in this way, it
33:51
Speaker 1: was already opened very wide without him yet being really visible.
33:56
Speaker 1: He first had to turn himself slowly round the edge
33:59
Speaker 1: of the door, very carefully, of course, if he didn't
34:03
Speaker 1: want to fall awkwardly on his back right at the
34:05
Speaker 1: entrance into the room. He was still preoccupied with this
34:10
Speaker 1: difficult movement and had no time to pay attention to
34:14
Speaker 1: anything else when he heard the manager exclaim aloud, oh,
34:19
Speaker 1: it sounded like the wind whistling. And now he saw
34:22
Speaker 1: him nearest to the door, pressing his hand against his
34:26
Speaker 1: open mouth and moving slowly back as if an invisible,
34:31
Speaker 1: constant force were pushing him away. His mother, in spite
34:36
Speaker 1: of the presence of the manager. She was standing here
34:39
Speaker 1: with her hair sticking up on end, still a mess
34:42
Speaker 1: from the night, was looking at his father with her
34:45
Speaker 1: hands clasped. She then went two steps towards Gregor and
34:50
Speaker 1: collapsed right in the middle of her skirts, which were
34:54
Speaker 1: spread out all around her, her face sunk on, her
34:58
Speaker 1: breast completely sealed. His father clenched his fist with a
35:04
Speaker 1: hostile expression as if he wished to push Gregor back
35:07
Speaker 1: into his room, then looked uncertainly round the living room,
35:12
Speaker 1: covered his eyes with his hands, and cried so that
35:16
Speaker 1: his mighty breast shook. At this point, Gregor did not
35:22
Speaker 1: take one step into the room, but leaned his body
35:25
Speaker 1: from the inside against the firmly bolted wing of the door,
35:30
Speaker 1: so that only half his body was visible, as well
35:34
Speaker 1: as his head tilted sideways, with which he peeped over
35:38
Speaker 1: at the others. Meanwhile, it had become much brighter. Standing
35:43
Speaker 1: out clearly from the other side of the street, was
35:46
Speaker 1: a part of the endless gray black house situated opposite
35:50
Speaker 1: it was a hospital, and with its severe regular windows
35:55
Speaker 1: breaking up the facade, the rain was still coming down,
36:00
Speaker 1: but only in large individual drops, visibly and firmly thrown
36:05
Speaker 1: down one by one onto the ground. The breakfast dishes
36:11
Speaker 1: were standing piled around on the table, because for his father,
36:15
Speaker 1: breakfast was the most important meal time in the day,
36:19
Speaker 1: which he prolonged for hours by reading various newspapers. Directly
36:24
Speaker 1: across on the opposite wall hung a photograph of Gregor
36:28
Speaker 1: from the time of his military service. It was a
36:32
Speaker 1: picture of him as a lieutenant, as he smiling and
36:35
Speaker 1: worry free, with his hand on his sword, demanded respect
36:40
Speaker 1: for his bearing and uniform. The door to the hall
36:45
Speaker 1: was ajar, and since the door to the apartment was
36:48
Speaker 1: also open, one could see out into the landing of
36:52
Speaker 1: the apartment and the start of the staircase going down. Now,
36:58
Speaker 1: said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one
37:01
Speaker 1: who'd kept his composure. I'll get dressed right away, pack
37:06
Speaker 1: up the collection of samples and set off. You'll allow
37:10
Speaker 1: me to set out on my way, will you not?
37:12
Speaker 1: You see, mister manager, I'm not pig headed, and I'm
37:16
Speaker 1: happy to work. Traveling is exhausting, but I couldn't live
37:21
Speaker 1: without it. Where are you going, mister manager, to the
37:25
Speaker 1: office really will you report everything truthfully. A person can
37:30
Speaker 1: be in capable of work momentarily, but that's precisely the
37:34
Speaker 1: best time to remember the earlier achievements and to consider
37:38
Speaker 1: that later, after the obstacles have been shoved aside, the
37:42
Speaker 1: person will work all the more eagerly and intensely. I'm
37:47
Speaker 1: really so indebted to mister chief. You know that perfectly well.
37:52
Speaker 1: On the other hand, I am concerned about my parents
37:55
Speaker 1: and my sister. I'm in a fix, but I'll work
37:59
Speaker 1: myself out of it. Again. Don't make things more difficult
38:03
Speaker 1: for me than they already are. Speak upon my behalf
38:06
Speaker 1: in the office. People don't like traveling salesmen. I know
38:11
Speaker 1: that people think they earn pots of money and thus
38:15
Speaker 1: lead a fine life. People don't even have any special
38:18
Speaker 1: reason to think through this judgment more clearly. But you,
38:22
Speaker 1: mister manager, you have a better perspective on what's involved
38:27
Speaker 1: than other people, even I tell you in total confidence,
38:30
Speaker 1: a better perspective than mister chairman himself, who, in his
38:34
Speaker 1: capacity as the employer, may let his judgment make casual
38:39
Speaker 1: mistakes at the expense of an employee. You also know
38:43
Speaker 1: well enough that the traveling salesman who is outside the
38:47
Speaker 1: office almost the entire year, can become so easily a
38:52
Speaker 1: victim of gossip, coincidences, and groundless complaints against which it's
38:58
Speaker 1: impossible for him to defend himself, since for the most
39:01
Speaker 1: part he doesn't hear about them at all, and only
39:05
Speaker 1: then when he's exhausted after finishing a trip and at
39:08
Speaker 1: home gets to feel in his own body the nasty
39:12
Speaker 1: consequences which can't be thoroughly explored back to their origins.
39:18
Speaker 1: Mister manager, don't leave without speaking a word, telling me
39:21
Speaker 1: that you'll at least concede that I'm a little in
39:24
Speaker 1: the right. But at Gregor's first words, the manager had
39:30
Speaker 1: already turned away, and now he looked back at Gregor
39:34
Speaker 1: over his twitching shoulders with pursed lips. During Gregor's speech,
39:40
Speaker 1: he was not still for a moment, but kept moving
39:43
Speaker 1: away towards the door, without taking his eyes off Gregor,
39:48
Speaker 1: but really gradually, as if there was a secret ban
39:51
Speaker 1: on leaving the room. He was already in the hall,
39:55
Speaker 1: and given the sudden movement with which he finally pulled
39:59
Speaker 1: his foot out the living room, one would have believed
40:02
Speaker 1: that he'd just burned the sole of his foot in
40:05
Speaker 1: the hall. However, he stretched his right hand out away
40:09
Speaker 1: from his body towards the staircase, as if some truly
40:13
Speaker 1: supernatural relief was waiting for him there. Gregor realized that
40:20
Speaker 1: he must not, under any circumstances, allow the manager to
40:25
Speaker 1: go away in this frame of mind, especially if his
40:29
Speaker 1: position in the firm was not to be placed in
40:31
Speaker 1: the greatest danger. His parents didn't understand all this very well.
40:37
Speaker 1: Over the long years, they had developed the conviction that
40:40
Speaker 1: Gregor was set up for life in his firm, And
40:44
Speaker 1: in addition, they had so much to do nowadays with
40:47
Speaker 1: their present troubles, that all foresight was foreign to them.
40:52
Speaker 1: But Gregor had this foresight. The manager must be held back,
40:57
Speaker 1: calmed down, convinced, and finally won over. The future of
41:02
Speaker 1: Gregor and his family really depended on it. If only
41:06
Speaker 1: the sister had been there. She was clever, She had
41:09
Speaker 1: already cried while Gregor was still lying quietly on his back,
41:14
Speaker 1: and the manager, this friend of the ladies, would certainly
41:18
Speaker 1: let himself be guided by her. She would have closed
41:22
Speaker 1: the door to the apartment and talked him out of
41:25
Speaker 1: his fright in the hall. But the sister was not
41:28
Speaker 1: even there. Gregor must deal with it himself, without thinking
41:35
Speaker 1: that as yet he didn't know anything about his present
41:38
Speaker 1: ability to move, and that his speech possibly indeed probably
41:43
Speaker 1: had once again not been understood. He left the wing
41:47
Speaker 1: of the door, pushed himself through the opening, and wanted
41:51
Speaker 1: to go over to the manager, who was already holding
41:54
Speaker 1: tight on to the handrail with both hands on the
41:57
Speaker 1: landing in a ridiculous way. But as he looked for
42:01
Speaker 1: something to hold on to, with a small scream, Gregor
42:05
Speaker 1: immediately fell down on to his numerous little legs. Scarcely
42:10
Speaker 1: had this happened when he felt for the first time
42:13
Speaker 1: that morning a general physical well being. The small limbs
42:18
Speaker 1: had firm floor under them, they obeyed perfectly, as he noticed,
42:23
Speaker 1: to his joy, and strove to carry him forward in
42:27
Speaker 1: the direction he wanted right away. He believed that the
42:31
Speaker 1: final amelioration of all his suffering was immediately at hand.
42:37
Speaker 1: But at the very moment when he lay on the floor,
42:40
Speaker 1: rocking in a restrained manner, quite close and directly across
42:45
Speaker 1: from his mother, who had apparently totally sunk into herself,
42:49
Speaker 1: she suddenly sprang right up with her arms spread far
42:53
Speaker 1: apart and her fingers extended, and cried out help, for
42:57
Speaker 1: God's sake. Help. She held her head bowed down as
43:03
Speaker 1: if she wanted to view Gregor better, but ran senselessly back,
43:07
Speaker 1: contradicting that gesture forgetting that behind her stood the table
43:12
Speaker 1: with all the dishes on it. When she reached the table,
43:15
Speaker 1: she sat down heavily on it, as if absent mindedly,
43:19
Speaker 1: and did not appear to notice at all that next
43:22
Speaker 1: to her, coffee was pouring out onto the carpet in
43:26
Speaker 1: a full stream from the large overturned container. Mother mother,
43:33
Speaker 1: said Gregor, quietly, looking over towards her. The manager momentarily
43:39
Speaker 1: had disappeared completely from his mind. At the sight of
43:43
Speaker 1: the flowing coffee, Gregor couldn't stop himself, snapping his jaws
43:48
Speaker 1: in the air a few times. At that, his mother
43:52
Speaker 1: screamed all over again, hurried from the table, and collapsed
43:57
Speaker 1: into the arms of his father, who was rushing to her.
44:01
Speaker 1: But Gregor had no time right now for his parents.
44:05
Speaker 1: The manager was already on the staircase, his chin level
44:09
Speaker 1: with the banister. The manager looked back for the last time.
44:14
Speaker 1: Gregor took an initial movement to catch up to him,
44:17
Speaker 1: if possible, but the manager must have suspected something because
44:21
Speaker 1: he made a leap down over a few stairs and disappeared,
44:25
Speaker 1: still shouting HEO. The sound echoed through the entire stairwell. Now, unfortunately,
44:34
Speaker 1: this flight of the manager also seemed to bewilder his
44:37
Speaker 1: father completely. Earlier, he'd been relatively calm for instead of
44:42
Speaker 1: running after the manager himself, or at least not hindering
44:46
Speaker 1: Gregor from his pursuit. With his right hand, he grabbed
44:50
Speaker 1: hold of the manager's cane, which he'd left behind, with
44:54
Speaker 1: his hat and overcoat on a chair. With his left hand,
44:58
Speaker 1: his father picked up a large newspaper from the table, and,
45:01
Speaker 1: stamping his feet on the floor, he set out to
45:05
Speaker 1: drive Gregor back into his room by waving the cane
45:08
Speaker 1: and the newspaper. No request of Gregor's was any use,
45:14
Speaker 1: No request would even be understood, No matter how willing
45:18
Speaker 1: he was to turn his head respectfully, his father just
45:22
Speaker 1: stomped all the harder with his feet Across the room
45:26
Speaker 1: from him, his mother had pulled open a window in
45:29
Speaker 1: spite of the cool weather, and leaning out with her
45:32
Speaker 1: hands on her cheeks, she pushed her face far outside
45:37
Speaker 1: the window between the alley and the stairwell. A strong
45:41
Speaker 1: draft came up the curtains on the window flew around,
45:45
Speaker 1: The newspapers on the table swished, and individual sheets fluttered
45:50
Speaker 1: down over the floor. The father relentlessly pressed forward, pushing
45:56
Speaker 1: out sibilants like a wild man. Now Gregor had no
46:00
Speaker 1: practice at all in going backwards. It was really very
46:04
Speaker 1: slow going. If Gregor only had been allowed to turn
46:08
Speaker 1: himself round, he could have been in his room right away,
46:11
Speaker 1: But he was afraid to make his father impatient by
46:14
Speaker 1: the time consuming process of turning round, and each moment
46:19
Speaker 1: he faced the threat of a mortal blow on his
46:22
Speaker 1: back or his head from the cane in his father's hand. Finally,
46:27
Speaker 1: Gregor had no other option, for he noticed with horror
46:31
Speaker 1: that he did not understand yet how to maintain his
46:34
Speaker 1: direction going backwards, and so he began, amid constantly anxious
46:40
Speaker 1: sideways glances in his father's direction, to turn himself round
46:45
Speaker 1: as quickly as possible, although in truth this was only
46:49
Speaker 1: done very slowly. Perhaps his father noticed his good intentions,
46:54
Speaker 1: for he did not disrupt Gregor in this motion, but
46:58
Speaker 1: with the tip of the cane from a distance, he
47:00
Speaker 1: even directed Gregor's rotating movement here and there. If only
47:07
Speaker 1: his father had not hissed so unbearably. Because of that,
47:12
Speaker 1: Gregor totally lost his head. He was already almost totally
47:17
Speaker 1: turned round when always with this hissing in his ear,
47:21
Speaker 1: he just made a mistake and turned himself back a little.
47:25
Speaker 1: But when he finally was successful in getting his head
47:28
Speaker 1: in front of the door opening, it became clear that
47:32
Speaker 1: his body was too wide to go through any further. Naturally,
47:37
Speaker 1: his father, in his present mental state, had no idea
47:41
Speaker 1: of opening the other wing of the door a bit
47:44
Speaker 1: to create a suitable passage for Gregor to get through.
47:48
Speaker 1: His single fixed thought was that Gregor must get into
47:52
Speaker 1: his room as quickly as possible. He would never have
47:55
Speaker 1: allowed the elaborate preparations that Gregor required to warrior and
48:00
Speaker 1: himself and thus perhaps get through the door. On the contrary,
48:04
Speaker 1: as if there were no obstacle, and with a peculiar noise,
48:08
Speaker 1: he now drove Gregor forwards. Behind Gregor. The sound at
48:13
Speaker 1: this point was no longer like the voice of only
48:16
Speaker 1: a single father. Now it was really no longer a joke,
48:20
Speaker 1: and Gregor forced himself come what might into the door.
48:25
Speaker 1: One side of his body was lifted up. He lay
48:28
Speaker 1: at an angle in the door opening, his one flank
48:32
Speaker 1: was sore. With the scraping on the white door, ugly
48:36
Speaker 1: blotches were left. Soon he was stuck fast and would
48:41
Speaker 1: have not been able to move any more on his own.
48:44
Speaker 1: The tiny legs on one side hung twitching in the
48:47
Speaker 1: air above, and the ones on the other side were
48:51
Speaker 1: pushed painfully into the floor. Then his father gave him
48:56
Speaker 1: one really strong, liberating push from behind, and he scurried,
49:01
Speaker 1: bleeding severely, far into the interior of his room. The
49:06
Speaker 1: door was slammed shut with the cane, and finally it
49:10
Speaker 1: was quiet. End of section one two. Gregor first woke
49:21
Speaker 1: up from his heavy, swoon like sleep in the evening twilight.
49:26
Speaker 1: He would certainly have woken up soon afterwards without any disturbance,
49:31
Speaker 1: for he felt himself sufficiently rested and wide awake, although
49:36
Speaker 1: it appeared to him as if a hurried step and
49:39
Speaker 1: a cautious closing of the door to the hall had
49:42
Speaker 1: aroused him. Light from the electric street lamps lay pale
49:48
Speaker 1: here and there on the ceiling and on the higher
49:51
Speaker 1: parts of the furniture, but underneath around Gregor it was dark.
49:57
Speaker 1: He pushed himself slowly toward the door, still groping awkwardly
50:01
Speaker 1: with his feelers, which he now learned to value for
50:05
Speaker 1: the first time, to check what was happening there. His
50:10
Speaker 1: left side seemed one single, long, unpleasantly stretched scar, and
50:17
Speaker 1: he really had to hobble on his two rows of legs.
50:21
Speaker 1: In addition, one small leg had been seriously wounded in
50:25
Speaker 1: the course of the morning incident. It was almost a
50:29
Speaker 1: miracle that only one had been hurt. And dragged lifelessly
50:33
Speaker 1: behind by the door, he first noticed what had really
50:39
Speaker 1: lured him there. It was the smell of something to eat.
50:45
Speaker 1: A bowl stood there, filled with sweetened milk, in which
50:49
Speaker 1: swam tiny pieces of white bread. He almost laughed with joy,
50:55
Speaker 1: for he now had a much greater hunger than in
50:57
Speaker 1: the morning, and he immediately dipped his head almost up
51:02
Speaker 1: to and over his eyes, down into the milk. But
51:06
Speaker 1: he soon drew it back again in disappointment, not just
51:10
Speaker 1: because it was difficult for him to eat on account
51:13
Speaker 1: of his delicate left side. He could eat only if
51:16
Speaker 1: his entire panting body worked in a coordinated way, but
51:21
Speaker 1: also because the milk, which otherwise was his favorite drink,
51:25
Speaker 1: and which his sister had certainly placed there for that reason,
51:29
Speaker 1: did not appeal to him at all. He turned away
51:33
Speaker 1: from the bowl, almost with aversion, and crept back into
51:37
Speaker 1: the middle of the room. In the living room, as
51:42
Speaker 1: Gregor saw through the crack in the door, the gas
51:46
Speaker 1: was lit, but where on other occasions at this time
51:50
Speaker 1: of day his father was accustomed to read the afternoon
51:53
Speaker 1: newspaper in a loud voice to his mother and sometimes
51:57
Speaker 1: also to his sister, At the moment, no sound was audible. Now,
52:03
Speaker 1: perhaps this reading aloud, about which his sister had always
52:07
Speaker 1: spoken and written to him, had recently fallen out of
52:11
Speaker 1: their general routine. But it was so still all around,
52:16
Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that the apartment was certainly
52:19
Speaker 1: not empty. What a quiet life the family leads, said
52:24
Speaker 1: Gregor to himself, And as he stared fixedly out in
52:28
Speaker 1: front of him into the darkness, he felt a great
52:32
Speaker 1: pride that he had been able to provide such a
52:35
Speaker 1: life in a beautiful apartment like this for his parents
52:39
Speaker 1: and his sister. But how would things go if now
52:45
Speaker 1: all tranquility, all prosperity, all contentment should come to a
52:51
Speaker 1: horrible end. In order not to lose himself in such thoughts,
52:56
Speaker 1: Gregor preferred to set himself moving so he moved up
53:01
Speaker 1: and down in his room. Once during the long evening,
53:07
Speaker 1: one side door and then the other door was opened
53:12
Speaker 1: just a tiny crack, and quickly closed again. Some one
53:17
Speaker 1: presumably needed to come in, but had then thought better
53:20
Speaker 1: of it. Gregor immediately took up a position by the
53:24
Speaker 1: living room door, determined to bring in the hesitant visitor
53:28
Speaker 1: somehow or other, or at least to find out who
53:31
Speaker 1: it might be. But now the door was not opened
53:35
Speaker 1: any more, and Gregor waited in vain. Earlier, when the
53:40
Speaker 1: door had been barred, they had all wanted to come
53:43
Speaker 1: in to him. Now, when he'd opened one door, and
53:47
Speaker 1: when the others had obviously been opened during the day,
53:50
Speaker 1: no one came any more, and the keys were stuck
53:54
Speaker 1: in the locks on the outside. The light in the
53:59
Speaker 1: living room was and off only late at night, and
54:03
Speaker 1: now it was easy to establish that his parents and
54:06
Speaker 1: his sister had stayed awake all this time, for one
54:09
Speaker 1: could hear clearly as all three moved away on tiptoe.
54:15
Speaker 1: Now it was certain that no one would come into
54:17
Speaker 1: Gregor any more until the morning. Thus he had a
54:21
Speaker 1: long time to think, undisturbed about how he would reorganize
54:27
Speaker 1: his life from scratch, but the high, open room in
54:32
Speaker 1: which he was compelled to lie flat on the floor
54:35
Speaker 1: made him anxious, without his being able to figure out
54:39
Speaker 1: the reason, for he had lived in the room for
54:42
Speaker 1: five years. With a half unconscious turn, and not without
54:47
Speaker 1: a slight shame, he scurried under the couch, where, in
54:52
Speaker 1: spite of the fact that his back was a little
54:55
Speaker 1: cramped and he could no longer lift up his head,
54:58
Speaker 1: he felt very comfortable, and was sorry only that his
55:02
Speaker 1: body was too wide to fit completely under it. There
55:07
Speaker 1: he remained the entire night, which he spent partly in
55:12
Speaker 1: a state of semi sleep, out of which his hunger
55:15
Speaker 1: constantly woke him with a start, but partly in a
55:19
Speaker 1: state of worry and murky hopes, which all led to
55:23
Speaker 1: the conclusion that for the time being he would have
55:27
Speaker 1: to keep calm and with patience and the greatest consideration
55:32
Speaker 1: for his family, tolerate the troubles which, in his present
55:36
Speaker 1: condition he was now forced to cause them. Already early
55:42
Speaker 1: in the morning, it was still almost night, Gregor had
55:47
Speaker 1: an opportunity to test the power of the decisions he
55:50
Speaker 1: had just made. For his sister, almost fully dressed, opened
55:56
Speaker 1: the door from the hall into his room and looked
55:59
Speaker 1: eager inside. She did not find him immediately, but when
56:04
Speaker 1: she noticed him under the couch, God, he had to
56:08
Speaker 1: be somewhere or other, for he could hardly fly away.
56:11
Speaker 1: She got such a shock that, without being able to
56:15
Speaker 1: control herself, she slammed the door shut once again from
56:18
Speaker 1: the outside. However, as if she was sorry for her behavior,
56:23
Speaker 1: she immediately opened the door again and walked in on
56:27
Speaker 1: her tiptoes, as if she was in the presence of
56:30
Speaker 1: a serious invalid or a total stranger. Greggor had pushed
56:36
Speaker 1: his head forward just to the edge of the couch
56:39
Speaker 1: and was observing her. Would she really notice that he
56:43
Speaker 1: had left the milk standing, not indeed from any lack
56:47
Speaker 1: of hunger, and would she bring in something else to
56:50
Speaker 1: eat more suitable for him? If she did not do
56:54
Speaker 1: it on her own, he would sooner starve to death
56:57
Speaker 1: than call her attention to the fact. Although he had
57:00
Speaker 1: a really powerful urge to move beyond the couch, throw
57:04
Speaker 1: himself at his sister's feet and beg her for something
57:08
Speaker 1: or other good to eat. But his sister noticed right
57:12
Speaker 1: away with astonishment that the ball was still full, with
57:16
Speaker 1: only a little milk spilled around it. She picked it
57:20
Speaker 1: up immediately, although not with her bare hands but with
57:24
Speaker 1: a rag, and took it out of the room. Gregor
57:28
Speaker 1: was extremely curious what she would bring as a substitute,
57:32
Speaker 1: and he pictured to himself different ideas about it, but
57:37
Speaker 1: he never could have guessed what his sister, out of
57:40
Speaker 1: the goodness of her heart, in fact, did she brought
57:44
Speaker 1: him to test his taste and entire selection, all spread
57:50
Speaker 1: out on an old newspaper. There were old, half rotten vegetables,
57:56
Speaker 1: bones from the evening meal covered in a white sauce
58:00
Speaker 1: which had almost solidified, some raisins and almonds, cheese which
58:06
Speaker 1: Gregor had declared inedible two days earlier, a slice of
58:10
Speaker 1: dry bread, and a slice of salted bread smeared with butter.
58:15
Speaker 1: In addition to all this, she put down a bowl,
58:19
Speaker 1: probably designated once and for all as Gregor's, into which
58:23
Speaker 1: she had poured some water, and out of her delicacy
58:27
Speaker 1: of feeling, since she knew that Gregor would not eat
58:30
Speaker 1: in front of her, she went away very quickly and
58:33
Speaker 1: even turned the key in the lock, so that Gregor
58:36
Speaker 1: would now observe that he could make himself as comfortable
58:39
Speaker 1: as he wished. Gregor's small limbs buzzed. Now that the
58:45
Speaker 1: time for eating had come, his wounds must, in any case,
58:49
Speaker 1: have already healed completely. He felt no handicap on that score.
58:55
Speaker 1: He was astonished at that, and thought about how more
58:58
Speaker 1: than a month ago he'd got his finger slightly with
59:01
Speaker 1: a knife, and how this wound had hurt enough even
59:05
Speaker 1: the day before yesterday. Am I now going to be
59:09
Speaker 1: less sensitive? He thought, already sucking greedily on the cheese,
59:15
Speaker 1: which had strongly attracted him right away, more than all
59:19
Speaker 1: the other foods. Quickly, and with his eyes watering with satisfaction,
59:25
Speaker 1: he ate one after the other, the cheese, the vegetables,
59:30
Speaker 1: and the sauce. The fresh food, by contrast, didn't taste
59:35
Speaker 1: good to him. He couldn't bear the smell, and even
59:40
Speaker 1: carried the things he wanted to eat a little distance away.
59:44
Speaker 1: By the time his sister slowly turned the key as
59:48
Speaker 1: a sign that he should withdraw, he was long finished,
59:51
Speaker 1: and now lay lazily in the same spot. The noise
59:56
Speaker 1: immediately startled him, in spite of the fact that he
59:59
Speaker 1: was already almost to sleep, and he scurried back again
1:00:03
Speaker 1: under the couch. But it cost him great self control
1:00:08
Speaker 1: to remain under the couch, even for the short time
1:00:11
Speaker 1: his sister was in the room, because his body had
1:00:14
Speaker 1: filled out somewhat on account of the rich meal, and
1:00:18
Speaker 1: in the narrow space there he could scarcely breathe in
1:00:23
Speaker 1: the midst of minor attacks of asphyxiation. He looked at
1:00:27
Speaker 1: her with somewhat protruding eyes as his unsuspecting sister swept
1:00:34
Speaker 1: up with a broom not just the remnants, but even
1:00:37
Speaker 1: the foods, which Gregor had not touched at all, as
1:00:40
Speaker 1: if these were also now useless, And as she dumped
1:00:44
Speaker 1: everything quickly into a bucket, which he closed with a
1:00:47
Speaker 1: wooden lid, and then carried all of it out of
1:00:50
Speaker 1: the room, she had hardly turned around before Gregor had
1:00:55
Speaker 1: already dragged himself out from the couch, stretched out and
1:01:00
Speaker 1: let his body expand. In this way, Gregor got his
1:01:05
Speaker 1: food every day, once in the morning, when his parents
1:01:09
Speaker 1: and the servant girl were still asleep, and a second
1:01:13
Speaker 1: time after the common noon meal, for his parents were
1:01:17
Speaker 1: as before asleep then for a little while, and the
1:01:21
Speaker 1: servant girl was sent off by his sister on some
1:01:24
Speaker 1: errand or other. They certainly would not have wanted Gregor
1:01:29
Speaker 1: to starve to death. But perhaps they could not have
1:01:33
Speaker 1: endured finding out what he ate other than by hearsay.
1:01:38
Speaker 1: Perhaps his sister wanted to spare them what was possibly
1:01:41
Speaker 1: only a small grief, for they were really suffering quite
1:01:45
Speaker 1: enough already. What sorts of excuses people had used on
1:01:52
Speaker 1: that first morning to get the doctor and the locksmith
1:01:56
Speaker 1: out of the house, Gregor was completely unable to ascertain,
1:02:02
Speaker 1: since they could not understand him. No one, not even
1:02:05
Speaker 1: his sister, thought that he might be able to understand others,
1:02:10
Speaker 1: And thus, when his sister was in her room, he
1:02:13
Speaker 1: had to be content with listening now and then to
1:02:16
Speaker 1: her sighs and invocations to the saints. Only later, when
1:02:23
Speaker 1: she had grown somewhat accustomed to everything. Naturally, there could
1:02:27
Speaker 1: never be any talk of her growing completely accustomed to it.
1:02:31
Speaker 1: Gregor sometimes caught a comment which was intended to be friendly,
1:02:35
Speaker 1: or could be interpreted as such. Well, today it tasted
1:02:40
Speaker 1: good to him, she said, if Gregor had really cleaned
1:02:44
Speaker 1: up what he had to eat. Whereas, in the reverse situation,
1:02:48
Speaker 1: which gradually repeated itself more and more frequently, she used
1:02:52
Speaker 1: to say, sadly, now everything has stopped again. But while
1:02:59
Speaker 1: Gregor could get no new information, directly, he did hear
1:03:04
Speaker 1: a good deal from the room next door, and as
1:03:07
Speaker 1: soon as he heard voices, he scurried right away to
1:03:11
Speaker 1: the appropriate door and pressed his entire body against it.
1:03:17
Speaker 1: In the early days, especially, there was no conversation which
1:03:21
Speaker 1: was not concerned with him in some way or another,
1:03:24
Speaker 1: even if only in secret. For two days, at all
1:03:29
Speaker 1: meal times, discussions on that subject could be heard on
1:03:33
Speaker 1: how people should now behave, But they also talked about
1:03:37
Speaker 1: the same subject in the times between meals, for there
1:03:41
Speaker 1: were always at least two family members at home, since
1:03:45
Speaker 1: no one really wanted to remain in the house alone,
1:03:49
Speaker 1: and people could not, under any circumstances leave the apartment
1:03:53
Speaker 1: completely empty. In addition, on the very first day, the servant,
1:04:00
Speaker 1: it was not completely clear what and how much she
1:04:03
Speaker 1: knew about what had happened on her knees, had begged
1:04:07
Speaker 1: his mother to let her go immediately, and when she
1:04:11
Speaker 1: said goodbye about fifteen minutes later, she thanked them for
1:04:15
Speaker 1: the dismissal with tears in her eyes, as if she
1:04:19
Speaker 1: was receiving the greatest favor which people had shown her
1:04:22
Speaker 1: there and without anyone demanding it from her. She swore
1:04:27
Speaker 1: a fearful oath not to betray anyone, not even the
1:04:32
Speaker 1: slightest bit. Now his sister had to team up with
1:04:37
Speaker 1: his mother to do the cooking, although that didn't create
1:04:40
Speaker 1: much trouble because people were eating almost nothing. Again and again,
1:04:46
Speaker 1: Gregor listened as one of them vainly invited another one
1:04:49
Speaker 1: to eat and receive no answer other than thank you,
1:04:54
Speaker 1: I've had enough, or something like that, and perhaps they
1:04:58
Speaker 1: had stopped having anything to drink too. His sister often
1:05:03
Speaker 1: asked his father whether he wanted to have a beer,
1:05:06
Speaker 1: and gladly offered to fetch it herself, and when his
1:05:10
Speaker 1: father was silent, she said, in order to remove any
1:05:13
Speaker 1: reservations he might have, that she could send the caretaker's
1:05:17
Speaker 1: wife to get it. But then his father finally said
1:05:21
Speaker 1: a resounding no, and nothing more would be spoken about it.
1:05:28
Speaker 1: Already during the first day, his father laid out all
1:05:32
Speaker 1: the financial circumstances and prospects to his mother and to
1:05:36
Speaker 1: his sister as well. From time to time, he stood
1:05:40
Speaker 1: up from the table and pulled out of the small
1:05:43
Speaker 1: lock box salvage from his business, which had collapsed five
1:05:47
Speaker 1: years previously, some document or other or some notebook. The
1:05:53
Speaker 1: sound was audible as he opened up the complicated lock,
1:05:58
Speaker 1: and after removing what he was looking for, locked it
1:06:01
Speaker 1: up again. These explanations by his father were in part
1:06:07
Speaker 1: the first enjoyable thing that Gregor had the chance to
1:06:11
Speaker 1: listen to since his imprisonment. He had thought that nothing
1:06:15
Speaker 1: at all was left over for his father from that business.
1:06:19
Speaker 1: At least, his father had told him nothing to contradict
1:06:23
Speaker 1: that view, and Gregor, in any case, hadn't asked him
1:06:26
Speaker 1: about it. At the time, Gregor's only concern had been
1:06:30
Speaker 1: to use everything he had in order to allow his
1:06:33
Speaker 1: family to forget as quickly as possible the business misfortune
1:06:38
Speaker 1: which had brought them all into a state of complete hopelessness.
1:06:42
Speaker 1: And so at that point he'd started to work with
1:06:45
Speaker 1: a special intensity, and from an assistant had become almost overnight,
1:06:51
Speaker 1: a traveling salesman who naturally had entirely different possibilities for
1:06:56
Speaker 1: earning money, and whose successes at work were converted immediately
1:07:01
Speaker 1: into the form of cash commissions, which could be set
1:07:04
Speaker 1: out on the table at home in front of his
1:07:07
Speaker 1: astonished and delighted family. Those had been beautiful days, and
1:07:14
Speaker 1: they had never come back afterwards, at least not with
1:07:18
Speaker 1: the same splendor In spite of the fact that Gregor
1:07:22
Speaker 1: later earned so much money that he was in a
1:07:24
Speaker 1: position to bear the expenses of the entire family, costs
1:07:28
Speaker 1: which he in fact did bear. They had become quite
1:07:32
Speaker 1: accustomed to it, both the family and Gregor as well.
1:07:37
Speaker 1: They took the money with thanks, and he happily surrendered it.
1:07:41
Speaker 1: But the special warmth was no longer present. Only the
1:07:46
Speaker 1: sister had remained still close to Gregor, and it was
1:07:49
Speaker 1: his secret plan to send her next year to the Conservatory,
1:07:54
Speaker 1: regardless of the great expense which that necessarily involved, and
1:07:58
Speaker 1: which would be made up in ways. In contrast to Gregor,
1:08:04
Speaker 1: she loved music very much and knew how to play
1:08:07
Speaker 1: the violin charmingly. Now and then, during Gregor's short stays
1:08:12
Speaker 1: in the city, the Conservatory was mentioned in conversations with
1:08:17
Speaker 1: his sister, but always only as a beautiful dream whose
1:08:21
Speaker 1: realization was unimaginable, and their parents never listened to these
1:08:26
Speaker 1: innocent expectations with pleasure. But Gregor thought about them with
1:08:32
Speaker 1: scrupulous consideration and intended to explain the matter ceremoniously on
1:08:38
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve. In his present situation, such futile ideas went
1:08:45
Speaker 1: through his head while he pushed himself right up against
1:08:49
Speaker 1: the door and listened. Sometimes, in his general exhaustion, he
1:08:54
Speaker 1: couldn't listen any more, and let his head bang listlessly
1:08:58
Speaker 1: against the door. But he immediately pulled himself together, for
1:09:03
Speaker 1: even the small sound which he made by this motion
1:09:06
Speaker 1: was heard near by and silenced every one. There he
1:09:11
Speaker 1: goes on again, said his father, after a while, clearly
1:09:15
Speaker 1: turning towards the door. And only then would the interrupted
1:09:19
Speaker 1: conversation gradually be resumed again, Gregor found out clearly enough,
1:09:27
Speaker 1: for his father tended to repeat himself often in his explanations,
1:09:32
Speaker 1: partly because he had not personally concerned himself with these
1:09:35
Speaker 1: matters for a long time now, and partly also because
1:09:39
Speaker 1: his mother didn't understand everything right away the first time,
1:09:44
Speaker 1: that in spite all bad luck, a fortune, although a
1:09:49
Speaker 1: very small one, was available from the old times, which
1:09:53
Speaker 1: the interest, which had not been touched, had, in the
1:09:57
Speaker 1: intervening time gradually allowed to in increase a little. Furthermore,
1:10:03
Speaker 1: in addition to this, the money which Gregor had brought
1:10:06
Speaker 1: home every month he had kept only a few florins
1:10:10
Speaker 1: for himself, had not been completely spent and had grown
1:10:14
Speaker 1: into a small capital amount. Gregor, behind his door, nodded eagerly,
1:10:21
Speaker 1: rejoicing over this unanticipated foresight and frugality. True, with this
1:10:28
Speaker 1: excess money, he could have paid off more of his
1:10:30
Speaker 1: father's debt to his employer, and the day on which
1:10:33
Speaker 1: he could be rid of this position would have been
1:10:36
Speaker 1: a lot closer. But now things were doubtless better the
1:10:39
Speaker 1: way his father had arranged them. At the moment, however,
1:10:44
Speaker 1: this money was not nearly sufficient to permit the family
1:10:48
Speaker 1: to live on the interest payments. Perhaps it would be
1:10:52
Speaker 1: enough to maintain the family for one or at most
1:10:56
Speaker 1: two years, that's all. Thus it only added up to
1:11:00
Speaker 1: an amount which one should not really draw upon, and
1:11:03
Speaker 1: which must be set aside for an emergency. But the
1:11:07
Speaker 1: money to live on had to be earned now. Although
1:11:11
Speaker 1: his father was old, he was a healthy man who
1:11:15
Speaker 1: had not worked at all for five years, and thus
1:11:18
Speaker 1: could not be counted on for very much. He had,
1:11:22
Speaker 1: in these five years the first holidays of his trouble
1:11:26
Speaker 1: filled but unsuccessful life, put on a good deal of fat,
1:11:30
Speaker 1: and thus had become really heavy. And should his old
1:11:35
Speaker 1: mother now perhaps work for money a woman who suffered
1:11:39
Speaker 1: from asthma, for whom wandering through the apartment even now
1:11:43
Speaker 1: was a great strain, and who spent every second day
1:11:46
Speaker 1: on the sofa by the open window, laboring for breath,
1:11:52
Speaker 1: should his sister earn money, a girl who was still
1:11:55
Speaker 1: a seventeen year old child, whose earlier lifestyle had been
1:11:59
Speaker 1: so very delightful that it had consisted of dressing herself nicely,
1:12:04
Speaker 1: sleeping in late, helping around the house, taking part in
1:12:09
Speaker 1: a few modest enjoyments, and above all, playing the violin.
1:12:15
Speaker 1: When it came to talking about this need to earn money,
1:12:18
Speaker 1: at first, Gregor went away from the door and threw
1:12:21
Speaker 1: himself on the cold leather sofa beside the door, for
1:12:25
Speaker 1: he was quite hot from shame and sorrow. Often he
1:12:30
Speaker 1: lay there all night long. He didn't sleep a moment,
1:12:35
Speaker 1: and just scratched on the leather for hours at a time.
1:12:39
Speaker 1: He undertook the very difficult task of shoving a chair
1:12:43
Speaker 1: over to the window. Then he crept up on the
1:12:46
Speaker 1: window sill and braced on the chair, leaned against the
1:12:50
Speaker 1: window to look out, obviously with some memory or other
1:12:55
Speaker 1: of the satisfaction which that used to bring him in
1:12:58
Speaker 1: earlier times. Actually, from day to day he perceived things
1:13:04
Speaker 1: with less and less clarity, even those a short distance
1:13:08
Speaker 1: away the hospital across the street, the all too frequent
1:13:12
Speaker 1: sight of which he had previously cursed, was not visible
1:13:16
Speaker 1: at all anymore, And if he had not been precisely
1:13:20
Speaker 1: aware that he lived in the quiet but completely urban
1:13:24
Speaker 1: Charlotte Street, he could have believed that from his window
1:13:28
Speaker 1: he was peering out at a featureless waste land in
1:13:31
Speaker 1: which the gray heaven and the gray earth had merged
1:13:35
Speaker 1: and were indistinguishable. His attentive sister must have observed a
1:13:41
Speaker 1: couple of times that the chair stood by the window, then,
1:13:45
Speaker 1: after cleaning up the room, each time she pushed the
1:13:49
Speaker 1: chair back right against the window, and from now on
1:13:53
Speaker 1: she even left the inner casement open. If Gregor had
1:13:58
Speaker 1: only been able to speak to his sister and thanked
1:14:02
Speaker 1: her for everything that she had to do for him,
1:14:05
Speaker 1: he would have tolerated her service more easily. As it was,
1:14:09
Speaker 1: he suffered under it. The sister admittedly sought to cover
1:14:14
Speaker 1: up the awkwardness of everything as much as possible, and
1:14:17
Speaker 1: as time went by she naturally got more successful at it.
1:14:22
Speaker 1: But with the passing of time Gregor also came to
1:14:25
Speaker 1: understand everything more precisely. Even her entrance was terrible for him.
1:14:32
Speaker 1: As soon as she entered, she ran straight to the
1:14:35
Speaker 1: window without taking the time to shut the door, in
1:14:39
Speaker 1: spite of the fact that she was otherwise very considerate
1:14:42
Speaker 1: in sparing anyone the sight of Gregor's room, and yanked
1:14:46
Speaker 1: the window open with eager hands as if she was
1:14:50
Speaker 1: almost suffocating, and remained for a while by the window,
1:14:54
Speaker 1: breathing deeply, even when it was still so cold. With
1:14:59
Speaker 1: this run and noise, she frightened Gregor twice every day,
1:15:05
Speaker 1: the entire time he trembled under the couch, And yet
1:15:09
Speaker 1: he knew very well that she would certainly have spared
1:15:12
Speaker 1: him gladly if it had only been possible to remain
1:15:15
Speaker 1: with the window closed in a room where Gregor lived.
1:15:20
Speaker 1: On one occasion, about one month had already gone by
1:15:24
Speaker 1: since Gregor's transformation, and there was now no particular reason
1:15:28
Speaker 1: any more for his sister to be startled at Gregor's appearance.
1:15:33
Speaker 1: She arrived a little earlier than usual and came upon
1:15:36
Speaker 1: Gregor as he was still looking out the window, immobile
1:15:40
Speaker 1: and well positioned to frighten some one. It would not
1:15:45
Speaker 1: have come as a surprise to Gregor if she had
1:15:47
Speaker 1: not come in, since his position was preventing her from
1:15:51
Speaker 1: opening the window immediately, but she not only did not
1:15:55
Speaker 1: step inside, she even retreated and shut the door. A
1:16:00
Speaker 1: stranger really might have concluded from this that Gregor had
1:16:04
Speaker 1: been lying in wait for her and wanted to bite her.
1:16:09
Speaker 1: Of course, Gregor immediately concealed himself under the couch, but
1:16:14
Speaker 1: he had to wait until the noon meal before his
1:16:16
Speaker 1: sister returned, and she seemed much less calm than usual.
1:16:22
Speaker 1: From this, he realized that his appearance was still constantly
1:16:27
Speaker 1: intolerable to her, and must remain intolerable in future, and
1:16:32
Speaker 1: that she really had to exert a lot of self
1:16:35
Speaker 1: control not to run away from a glimpse of only
1:16:38
Speaker 1: the small part of his body which stuck out from
1:16:41
Speaker 1: under the couch. In order to spare her even this sight,
1:16:47
Speaker 1: one day, he dragged the sheet on his back and
1:16:51
Speaker 1: onto the couch. This task took him four hours, and
1:16:56
Speaker 1: arranged it in such a way that he was now
1:16:58
Speaker 1: completely concealed, and his sister, even if she bent down,
1:17:03
Speaker 1: could not see him. If this sheet was not necessary
1:17:08
Speaker 1: as far as she was concerned, then she could remove it,
1:17:12
Speaker 1: for it was clear enough that Gregor could not derive
1:17:15
Speaker 1: any pleasure from isolating himself so completely. But she left
1:17:20
Speaker 1: the sheet just as it was, and Gregor believed he
1:17:24
Speaker 1: even caught a look of gratitude when, on one occasion
1:17:28
Speaker 1: he carefully lifted up the sheet a little with his
1:17:31
Speaker 1: head to check as his sister took stock of the
1:17:35
Speaker 1: new arrangement. In the first two weeks, his parents could
1:17:42
Speaker 1: not bring themselves to visit him, and he often heard
1:17:46
Speaker 1: how they fully acknowledged his sister's present work, whereas earlier
1:17:51
Speaker 1: they had often got annoyed at his sister because she
1:17:55
Speaker 1: had seemed to them a somewhat useless young woman. However,
1:18:00
Speaker 1: now both his father and his mother often waited in
1:18:03
Speaker 1: front of Gregor's door while his sister cleaned up inside,
1:18:08
Speaker 1: and as soon as she came out, she had to
1:18:10
Speaker 1: explain in detail how things looked in the room, what
1:18:14
Speaker 1: Gregor had eaten, how he had behaved this time, and
1:18:18
Speaker 1: whether perhaps a slight improvement was perceptible. In any event,
1:18:23
Speaker 1: his mother, comparatively soon wanted to visit Gregor, but his
1:18:28
Speaker 1: father and his sister restrained her at first with reasons
1:18:32
Speaker 1: which Gregor listened to very attentively and which he completely endorsed. Later, however,
1:18:39
Speaker 1: they had to hold her back forcefully, and when she
1:18:43
Speaker 1: then cried, let me go to Gregor. He's my unlucky son.
1:18:47
Speaker 1: Don't you understand that I have to go to him.
1:18:50
Speaker 1: Gregor then thought that perhaps it would be a good
1:18:53
Speaker 1: thing if his mother came in, not every day, of course,
1:18:56
Speaker 1: but maybe once a week. She understood everything much better
1:19:01
Speaker 1: than his sister, who, in spite of all her courage,
1:19:05
Speaker 1: was still a child, and, in the last analysis, had
1:19:09
Speaker 1: perhaps undertaken such a difficult task only out of childish recklessness.
1:19:16
Speaker 1: Gregor's wish to see his mother was soon realized. While
1:19:22
Speaker 1: during the day, Gregor, out of consideration for his parents,
1:19:27
Speaker 1: did not want to show himself by the window, he
1:19:30
Speaker 1: couldn't crawl around very much on the few square meters
1:19:33
Speaker 1: of the floor. He found it difficult to bear lying
1:19:37
Speaker 1: quietly during the night, and soon eating no longer gave
1:19:41
Speaker 1: him the slightest pleasure. So for diversion he acquired the
1:19:46
Speaker 1: habit of crawling back and forth across the walls and ceiling.
1:19:51
Speaker 1: He was especially fond of hanging from the ceiling. The
1:19:55
Speaker 1: experience was quite different from lying on the floor. It
1:19:59
Speaker 1: was easier to breathe, A slight vibration went through his body,
1:20:04
Speaker 1: and in the midst of the almost happy amusement which
1:20:07
Speaker 1: Gregor found up there. It could happen that, to his
1:20:11
Speaker 1: own surprise, he let go and hit the floor. However,
1:20:16
Speaker 1: now he naturally controlled his body quite differently, and he
1:20:21
Speaker 1: did not injure himself in such a great fall. His
1:20:25
Speaker 1: sister noticed immediately the new amusement which Gregor had found
1:20:29
Speaker 1: for himself, for as he crept around, he left behind
1:20:33
Speaker 1: here and there traces of his sticky stuff. And so
1:20:37
Speaker 1: she got the idea of making Gregor's creeping around as
1:20:41
Speaker 1: easy as possible, and thus of removing the furniture which
1:20:45
Speaker 1: got in the way, especially the chest of drawers and
1:20:48
Speaker 1: the writing desk. But she was in no position to
1:20:52
Speaker 1: do this by herself. She did not dare to ask
1:20:56
Speaker 1: her father to help, and the servant girl would certain
1:21:00
Speaker 1: not have assisted her, for although this girl, about sixteen
1:21:04
Speaker 1: years old, had courageously remained since the dismissal of the
1:21:08
Speaker 1: previous cook, she had begged for the privilege of being
1:21:12
Speaker 1: allowed to stay permanently confined to the kitchen, and of
1:21:16
Speaker 1: having to open the door only in answer to a
1:21:19
Speaker 1: special summons. Thus, his sister had no other choice but
1:21:24
Speaker 1: to involve his mother, while his father was absent. His
1:21:29
Speaker 1: mother approached Gregor's room with cries of excited joy, but
1:21:34
Speaker 1: she fell silent at the door. Of course, his sister
1:21:39
Speaker 1: first checked whether everything in the room was in order.
1:21:42
Speaker 1: Only then did she let his mother walk in in
1:21:46
Speaker 1: great haste. Gregor had drawn the sheet down even further
1:21:50
Speaker 1: and wrinkled it more. The whole thing really looked just
1:21:54
Speaker 1: like a coverlet thrown carelessly over the couch. On this occasion,
1:22:00
Speaker 1: Gregor held back from spying out from under the sheet.
1:22:04
Speaker 1: Thus he refrained from looking at his mother this time,
1:22:08
Speaker 1: and was just happy that she had come. Come on,
1:22:13
Speaker 1: he's not visible, said his sister, and evidently led his
1:22:16
Speaker 1: mother by the hand. Now Gregor listened as these two
1:22:21
Speaker 1: weak women shifted the still heavy old chest of drawers
1:22:25
Speaker 1: from its position, and his sister constantly took on herself
1:22:30
Speaker 1: the greatest part of the work, without listening to the
1:22:33
Speaker 1: warnings of his mother, who was afraid that she would
1:22:36
Speaker 1: strain herself. The work lasted a long time. After about
1:22:42
Speaker 1: a quarter of an hour had already gone by, his
1:22:45
Speaker 1: mother said it would be better if they left the
1:22:48
Speaker 1: chest of drawers where it was, because in the first
1:22:51
Speaker 1: place it was too heavy. They would not be finished
1:22:55
Speaker 1: before his father's arrival, and leaving the chest of drawers
1:22:59
Speaker 1: in the middle of the room would block all Gregor's pathways.
1:23:03
Speaker 1: But in the second place, they could not be certain
1:23:05
Speaker 1: that Gregor would be pleased with the removal of the furniture.
1:23:10
Speaker 1: To her, the reverse seemed to be true. The sight
1:23:13
Speaker 1: of the empty walls pierced her right to the heart.
1:23:17
Speaker 1: And why should Gregor not feel the same, since he
1:23:21
Speaker 1: had been accustomed to the room furnishings for a long time,
1:23:25
Speaker 1: and in an empty room would feel himself abandoned? And
1:23:29
Speaker 1: is it not the case? Said his mother, concluding very quietly,
1:23:34
Speaker 1: almost whispering, as if she wished to prevent Gregor, whose
1:23:38
Speaker 1: exact location she really didn't know, from hearing even the
1:23:42
Speaker 1: sound of her voice, for she was convinced that he
1:23:46
Speaker 1: did not understand her words. And isn't it a fact
1:23:49
Speaker 1: that by removing the furniture, we're showing that where giving
1:23:53
Speaker 1: up all hope of an improvement and leaving him to
1:23:56
Speaker 1: his own resources without any consideration. I think it would
1:24:01
Speaker 1: be best if we tried to keep the room exactly
1:24:03
Speaker 1: in the condition it was in before, so that when
1:24:07
Speaker 1: Gregor returns to us, he finds everything unchanged, and can
1:24:11
Speaker 1: forget the intervening time all the more easily. As he
1:24:16
Speaker 1: heard his mother's words, Gregor realized that the lack of
1:24:20
Speaker 1: all immediate human contact, together with the monotonous life surrounded
1:24:26
Speaker 1: by the family over the course of these two months,
1:24:30
Speaker 1: must have confused his understanding, because otherwise he couldn't explain
1:24:34
Speaker 1: to himself how he, in all seriousness, could have been
1:24:39
Speaker 1: so keen to have his room emptied. Was he really
1:24:43
Speaker 1: eager to let the warm room, comfortably furnished with pieces
1:24:47
Speaker 1: he had inherited, be turned into a cavern, in which
1:24:51
Speaker 1: he would, of course then be able to crawl about
1:24:54
Speaker 1: in all directions without disturbance, but at the same time
1:24:58
Speaker 1: with a quick and co complete forgetting of his human
1:25:02
Speaker 1: past as well. Was he then, at this point already
1:25:06
Speaker 1: on the verge of forgetting? And was it only the
1:25:10
Speaker 1: voice of his mother, which he had not heard for
1:25:13
Speaker 1: a long time, that had aroused him. Nothing was to
1:25:17
Speaker 1: be removed. Everything must remain. In his condition, he could
1:25:22
Speaker 1: not function without the beneficial influences of his furniture, And
1:25:27
Speaker 1: if the furniture prevented him from carrying out his senseless
1:25:31
Speaker 1: crawling about all over the place. Then there was no
1:25:34
Speaker 1: harm in that, but rather a great benefit. But his
1:25:39
Speaker 1: sister unfortunately thought otherwise. She had grown accustomed, certainly, not
1:25:46
Speaker 1: without justification, so far as the discussion of matters concerning
1:25:50
Speaker 1: Gregor was concerned. To act as a special expert with
1:25:55
Speaker 1: respect to their parents, and so now the mother's advice
1:25:59
Speaker 1: was for him. His sister sufficient reason to insist on
1:26:02
Speaker 1: the removal not only of the chest of drawers and
1:26:06
Speaker 1: the writing desk, which were the only items she had
1:26:09
Speaker 1: thought about at first, but also of all the furniture,
1:26:13
Speaker 1: with the exception of the indispensable couch. Of course, it
1:26:18
Speaker 1: was not only childish defiance and her recent, very unexpected
1:26:23
Speaker 1: and hard won self confidence which led her to this demand.
1:26:27
Speaker 1: She had also actually observed that Gregor needed a great
1:26:31
Speaker 1: deal of room to creep about. The furniture, on the
1:26:35
Speaker 1: other hand, as far as one could see, was not
1:26:38
Speaker 1: of the slightest use. But perhaps the enthusiastic sensibility of
1:26:45
Speaker 1: young women of her age also played a role. This
1:26:50
Speaker 1: feeling sought release at every opportunity, and with it Greta
1:26:54
Speaker 1: now felt tempted to want to make Gregor's situation even
1:26:58
Speaker 1: more terrifying, so that then she would be able to
1:27:02
Speaker 1: do even more for him than now, For surely no
1:27:05
Speaker 1: one except Greta would ever trust themselves to enter a
1:27:09
Speaker 1: room in which Gregor ruled the empty walls all by himself,
1:27:14
Speaker 1: and so she did not let herself be dissuaded from
1:27:17
Speaker 1: her decision by her mother, who in this room seemed
1:27:21
Speaker 1: uncertain of herself in her sheer agitation, and soon kept quiet,
1:27:27
Speaker 1: helping his sister with all her energy to get the
1:27:31
Speaker 1: chest of draws out of the room. Now Gregor could
1:27:35
Speaker 1: still do without the chest of draws if need be,
1:27:39
Speaker 1: but the writing desk really had to stay, and scarcely
1:27:43
Speaker 1: had the women left the room with the chest of
1:27:46
Speaker 1: draws groaning as they pushed it, when Gregor stuck his
1:27:50
Speaker 1: head out from under the sofa to take a look.
1:27:53
Speaker 1: How he could intervene cautiously and with as much consideration
1:27:58
Speaker 1: as possible, But unfortunately it was his mother who came
1:28:03
Speaker 1: back into the room first. While Greta had her arms
1:28:06
Speaker 1: wrapped around the chest of drawers in the next room
1:28:10
Speaker 1: and was rocking it back and forth by herself without
1:28:14
Speaker 1: moving it from its position. His mother was not used
1:28:18
Speaker 1: to the sight of Gregor. He could have made her
1:28:21
Speaker 1: ill and so frightened. Gregor scurried backwards, right to the
1:28:26
Speaker 1: other side of the sofa, but he could no longer
1:28:29
Speaker 1: prevent the sheet from moving forward. A little. That was
1:28:33
Speaker 1: enough to catch his mother's attention. She came to a halt,
1:28:38
Speaker 1: stood still for a moment, and then went back to Greta.
1:28:44
Speaker 1: Although Gregor kept repeating to himself over and over that
1:28:48
Speaker 1: really nothing unusual was going on, that only a few
1:28:52
Speaker 1: pieces of furniture were being rearranged, he soon had to
1:28:57
Speaker 1: admit to himself that the movements of the women to
1:29:00
Speaker 1: and fro, their quiet conversations, and the scratching of the
1:29:05
Speaker 1: furniture on the floor affected him like a great swollen
1:29:10
Speaker 1: commotion on all sides. And so firmly was he pulling
1:29:14
Speaker 1: in his head and legs and pressing his body to
1:29:18
Speaker 1: the floor. He had to tell himself unequivocally that he
1:29:22
Speaker 1: wouldn't be able to endure all this much longer. They
1:29:26
Speaker 1: were cleaning out his room, taking away from him everything
1:29:30
Speaker 1: he cherished. They had already dragged out the chest of
1:29:34
Speaker 1: drawers in which the fretsaw and other tools were kept,
1:29:39
Speaker 1: and they were now loosening the writing desk, which was
1:29:41
Speaker 1: fixed tight to the floor the desk on which he,
1:29:45
Speaker 1: as a business student, a school student, indeed, even as
1:29:49
Speaker 1: an elementary school student, had written out his assignments. At
1:29:54
Speaker 1: that moment, he really didn't have any more time to
1:29:58
Speaker 1: check the good intentions of the two women, whose existence
1:30:01
Speaker 1: he had in any case almost forgotten, because in their exhaustion,
1:30:06
Speaker 1: they were working really silently, and the heavy stumbling of
1:30:10
Speaker 1: their feet was the only sound to be heard, and
1:30:14
Speaker 1: so he scuttled out. The women were just propping themselves
1:30:18
Speaker 1: up on the writing desk in the next room in
1:30:20
Speaker 1: order to take a breather, changing the direction of his
1:30:24
Speaker 1: path four times, he really didn't know what he should
1:30:27
Speaker 1: rescue first. Then he saw, hanging conspicuously on the wall,
1:30:33
Speaker 1: which was otherwise already empty, the picture of the woman
1:30:37
Speaker 1: dressed in nothing but fur. He quickly scurried up over
1:30:41
Speaker 1: it and pressed himself against the glass, which held it
1:30:44
Speaker 1: in place, and which made his hot abdomen feel good.
1:30:49
Speaker 1: At least this picture, which Gregor at the moment completely concealed.
1:30:55
Speaker 1: Surely no one would now take it away. He twisted
1:30:59
Speaker 1: his head towards the door of the living room to
1:31:01
Speaker 1: observe the women as they came back in they had
1:31:05
Speaker 1: not allowed themselves very much rest and were coming back
1:31:09
Speaker 1: right away. Greta had placed her arm around her mother
1:31:13
Speaker 1: and held her tightly. So what shall we take now,
1:31:17
Speaker 1: said Greta, and looked around her. Then her glance met
1:31:22
Speaker 1: Gregor's from the wall. She kept her composure only because
1:31:26
Speaker 1: her mother was there. She bent her face towards her
1:31:29
Speaker 1: mother in order to prevent her from looking round, and said,
1:31:33
Speaker 1: although in a trembling voice, and too quickly come, wouldn't
1:31:37
Speaker 1: it be better to go back to the living room
1:31:39
Speaker 1: for just another moment. Greta's purpose was clear to Gregor.
1:31:44
Speaker 1: She wanted to bring his mother to a safe place
1:31:47
Speaker 1: and then chase him down from the wall. Well, let
1:31:50
Speaker 1: her just try. He squatted on his picture and did
1:31:55
Speaker 1: not hand it over. He would sooner spring into Greta's face.
1:32:02
Speaker 1: But Greta's words had immediately made the mother very uneasy.
1:32:06
Speaker 1: She walked to the side, caught sight of the enormous
1:32:10
Speaker 1: brown splotch on the flowered wallpaper, and before she became
1:32:15
Speaker 1: truly aware that what she was looking at was Gregor,
1:32:18
Speaker 1: screamed out in a high pitched, raw voice, oh God,
1:32:22
Speaker 1: Oh God, and fell with outstretched arms as if she
1:32:26
Speaker 1: were surrendering everything down onto the couch and lay there motionless. Gregor, you,
1:32:34
Speaker 1: cried out his sister with a raised fist and an
1:32:37
Speaker 1: urgent glare. Since his transformation. These were the first words
1:32:42
Speaker 1: which she had directed right at him. She ran into
1:32:46
Speaker 1: the room next door to bring some spirits or other
1:32:48
Speaker 1: with which she could revive her mother from her fainting spell.
1:32:53
Speaker 1: Gregor wanted to help us well, there was time enough
1:32:56
Speaker 1: to save the picture, but he was stuck fast on
1:33:00
Speaker 1: the glass and had to tear himself loose forcefully. Then
1:33:04
Speaker 1: he also scurried into the next room as if he
1:33:07
Speaker 1: could give his sister some advice, as in earlier times.
1:33:11
Speaker 1: But then he had to stand there idly behind her
1:33:15
Speaker 1: while she rummaged around among various small bottles. Still, she
1:33:20
Speaker 1: was frightened. When she turned round, the bottle fell on
1:33:23
Speaker 1: to the floor and shattered. A splinter of glass wounded
1:33:28
Speaker 1: Gregor in the face. Some corrosive medicine or other dripped
1:33:32
Speaker 1: over him. Now, without lingering any longer, Greta took as
1:33:37
Speaker 1: many small bottles as she could hold and ran with
1:33:40
Speaker 1: them into her mother. She slammed the door shut with
1:33:43
Speaker 1: her foot. Gregor was now shut off from his mother,
1:33:48
Speaker 1: who was perhaps near death thanks to him. He could
1:33:52
Speaker 1: not open the door, and he did not want to
1:33:55
Speaker 1: chase away his sister, who had to remain with her mother.
1:33:59
Speaker 1: At this point, he had nothing to do but wait
1:34:02
Speaker 1: and overwhelmed with self reproach and worry, he began to
1:34:07
Speaker 1: creep and crawl over everything, walls, furniture, and ceiling. Finally,
1:34:14
Speaker 1: in his despair, as the entire room started to spin
1:34:18
Speaker 1: around him, he fell onto the middle of the large table.
1:34:25
Speaker 1: A short time elapsed. Gregor lay there limply. All around
1:34:31
Speaker 1: was still. Perhaps that was a good sign. Then there
1:34:35
Speaker 1: was a ring at the door. The servant girl was
1:34:39
Speaker 1: naturally shot up in her kitchen, and therefore Greta had
1:34:42
Speaker 1: to go to open the door. The father had arrived.
1:34:47
Speaker 1: What's happened were his first words. Greta's appearance had told
1:34:52
Speaker 1: him everything, Greta replied with a dull voice. Evidently she
1:34:57
Speaker 1: was pressing her face against her father chest mother fainted.
1:35:03
Speaker 1: But she's getting better now. Gregor has broken loose. Yes,
1:35:08
Speaker 1: I have expected that, said his father. I always told
1:35:12
Speaker 1: you that, but you women don't want to listen. It
1:35:17
Speaker 1: was clear to Gregor that his father had badly misunderstood
1:35:20
Speaker 1: Greta's short message and was assuming that Gregor had committed
1:35:25
Speaker 1: some violent crime or other. Thus, Gregor now had to
1:35:29
Speaker 1: find his father to calm him down, for he had
1:35:33
Speaker 1: neither the time nor the ability to explain things to him,
1:35:37
Speaker 1: and so he rushed away to the door of his
1:35:39
Speaker 1: room and pushed himself against it so that his father
1:35:43
Speaker 1: could see right away as he entered from the hall
1:35:46
Speaker 1: that Gregor fully intended to return at once to his room,
1:35:51
Speaker 1: and that it was not necessary to drive him back,
1:35:54
Speaker 1: but that one only needed to open the door and
1:35:57
Speaker 1: he would disappear immediately. But his father was not in
1:36:02
Speaker 1: the mood to observe such niceties. Ah, he yelled as
1:36:07
Speaker 1: soon as he entered, with a tone as if he
1:36:10
Speaker 1: were all at once angry and pleased. Gregor pulled his
1:36:14
Speaker 1: head back from the door and raised it in the
1:36:17
Speaker 1: direction of his father. He had not really pictured his
1:36:21
Speaker 1: father as he now stood there, of course, what with
1:36:25
Speaker 1: his new style of creeping all around, he had in
1:36:28
Speaker 1: the past while neglected to pay attention to what was
1:36:32
Speaker 1: going on in the rest of the apartment as he
1:36:34
Speaker 1: had done before, and really should have grasped the fact
1:36:38
Speaker 1: that he would encounter different conditions. Nevertheless, nevertheless, was that
1:36:45
Speaker 1: still his father. Was that the same man who had
1:36:48
Speaker 1: lain exhausted and buried in bed in earlier days when
1:36:52
Speaker 1: Gregor was setting out on a business trip, who had
1:36:55
Speaker 1: received him on the evenings of his return in a
1:36:58
Speaker 1: sleeping gown and arm chair, totally incapable of standing up,
1:37:04
Speaker 1: who had only lifted his arm as a sign of happiness,
1:37:07
Speaker 1: And who, in their rare strolls together a few sundays
1:37:11
Speaker 1: a year, and on the important holidays, made his way
1:37:15
Speaker 1: slowly forwards between Gregor and his mother, who themselves moved slowly,
1:37:22
Speaker 1: always a bit more slowly than them, bundled up in
1:37:25
Speaker 1: his old coat all the time, setting down his walking
1:37:29
Speaker 1: stick carefully, and who, when he had wanted to say something,
1:37:34
Speaker 1: almost always stood still and gathered his entourage around him.
1:37:40
Speaker 1: But now he was standing up, really straight, dressed in
1:37:44
Speaker 1: a tight fitting blue uniform with gold buttons, like the
1:37:48
Speaker 1: one servants wear in a banking company. Above the high
1:37:53
Speaker 1: stiff collar of his jacket, his firm double chin stuck
1:37:57
Speaker 1: out prominently beneath his bushy eyebrows. The glance of his
1:38:01
Speaker 1: black eyes was freshly penetrating and alert. His otherwise disheveled
1:38:07
Speaker 1: white hair was combed down into a carefully exact, shining part.
1:38:13
Speaker 1: He threw his cap, on which a gold monogram apparently
1:38:17
Speaker 1: the symbol of the bank, was affixed in an arc
1:38:21
Speaker 1: across the entire room, onto the sofa, and moved, throwing
1:38:26
Speaker 1: back the edge of the long coat of his uniform,
1:38:29
Speaker 1: with his hands in his trouser pockets and a grim face,
1:38:33
Speaker 1: right up to Gregor. He really didn't know what he
1:38:38
Speaker 1: had in mind, but he raised his foot uncommonly high anyway,
1:38:43
Speaker 1: and Gregor was astonished at the gigantic size of the
1:38:47
Speaker 1: soul of his boot. However, he did not linger on
1:38:51
Speaker 1: that point, for he knew from the first day of
1:38:54
Speaker 1: his new life that, as far as he was concerned,
1:38:58
Speaker 1: his father considered the grayst force the only appropriate response,
1:39:03
Speaker 1: and so he scurried away from his father, stopped when
1:39:07
Speaker 1: his father remained standing, and scampered forward again when his
1:39:11
Speaker 1: father merely stirred. And in this way they made their
1:39:15
Speaker 1: way round the room repeatedly without anything decisive taking place.
1:39:21
Speaker 1: In fact, because of the slow pace, it didn't look
1:39:25
Speaker 1: like a chase. Gregor remained on the floor for the
1:39:29
Speaker 1: time being, especially since he was afraid that his father
1:39:33
Speaker 1: could take a flight up onto the wall or the
1:39:36
Speaker 1: ceiling as an act of real malice. At any event,
1:39:40
Speaker 1: Gregor had to tell himself that he couldn't keep up
1:39:43
Speaker 1: this running round for a long time, because whenever his
1:39:47
Speaker 1: father took a single step he had to go through
1:39:50
Speaker 1: an enormous number of movements. Already he was starting to
1:39:55
Speaker 1: suffer from a shortage of breath, just as in his
1:39:58
Speaker 1: earlier days when his lung had been quite unreliable, as
1:40:02
Speaker 1: he now staggered around in this way in order to
1:40:06
Speaker 1: gather all his energies for running, hardly keeping his eyes
1:40:10
Speaker 1: open and feeling so listless that he had no notion
1:40:14
Speaker 1: at all of any escape other than by running, and
1:40:18
Speaker 1: had almost already forgotten that the walls were available to him,
1:40:22
Speaker 1: although they were obstructed by carefully carved furniture full of
1:40:27
Speaker 1: sharp objects and spikes. At that moment, something or other
1:40:32
Speaker 1: thrown casually flew down close by and rolled in front
1:40:36
Speaker 1: of him. It was an apple. Immediately a second one
1:40:42
Speaker 1: flew after it, Gregor stood still in fright. Further running
1:40:47
Speaker 1: away was useless, for his father had decided to bombard
1:40:52
Speaker 1: him from the fruit bowl on the sideboard. His father
1:40:56
Speaker 1: had filled his pockets, and now without for the moment
1:41:00
Speaker 1: taking accurate aim, he was throwing apple after apple. These
1:41:05
Speaker 1: small red apples rolled around on the floor as if electrified,
1:41:10
Speaker 1: and collided with each other. A weakly thrown apple grazed
1:41:14
Speaker 1: Gregor's back, but skid it off harmlessly. However, another thrown
1:41:20
Speaker 1: immediately after that one drove into Gregor's back really hard.
1:41:25
Speaker 1: Gregor wanted to drag himself off, as if the unexpected
1:41:29
Speaker 1: and incredible pain would go away if he changed his position,
1:41:34
Speaker 1: but he felt as if he was nailed in place,
1:41:37
Speaker 1: and lay stretched out, completely confused in all his senses.
1:41:42
Speaker 1: Only with his final glance did he notice how the
1:41:45
Speaker 1: door of his room was pulled open, and how, right
1:41:49
Speaker 1: in front of his sister, who was yelling, his mother
1:41:52
Speaker 1: ran out in her undergarments, for his sister had undressed
1:41:56
Speaker 1: her in order to give her some freedom to breathe
1:41:58
Speaker 1: in her fainting's pace, And how his mother then ran
1:42:02
Speaker 1: up to his father. On the way, her tied up
1:42:05
Speaker 1: skirts slipped toward the floor one after the other, and
1:42:09
Speaker 1: how tripping over her skirts, she hurled herself on to
1:42:13
Speaker 1: his father and throwing her arms around him in complete
1:42:18
Speaker 1: union with him, But at this moment Gregor's powers of
1:42:21
Speaker 1: sight gave way as her hands reached to the back
1:42:24
Speaker 1: of his father's head and she begged him to spare
1:42:28
Speaker 1: Gregor's life. End of Part two three. Gregor's serious wound,
1:42:40
Speaker 1: from which he suffered for over a month, since no
1:42:43
Speaker 1: one ventured to remove the apple, it remained in his
1:42:46
Speaker 1: flesh as a visible reminder, seemed by itself to have
1:42:50
Speaker 1: reminded the father that, in spite of his present unhappy
1:42:54
Speaker 1: and hateful appearance, Gregor was a member of the family
1:43:00
Speaker 1: one should not treat as an enemy, and that it was,
1:43:03
Speaker 1: on the contrary, a requirement of family duty to suppress
1:43:08
Speaker 1: one's aversion and to endure. Nothing else, just endure. And
1:43:15
Speaker 1: if through his wound Gregor had now apparently lost for
1:43:18
Speaker 1: good his ability to move, and for the time being
1:43:22
Speaker 1: needed many many minutes to crawl across his room like
1:43:27
Speaker 1: an aged invalid, so far as creeping up high was concerned,
1:43:31
Speaker 1: that was unimaginable. Nevertheless, for this worsening of his condition,
1:43:36
Speaker 1: in his opinion, he did get completely satisfactory compensation because
1:43:42
Speaker 1: every day, towards evening, the door to the living room
1:43:46
Speaker 1: which he was in the habit of keeping a sharp
1:43:48
Speaker 1: eye on even one or two hours beforehand was opened,
1:43:53
Speaker 1: so that he, lying in the darkness of his room,
1:43:56
Speaker 1: invisible from the living room, could see the entire family
1:44:01
Speaker 1: at the illuminated table, and listened to their conversation to
1:44:06
Speaker 1: a certain extent, with their common permission. A situation quite
1:44:10
Speaker 1: different from what had happened before. Of course, it was
1:44:15
Speaker 1: no longer the animated social interaction of former times, which Gregor,
1:44:21
Speaker 1: in small hotel rooms, had always thought about with a
1:44:24
Speaker 1: certain longing. When tired out, he had had to throw
1:44:28
Speaker 1: himself into the damp bedclothes. For the most part, what
1:44:33
Speaker 1: went on now was very quiet. After the evening meal,
1:44:37
Speaker 1: the father fell asleep quickly in his arm chair. The
1:44:41
Speaker 1: mother and sister talked guardedly to each other in the stillness.
1:44:46
Speaker 1: Bent far over. The mother sewed fine undergarments for a
1:44:51
Speaker 1: fashion shop. The sister, who had taken on a job
1:44:55
Speaker 1: as a sales girl in the evening, studied stenography and
1:44:59
Speaker 1: French so as perhaps later to obtain a better position.
1:45:05
Speaker 1: Sometimes the father woke up, and, as if he was
1:45:08
Speaker 1: quite ignorant that he'd been asleep, said to the mother,
1:45:12
Speaker 1: how long have you been sewing? To day? And went
1:45:15
Speaker 1: right back to sleep, while the mother and the sister
1:45:19
Speaker 1: smiled tiredly to each other. With a sort of stubbornness,
1:45:24
Speaker 1: the father refused to take off his servant's uniform even
1:45:28
Speaker 1: at home, and while his sleeping gown hung unused on
1:45:32
Speaker 1: the coat hook, the father dozed completely dressed in his place,
1:45:38
Speaker 1: as if he was always ready for his responsibility, and
1:45:41
Speaker 1: even here was waiting for the voice of his superior.
1:45:45
Speaker 1: As a result, in spite of all the care of
1:45:48
Speaker 1: the mother and sister, his uniform, which even at the
1:45:52
Speaker 1: start was not new, grew dirty, and Gregor looked often
1:45:57
Speaker 1: for the entire evening at the clothing with stains all
1:46:02
Speaker 1: over it, and with its gold buttons always polished, in
1:46:06
Speaker 1: which the old man, although very uncomfortable, slept peacefully. Nonetheless,
1:46:14
Speaker 1: as soon as the clock struck ten, the mother tried
1:46:17
Speaker 1: gently encouraging the father to wake up, and then persuading
1:46:21
Speaker 1: him to go to bed, on the ground that he
1:46:23
Speaker 1: couldn't get a proper sleep here, and that the father,
1:46:27
Speaker 1: who had to report for service at six o'clock, really
1:46:30
Speaker 1: needed a good sleep. But in his stubbornness, which had
1:46:35
Speaker 1: gripped him since he'd become a servant. He insisted always
1:46:39
Speaker 1: on staying even longer by the table, although he regularly
1:46:43
Speaker 1: fell asleep, and then could only be prevailed upon with
1:46:47
Speaker 1: the greatest difficulty to trade his chair for the bed,
1:46:52
Speaker 1: no matter how much the mother and sister might at
1:46:54
Speaker 1: that point work on him with small admonitions. For a
1:46:58
Speaker 1: quarter of an hour, he would remain shaking his head slowly,
1:47:02
Speaker 1: eyes closed, without standing up. The mother would pull him
1:47:07
Speaker 1: by the sleeve and speak flattering words into his ear.
1:47:11
Speaker 1: The sister would leave her work to help her mother,
1:47:15
Speaker 1: but that would not have the desired effect on the father.
1:47:19
Speaker 1: He would settle himself even more deeply in his arm chair.
1:47:23
Speaker 1: Only when the two women grabbed him under the armpits
1:47:26
Speaker 1: would he throw his eyes open, look back and forth
1:47:30
Speaker 1: at the mother and sister, and habitually say, this is
1:47:34
Speaker 1: a life, this is the peace and quiet of my
1:47:37
Speaker 1: old age. And propped up by both women, he would
1:47:42
Speaker 1: heave himself up elaborately, as if for him it was
1:47:45
Speaker 1: the greatest obstacle, allow himself to be led to the
1:47:49
Speaker 1: door by the women, wave them away there, and proceed
1:47:53
Speaker 1: on his own from there, while the mother quickly threw
1:47:56
Speaker 1: down her sewing implements and the sister her pen in
1:48:00
Speaker 1: order to run after the father and help him some more.
1:48:05
Speaker 1: In this overworked and exhausted family, who had time to
1:48:10
Speaker 1: worry any longer about Gregor more than was absolutely necessary,
1:48:15
Speaker 1: the household was constantly getting smaller. The servant girl was
1:48:20
Speaker 1: now let go. A huge, bony cleaning woman with white
1:48:24
Speaker 1: hair flying all over her head, came in the morning
1:48:27
Speaker 1: and evening to do the heaviest work. The mother took
1:48:31
Speaker 1: care of everything else, in addition to her considerable sewing work.
1:48:36
Speaker 1: It even happened that various pieces of family jewelry, which
1:48:40
Speaker 1: previously the mother and sister had been overjoyed to wear
1:48:44
Speaker 1: on social and festive occasions, were sold, as Gregor found
1:48:49
Speaker 1: out in the evening from the general discussion of the
1:48:52
Speaker 1: prices they had fetched. But the greatest complaint was always
1:48:56
Speaker 1: that they could not leave this apartment, which was too
1:49:00
Speaker 1: big for their present means, since it was impossible to
1:49:04
Speaker 1: imagine how Gregor might be moved. But Gregor fully recognized
1:49:09
Speaker 1: that it was not just consideration for him which was
1:49:13
Speaker 1: preventing a move, for he could have been transported easily
1:49:16
Speaker 1: in a sizeable box with a few air holes. The
1:49:20
Speaker 1: main thing holding the family back from a change in
1:49:23
Speaker 1: living quarters, was far more their complete hopelessness and the
1:49:28
Speaker 1: idea that they had been struck by a misfortune like
1:49:31
Speaker 1: no one else in their entire circle of relatives and acquaintances.
1:49:39
Speaker 1: What the world demands of poor people, they now carried
1:49:43
Speaker 1: out to an extreme degree. The father bought breakfast to
1:49:47
Speaker 1: the petty officials at the bank. The mother sacrificed herself
1:49:52
Speaker 1: for the undergarments of strangers. The sister behind her desk
1:49:57
Speaker 1: was at the beckon call of customers. But the family's
1:50:01
Speaker 1: energies did not extend any further, and the wound in
1:50:05
Speaker 1: his back began to pain Gregor all over again. When
1:50:09
Speaker 1: now mother and sister, after they had escorted the father
1:50:13
Speaker 1: back to bed, came back, let their work lie, moved
1:50:18
Speaker 1: close together and sat cheeked to cheek, And when his
1:50:22
Speaker 1: mother would now say, pointing to Gregor's room, closed the
1:50:27
Speaker 1: door Greta. And when Gregor was again in the darkness,
1:50:32
Speaker 1: while close by the women mingled their tears or quite
1:50:36
Speaker 1: dry eyed, stared at the table. Gregor spent his nights
1:50:43
Speaker 1: and days with hardly any sleep. Sometimes he thought that
1:50:47
Speaker 1: the next time the door opened, he would take over
1:50:50
Speaker 1: the family arrangements, just as he had earlier in his imagination,
1:50:55
Speaker 1: appeared again after a long time, his employer and supervisor,
1:51:00
Speaker 1: and the apprentices, the excessively spineless custodian, two or three
1:51:06
Speaker 1: friends from other businesses, a chamber made from a hotel
1:51:10
Speaker 1: in the provinces, a loving fleeting memory, a female cashier
1:51:16
Speaker 1: from a hat shop whom he had seriously but too
1:51:19
Speaker 1: slowly courted. They all appeared, mixed in with strangers or
1:51:24
Speaker 1: people he had already forgotten, But instead of helping him
1:51:28
Speaker 1: and his family, they were all unapproachable, and he was
1:51:32
Speaker 1: happy to see them disappear. But then he was in
1:51:37
Speaker 1: no mood to worry about his family. He was filled
1:51:41
Speaker 1: with sheer anger over the wretched care he was getting.
1:51:45
Speaker 1: Even though he couldn't imagine anything which he might have
1:51:48
Speaker 1: an appetite for. Still, he made plans about how he
1:51:53
Speaker 1: could take from the larder what he at all account deserved,
1:51:57
Speaker 1: even if he wasn't hungry, without thinking any more about
1:52:01
Speaker 1: how they might be able to give gregor special pleasure.
1:52:05
Speaker 1: The sister now kicked some food or other very quickly
1:52:09
Speaker 1: into his room in the morning and at noon before
1:52:12
Speaker 1: she ran off to her shop, and in the evening,
1:52:15
Speaker 1: quite indifferent to whether the food had perhaps only been
1:52:18
Speaker 1: tasted or what happened most frequently remained entirely undisturbed. She
1:52:25
Speaker 1: whisked it out with one sweep of her broom. The
1:52:29
Speaker 1: task of cleaning his room, which she now always carried
1:52:32
Speaker 1: out in the evening, could not be done any more quickly.
1:52:37
Speaker 1: Streaks of dirt ran along the walls. Here and there
1:52:41
Speaker 1: lay tangles of dust and garbage. At first, when his
1:52:45
Speaker 1: sister arrived, Gregor positioned himself in a particularly filthy corner
1:52:51
Speaker 1: in order, with this posture, to make something of a protest.
1:52:55
Speaker 1: But he could have well stayed there for weeks without
1:52:58
Speaker 1: his sister's changing her ways. In fact, she perceived the
1:53:03
Speaker 1: dirt as much as he did, but she had decided
1:53:07
Speaker 1: just to let it stay. In this business with a
1:53:13
Speaker 1: touchiness which was quite new to her and which had
1:53:16
Speaker 1: generally taken over the entire family, she kept watch to
1:53:21
Speaker 1: see that the cleaning of Gregor's room remained reserved for her.
1:53:26
Speaker 1: Once his mother had undertaken a major cleaning of Gregor's room,
1:53:31
Speaker 1: which she had only completed successfully after using a few
1:53:34
Speaker 1: buckets of water, But the extensive dampness made Gregor sick,
1:53:40
Speaker 1: and he lay supine, embittered, and immobile on the couch. However,
1:53:46
Speaker 1: the mother's punishment was not delayed for long, for in
1:53:50
Speaker 1: the evening, the sister had hardly observed the change in
1:53:53
Speaker 1: Gregor's room before she ran into the living room, mightily offended, and,
1:53:58
Speaker 1: in spite of her mother's hand lifted high in entreaty,
1:54:01
Speaker 1: broke out into a fit of crying her parents. The father,
1:54:07
Speaker 1: had of course woken up with a start in his armchair,
1:54:10
Speaker 1: had first looked at her, astonished and helpless, until they
1:54:14
Speaker 1: started to get agitated. Turning to his right, the father
1:54:19
Speaker 1: heaped reproaches on the mother that she was not to
1:54:22
Speaker 1: take over the cleaning of Gregor's room from the sister,
1:54:26
Speaker 1: and turning to his left, he shouted at the sister
1:54:29
Speaker 1: that she would no longer be allowed to clean Gregor's
1:54:32
Speaker 1: room ever again. While the mother tried to pull the
1:54:36
Speaker 1: father beside himself in his excitement into the bedroom, the sister,
1:54:42
Speaker 1: shaken by her crying fit, pounded on the table with
1:54:46
Speaker 1: her tiny fists, and Gregor hissed at all this angry
1:54:51
Speaker 1: that no one thought about shutting the door and sparing
1:54:55
Speaker 1: him the sight of this commotion. But even when sister,
1:55:01
Speaker 1: exhausted from her daily work, had grown tired of caring
1:55:05
Speaker 1: for Gregor as she had before, even then, the mother
1:55:08
Speaker 1: did not have to come at all on her behalf,
1:55:12
Speaker 1: and Gregor did not have to be neglected. For now
1:55:17
Speaker 1: the cleaning woman was there. This old widow, who in
1:55:21
Speaker 1: her long life must have managed to survive the worst
1:55:24
Speaker 1: with the help of her bony frame, had no real
1:55:27
Speaker 1: horror of Gregor, without being in the least curious. She
1:55:32
Speaker 1: had once, by chance opened Gregor's door at the sight
1:55:36
Speaker 1: of Gregor, who, totally surprised, began to scamper here and there.
1:55:41
Speaker 1: Although no one was chasing him. She remained standing with
1:55:45
Speaker 1: her hands folded across her stomach, staring at him. Since
1:55:49
Speaker 1: then she did not fail to open the door furtively
1:55:53
Speaker 1: a little every morning and evening to look in on Gregor.
1:55:57
Speaker 1: At first, she also called him to her with words
1:56:00
Speaker 1: which she presumably thought were friendly, like come here for
1:56:05
Speaker 1: a bit, old dung beetle, or hey, look at the
1:56:08
Speaker 1: old dung beetle. Addressed in such a manner, Gregor answered nothing,
1:56:15
Speaker 1: but remained motionless in his place, as if the door
1:56:18
Speaker 1: had not been opened at all. If only Instead of
1:56:22
Speaker 1: allowing this cleaning woman to disturb him uselessly whenever she
1:56:26
Speaker 1: felt like it, they had given her orders to clean
1:56:29
Speaker 1: up his room every day. One day, in the early morning,
1:56:35
Speaker 1: a hard downpour, perhaps already a sign of the coming spring,
1:56:40
Speaker 1: struck the window panes. When the cleaning woman started up
1:56:44
Speaker 1: once again with her usual conversation, Gregor was so bitter
1:56:48
Speaker 1: that he turned towards her as if for an attack,
1:56:52
Speaker 1: although slowly and weakly. But instead of being afraid of him,
1:56:57
Speaker 1: the cleaning woman merely lifted up a chair standing close
1:57:01
Speaker 1: by the door, and as she stood there with her
1:57:04
Speaker 1: mouth wide open, her intention was clear. She would close
1:57:09
Speaker 1: her mouth only when the chair in her hand had
1:57:11
Speaker 1: been thrown down on Gregor's back. This goes on no further,
1:57:16
Speaker 1: all right, she asked, as Gregor turned himself around again,
1:57:21
Speaker 1: and she placed the chair calmly back in the corner.
1:57:26
Speaker 1: Gregor ate hardly anything anymore. Only when he chanced to
1:57:32
Speaker 1: move past the food which had been prepared, did he,
1:57:35
Speaker 1: as a game, take a bit into his mouth, hold
1:57:39
Speaker 1: it there for hours, and generally spit it out again.
1:57:44
Speaker 1: At first, he thought it might be his sadness over
1:57:46
Speaker 1: the condition of his room, which kept him from eating,
1:57:50
Speaker 1: But he very soon became reconciled to the alterations in
1:57:53
Speaker 1: his room. People had grown accustomed to put into storage
1:57:58
Speaker 1: in his room which they couldn't put anywhere else, and
1:58:03
Speaker 1: at this point there were many such things. Now that
1:58:06
Speaker 1: they had rented one room of the apartment to three lodgers.
1:58:11
Speaker 1: These solemn gentlemen, all three had full beards, as Gregor
1:58:16
Speaker 1: once found out through a crack in the door, were
1:58:19
Speaker 1: meticulously intent on tidiness, not only in their own room,
1:58:24
Speaker 1: but once they had now rented a room there in
1:58:27
Speaker 1: the entire household, and particularly in the kitchen. They simply
1:58:33
Speaker 1: did not tolerate any useless or shoddy stuff. Moreover, for
1:58:39
Speaker 1: the most part, they had brought with them their own
1:58:41
Speaker 1: pieces of furniture. Thus many items had become superfluous, and
1:58:47
Speaker 1: these were not really things one could sell or things
1:58:50
Speaker 1: people wanted to throw out. All these items ended up
1:58:55
Speaker 1: in Gregor's room, even the box of ashes and the
1:58:59
Speaker 1: garbage pail for the kitchen. The cleaning woman, always in
1:59:03
Speaker 1: a hurry, simply flung anything that was momentarily useless into
1:59:08
Speaker 1: Gregor's room. Fortunately, Gregor generally saw only the relevant object
1:59:14
Speaker 1: and the hand which held it. The cleaning woman perhaps
1:59:18
Speaker 1: was intending when time and opportunity allowed, to take the
1:59:23
Speaker 1: stuff out again, or to throw everything out all at once,
1:59:28
Speaker 1: but in fact the things remained lying there wherever they
1:59:31
Speaker 1: had ended up at the first throw, unless Gregor squirmed
1:59:35
Speaker 1: his way through the accumulation of junk and moved it.
1:59:40
Speaker 1: At first, he was forced to do this because otherwise
1:59:43
Speaker 1: there was no room for him to creep around, but
1:59:47
Speaker 1: later he did it with a growing pleasure, although after
1:59:50
Speaker 1: such movements, tired to death and feeling wretched, he didn't
1:59:55
Speaker 1: budge for hours. Because the lodgers sometimes took their evening
2:00:01
Speaker 1: meal at home in the common living room, the door
2:00:05
Speaker 1: to the living room stayed shut on many evenings, but
2:00:09
Speaker 1: Gregor had no trouble at all going without the open door. Already,
2:00:14
Speaker 1: on many evenings when it was open, he had not
2:00:17
Speaker 1: availed himself of it, but without the family noticing, was
2:00:21
Speaker 1: stretched out in the darkest corner of his room. However,
2:00:26
Speaker 1: once the cleaning woman had left the door to the
2:00:29
Speaker 1: living room slightly ajar, and it remained open even when
2:00:33
Speaker 1: the lodgers came in in the evening and the lights
2:00:36
Speaker 1: were put on. They sat down at the head of
2:00:39
Speaker 1: the table where in earlier days the mother, the father,
2:00:42
Speaker 1: and Gregor had eaten, unfolded their serviettes and picked up
2:00:47
Speaker 1: their knives and forks. The mother immediately appeared in the
2:00:51
Speaker 1: door with a dish of meat, and right behind her
2:00:54
Speaker 1: the sister with a dish piled high with potatoes. The
2:00:59
Speaker 1: food gave off a lot of steam. The gentlemen lodgers
2:01:03
Speaker 1: bent over the plate set before them as if they
2:01:06
Speaker 1: wanted to check it before eating, and in fact, the
2:01:09
Speaker 1: one who sat in the middle for the other two
2:01:12
Speaker 1: he seemed to serve as the authority, cut off a
2:01:15
Speaker 1: piece of meat still on the plate, obviously to establish
2:01:19
Speaker 1: whether it was sufficiently tender and whether or not something
2:01:22
Speaker 1: should be shipped back to the kitchen. He was satisfied,
2:01:26
Speaker 1: and mother and sister, who had looked on in suspense,
2:01:30
Speaker 1: began to breathe easily and to smile. The family itself
2:01:36
Speaker 1: ate in the kitchen in spite of that. Before the
2:01:40
Speaker 1: father went into the kitchen, he came into the room
2:01:43
Speaker 1: and with a single bow cap in hand, made a
2:01:47
Speaker 1: tour of the table. The lodgers rose up collectively and
2:01:51
Speaker 1: murmured something in their beards. Then, when they were alone
2:01:56
Speaker 1: they ate almost in complete silence, and odd to Gregor
2:02:01
Speaker 1: that out of all the many different sorts of sounds
2:02:05
Speaker 1: of eating, what was always audible was their chewing teeth,
2:02:09
Speaker 1: as if by that Gregor should be shown that people
2:02:12
Speaker 1: needed their teeth to eat, and that nothing could be
2:02:16
Speaker 1: done even with the most handsome, toothless jawbone. I really
2:02:22
Speaker 1: do have an appetite, Gregor said to himself sorrowfully, but
2:02:26
Speaker 1: not for these things. How these lodgers stuffed themselves, and
2:02:32
Speaker 1: I am dying on this very evening. The violin sounded
2:02:39
Speaker 1: from the kitchen. Gregor didn't remember hearing it. All Through
2:02:44
Speaker 1: this period, the lodgers had already ended their night meal.
2:02:49
Speaker 1: The middle one had pulled out a newspaper and had
2:02:52
Speaker 1: given each of the other two a page, and they
2:02:55
Speaker 1: were now leaning back, reading and smoking. When the viol
2:03:00
Speaker 1: lynn started playing, they became attentive, got up, and went
2:03:04
Speaker 1: on tiptoe to the hall door, at which they remained
2:03:08
Speaker 1: standing pressed up against one another. They must have been
2:03:12
Speaker 1: audible from the kitchen, because the father called out, Perhaps
2:03:16
Speaker 1: the gentlemen don't like the playing. It can be stopped
2:03:19
Speaker 1: at once. On the contrary, stated the lodger in the
2:03:23
Speaker 1: middle might the young woman not come out into us
2:03:26
Speaker 1: and play in the room here, where it is really
2:03:28
Speaker 1: much more comfortable and cheerful. Oh thank you, cried out
2:03:32
Speaker 1: the father, as if he were the one playing the violin.
2:03:37
Speaker 1: The men stepped back into the room and waited. Soon
2:03:41
Speaker 1: the father came with the music stand, the mother with
2:03:44
Speaker 1: the sheet music, and the sister with the violin. The
2:03:49
Speaker 1: sister calmly prepared everything for the recital. The parents, who
2:03:54
Speaker 1: had never previously rented a room and therefore exaggerated their
2:03:58
Speaker 1: politeness to the lodgers, dared not sit on their own chairs.
2:04:03
Speaker 1: The father leaned against the door, his right hand stuck
2:04:07
Speaker 1: between two buttons of his buttoned up uniform. The mother, however,
2:04:12
Speaker 1: accepted a chair offered by one lodger, since she left
2:04:16
Speaker 1: the chair sit where the gentleman had chanced to put it,
2:04:19
Speaker 1: She sat to one side in a corner. The sister
2:04:24
Speaker 1: began to play. The father and mother, one on each side,
2:04:30
Speaker 1: followed attentively the movements of her hands, attracted by the playing.
2:04:35
Speaker 1: Gregor had ventured to advance a little further forward, and
2:04:39
Speaker 1: his head was already in the living room. He scarcely
2:04:43
Speaker 1: wondered about the fact that recently he had had so
2:04:46
Speaker 1: little consideration for the others. Earlier, this consideration had been
2:04:51
Speaker 1: something he was proud of, and for that very reason
2:04:54
Speaker 1: he would have had at this moment more reason to
2:04:57
Speaker 1: hide away, because, as a re is result of the
2:05:00
Speaker 1: dust which lay all over his room and flew around
2:05:04
Speaker 1: with the slightest movement, he was totally covered in dirt
2:05:09
Speaker 1: on his back and his sides. He carted around with
2:05:12
Speaker 1: him dust, threads, hair, and remnants of food. His indifference
2:05:19
Speaker 1: to everything was much too great for him to lie
2:05:21
Speaker 1: on his back and scour himself on the carpet, as
2:05:25
Speaker 1: he often had done earlier during the day. In spite
2:05:29
Speaker 1: of his condition, he had no timidity about inching forward
2:05:33
Speaker 1: a bit on the spotless floor of the living room.
2:05:39
Speaker 1: In any case, no one paid him any attention. The
2:05:42
Speaker 1: family was all caught up in the violin playing, the Lodgers,
2:05:46
Speaker 1: by contrast, who for the moment had placed themselves hands
2:05:50
Speaker 1: in their trouser pockets behind the music stand, much too
2:05:54
Speaker 1: close to the sister, so that they could all see
2:05:57
Speaker 1: the sheet music, something that must certainly bother. The sister
2:06:02
Speaker 1: soon drew back to the window, conversing in low voices
2:06:06
Speaker 1: with bowed heads, where they then remained worriedly observed by
2:06:10
Speaker 1: the father. It now seemed really clear that, having assumed
2:06:15
Speaker 1: they were to hear a beautiful or entertaining violin recital,
2:06:19
Speaker 1: they were disappointed, and were allowing their peace and quiet
2:06:23
Speaker 1: to be disturbed only out of politeness. The way in
2:06:28
Speaker 1: which they all blew the smoke from their cigars out
2:06:31
Speaker 1: of their noses and mouths, in particular, led one to
2:06:35
Speaker 1: conclude that they were very irritated. And yet his sister
2:06:40
Speaker 1: was playing so beautifully. Her face was turned to the side,
2:06:45
Speaker 1: her gaze followed the score intently, and sadly, Gregor crept
2:06:51
Speaker 1: forward still a little further, keeping his head close against
2:06:55
Speaker 1: the floor, in order to be able to catch her gaze.
2:06:58
Speaker 1: If possible, was he an animal that music so captivated him.
2:07:04
Speaker 1: For him, it was as if the way to the
2:07:07
Speaker 1: unknown nourishment he craved was revealing itself. He was determined
2:07:12
Speaker 1: to press forward right to his sister, to tug at
2:07:16
Speaker 1: her dress, and to indicate to her in this way
2:07:19
Speaker 1: that she might still come with her violin into his room.
2:07:24
Speaker 1: Because here no one valued the recital as he wanted
2:07:27
Speaker 1: to value it. He did not wish to let her
2:07:31
Speaker 1: go from his room any more, at least not as
2:07:34
Speaker 1: long as he lived. His frightening appearance would for the
2:07:38
Speaker 1: first time become useful for him. He wanted to be
2:07:43
Speaker 1: at all the doors of his room simultaneously and snarl
2:07:47
Speaker 1: back at the attackers. However, his sister should not be compelled,
2:07:52
Speaker 1: but would remain with him voluntarily. She would sit next
2:07:56
Speaker 1: to him on the sofa, bend down her ear to him,
2:08:00
Speaker 1: and he would then confide in her that he firmly
2:08:03
Speaker 1: intended to send her to the conservatory, and that if
2:08:08
Speaker 1: his misfortune had not arrived in the interim, he would
2:08:11
Speaker 1: have declared all this last Christmas, had Christmas really already
2:08:16
Speaker 1: come and gone, and would have brooked no argument. After
2:08:22
Speaker 1: this explanation, his sister would break out in tears of emotion,
2:08:26
Speaker 1: and Gregor would lift himself up to her armpit and
2:08:29
Speaker 1: kiss her throat, which she, from the time she started
2:08:33
Speaker 1: going to work, had left exposed without a band or
2:08:37
Speaker 1: a collar. Mister Samson called out the middle lodger to
2:08:43
Speaker 1: his father, and without uttering a further word, pointed his
2:08:47
Speaker 1: index finger at Gregor. As he was moving slowly forward.
2:08:52
Speaker 1: The violin fell silent. The middle Lodger smiled, first, shaking
2:08:58
Speaker 1: his head once at his friend's and then looked down
2:09:01
Speaker 1: at Gregor once more. Rather than driving Gregor back again,
2:09:07
Speaker 1: the father seemed to consider it of prime importance to
2:09:09
Speaker 1: calm down the Lodgers, although they were not at all
2:09:13
Speaker 1: upset and Gregor seemed to entertain them more than the
2:09:16
Speaker 1: violin recital, The father hurried over to them and with
2:09:21
Speaker 1: outstretched arms, tried to push them into their own room
2:09:25
Speaker 1: and simultaneously to block their view of Gregor with his
2:09:28
Speaker 1: own body. At this they became really somewhat irritated, although
2:09:33
Speaker 1: one no longer knew whether that was because of the
2:09:35
Speaker 1: father's behavior or because of knowledge they had just acquired
2:09:40
Speaker 1: that they had without knowing it a neighbor like Gregor.
2:09:45
Speaker 1: They demanded explanations from his father, raised their arms to
2:09:49
Speaker 1: make their points, tugged agitatedly at their beards, and moved
2:09:53
Speaker 1: back towards their room quite slowly. In the meantime, the
2:09:58
Speaker 1: isolation which had suddenly fallen upon his sister after the
2:10:02
Speaker 1: sudden breaking off of the recital, had overwhelmed her. She
2:10:07
Speaker 1: had held on to her violin and bow in her
2:10:09
Speaker 1: limp hands for a little while and had continued to
2:10:13
Speaker 1: look at the sheet music as if she was still playing.
2:10:16
Speaker 1: All at once, she pulled herself together put the instrument
2:10:20
Speaker 1: in her mother's lap. The mother was still sitting in
2:10:23
Speaker 1: her chair, having trouble breathing, for her lungs were laboring,
2:10:28
Speaker 1: and had run into the next room, which the lodgers,
2:10:31
Speaker 1: pressured by the father, were already approaching more rapidly. One
2:10:36
Speaker 1: could observe how, under the sister's practiced hands, the sheets
2:10:41
Speaker 1: and pillows on the beds were thrown on high and arranged.
2:10:45
Speaker 1: Even before the lodgers had reached the room. She was
2:10:48
Speaker 1: finishing fixing the beds and was slipping out. The father
2:10:53
Speaker 1: seemed so gripped once again with his stubbornness, that he
2:10:56
Speaker 1: forgot about the respect which he always showed to hiss.
2:11:01
Speaker 1: He pressed on and on, until at the door of
2:11:03
Speaker 1: the room, the middle gentleman stamped loudly with his foot,
2:11:07
Speaker 1: and thus brought the father to a standstill. I hereby declare,
2:11:11
Speaker 1: the middle lodger, said, raising his hands and casting his
2:11:15
Speaker 1: glance both on the mother and the sister, that, considering
2:11:18
Speaker 1: the disgraceful conditions prevailing in this apartment and family, with
2:11:23
Speaker 1: this he spat decisively on the floor. I immediately cancel my room.
2:11:29
Speaker 1: I will of course pay nothing at all for the
2:11:30
Speaker 1: days which I have lived here. On the contrary, I
2:11:33
Speaker 1: shall think about whether or not I will initiate some
2:11:36
Speaker 1: sort of action against you, something which, believe me, will
2:11:40
Speaker 1: be very easy to establish. He fell silent and looked
2:11:46
Speaker 1: directly in front of him, as if he was waiting
2:11:49
Speaker 1: for something. In fact, his two friends immediately joined in
2:11:53
Speaker 1: with their opinions. We also give immediate notice. At that
2:11:58
Speaker 1: he seized the door handle, banged the door shut, and
2:12:02
Speaker 1: locked it. The father groped his way, tottering to his
2:12:07
Speaker 1: chair and let himself fall in it. It looked as
2:12:11
Speaker 1: if he was stretching out for his usual evening snooze,
2:12:15
Speaker 1: but the heavy nodding of his head, which looked as
2:12:18
Speaker 1: if it was without support, showed that he was not
2:12:21
Speaker 1: sleeping at all. Gregor had lain motionless the entire time
2:12:27
Speaker 1: on the spot where the lodgers had caught him. Disappointment
2:12:31
Speaker 1: with the collapse of his plan, and perhaps also weakness
2:12:34
Speaker 1: brought on by his severe hunger, made it impossible for
2:12:38
Speaker 1: him to move. He was certainly afraid that a general
2:12:41
Speaker 1: disaster would break over him. At any moment, and he waited.
2:12:47
Speaker 1: He was not even startled when the violin fell from
2:12:50
Speaker 1: the mother's lap, out from under her trembling fingers, and
2:12:54
Speaker 1: gave off a reverberating tone, My dear parents, the sister,
2:13:00
Speaker 1: banging her hand on the table by way of an introduction.
2:13:04
Speaker 1: Things cannot go any longer in this way. Maybe if
2:13:08
Speaker 1: you don't understand that, well I do. I will not
2:13:11
Speaker 1: utter my brother's name in front of this monster. And
2:13:14
Speaker 1: thus I say only that we must try to get
2:13:16
Speaker 1: rid of it. We have tried what is humanly possible
2:13:20
Speaker 1: to take care of it, and to be patient. I
2:13:23
Speaker 1: believe that no one can criticize us in the slightest.
2:13:27
Speaker 1: She is right in a thousand ways, said the father
2:13:30
Speaker 1: to himself. The mother, who was still incapable of breathing properly,
2:13:36
Speaker 1: began to cough numbly, with her hand held up over
2:13:39
Speaker 1: her mouth and a manic expression in her eyes. The
2:13:44
Speaker 1: sister hurried over to her mother and held her forehead.
2:13:48
Speaker 1: The sister's words seemed to have led the father to
2:13:51
Speaker 1: certain reflections. He sat upright, played with his uniform hat
2:13:56
Speaker 1: among the plates which still lay on the table from
2:13:59
Speaker 1: the low evening meal, and looked now and then at
2:14:03
Speaker 1: the motionless gregor. We must try to get rid of it,
2:14:08
Speaker 1: the sister now said decisively to the father, for the mother,
2:14:12
Speaker 1: in her coughing fit, was not listening to anything. It
2:14:15
Speaker 1: is killing you both. I see it coming. When people
2:14:19
Speaker 1: have to work as hard as we all do, they
2:14:21
Speaker 1: cannot also tolerate this endless torment at home. I just
2:14:26
Speaker 1: can't go on any more. And she broke out into
2:14:30
Speaker 1: such a crying fit that her tears flowed out down
2:14:34
Speaker 1: on to her mother's face. She wiped them off her
2:14:38
Speaker 1: mother with mechanical motions of her hands. Child, said the
2:14:43
Speaker 1: father sympathetically and with obvious appreciation. Then what should we do?
2:14:49
Speaker 1: The sister only shrugged her shoulders as a sign of perplexity, which,
2:14:54
Speaker 1: in contrast to her previous confidence, had come over her
2:14:58
Speaker 1: while she was crying. If he only understood us, said
2:15:03
Speaker 1: the father in a semi questioning tone. The sister, in
2:15:07
Speaker 1: the midst of her sobbing, shook her hand energetically as
2:15:11
Speaker 1: a sign that there was no point thinking of that.
2:15:15
Speaker 1: If he only understood us, repeated the father, and by
2:15:18
Speaker 1: shutting his eyes he absorbed the sister's conviction of the
2:15:21
Speaker 1: impossibility of this point, then perhaps some compromise would be
2:15:26
Speaker 1: possible with him. But as it is, it must be
2:15:30
Speaker 1: gotten rid of, cried the sister. That is the only way, father,
2:15:34
Speaker 1: You must try to get rid of the idea that
2:15:36
Speaker 1: this is Gregor, the fact that we have believed for
2:15:39
Speaker 1: so long, that is truly our real misfortune. But how
2:15:44
Speaker 1: can it be Gregor. If it were Gregor, he would
2:15:47
Speaker 1: have long ago realized that a communal life among human
2:15:51
Speaker 1: beings is not possible with such an animal, and would
2:15:54
Speaker 1: have gone away voluntarily. Then we would not have a brother,
2:16:00
Speaker 1: but we could go on living and honor his memory.
2:16:03
Speaker 1: But this animal plagues us, it drives away. The lodgers
2:16:07
Speaker 1: will obviously take over the entire apartment and leave us
2:16:11
Speaker 1: to spend the night in the alley. Just look, father,
2:16:15
Speaker 1: she suddenly cried out. He's already starting up again with
2:16:20
Speaker 1: a fright, which was totally incomprehensible to Gregor. The sister
2:16:24
Speaker 1: even left. The mother pushed herself away from her chair
2:16:27
Speaker 1: as if she would sooner sacrifice her mother than remaining
2:16:30
Speaker 1: Gregor's vicinity, and rushed behind her father, who, excited merely
2:16:35
Speaker 1: by her behavior, also stood up and half raised his
2:16:39
Speaker 1: arms in front of the sister, as though to protect her.
2:16:43
Speaker 1: But Gregor did not have any notion of wishing to
2:16:47
Speaker 1: create problems to anyone, and certainly not for his sister.
2:16:52
Speaker 1: He had just started to turn himself round in order
2:16:55
Speaker 1: to creep back into his room. Quite a startling sight,
2:16:59
Speaker 1: since as a result of his suffering condition, he had
2:17:03
Speaker 1: to guide himself through the difficulty of turning round, with
2:17:06
Speaker 1: his head in this process, lifting and banging it against
2:17:11
Speaker 1: the floor several times. He paused and looked around. His
2:17:16
Speaker 1: good intentions seemed to have been recognized. The fright had
2:17:21
Speaker 1: lasted only for a moment. Now they looked at him
2:17:24
Speaker 1: in silence and sorrow. His mother lay in her chair
2:17:29
Speaker 1: with her legs stretched out and pressed together. Her eyes
2:17:34
Speaker 1: were almost shot from weariness. The father and sister sat
2:17:38
Speaker 1: next to one another. The sister had set her hands
2:17:42
Speaker 1: around the father's neck. Now, perhaps I can actually turn
2:17:47
Speaker 1: myself around, thought Gregor, and began to task again. He
2:17:52
Speaker 1: couldn't stop puffing at the effort and had to rest
2:17:56
Speaker 1: now and then. Besides, no one urging him on, it
2:18:01
Speaker 1: was all left to him on his own. When he
2:18:05
Speaker 1: had completed turning round, he immediately began to wander straight back.
2:18:10
Speaker 1: He was astonished at the great distance which separated him
2:18:14
Speaker 1: from his room, and did not understand in the least
2:18:17
Speaker 1: how in his weakness he had covered the same distance
2:18:20
Speaker 1: a short time before, almost without noticing it. Constantly, intent
2:18:26
Speaker 1: only on creeping along quickly, he hardly paid any attention
2:18:30
Speaker 1: to the fact that no word or cry from his
2:18:32
Speaker 1: family interrupted him. Only when he was already at the
2:18:37
Speaker 1: door did he turn his head, not completely, because he
2:18:41
Speaker 1: felt his neck growing stiff. At any rate, he still
2:18:45
Speaker 1: saw that behind him nothing had changed. Only the sister
2:18:49
Speaker 1: was standing up. His last glimpse brushed over the mother,
2:18:54
Speaker 1: who was now completely asleep. Hardly was he inside his
2:18:58
Speaker 1: room when the door was pushed shut very quickly, bolted fast,
2:19:03
Speaker 1: and barred. Gregor was startled by the sudden commotion behind him,
2:19:09
Speaker 1: so much so that his little limbs bent double under him.
2:19:13
Speaker 1: It was his sister who'd been in such a hurry.
2:19:16
Speaker 1: She had stood up right away, had waited, and had
2:19:20
Speaker 1: then sprung forward nimbly. Gregor had not heard anything of
2:19:24
Speaker 1: her approach. She cried out finally to her parents as
2:19:29
Speaker 1: she turned the key in the lock. What now, Gregor
2:19:35
Speaker 1: asked himself, and looked around him in the darkness. He
2:19:40
Speaker 1: soon made the discovery that he could no longer move
2:19:43
Speaker 1: at all. He was not surprised at that. On the contrary,
2:19:48
Speaker 1: it struck him as unnatural that up to this point
2:19:51
Speaker 1: he had really been able to move around with these little,
2:19:54
Speaker 1: thin legs. Besides, he felt relatively content. True, he had
2:20:00
Speaker 1: pains throughout his entire body, but it seemed to him
2:20:04
Speaker 1: that they were gradually becoming weaker and weaker and would
2:20:08
Speaker 1: finally go away completely. The rotten apple in his back
2:20:13
Speaker 1: and the inflamed surrounding area entirely covered with white dust
2:20:18
Speaker 1: he hardly noticed. He remembered his family with deep feelings
2:20:23
Speaker 1: of love. In this business, his own thought that he
2:20:27
Speaker 1: had to disappear was, if possible, even more decisive than
2:20:32
Speaker 1: his sisters. He remained in this state of empty and
2:20:36
Speaker 1: peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three o'clock in
2:20:41
Speaker 1: the morning. From the window, he witnessed the beginning of
2:20:45
Speaker 1: the general dawning outside. Then, without willing it, his head
2:20:50
Speaker 1: sank all the way down, and from his nostrils flowed
2:20:54
Speaker 1: out weakly his last breath. Early in the morning, the
2:20:59
Speaker 1: cleaning in her sheer energy and haste she banged all
2:21:05
Speaker 1: the doors in precisely the way people had already asked
2:21:09
Speaker 1: her to avoid, so much so that once she arrived,
2:21:12
Speaker 1: a quiet sleep was no longer possible anywhere in the
2:21:16
Speaker 1: entire apartment. In her customarily brief visit to Gregor, she
2:21:22
Speaker 1: at first found nothing special. She thought he lay so
2:21:26
Speaker 1: immobile there because he wanted to play the offended party.
2:21:30
Speaker 1: She gave him credit for as complete an understanding as possible.
2:21:36
Speaker 1: Since she happened to be holding the long broom in
2:21:38
Speaker 1: her hand, she tried to tickle Gregor with it from
2:21:41
Speaker 1: the door. When that was quite unsuccessful, she became irritated
2:21:47
Speaker 1: and poked Gregor a little. And only when she had
2:21:51
Speaker 1: shoved him from his place without any resistance did she
2:21:54
Speaker 1: become attentive. When she quickly realized the true state of affairs,
2:22:00
Speaker 1: her eyes grew large. She whistled to herself. However, she
2:22:06
Speaker 1: didn't restrain herself for long. She pulled open the door
2:22:10
Speaker 1: of the bedroom and yelled in a loud voice into
2:22:13
Speaker 1: the darkness, Come and look. It's kick the bucket. It's
2:22:17
Speaker 1: lying there totally snuffed. The Samson married Copple sat upright
2:22:23
Speaker 1: in their marriage bed and had to get over their
2:22:26
Speaker 1: fright at the cleaning woman before they managed to grasp
2:22:29
Speaker 1: her message, and then mister and Missus Samsa climbed very
2:22:34
Speaker 1: quickly out of bed, one on either side. Mister Samsa
2:22:39
Speaker 1: threw the bedspread over his shoulders. Missus Samsa came out
2:22:43
Speaker 1: only in her night shirt, and like this they stepped
2:22:46
Speaker 1: into Gregor's room. Meanwhile, the door of the living room
2:22:51
Speaker 1: in which Greta had slept since the lodgers had arrived
2:22:54
Speaker 1: on the scene had also opened. She was fully clothed,
2:22:58
Speaker 1: as if she had not slept at all. Her white
2:23:01
Speaker 1: face also seemed to indicate that dead, said Missus Samsa,
2:23:08
Speaker 1: and looked questioningly at the cleaning woman, although she could
2:23:12
Speaker 1: check everything on her own and even understand without a check,
2:23:16
Speaker 1: I should say so, said the cleaning woman, and by
2:23:19
Speaker 1: way of proof, poked Gregor's body with the broom a
2:23:23
Speaker 1: considerable distance more to the side. Missus Samson made a
2:23:27
Speaker 1: movement as if she wished to restrain the broom, but
2:23:30
Speaker 1: didn't do it well, said mister Samson. Now we can
2:23:35
Speaker 1: give thanks to God. He crossed himself, and the three
2:23:39
Speaker 1: women followed his example. Greta, who did not take her
2:23:45
Speaker 1: eyes off the corpse, said, look how thin he was.
2:23:50
Speaker 1: He had eaten nothing for such a long time. The
2:23:54
Speaker 1: meals which came in here came out again exactly the same.
2:23:58
Speaker 1: In fact, Gregor's body was completely flat and dry. That
2:24:04
Speaker 1: was apparent really for the first time, now that he
2:24:07
Speaker 1: was no longer raised on his small limbs, and nothing
2:24:11
Speaker 1: else distracted one's gaze. Greta, come in to us for
2:24:16
Speaker 1: a moment, said missus Samsa with a melancholy smile, and
2:24:21
Speaker 1: Greta went, not without looking back at the corpse behind
2:24:25
Speaker 1: her parents, into the living room. The cleaning woman shut
2:24:29
Speaker 1: the door and opened the window wide. In spite of
2:24:33
Speaker 1: the early morning, the fresh air was partly tinged with warmth.
2:24:38
Speaker 1: It was already the end of March. The three lodgers
2:24:44
Speaker 1: stepped out of their room and looked around for their breakfast,
2:24:48
Speaker 1: Astonished that they had been forgotten. Where is the breakfast,
2:24:53
Speaker 1: asked the middle one of the gentlemen, grumpily to the
2:24:55
Speaker 1: cleaning woman. However, she laid her finger to her lips
2:24:59
Speaker 1: and then quickly and silently indicated to the lodgers that
2:25:03
Speaker 1: they could come into Gregor's room. So they came and
2:25:08
Speaker 1: stood in the room, which was already quite bright around
2:25:12
Speaker 1: Gregor's corpse, their hands in the pockets of their somewhat
2:25:16
Speaker 1: worn jackets. Then the door of the room opened, and
2:25:21
Speaker 1: mister Samsa appeared in his uniform, with his wife on
2:25:24
Speaker 1: one arm and his daughter on the other. All were
2:25:28
Speaker 1: a little tear stained now, and then Greta pressed her
2:25:32
Speaker 1: face into her father's arm. Get out of my apartment, immediately,
2:25:38
Speaker 1: said mister Samson, and pulled open the door without letting
2:25:41
Speaker 1: go of the women. What do you mean, said the
2:25:45
Speaker 1: middle lodger, somewhat dismayed and with a sugary smile. The
2:25:50
Speaker 1: two others kept their hands behind them and constantly rubbed
2:25:54
Speaker 1: them against each other, as if enjoy for anticipation of
2:25:57
Speaker 1: a great squabble which must end in their favor. I
2:26:01
Speaker 1: mean exactly what I say, replied mister Samsa, and went
2:26:05
Speaker 1: directly with his two female companions up to the lodger.
2:26:10
Speaker 1: The latter at first stood there motionless and looked at
2:26:14
Speaker 1: the floor as if matters were arranging themselves in a
2:26:17
Speaker 1: new way in his head. All right, then we'll go,
2:26:21
Speaker 1: he said, and looked up at mister Samsa as if
2:26:25
Speaker 1: suddenly overcome by humility, he was asking fresh permission for
2:26:30
Speaker 1: this decision. Mister Samson merely nodded to him repeatedly with
2:26:35
Speaker 1: his eyes open wide. Following that the lodger actually went
2:26:41
Speaker 1: with long strides immediately into the hall. His two friends
2:26:46
Speaker 1: had already been listening for a while with their hands
2:26:49
Speaker 1: quite still, and now they hopped smartly after him, as
2:26:53
Speaker 1: if afraid that mister Samsa could step into the hall
2:26:56
Speaker 1: ahead of them and disturb their reunion with their leader.
2:27:00
Speaker 1: In the hall, all three of them took their hats
2:27:02
Speaker 1: from the coat rack, pulled their canes from the cane holder,
2:27:06
Speaker 1: bowed silently, and left the apartment in what turned out
2:27:12
Speaker 1: to be an entirely groundless mistrost. Mister Samsa stepped with
2:27:16
Speaker 1: the two women out on to the landing, leaned against
2:27:20
Speaker 1: the railing, and looked over as the three lodgers slowly
2:27:24
Speaker 1: but steadily made their way down the long staircase, disappeared
2:27:28
Speaker 1: on each floor in a certain turn of the stairwell,
2:27:32
Speaker 1: and in a few seconds came out again. The deeper
2:27:36
Speaker 1: they proceeded, the more the Samsa family lost interest in them,
2:27:41
Speaker 1: and when a butcher with a tray on his head
2:27:43
Speaker 1: came to meet them, and then with a proud bearing,
2:27:46
Speaker 1: ascended the stairs high above them. Mister Samsa, together with
2:27:50
Speaker 1: the women, left the banister, and they all returned as
2:27:54
Speaker 1: if relieved, back into their apartment. They decided to pass
2:28:00
Speaker 1: that day resting and going for a stroll. Not only
2:28:04
Speaker 1: had they earned this break from work, but there was
2:28:07
Speaker 1: no question that they really needed it, and so they
2:28:11
Speaker 1: sat down at the table and wrote three letters of apology,
2:28:16
Speaker 1: mister Samsa to his superior Missus, Samsa to her client,
2:28:20
Speaker 1: and Greta to her proprietor. During the writing, the cleaning
2:28:25
Speaker 1: woman came in to say that she was going off
2:28:28
Speaker 1: for her morning work was finished. The three people writing
2:28:32
Speaker 1: at first merely nodded without glancing up. Only when the
2:28:37
Speaker 1: cleaning woman was still unwilling to depart did they look up. Angrily. Well,
2:28:43
Speaker 1: asked mister Samsa. The cleaning woman stood smiling in the
2:28:47
Speaker 1: doorway as if she had a great stroke of luck
2:28:51
Speaker 1: to report to the family, but would only do it
2:28:53
Speaker 1: if she was asked directly. The almost upright small ostrich
2:28:59
Speaker 1: feather in her hat, which had irritated mister Samsa during
2:29:03
Speaker 1: her entire service swayed lightly in all directions. All right, then,
2:29:09
Speaker 1: what do you really want? Asked missus Samson, whom the
2:29:12
Speaker 1: cleaning lady still usually respected well, answered the cleaning woman,
2:29:18
Speaker 1: smiling so happily she couldn't go on speaking right away
2:29:22
Speaker 1: about how that rubbish from the next room should be
2:29:25
Speaker 1: thrown out. You mustn't worry about it. It's all taken
2:29:29
Speaker 1: care of. Missus Samson and Greta bent down to their
2:29:33
Speaker 1: letters as though they wanted to go on writing. Mister Samsa,
2:29:38
Speaker 1: who noticed that the cleaning woman wanted to start describing
2:29:42
Speaker 1: everything in detail, decisively prevented her with an outstretched hand.
2:29:48
Speaker 1: But since she was not allowed to explain, she remembered
2:29:52
Speaker 1: the great hurry she was in and called out, clearly
2:29:55
Speaker 1: insulted bye bye. Everyone turned round fury and left the
2:30:01
Speaker 1: apartment with a fearful slamming of the door. This evening,
2:30:07
Speaker 1: she'll be let go, said mister Samsa, but he got
2:30:10
Speaker 1: no answer from either his wife or from his daughter.
2:30:14
Speaker 1: Because the cleaning woman seemed to have upset once again
2:30:17
Speaker 1: the tranquility they had just attained. They got up, went
2:30:22
Speaker 1: to the window and remained there with their arms about
2:30:26
Speaker 1: each other. Mister Samsa turned around in his chair in
2:30:31
Speaker 1: their direction and observed them quietly for a while. Then
2:30:35
Speaker 1: he called out, all right, come here, then, let's finally
2:30:39
Speaker 1: get rid of old things and have a little consideration
2:30:43
Speaker 1: for me. The women attended to him at once. They
2:30:47
Speaker 1: rushed to him, caressed him, and quickly ended their letters.
2:30:53
Speaker 1: Then all three left the apartment together, something they had
2:30:57
Speaker 1: not done for months now, and took the electric tram
2:31:00
Speaker 1: into the open air outside the city. The car in
2:31:05
Speaker 1: which they were sitting by themselves was totally engulfed by
2:31:09
Speaker 1: the warm sun. Leaning back comfortably in their seats, they
2:31:13
Speaker 1: talked to each other about future prospects, and they discovered
2:31:18
Speaker 1: that on closer observation these were not at all bad.
2:31:22
Speaker 1: For the three of them had employment about which they
2:31:25
Speaker 1: had not really questioned each other at all, which was
2:31:29
Speaker 1: extremely favorable, and with especially promising prospects. The greatest improvement
2:31:35
Speaker 1: in their situation at this moment, of course, had to
2:31:39
Speaker 1: come from a change of dwelling. Now they wanted to
2:31:42
Speaker 1: rent an apartment smaller and cheaper, but better suited and
2:31:46
Speaker 1: generally more practical than the present one, which Gregor had found.
2:31:51
Speaker 1: While they amused themselves in this way. It struck mister
2:31:55
Speaker 1: and missus Samson, almost at the same moment, how their daughter,
2:32:00
Speaker 1: who was getting more animated all the time, had blossomed recently,
2:32:05
Speaker 1: in spite of all the troubles which had made her
2:32:07
Speaker 1: cheeks pale, into a beautiful and voluptuous young woman, growing
2:32:13
Speaker 1: more silent and almost unconsciously understanding each other in their glances.
2:32:19
Speaker 1: They thought that the time was now at hand to
2:32:22
Speaker 1: seek out a good, honest man for her, and it
2:32:25
Speaker 1: was something of a confirmation of their new dreams and
2:32:28
Speaker 1: good intentions when, at the end of their journey their
2:32:32
Speaker 1: daughter got up first and stretched her young body. End
2:32:39
Speaker 1: of the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka