├── .gitignore ├── README.md ├── LICENSE ├── querytexts.py ├── stopwords.txt └── corpus └── pg5200.txt /.gitignore: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | .DS_Store 2 | *.pyc 3 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /README.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | A search engine for textfiles. Made on a plane flight. 2 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /LICENSE: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | The MIT License 2 | 3 | Copyright 2018 Aakash Japi 4 | 5 | Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: 6 | 7 | The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. 8 | 9 | THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. 10 | 11 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /querytexts.py: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | import buildindex 2 | import re 3 | 4 | #NEED TO TEST MORE. 5 | 6 | #input = [file1, file2, ...] 7 | #res = {word: {filename: {pos1, pos2}, ...}, ...} 8 | class Query: 9 | 10 | def __init__(self, filenames): 11 | self.filenames = filenames 12 | self.index = buildindex.BuildIndex(self.filenames) 13 | self.invertedIndex = self.index.totalIndex 14 | self.regularIndex = self.index.regdex 15 | 16 | 17 | def one_word_query(self, word): 18 | pattern = re.compile('[\W_]+') 19 | word = pattern.sub(' ',word) 20 | if word in self.invertedIndex.keys(): 21 | return self.rankResults([filename for filename in self.invertedIndex[word].keys()], word) 22 | else: 23 | return [] 24 | 25 | def free_text_query(self, string): 26 | pattern = re.compile('[\W_]+') 27 | string = pattern.sub(' ',string) 28 | result = [] 29 | for word in string.split(): 30 | result += self.one_word_query(word) 31 | return self.rankResults(list(set(result)), string) 32 | 33 | #inputs = 'query string', {word: {filename: [pos1, pos2, ...], ...}, ...} 34 | #inter = {filename: [pos1, pos2]} 35 | def phrase_query(self, string): 36 | pattern = re.compile('[\W_]+') 37 | string = pattern.sub(' ',string) 38 | listOfLists, result = [],[] 39 | for word in string.split(): 40 | listOfLists.append(self.one_word_query(word)) 41 | setted = set(listOfLists[0]).intersection(*listOfLists) 42 | for filename in setted: 43 | temp = [] 44 | for word in string.split(): 45 | temp.append(self.invertedIndex[word][filename][:]) 46 | for i in range(len(temp)): 47 | for ind in range(len(temp[i])): 48 | temp[i][ind] -= i 49 | if set(temp[0]).intersection(*temp): 50 | result.append(filename) 51 | return self.rankResults(result, string) 52 | 53 | def make_vectors(self, documents): 54 | vecs = {} 55 | for doc in documents: 56 | docVec = [0]*len(self.index.getUniques()) 57 | for ind, term in enumerate(self.index.getUniques()): 58 | docVec[ind] = self.index.generateScore(term, doc) 59 | vecs[doc] = docVec 60 | return vecs 61 | 62 | 63 | def query_vec(self, query): 64 | pattern = re.compile('[\W_]+') 65 | query = pattern.sub(' ',query) 66 | queryls = query.split() 67 | queryVec = [0]*len(queryls) 68 | index = 0 69 | for ind, word in enumerate(queryls): 70 | queryVec[index] = self.queryFreq(word, query) 71 | index += 1 72 | queryidf = [self.index.idf[word] for word in self.index.getUniques()] 73 | magnitude = pow(sum(map(lambda x: x**2, queryVec)),.5) 74 | freq = self.termfreq(self.index.getUniques(), query) 75 | #print('THIS IS THE FREQ') 76 | tf = [x/magnitude for x in freq] 77 | final = [tf[i]*queryidf[i] for i in range(len(self.index.getUniques()))] 78 | #print(len([x for x in queryidf if x != 0]) - len(queryidf)) 79 | return final 80 | 81 | def queryFreq(self, term, query): 82 | count = 0 83 | #print(query) 84 | #print(query.split()) 85 | for word in query.split(): 86 | if word == term: 87 | count += 1 88 | return count 89 | 90 | def termfreq(self, terms, query): 91 | temp = [0]*len(terms) 92 | for i,term in enumerate(terms): 93 | temp[i] = self.queryFreq(term, query) 94 | #print(self.queryFreq(term, query)) 95 | return temp 96 | 97 | def dotProduct(self, doc1, doc2): 98 | if len(doc1) != len(doc2): 99 | return 0 100 | return sum([x*y for x,y in zip(doc1, doc2)]) 101 | 102 | def rankResults(self, resultDocs, query): 103 | vectors = self.make_vectors(resultDocs) 104 | #print(vectors) 105 | queryVec = self.query_vec(query) 106 | #print(queryVec) 107 | results = [[self.dotProduct(vectors[result], queryVec), result] for result in resultDocs] 108 | #print(results) 109 | results.sort(key=lambda x: x[0]) 110 | #print(results) 111 | results = [x[1] for x in results] 112 | return results 113 | 114 | 115 | """Do this: 116 | Calculate a tf-idf score for every unique term in the collection, for each document. As in, find all unique terms, and for each document, got through 117 | each unique term and calculate a tf-idf score for it in the doc. You can do this already with the generateScore function. Doc becomes array of scores. 118 | Calculate a tf-idf score for every unique term in the collection for the query. 119 | Find the cosine distance between each document and the query, and put the results in descending order. 120 | """ 121 | 122 | q = Query(['pg135.txt', 'pg76.txt', 'pg5200.txt']) 123 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /stopwords.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | a 2 | a's 3 | able 4 | about 5 | above 6 | according 7 | accordingly 8 | across 9 | actually 10 | after 11 | afterwards 12 | again 13 | against 14 | ain't 15 | all 16 | allow 17 | allows 18 | almost 19 | alone 20 | along 21 | already 22 | also 23 | although 24 | always 25 | am 26 | among 27 | amongst 28 | an 29 | and 30 | another 31 | any 32 | anybody 33 | anyhow 34 | anyone 35 | anything 36 | anyway 37 | anyways 38 | anywhere 39 | apart 40 | appear 41 | appreciate 42 | appropriate 43 | are 44 | aren't 45 | around 46 | as 47 | aside 48 | ask 49 | asking 50 | associated 51 | at 52 | available 53 | away 54 | awfully 55 | b 56 | be 57 | became 58 | because 59 | become 60 | becomes 61 | becoming 62 | been 63 | before 64 | beforehand 65 | behind 66 | being 67 | believe 68 | below 69 | beside 70 | besides 71 | best 72 | better 73 | between 74 | beyond 75 | both 76 | brief 77 | but 78 | by 79 | c 80 | c'mon 81 | c's 82 | came 83 | can 84 | can't 85 | cannot 86 | cant 87 | cause 88 | causes 89 | certain 90 | certainly 91 | changes 92 | clearly 93 | co 94 | com 95 | come 96 | comes 97 | concerning 98 | consequently 99 | consider 100 | considering 101 | contain 102 | containing 103 | contains 104 | corresponding 105 | could 106 | couldn't 107 | course 108 | currently 109 | d 110 | definitely 111 | described 112 | despite 113 | did 114 | didn't 115 | different 116 | do 117 | does 118 | doesn't 119 | doing 120 | don't 121 | done 122 | down 123 | downwards 124 | during 125 | e 126 | each 127 | edu 128 | eg 129 | eight 130 | either 131 | else 132 | elsewhere 133 | enough 134 | entirely 135 | especially 136 | et 137 | etc 138 | even 139 | ever 140 | every 141 | everybody 142 | everyone 143 | everything 144 | everywhere 145 | ex 146 | exactly 147 | example 148 | except 149 | f 150 | far 151 | few 152 | fifth 153 | first 154 | five 155 | followed 156 | following 157 | follows 158 | for 159 | former 160 | formerly 161 | forth 162 | four 163 | from 164 | further 165 | furthermore 166 | g 167 | get 168 | gets 169 | getting 170 | given 171 | gives 172 | go 173 | goes 174 | going 175 | gone 176 | got 177 | gotten 178 | greetings 179 | h 180 | had 181 | hadn't 182 | happens 183 | hardly 184 | has 185 | hasn't 186 | have 187 | haven't 188 | having 189 | he 190 | he's 191 | hello 192 | help 193 | hence 194 | her 195 | here 196 | here's 197 | hereafter 198 | hereby 199 | herein 200 | hereupon 201 | hers 202 | herself 203 | hi 204 | him 205 | himself 206 | his 207 | hither 208 | hopefully 209 | how 210 | howbeit 211 | however 212 | i 213 | i'd 214 | i'll 215 | i'm 216 | i've 217 | ie 218 | if 219 | ignored 220 | immediate 221 | in 222 | inasmuch 223 | inc 224 | indeed 225 | indicate 226 | indicated 227 | indicates 228 | inner 229 | insofar 230 | instead 231 | into 232 | inward 233 | is 234 | isn't 235 | it 236 | it'd 237 | it'll 238 | it's 239 | its 240 | itself 241 | j 242 | just 243 | k 244 | keep 245 | keeps 246 | kept 247 | know 248 | knows 249 | known 250 | l 251 | last 252 | lately 253 | later 254 | latter 255 | latterly 256 | least 257 | less 258 | lest 259 | let 260 | let's 261 | like 262 | liked 263 | likely 264 | little 265 | look 266 | looking 267 | looks 268 | ltd 269 | m 270 | mainly 271 | many 272 | may 273 | maybe 274 | me 275 | mean 276 | meanwhile 277 | merely 278 | might 279 | more 280 | moreover 281 | most 282 | mostly 283 | much 284 | must 285 | my 286 | myself 287 | n 288 | name 289 | namely 290 | nd 291 | near 292 | nearly 293 | necessary 294 | need 295 | needs 296 | neither 297 | never 298 | nevertheless 299 | new 300 | next 301 | nine 302 | no 303 | nobody 304 | non 305 | none 306 | noone 307 | nor 308 | normally 309 | not 310 | nothing 311 | novel 312 | now 313 | nowhere 314 | o 315 | obviously 316 | of 317 | off 318 | often 319 | oh 320 | ok 321 | okay 322 | old 323 | on 324 | once 325 | one 326 | ones 327 | only 328 | onto 329 | or 330 | other 331 | others 332 | otherwise 333 | ought 334 | our 335 | ours 336 | ourselves 337 | out 338 | outside 339 | over 340 | overall 341 | own 342 | p 343 | particular 344 | particularly 345 | per 346 | perhaps 347 | placed 348 | please 349 | plus 350 | possible 351 | presumably 352 | probably 353 | provides 354 | q 355 | que 356 | quite 357 | qv 358 | r 359 | rather 360 | rd 361 | re 362 | really 363 | reasonably 364 | regarding 365 | regardless 366 | regards 367 | relatively 368 | respectively 369 | right 370 | s 371 | said 372 | same 373 | saw 374 | say 375 | saying 376 | says 377 | second 378 | secondly 379 | see 380 | seeing 381 | seem 382 | seemed 383 | seeming 384 | seems 385 | seen 386 | self 387 | selves 388 | sensible 389 | sent 390 | serious 391 | seriously 392 | seven 393 | several 394 | shall 395 | she 396 | should 397 | shouldn't 398 | since 399 | six 400 | so 401 | some 402 | somebody 403 | somehow 404 | someone 405 | something 406 | sometime 407 | sometimes 408 | somewhat 409 | somewhere 410 | soon 411 | sorry 412 | specified 413 | specify 414 | specifying 415 | still 416 | sub 417 | such 418 | sup 419 | sure 420 | t 421 | t's 422 | take 423 | taken 424 | tell 425 | tends 426 | th 427 | than 428 | thank 429 | thanks 430 | thanx 431 | that 432 | that's 433 | thats 434 | the 435 | their 436 | theirs 437 | them 438 | themselves 439 | then 440 | thence 441 | there 442 | there's 443 | thereafter 444 | thereby 445 | therefore 446 | therein 447 | theres 448 | thereupon 449 | these 450 | they 451 | they'd 452 | they'll 453 | they're 454 | they've 455 | think 456 | third 457 | this 458 | thorough 459 | thoroughly 460 | those 461 | though 462 | three 463 | through 464 | throughout 465 | thru 466 | thus 467 | to 468 | together 469 | too 470 | took 471 | toward 472 | towards 473 | tried 474 | tries 475 | truly 476 | try 477 | trying 478 | twice 479 | two 480 | u 481 | un 482 | under 483 | unfortunately 484 | unless 485 | unlikely 486 | until 487 | unto 488 | up 489 | upon 490 | us 491 | use 492 | used 493 | useful 494 | uses 495 | using 496 | usually 497 | uucp 498 | v 499 | value 500 | various 501 | very 502 | via 503 | viz 504 | vs 505 | w 506 | want 507 | wants 508 | was 509 | wasn't 510 | way 511 | we 512 | we'd 513 | we'll 514 | we're 515 | we've 516 | welcome 517 | well 518 | went 519 | were 520 | weren't 521 | what 522 | what's 523 | whatever 524 | when 525 | whence 526 | whenever 527 | where 528 | where's 529 | whereafter 530 | whereas 531 | whereby 532 | wherein 533 | whereupon 534 | wherever 535 | whether 536 | which 537 | while 538 | whither 539 | who 540 | who's 541 | whoever 542 | whole 543 | whom 544 | whose 545 | why 546 | will 547 | willing 548 | wish 549 | with 550 | within 551 | without 552 | won't 553 | wonder 554 | would 555 | would 556 | wouldn't 557 | x 558 | y 559 | yes 560 | yet 561 | you 562 | you'd 563 | you'll 564 | you're 565 | you've 566 | your 567 | yours 568 | yourself 569 | yourselves 570 | z 571 | zero -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /corpus/pg5200.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | The Project Gutenberg EBook of Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka 2 | Translated by David Wyllie. 3 | 4 | This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with 5 | almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or 6 | re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included 7 | with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net 8 | 9 | ** This is a COPYRIGHTED Project Gutenberg eBook, Details Below ** 10 | ** Please follow the copyright guidelines in this file. ** 11 | 12 | 13 | Title: Metamorphosis 14 | 15 | Author: Franz Kafka 16 | 17 | Translator: David Wyllie 18 | 19 | Release Date: August 16, 2005 [EBook #5200] 20 | First posted: May 13, 2002 21 | Last updated: May 20, 2012 22 | 23 | Language: English 24 | 25 | 26 | *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK METAMORPHOSIS *** 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | Copyright (C) 2002 David Wyllie. 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | Metamorphosis 38 | Franz Kafka 39 | 40 | Translated by David Wyllie 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | I 45 | 46 | 47 | One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found 48 | himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on 49 | his armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could 50 | see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff 51 | sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready 52 | to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared 53 | with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he 54 | looked. 55 | 56 | "What's happened to me?" he thought. It wasn't a dream. His room, 57 | a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully 58 | between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples 59 | lay spread out on the table - Samsa was a travelling salesman - and 60 | above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an 61 | illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed 62 | a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, 63 | raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm 64 | towards the viewer. 65 | 66 | Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. 67 | Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel 68 | quite sad. "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all 69 | this nonsense", he thought, but that was something he was unable to 70 | do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present 71 | state couldn't get into that position. However hard he threw 72 | himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was. He 73 | must have tried it a hundred times, shut his eyes so that he 74 | wouldn't have to look at the floundering legs, and only stopped when 75 | he began to feel a mild, dull pain there that he had never felt 76 | before. 77 | 78 | "Oh, God", he thought, "what a strenuous career it is that I've 79 | chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this 80 | takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on 81 | top of that there's the curse of travelling, worries about making 82 | train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different 83 | people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or 84 | become friendly with them. It can all go to Hell!" He felt a 85 | slight itch up on his belly; pushed himself slowly up on his back 86 | towards the headboard so that he could lift his head better; found 87 | where the itch was, and saw that it was covered with lots of little 88 | white spots which he didn't know what to make of; and when he tried 89 | to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly back 90 | because as soon as he touched it he was overcome by a cold shudder. 91 | 92 | He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the 93 | time", he thought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough 94 | sleep. Other travelling salesmen live a life of luxury. For 95 | instance, whenever I go back to the guest house during the morning 96 | to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting 97 | there eating their breakfasts. I ought to just try that with my 98 | boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that 99 | would be the best thing for me. If I didn't have my parents to 100 | think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have 101 | gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him 102 | everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right 103 | off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up 104 | there at your desk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, 105 | especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is 106 | hard of hearing. Well, there's still some hope; once I've got the 107 | money together to pay off my parents' debt to him - another five or 108 | six years I suppose - that's definitely what I'll do. That's when 109 | I'll make the big change. First of all though, I've got to get up, 110 | my train leaves at five." 111 | 112 | And he looked over at the alarm clock, ticking on the chest of 113 | drawers. "God in Heaven!" he thought. It was half past six and the 114 | hands were quietly moving forwards, it was even later than half 115 | past, more like quarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He 116 | could see from the bed that it had been set for four o'clock as it 117 | should have been; it certainly must have rung. Yes, but was it 118 | possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise? 119 | True, he had not slept peacefully, but probably all the more deeply 120 | because of that. What should he do now? The next train went at 121 | seven; if he were to catch that he would have to rush like mad and 122 | the collection of samples was still not packed, and he did not at 123 | all feel particularly fresh and lively. And even if he did catch 124 | the train he would not avoid his boss's anger as the office 125 | assistant would have been there to see the five o'clock train go, he 126 | would have put in his report about Gregor's not being there a long 127 | time ago. The office assistant was the boss's man, spineless, and 128 | with no understanding. What about if he reported sick? But that 129 | would be extremely strained and suspicious as in fifteen years of 130 | service Gregor had never once yet been ill. His boss would 131 | certainly come round with the doctor from the medical insurance 132 | company, accuse his parents of having a lazy son, and accept the 133 | doctor's recommendation not to make any claim as the doctor believed 134 | that no-one was ever ill but that many were workshy. And what's 135 | more, would he have been entirely wrong in this case? Gregor did in 136 | fact, apart from excessive sleepiness after sleeping for so long, 137 | feel completely well and even felt much hungrier than usual. 138 | 139 | He was still hurriedly thinking all this through, unable to decide 140 | to get out of the bed, when the clock struck quarter to seven. 141 | There was a cautious knock at the door near his head. "Gregor", 142 | somebody called - it was his mother - "it's quarter to seven. 143 | Didn't you want to go somewhere?" That gentle voice! Gregor was 144 | shocked when he heard his own voice answering, it could hardly be 145 | recognised as the voice he had had before. As if from deep inside 146 | him, there was a painful and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with 147 | it, the words could be made out at first but then there was a sort 148 | of echo which made them unclear, leaving the hearer unsure whether 149 | he had heard properly or not. Gregor had wanted to give a full 150 | answer and explain everything, but in the circumstances contented 151 | himself with saying: "Yes, mother, yes, thank-you, I'm getting up 152 | now." The change in Gregor's voice probably could not be noticed 153 | outside through the wooden door, as his mother was satisfied with 154 | this explanation and shuffled away. But this short conversation 155 | made the other members of the family aware that Gregor, against 156 | their expectations was still at home, and soon his father came 157 | knocking at one of the side doors, gently, but with his fist. 158 | "Gregor, Gregor", he called, "what's wrong?" And after a short 159 | while he called again with a warning deepness in his voice: "Gregor! 160 | Gregor!" At the other side door his sister came plaintively: 161 | "Gregor? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?" Gregor answered to 162 | both sides: "I'm ready, now", making an effort to remove all the 163 | strangeness from his voice by enunciating very carefully and putting 164 | long pauses between each, individual word. His father went back to 165 | his breakfast, but his sister whispered: "Gregor, open the door, I 166 | beg of you." Gregor, however, had no thought of opening the door, 167 | and instead congratulated himself for his cautious habit, acquired 168 | from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was 169 | at home. 170 | 171 | The first thing he wanted to do was to get up in peace without being 172 | disturbed, to get dressed, and most of all to have his breakfast. 173 | Only then would he consider what to do next, as he was well aware 174 | that he would not bring his thoughts to any sensible conclusions by 175 | lying in bed. He remembered that he had often felt a slight pain in 176 | bed, perhaps caused by lying awkwardly, but that had always turned 177 | out to be pure imagination and he wondered how his imaginings would 178 | slowly resolve themselves today. He did not have the slightest 179 | doubt that the change in his voice was nothing more than the first 180 | sign of a serious cold, which was an occupational hazard for 181 | travelling salesmen. 182 | 183 | It was a simple matter to throw off the covers; he only had to blow 184 | himself up a little and they fell off by themselves. But it became 185 | difficult after that, especially as he was so exceptionally broad. 186 | He would have used his arms and his hands to push himself up; but 187 | instead of them he only had all those little legs continuously 188 | moving in different directions, and which he was moreover unable to 189 | control. If he wanted to bend one of them, then that was the first 190 | one that would stretch itself out; and if he finally managed to do 191 | what he wanted with that leg, all the others seemed to be set free 192 | and would move about painfully. "This is something that can't be 193 | done in bed", Gregor said to himself, "so don't keep trying to do 194 | it". 195 | 196 | The first thing he wanted to do was get the lower part of his body 197 | out of the bed, but he had never seen this lower part, and could not 198 | imagine what it looked like; it turned out to be too hard to move; 199 | it went so slowly; and finally, almost in a frenzy, when he 200 | carelessly shoved himself forwards with all the force he could 201 | gather, he chose the wrong direction, hit hard against the lower 202 | bedpost, and learned from the burning pain he felt that the lower 203 | part of his body might well, at present, be the most sensitive. 204 | 205 | So then he tried to get the top part of his body out of the bed 206 | first, carefully turning his head to the side. This he managed 207 | quite easily, and despite its breadth and its weight, the bulk of 208 | his body eventually followed slowly in the direction of the head. 209 | But when he had at last got his head out of the bed and into the 210 | fresh air it occurred to him that if he let himself fall it would be 211 | a miracle if his head were not injured, so he became afraid to carry 212 | on pushing himself forward the same way. And he could not knock 213 | himself out now at any price; better to stay in bed than lose 214 | consciousness. 215 | 216 | It took just as much effort to get back to where he had been 217 | earlier, but when he lay there sighing, and was once more watching 218 | his legs as they struggled against each other even harder than 219 | before, if that was possible, he could think of no way of bringing 220 | peace and order to this chaos. He told himself once more that it 221 | was not possible for him to stay in bed and that the most sensible 222 | thing to do would be to get free of it in whatever way he could at 223 | whatever sacrifice. At the same time, though, he did not forget to 224 | remind himself that calm consideration was much better than rushing 225 | to desperate conclusions. At times like this he would direct his 226 | eyes to the window and look out as clearly as he could, but 227 | unfortunately, even the other side of the narrow street was 228 | enveloped in morning fog and the view had little confidence or cheer 229 | to offer him. "Seven o'clock, already", he said to himself when the 230 | clock struck again, "seven o'clock, and there's still a fog like 231 | this." And he lay there quietly a while longer, breathing lightly 232 | as if he perhaps expected the total stillness to bring things back 233 | to their real and natural state. 234 | 235 | But then he said to himself: "Before it strikes quarter past seven 236 | I'll definitely have to have got properly out of bed. And by then 237 | somebody will have come round from work to ask what's happened to me 238 | as well, as they open up at work before seven o'clock." And so he 239 | set himself to the task of swinging the entire length of his body 240 | out of the bed all at the same time. If he succeeded in falling out 241 | of bed in this way and kept his head raised as he did so he could 242 | probably avoid injuring it. His back seemed to be quite hard, and 243 | probably nothing would happen to it falling onto the carpet. His 244 | main concern was for the loud noise he was bound to make, and which 245 | even through all the doors would probably raise concern if not 246 | alarm. But it was something that had to be risked. 247 | 248 | When Gregor was already sticking half way out of the bed - the new 249 | method was more of a game than an effort, all he had to do was rock 250 | back and forth - it occurred to him how simple everything would be 251 | if somebody came to help him. Two strong people - he had his father 252 | and the maid in mind - would have been more than enough; they would 253 | only have to push their arms under the dome of his back, peel him 254 | away from the bed, bend down with the load and then be patient and 255 | careful as he swang over onto the floor, where, hopefully, the 256 | little legs would find a use. Should he really call for help 257 | though, even apart from the fact that all the doors were locked? 258 | Despite all the difficulty he was in, he could not suppress a smile 259 | at this thought. 260 | 261 | After a while he had already moved so far across that it would have 262 | been hard for him to keep his balance if he rocked too hard. The 263 | time was now ten past seven and he would have to make a final 264 | decision very soon. Then there was a ring at the door of the flat. 265 | "That'll be someone from work", he said to himself, and froze very 266 | still, although his little legs only became all the more lively as 267 | they danced around. For a moment everything remained quiet. 268 | "They're not opening the door", Gregor said to himself, caught in 269 | some nonsensical hope. But then of course, the maid's firm steps 270 | went to the door as ever and opened it. Gregor only needed to hear 271 | the visitor's first words of greeting and he knew who it was - the 272 | chief clerk himself. Why did Gregor have to be the only one 273 | condemned to work for a company where they immediately became highly 274 | suspicious at the slightest shortcoming? Were all employees, every 275 | one of them, louts, was there not one of them who was faithful and 276 | devoted who would go so mad with pangs of conscience that he 277 | couldn't get out of bed if he didn't spend at least a couple of 278 | hours in the morning on company business? Was it really not enough 279 | to let one of the trainees make enquiries - assuming enquiries were 280 | even necessary - did the chief clerk have to come himself, and did 281 | they have to show the whole, innocent family that this was so 282 | suspicious that only the chief clerk could be trusted to have the 283 | wisdom to investigate it? And more because these thoughts had made 284 | him upset than through any proper decision, he swang himself with 285 | all his force out of the bed. There was a loud thump, but it wasn't 286 | really a loud noise. His fall was softened a little by the carpet, 287 | and Gregor's back was also more elastic than he had thought, which 288 | made the sound muffled and not too noticeable. He had not held his 289 | head carefully enough, though, and hit it as he fell; annoyed and in 290 | pain, he turned it and rubbed it against the carpet. 291 | 292 | "Something's fallen down in there", said the chief clerk in the room 293 | on the left. Gregor tried to imagine whether something of the sort 294 | that had happened to him today could ever happen to the chief clerk 295 | too; you had to concede that it was possible. But as if in gruff 296 | reply to this question, the chief clerk's firm footsteps in his 297 | highly polished boots could now be heard in the adjoining room. 298 | From the room on his right, Gregor's sister whispered to him to let 299 | him know: "Gregor, the chief clerk is here." "Yes, I know", said 300 | Gregor to himself; but without daring to raise his voice loud enough 301 | for his sister to hear him. 302 | 303 | "Gregor", said his father now from the room to his left, "the chief 304 | clerk has come round and wants to know why you didn't leave on the 305 | early train. We don't know what to say to him. And anyway, he 306 | wants to speak to you personally. So please open up this door. I'm 307 | sure he'll be good enough to forgive the untidiness of your room." 308 | Then the chief clerk called "Good morning, Mr. Samsa". "He isn't 309 | well", said his mother to the chief clerk, while his father 310 | continued to speak through the door. "He isn't well, please believe 311 | me. Why else would Gregor have missed a train! The lad only ever 312 | thinks about the business. It nearly makes me cross the way he 313 | never goes out in the evenings; he's been in town for a week now but 314 | stayed home every evening. He sits with us in the kitchen and just 315 | reads the paper or studies train timetables. His idea of relaxation 316 | is working with his fretsaw. He's made a little frame, for 317 | instance, it only took him two or three evenings, you'll be amazed 318 | how nice it is; it's hanging up in his room; you'll see it as soon 319 | as Gregor opens the door. Anyway, I'm glad you're here; we wouldn't 320 | have been able to get Gregor to open the door by ourselves; he's so 321 | stubborn; and I'm sure he isn't well, he said this morning that he 322 | is, but he isn't." "I'll be there in a moment", said Gregor slowly 323 | and thoughtfully, but without moving so that he would not miss any 324 | word of the conversation. "Well I can't think of any other way of 325 | explaining it, Mrs. Samsa", said the chief clerk, "I hope it's 326 | nothing serious. But on the other hand, I must say that if we 327 | people in commerce ever become slightly unwell then, fortunately or 328 | unfortunately as you like, we simply have to overcome it because of 329 | business considerations." "Can the chief clerk come in to see you 330 | now then?", asked his father impatiently, knocking at the door 331 | again. "No", said Gregor. In the room on his right there followed 332 | a painful silence; in the room on his left his sister began to cry. 333 | 334 | So why did his sister not go and join the others? She had probably 335 | only just got up and had not even begun to get dressed. And why was 336 | she crying? Was it because he had not got up, and had not let the 337 | chief clerk in, because he was in danger of losing his job and if 338 | that happened his boss would once more pursue their parents with the 339 | same demands as before? There was no need to worry about things like 340 | that yet. Gregor was still there and had not the slightest 341 | intention of abandoning his family. For the time being he just lay 342 | there on the carpet, and no-one who knew the condition he was in 343 | would seriously have expected him to let the chief clerk in. It was 344 | only a minor discourtesy, and a suitable excuse could easily be 345 | found for it later on, it was not something for which Gregor could 346 | be sacked on the spot. And it seemed to Gregor much more sensible 347 | to leave him now in peace instead of disturbing him with talking at 348 | him and crying. But the others didn't know what was happening, they 349 | were worried, that would excuse their behaviour. 350 | 351 | The chief clerk now raised his voice, "Mr. Samsa", he called to him, 352 | "what is wrong? You barricade yourself in your room, give us no more 353 | than yes or no for an answer, you are causing serious and 354 | unnecessary concern to your parents and you fail - and I mention 355 | this just by the way - you fail to carry out your business duties in 356 | a way that is quite unheard of. I'm speaking here on behalf of your 357 | parents and of your employer, and really must request a clear and 358 | immediate explanation. I am astonished, quite astonished. I 359 | thought I knew you as a calm and sensible person, and now you 360 | suddenly seem to be showing off with peculiar whims. This morning, 361 | your employer did suggest a possible reason for your failure to 362 | appear, it's true - it had to do with the money that was recently 363 | entrusted to you - but I came near to giving him my word of honour 364 | that that could not be the right explanation. But now that I see 365 | your incomprehensible stubbornness I no longer feel any wish 366 | whatsoever to intercede on your behalf. And nor is your position 367 | all that secure. I had originally intended to say all this to you 368 | in private, but since you cause me to waste my time here for no good 369 | reason I don't see why your parents should not also learn of it. 370 | Your turnover has been very unsatisfactory of late; I grant you that 371 | it's not the time of year to do especially good business, we 372 | recognise that; but there simply is no time of year to do no 373 | business at all, Mr. Samsa, we cannot allow there to be." 374 | 375 | "But Sir", called Gregor, beside himself and forgetting all else in 376 | the excitement, "I'll open up immediately, just a moment. I'm 377 | slightly unwell, an attack of dizziness, I haven't been able to get 378 | up. I'm still in bed now. I'm quite fresh again now, though. I'm 379 | just getting out of bed. Just a moment. Be patient! It's not quite 380 | as easy as I'd thought. I'm quite alright now, though. It's 381 | shocking, what can suddenly happen to a person! I was quite alright 382 | last night, my parents know about it, perhaps better than me, I had 383 | a small symptom of it last night already. They must have noticed 384 | it. I don't know why I didn't let you know at work! But you always 385 | think you can get over an illness without staying at home. Please, 386 | don't make my parents suffer! There's no basis for any of the 387 | accusations you're making; nobody's ever said a word to me about any 388 | of these things. Maybe you haven't read the latest contracts I sent 389 | in. I'll set off with the eight o'clock train, as well, these few 390 | hours of rest have given me strength. You don't need to wait, sir; 391 | I'll be in the office soon after you, and please be so good as to 392 | tell that to the boss and recommend me to him!" 393 | 394 | And while Gregor gushed out these words, hardly knowing what he was 395 | saying, he made his way over to the chest of drawers - this was 396 | easily done, probably because of the practise he had already had in 397 | bed - where he now tried to get himself upright. He really did want 398 | to open the door, really did want to let them see him and to speak 399 | with the chief clerk; the others were being so insistent, and he was 400 | curious to learn what they would say when they caught sight of him. 401 | If they were shocked then it would no longer be Gregor's 402 | responsibility and he could rest. If, however, they took everything 403 | calmly he would still have no reason to be upset, and if he hurried 404 | he really could be at the station for eight o'clock. The first few 405 | times he tried to climb up on the smooth chest of drawers he just 406 | slid down again, but he finally gave himself one last swing and 407 | stood there upright; the lower part of his body was in serious pain 408 | but he no longer gave any attention to it. Now he let himself fall 409 | against the back of a nearby chair and held tightly to the edges of 410 | it with his little legs. By now he had also calmed down, and kept 411 | quiet so that he could listen to what the chief clerk was saying. 412 | 413 | "Did you understand a word of all that?" the chief clerk asked his 414 | parents, "surely he's not trying to make fools of us". "Oh, God!" 415 | called his mother, who was already in tears, "he could be seriously 416 | ill and we're making him suffer. Grete! Grete!" she then cried. 417 | "Mother?" his sister called from the other side. They communicated 418 | across Gregor's room. "You'll have to go for the doctor straight 419 | away. Gregor is ill. Quick, get the doctor. Did you hear the way 420 | Gregor spoke just now?" "That was the voice of an animal", said the 421 | chief clerk, with a calmness that was in contrast with his mother's 422 | screams. "Anna! Anna!" his father called into the kitchen through 423 | the entrance hall, clapping his hands, "get a locksmith here, now!" 424 | And the two girls, their skirts swishing, immediately ran out 425 | through the hall, wrenching open the front door of the flat as they 426 | went. How had his sister managed to get dressed so quickly? There 427 | was no sound of the door banging shut again; they must have left it 428 | open; people often do in homes where something awful has happened. 429 | 430 | Gregor, in contrast, had become much calmer. So they couldn't 431 | understand his words any more, although they seemed clear enough to 432 | him, clearer than before - perhaps his ears had become used to the 433 | sound. They had realised, though, that there was something wrong 434 | with him, and were ready to help. The first response to his 435 | situation had been confident and wise, and that made him feel 436 | better. He felt that he had been drawn back in among people, and 437 | from the doctor and the locksmith he expected great and surprising 438 | achievements - although he did not really distinguish one from the 439 | other. Whatever was said next would be crucial, so, in order to 440 | make his voice as clear as possible, he coughed a little, but taking 441 | care to do this not too loudly as even this might well sound 442 | different from the way that a human coughs and he was no longer sure 443 | he could judge this for himself. Meanwhile, it had become very 444 | quiet in the next room. Perhaps his parents were sat at the table 445 | whispering with the chief clerk, or perhaps they were all pressed 446 | against the door and listening. 447 | 448 | Gregor slowly pushed his way over to the door with the chair. Once 449 | there he let go of it and threw himself onto the door, holding 450 | himself upright against it using the adhesive on the tips of his 451 | legs. He rested there a little while to recover from the effort 452 | involved and then set himself to the task of turning the key in the 453 | lock with his mouth. He seemed, unfortunately, to have no proper 454 | teeth - how was he, then, to grasp the key? - but the lack of teeth 455 | was, of course, made up for with a very strong jaw; using the jaw, 456 | he really was able to start the key turning, ignoring the fact that 457 | he must have been causing some kind of damage as a brown fluid came 458 | from his mouth, flowed over the key and dripped onto the floor. 459 | "Listen", said the chief clerk in the next room, "he's turning the 460 | key." Gregor was greatly encouraged by this; but they all should 461 | have been calling to him, his father and his mother too: "Well done, 462 | Gregor", they should have cried, "keep at it, keep hold of the 463 | lock!" And with the idea that they were all excitedly following his 464 | efforts, he bit on the key with all his strength, paying no 465 | attention to the pain he was causing himself. As the key turned 466 | round he turned around the lock with it, only holding himself 467 | upright with his mouth, and hung onto the key or pushed it down 468 | again with the whole weight of his body as needed. The clear sound 469 | of the lock as it snapped back was Gregor's sign that he could break 470 | his concentration, and as he regained his breath he said to himself: 471 | "So, I didn't need the locksmith after all". Then he lay his head on 472 | the handle of the door to open it completely. 473 | 474 | Because he had to open the door in this way, it was already wide 475 | open before he could be seen. He had first to slowly turn himself 476 | around one of the double doors, and he had to do it very carefully 477 | if he did not want to fall flat on his back before entering the 478 | room. He was still occupied with this difficult movement, unable to 479 | pay attention to anything else, when he heard the chief clerk 480 | exclaim a loud "Oh!", which sounded like the soughing of the wind. 481 | Now he also saw him - he was the nearest to the door - his hand 482 | pressed against his open mouth and slowly retreating as if driven by 483 | a steady and invisible force. Gregor's mother, her hair still 484 | dishevelled from bed despite the chief clerk's being there, looked 485 | at his father. Then she unfolded her arms, took two steps forward 486 | towards Gregor and sank down onto the floor into her skirts that 487 | spread themselves out around her as her head disappeared down onto 488 | her breast. His father looked hostile, and clenched his fists as if 489 | wanting to knock Gregor back into his room. Then he looked 490 | uncertainly round the living room, covered his eyes with his hands 491 | and wept so that his powerful chest shook. 492 | 493 | So Gregor did not go into the room, but leant against the inside of 494 | the other door which was still held bolted in place. In this way 495 | only half of his body could be seen, along with his head above it 496 | which he leant over to one side as he peered out at the others. 497 | Meanwhile the day had become much lighter; part of the endless, 498 | grey-black building on the other side of the street - which was a 499 | hospital - could be seen quite clearly with the austere and regular 500 | line of windows piercing its facade; the rain was still 501 | falling, now throwing down large, individual droplets which hit the 502 | ground one at a time. The washing up from breakfast lay on the 503 | table; there was so much of it because, for Gregor's father, 504 | breakfast was the most important meal of the day and he would 505 | stretch it out for several hours as he sat reading a number of 506 | different newspapers. On the wall exactly opposite there was 507 | photograph of Gregor when he was a lieutenant in the army, his sword 508 | in his hand and a carefree smile on his face as he called forth 509 | respect for his uniform and bearing. The door to the entrance hall 510 | was open and as the front door of the flat was also open he could 511 | see onto the landing and the stairs where they began their way down 512 | below. 513 | 514 | "Now, then", said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one to 515 | have kept calm, "I'll get dressed straight away now, pack up my 516 | samples and set off. Will you please just let me leave? You can 517 | see", he said to the chief clerk, "that I'm not stubborn and I 518 | like to do my job; being a commercial traveller is arduous but 519 | without travelling I couldn't earn my living. So where are you 520 | going, in to the office? Yes? Will you report everything accurately, 521 | then? It's quite possible for someone to be temporarily unable to 522 | work, but that's just the right time to remember what's been 523 | achieved in the past and consider that later on, once the difficulty 524 | has been removed, he will certainly work with all the more diligence 525 | and concentration. You're well aware that I'm seriously in debt to 526 | our employer as well as having to look after my parents and my 527 | sister, so that I'm trapped in a difficult situation, but I will 528 | work my way out of it again. Please don't make things any harder 529 | for me than they are already, and don't take sides against me at the 530 | office. I know that nobody likes the travellers. They think we 531 | earn an enormous wage as well as having a soft time of it. That's 532 | just prejudice but they have no particular reason to think better of 533 | it. But you, sir, you have a better overview than the rest of the 534 | staff, in fact, if I can say this in confidence, a better overview 535 | than the boss himself - it's very easy for a businessman like him to 536 | make mistakes about his employees and judge them more harshly than 537 | he should. And you're also well aware that we travellers spend 538 | almost the whole year away from the office, so that we can very 539 | easily fall victim to gossip and chance and groundless complaints, 540 | and it's almost impossible to defend yourself from that sort of 541 | thing, we don't usually even hear about them, or if at all it's when 542 | we arrive back home exhausted from a trip, and that's when we feel 543 | the harmful effects of what's been going on without even knowing 544 | what caused them. Please, don't go away, at least first say 545 | something to show that you grant that I'm at least partly right!" 546 | 547 | But the chief clerk had turned away as soon as Gregor had started to 548 | speak, and, with protruding lips, only stared back at him over his 549 | trembling shoulders as he left. He did not keep still for a moment 550 | while Gregor was speaking, but moved steadily towards the door 551 | without taking his eyes off him. He moved very gradually, as if 552 | there had been some secret prohibition on leaving the room. It was 553 | only when he had reached the entrance hall that he made a sudden 554 | movement, drew his foot from the living room, and rushed forward in 555 | a panic. In the hall, he stretched his right hand far out towards 556 | the stairway as if out there, there were some supernatural force 557 | waiting to save him. 558 | 559 | Gregor realised that it was out of the question to let the chief 560 | clerk go away in this mood if his position in the firm was not to be 561 | put into extreme danger. That was something his parents did not 562 | understand very well; over the years, they had become convinced that 563 | this job would provide for Gregor for his entire life, and besides, 564 | they had so much to worry about at present that they had lost sight 565 | of any thought for the future. Gregor, though, did think about the 566 | future. The chief clerk had to be held back, calmed down, convinced 567 | and finally won over; the future of Gregor and his family depended 568 | on it! If only his sister were here! She was clever; she was already 569 | in tears while Gregor was still lying peacefully on his back. And 570 | the chief clerk was a lover of women, surely she could persuade him; 571 | she would close the front door in the entrance hall and talk him out 572 | of his shocked state. But his sister was not there, Gregor would 573 | have to do the job himself. And without considering that he still 574 | was not familiar with how well he could move about in his present 575 | state, or that his speech still might not - or probably would not - 576 | be understood, he let go of the door; pushed himself through the 577 | opening; tried to reach the chief clerk on the landing who, 578 | ridiculously, was holding on to the banister with both hands; but 579 | Gregor fell immediately over and, with a little scream as he sought 580 | something to hold onto, landed on his numerous little legs. Hardly 581 | had that happened than, for the first time that day, he began to 582 | feel alright with his body; the little legs had the solid ground 583 | under them; to his pleasure, they did exactly as he told them; they 584 | were even making the effort to carry him where he wanted to go; and 585 | he was soon believing that all his sorrows would soon be finally at 586 | an end. He held back the urge to move but swayed from side to side 587 | as he crouched there on the floor. His mother was not far away in 588 | front of him and seemed, at first, quite engrossed in herself, but 589 | then she suddenly jumped up with her arms outstretched and her 590 | fingers spread shouting: "Help, for pity's sake, Help!" The way she 591 | held her head suggested she wanted to see Gregor better, but the 592 | unthinking way she was hurrying backwards showed that she did not; 593 | she had forgotten that the table was behind her with all the 594 | breakfast things on it; when she reached the table she sat quickly 595 | down on it without knowing what she was doing; without even seeming 596 | to notice that the coffee pot had been knocked over and a gush of 597 | coffee was pouring down onto the carpet. 598 | 599 | "Mother, mother", said Gregor gently, looking up at her. He had 600 | completely forgotten the chief clerk for the moment, but could not 601 | help himself snapping in the air with his jaws at the sight of the 602 | flow of coffee. That set his mother screaming anew, she fled from 603 | the table and into the arms of his father as he rushed towards her. 604 | Gregor, though, had no time to spare for his parents now; the chief 605 | clerk had already reached the stairs; with his chin on the banister, 606 | he looked back for the last time. Gregor made a run for him; he 607 | wanted to be sure of reaching him; the chief clerk must have 608 | expected something, as he leapt down several steps at once and 609 | disappeared; his shouts resounding all around the staircase. The 610 | flight of the chief clerk seemed, unfortunately, to put Gregor's 611 | father into a panic as well. Until then he had been relatively self 612 | controlled, but now, instead of running after the chief clerk 613 | himself, or at least not impeding Gregor as he ran after him, 614 | Gregor's father seized the chief clerk's stick in his right hand 615 | (the chief clerk had left it behind on a chair, along with his hat 616 | and overcoat), picked up a large newspaper from the table with his 617 | left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his room, stamping his 618 | foot at him as he went. Gregor's appeals to his father were of no 619 | help, his appeals were simply not understood, however much he humbly 620 | turned his head his father merely stamped his foot all the harder. 621 | Across the room, despite the chilly weather, Gregor's mother had 622 | pulled open a window, leant far out of it and pressed her hands to 623 | her face. A strong draught of air flew in from the street towards 624 | the stairway, the curtains flew up, the newspapers on the table 625 | fluttered and some of them were blown onto the floor. Nothing would 626 | stop Gregor's father as he drove him back, making hissing noises at 627 | him like a wild man. Gregor had never had any practice in moving 628 | backwards and was only able to go very slowly. If Gregor had only 629 | been allowed to turn round he would have been back in his room 630 | straight away, but he was afraid that if he took the time to do that 631 | his father would become impatient, and there was the threat of a 632 | lethal blow to his back or head from the stick in his father's hand 633 | any moment. Eventually, though, Gregor realised that he had no 634 | choice as he saw, to his disgust, that he was quite incapable of 635 | going backwards in a straight line; so he began, as quickly as 636 | possible and with frequent anxious glances at his father, to turn 637 | himself round. It went very slowly, but perhaps his father was able 638 | to see his good intentions as he did nothing to hinder him, in fact 639 | now and then he used the tip of his stick to give directions from a 640 | distance as to which way to turn. If only his father would stop 641 | that unbearable hissing! It was making Gregor quite confused. When 642 | he had nearly finished turning round, still listening to that 643 | hissing, he made a mistake and turned himself back a little the way 644 | he had just come. He was pleased when he finally had his head in 645 | front of the doorway, but then saw that it was too narrow, and his 646 | body was too broad to get through it without further difficulty. In 647 | his present mood, it obviously did not occur to his father to open 648 | the other of the double doors so that Gregor would have enough space 649 | to get through. He was merely fixed on the idea that Gregor should 650 | be got back into his room as quickly as possible. Nor would he ever 651 | have allowed Gregor the time to get himself upright as preparation 652 | for getting through the doorway. What he did, making more noise 653 | than ever, was to drive Gregor forwards all the harder as if there 654 | had been nothing in the way; it sounded to Gregor as if there was 655 | now more than one father behind him; it was not a pleasant 656 | experience, and Gregor pushed himself into the doorway without 657 | regard for what might happen. One side of his body lifted itself, 658 | he lay at an angle in the doorway, one flank scraped on the white 659 | door and was painfully injured, leaving vile brown flecks on it, 660 | soon he was stuck fast and would not have been able to move at all 661 | by himself, the little legs along one side hung quivering in the air 662 | while those on the other side were pressed painfully against the 663 | ground. Then his father gave him a hefty shove from behind which 664 | released him from where he was held and sent him flying, and heavily 665 | bleeding, deep into his room. The door was slammed shut with the 666 | stick, then, finally, all was quiet. 667 | 668 | 669 | 670 | II 671 | 672 | 673 | It was not until it was getting dark that evening that Gregor awoke 674 | from his deep and coma-like sleep. He would have woken soon 675 | afterwards anyway even if he hadn't been disturbed, as he had had 676 | enough sleep and felt fully rested. But he had the impression that 677 | some hurried steps and the sound of the door leading into the front 678 | room being carefully shut had woken him. The light from the 679 | electric street lamps shone palely here and there onto the ceiling 680 | and tops of the furniture, but down below, where Gregor was, it was 681 | dark. He pushed himself over to the door, feeling his way clumsily 682 | with his antennae - of which he was now beginning to learn the value 683 | - in order to see what had been happening there. The whole of his 684 | left side seemed like one, painfully stretched scar, and he limped 685 | badly on his two rows of legs. One of the legs had been badly 686 | injured in the events of that morning - it was nearly a miracle that 687 | only one of them had been - and dragged along lifelessly. 688 | 689 | It was only when he had reached the door that he realised what it 690 | actually was that had drawn him over to it; it was the smell of 691 | something to eat. By the door there was a dish filled with 692 | sweetened milk with little pieces of white bread floating in it. He 693 | was so pleased he almost laughed, as he was even hungrier than he 694 | had been that morning, and immediately dipped his head into the 695 | milk, nearly covering his eyes with it. But he soon drew his head 696 | back again in disappointment; not only did the pain in his tender 697 | left side make it difficult to eat the food - he was only able to 698 | eat if his whole body worked together as a snuffling whole - but the 699 | milk did not taste at all nice. Milk like this was normally his 700 | favourite drink, and his sister had certainly left it there for him 701 | because of that, but he turned, almost against his own will, away 702 | from the dish and crawled back into the centre of the room. 703 | 704 | Through the crack in the door, Gregor could see that the gas had 705 | been lit in the living room. His father at this time would normally 706 | be sat with his evening paper, reading it out in a loud voice to 707 | Gregor's mother, and sometimes to his sister, but there was now not 708 | a sound to be heard. Gregor's sister would often write and tell him 709 | about this reading, but maybe his father had lost the habit in 710 | recent times. It was so quiet all around too, even though there 711 | must have been somebody in the flat. "What a quiet life it is the 712 | family lead", said Gregor to himself, and, gazing into the darkness, 713 | felt a great pride that he was able to provide a life like that in 714 | such a nice home for his sister and parents. But what now, if all 715 | this peace and wealth and comfort should come to a horrible and 716 | frightening end? That was something that Gregor did not want to 717 | think about too much, so he started to move about, crawling up and 718 | down the room. 719 | 720 | Once during that long evening, the door on one side of the room was 721 | opened very slightly and hurriedly closed again; later on the door 722 | on the other side did the same; it seemed that someone needed to 723 | enter the room but thought better of it. Gregor went and waited 724 | immediately by the door, resolved either to bring the timorous 725 | visitor into the room in some way or at least to find out who it 726 | was; but the door was opened no more that night and Gregor waited in 727 | vain. The previous morning while the doors were locked everyone had 728 | wanted to get in there to him, but now, now that he had opened up 729 | one of the doors and the other had clearly been unlocked some time 730 | during the day, no-one came, and the keys were in the other sides. 731 | 732 | It was not until late at night that the gaslight in the living room 733 | was put out, and now it was easy to see that his parents and sister had 734 | stayed awake all that time, as they all could be distinctly heard as 735 | they went away together on tip-toe. It was clear that no-one would 736 | come into Gregor's room any more until morning; that gave him plenty 737 | of time to think undisturbed about how he would have to re-arrange 738 | his life. For some reason, the tall, empty room where he was forced 739 | to remain made him feel uneasy as he lay there flat on the floor, 740 | even though he had been living in it for five years. Hardly aware 741 | of what he was doing other than a slight feeling of shame, he 742 | hurried under the couch. It pressed down on his back a little, and 743 | he was no longer able to lift his head, but he nonetheless felt 744 | immediately at ease and his only regret was that his body was too 745 | broad to get it all underneath. 746 | 747 | He spent the whole night there. Some of the time he passed in a 748 | light sleep, although he frequently woke from it in alarm because of 749 | his hunger, and some of the time was spent in worries and vague 750 | hopes which, however, always led to the same conclusion: for the 751 | time being he must remain calm, he must show patience and the 752 | greatest consideration so that his family could bear the 753 | unpleasantness that he, in his present condition, was forced to 754 | impose on them. 755 | 756 | Gregor soon had the opportunity to test the strength of his 757 | decisions, as early the next morning, almost before the night had 758 | ended, his sister, nearly fully dressed, opened the door from the 759 | front room and looked anxiously in. She did not see him straight 760 | away, but when she did notice him under the couch - he had to be 761 | somewhere, for God's sake, he couldn't have flown away - she was so 762 | shocked that she lost control of herself and slammed the door shut 763 | again from outside. But she seemed to regret her behaviour, as she 764 | opened the door again straight away and came in on tip-toe as if 765 | entering the room of someone seriously ill or even of a stranger. 766 | Gregor had pushed his head forward, right to the edge of the couch, 767 | and watched her. Would she notice that he had left the milk as it 768 | was, realise that it was not from any lack of hunger and bring him 769 | in some other food that was more suitable? If she didn't do it 770 | herself he would rather go hungry than draw her attention to it, 771 | although he did feel a terrible urge to rush forward from under the 772 | couch, throw himself at his sister's feet and beg her for something 773 | good to eat. However, his sister noticed the full dish immediately 774 | and looked at it and the few drops of milk splashed around it with 775 | some surprise. She immediately picked it up - using a rag, 776 | not her bare hands - and carried it out. Gregor was extremely 777 | curious as to what she would bring in its place, imagining the 778 | wildest possibilities, but he never could have guessed what his 779 | sister, in her goodness, actually did bring. In order to test his 780 | taste, she brought him a whole selection of things, all spread out 781 | on an old newspaper. There were old, half-rotten vegetables; bones 782 | from the evening meal, covered in white sauce that had gone hard; a 783 | few raisins and almonds; some cheese that Gregor had declared 784 | inedible two days before; a dry roll and some bread spread with 785 | butter and salt. As well as all that she had poured some water into 786 | the dish, which had probably been permanently set aside for Gregor's 787 | use, and placed it beside them. Then, out of consideration for 788 | Gregor's feelings, as she knew that he would not eat in front of 789 | her, she hurried out again and even turned the key in the lock so 790 | that Gregor would know he could make things as comfortable for 791 | himself as he liked. Gregor's little legs whirred, at last he could 792 | eat. What's more, his injuries must already have completely healed 793 | as he found no difficulty in moving. This amazed him, as more than 794 | a month earlier he had cut his finger slightly with a knife, he 795 | thought of how his finger had still hurt the day before yesterday. 796 | "Am I less sensitive than I used to be, then?", he thought, and was 797 | already sucking greedily at the cheese which had immediately, almost 798 | compellingly, attracted him much more than the other foods on the 799 | newspaper. Quickly one after another, his eyes watering with 800 | pleasure, he consumed the cheese, the vegetables and the sauce; the 801 | fresh foods, on the other hand, he didn't like at all, and even 802 | dragged the things he did want to eat a little way away from them 803 | because he couldn't stand the smell. Long after he had finished 804 | eating and lay lethargic in the same place, his sister slowly turned 805 | the key in the lock as a sign to him that he should withdraw. He 806 | was immediately startled, although he had been half asleep, and he 807 | hurried back under the couch. But he needed great self-control to 808 | stay there even for the short time that his sister was in the room, 809 | as eating so much food had rounded out his body a little and he 810 | could hardly breathe in that narrow space. Half suffocating, he 811 | watched with bulging eyes as his sister unselfconsciously took a 812 | broom and swept up the left-overs, mixing them in with the food he 813 | had not even touched at all as if it could not be used any more. 814 | She quickly dropped it all into a bin, closed it with its wooden 815 | lid, and carried everything out. She had hardly turned her back 816 | before Gregor came out again from under the couch and stretched 817 | himself. 818 | 819 | This was how Gregor received his food each day now, once in the 820 | morning while his parents and the maid were still asleep, and the 821 | second time after everyone had eaten their meal at midday as his 822 | parents would sleep for a little while then as well, and Gregor's 823 | sister would send the maid away on some errand. Gregor's father and 824 | mother certainly did not want him to starve either, but perhaps it 825 | would have been more than they could stand to have any more 826 | experience of his feeding than being told about it, and perhaps his 827 | sister wanted to spare them what distress she could as they were 828 | indeed suffering enough. 829 | 830 | It was impossible for Gregor to find out what they had told the 831 | doctor and the locksmith that first morning to get them out of the 832 | flat. As nobody could understand him, nobody, not even his sister, 833 | thought that he could understand them, so he had to be content to 834 | hear his sister's sighs and appeals to the saints as she moved about 835 | his room. It was only later, when she had become a little more used 836 | to everything - there was, of course, no question of her ever 837 | becoming fully used to the situation - that Gregor would sometimes 838 | catch a friendly comment, or at least a comment that could be 839 | construed as friendly. "He's enjoyed his dinner today", she might 840 | say when he had diligently cleared away all the food left for him, 841 | or if he left most of it, which slowly became more and more 842 | frequent, she would often say, sadly, "now everything's just been 843 | left there again". 844 | 845 | Although Gregor wasn't able to hear any news directly he did listen 846 | to much of what was said in the next rooms, and whenever he heard 847 | anyone speaking he would scurry straight to the appropriate door and 848 | press his whole body against it. There was seldom any conversation, 849 | especially at first, that was not about him in some way, even if 850 | only in secret. For two whole days, all the talk at every mealtime 851 | was about what they should do now; but even between meals they spoke 852 | about the same subject as there were always at least two members of 853 | the family at home - nobody wanted to be at home by themselves and 854 | it was out of the question to leave the flat entirely empty. And on 855 | the very first day the maid had fallen to her knees and begged 856 | Gregor's mother to let her go without delay. It was not very clear 857 | how much she knew of what had happened but she left within a quarter 858 | of an hour, tearfully thanking Gregor's mother for her dismissal as 859 | if she had done her an enormous service. She even swore 860 | emphatically not to tell anyone the slightest about what had 861 | happened, even though no-one had asked that of her. 862 | 863 | Now Gregor's sister also had to help his mother with the cooking; 864 | although that was not so much bother as no-one ate very much. 865 | Gregor often heard how one of them would unsuccessfully urge another 866 | to eat, and receive no more answer than "no thanks, I've had enough" 867 | or something similar. No-one drank very much either. His sister 868 | would sometimes ask his father whether he would like a beer, hoping 869 | for the chance to go and fetch it herself. When his father then 870 | said nothing she would add, so that he would not feel selfish, that 871 | she could send the housekeeper for it, but then his father would 872 | close the matter with a big, loud "No", and no more would be said. 873 | 874 | Even before the first day had come to an end, his father had 875 | explained to Gregor's mother and sister what their finances and 876 | prospects were. Now and then he stood up from the table and took 877 | some receipt or document from the little cash box he had saved from 878 | his business when it had collapsed five years earlier. Gregor heard 879 | how he opened the complicated lock and then closed it again after he 880 | had taken the item he wanted. What he heard his father say was some 881 | of the first good news that Gregor heard since he had first been 882 | incarcerated in his room. He had thought that nothing at all 883 | remained from his father's business, at least he had never told him 884 | anything different, and Gregor had never asked him about it anyway. 885 | Their business misfortune had reduced the family to a state of total 886 | despair, and Gregor's only concern at that time had been to arrange 887 | things so that they could all forget about it as quickly as 888 | possible. So then he started working especially hard, with a fiery 889 | vigour that raised him from a junior salesman to a travelling 890 | representative almost overnight, bringing with it the chance to earn 891 | money in quite different ways. Gregor converted his success at work 892 | straight into cash that he could lay on the table at home for the 893 | benefit of his astonished and delighted family. They had been good 894 | times and they had never come again, at least not with the same 895 | splendour, even though Gregor had later earned so much that he was 896 | in a position to bear the costs of the whole family, and did bear 897 | them. They had even got used to it, both Gregor and the family, 898 | they took the money with gratitude and he was glad to provide it, 899 | although there was no longer much warm affection given in return. 900 | Gregor only remained close to his sister now. Unlike him, she was 901 | very fond of music and a gifted and expressive violinist, it was his 902 | secret plan to send her to the conservatory next year even though it 903 | would cause great expense that would have to be made up for in some 904 | other way. During Gregor's short periods in town, conversation with 905 | his sister would often turn to the conservatory but it was only ever 906 | mentioned as a lovely dream that could never be realised. Their 907 | parents did not like to hear this innocent talk, but Gregor thought 908 | about it quite hard and decided he would let them know what he 909 | planned with a grand announcement of it on Christmas day. 910 | 911 | That was the sort of totally pointless thing that went through his 912 | mind in his present state, pressed upright against the door and 913 | listening. There were times when he simply became too tired to 914 | continue listening, when his head would fall wearily against the 915 | door and he would pull it up again with a start, as even the 916 | slightest noise he caused would be heard next door and they would 917 | all go silent. "What's that he's doing now", his father would say 918 | after a while, clearly having gone over to the door, and only then 919 | would the interrupted conversation slowly be taken up again. 920 | 921 | When explaining things, his father repeated himself several times, 922 | partly because it was a long time since he had been occupied with 923 | these matters himself and partly because Gregor's mother did not 924 | understand everything the first time. From these repeated explanations 925 | Gregor learned, to his pleasure, that despite all their misfortunes 926 | there was still some money available from the old days. It was not 927 | a lot, but it had not been touched in the meantime and some interest 928 | had accumulated. Besides that, they had not been using up all the 929 | money that Gregor had been bringing home every month, keeping only a 930 | little for himself, so that that, too, had been accumulating. 931 | Behind the door, Gregor nodded with enthusiasm in his pleasure at 932 | this unexpected thrift and caution. He could actually have used 933 | this surplus money to reduce his father's debt to his boss, and the 934 | day when he could have freed himself from that job would have come 935 | much closer, but now it was certainly better the way his father had 936 | done things. 937 | 938 | This money, however, was certainly not enough to enable the family 939 | to live off the interest; it was enough to maintain them for, 940 | perhaps, one or two years, no more. That's to say, it was money 941 | that should not really be touched but set aside for emergencies; 942 | money to live on had to be earned. His father was healthy but old, 943 | and lacking in self confidence. During the five years that he had 944 | not been working - the first holiday in a life that had been full of 945 | strain and no success - he had put on a lot of weight and become 946 | very slow and clumsy. Would Gregor's elderly mother now have to go 947 | and earn money? She suffered from asthma and it was a strain for her 948 | just to move about the home, every other day would be spent 949 | struggling for breath on the sofa by the open window. Would his 950 | sister have to go and earn money? She was still a child of 951 | seventeen, her life up till then had been very enviable, consisting 952 | of wearing nice clothes, sleeping late, helping out in the business, 953 | joining in with a few modest pleasures and most of all playing the 954 | violin. Whenever they began to talk of the need to earn money, 955 | Gregor would always first let go of the door and then throw himself 956 | onto the cool, leather sofa next to it, as he became quite hot with 957 | shame and regret. 958 | 959 | He would often lie there the whole night through, not sleeping a 960 | wink but scratching at the leather for hours on end. Or he might go 961 | to all the effort of pushing a chair to the window, climbing up onto 962 | the sill and, propped up in the chair, leaning on the window to 963 | stare out of it. He had used to feel a great sense of freedom from 964 | doing this, but doing it now was obviously something more remembered 965 | than experienced, as what he actually saw in this way was becoming 966 | less distinct every day, even things that were quite near; he had 967 | used to curse the ever-present view of the hospital across the 968 | street, but now he could not see it at all, and if he had not known 969 | that he lived in Charlottenstrasse, which was a quiet street despite 970 | being in the middle of the city, he could have thought that he was 971 | looking out the window at a barren waste where the grey sky and the 972 | grey earth mingled inseparably. His observant sister only needed to 973 | notice the chair twice before she would always push it back to its 974 | exact position by the window after she had tidied up the room, and 975 | even left the inner pane of the window open from then on. 976 | 977 | If Gregor had only been able to speak to his sister and thank her 978 | for all that she had to do for him it would have been easier for him 979 | to bear it; but as it was it caused him pain. His sister, 980 | naturally, tried as far as possible to pretend there was nothing 981 | burdensome about it, and the longer it went on, of course, the 982 | better she was able to do so, but as time went by Gregor was also 983 | able to see through it all so much better. It had even become very 984 | unpleasant for him, now, whenever she entered the room. No sooner 985 | had she come in than she would quickly close the door as a 986 | precaution so that no-one would have to suffer the view into 987 | Gregor's room, then she would go straight to the window and pull it 988 | hurriedly open almost as if she were suffocating. Even if it was 989 | cold, she would stay at the window breathing deeply for a little 990 | while. She would alarm Gregor twice a day with this running about 991 | and noise making; he would stay under the couch shivering the whole 992 | while, knowing full well that she would certainly have liked to 993 | spare him this ordeal, but it was impossible for her to be in the 994 | same room with him with the windows closed. 995 | 996 | One day, about a month after Gregor's transformation when his sister 997 | no longer had any particular reason to be shocked at his appearance, 998 | she came into the room a little earlier than usual and found him 999 | still staring out the window, motionless, and just where he would be 1000 | most horrible. In itself, his sister's not coming into the room 1001 | would have been no surprise for Gregor as it would have been 1002 | difficult for her to immediately open the window while he was still 1003 | there, but not only did she not come in, she went straight back and 1004 | closed the door behind her, a stranger would have thought he had 1005 | threatened her and tried to bite her. Gregor went straight to hide 1006 | himself under the couch, of course, but he had to wait until midday 1007 | before his sister came back and she seemed much more uneasy than 1008 | usual. It made him realise that she still found his appearance 1009 | unbearable and would continue to do so, she probably even had to 1010 | overcome the urge to flee when she saw the little bit of him that 1011 | protruded from under the couch. One day, in order to spare her even 1012 | this sight, he spent four hours carrying the bedsheet over to the 1013 | couch on his back and arranged it so that he was completely covered 1014 | and his sister would not be able to see him even if she bent down. 1015 | If she did not think this sheet was necessary then all she had to do 1016 | was take it off again, as it was clear enough that it was no 1017 | pleasure for Gregor to cut himself off so completely. She left the 1018 | sheet where it was. Gregor even thought he glimpsed a look of 1019 | gratitude one time when he carefully looked out from under the sheet 1020 | to see how his sister liked the new arrangement. 1021 | 1022 | For the first fourteen days, Gregor's parents could not bring 1023 | themselves to come into the room to see him. He would often hear 1024 | them say how they appreciated all the new work his sister was doing 1025 | even though, before, they had seen her as a girl who was somewhat 1026 | useless and frequently been annoyed with her. But now the two of 1027 | them, father and mother, would often both wait outside the door of 1028 | Gregor's room while his sister tidied up in there, and as soon as 1029 | she went out again she would have to tell them exactly how 1030 | everything looked, what Gregor had eaten, how he had behaved this 1031 | time and whether, perhaps, any slight improvement could be seen. 1032 | His mother also wanted to go in and visit Gregor relatively soon but 1033 | his father and sister at first persuaded her against it. Gregor 1034 | listened very closely to all this, and approved fully. Later, 1035 | though, she had to be held back by force, which made her call out: 1036 | "Let me go and see Gregor, he is my unfortunate son! Can't you 1037 | understand I have to see him?", and Gregor would think to himself 1038 | that maybe it would be better if his mother came in, not every day 1039 | of course, but one day a week, perhaps; she could understand 1040 | everything much better than his sister who, for all her courage, was 1041 | still just a child after all, and really might not have had an 1042 | adult's appreciation of the burdensome job she had taken on. 1043 | 1044 | Gregor's wish to see his mother was soon realised. Out of 1045 | consideration for his parents, Gregor wanted to avoid being seen at 1046 | the window during the day, the few square meters of the floor did 1047 | not give him much room to crawl about, it was hard to just lie 1048 | quietly through the night, his food soon stopped giving him any 1049 | pleasure at all, and so, to entertain himself, he got into the habit 1050 | of crawling up and down the walls and ceiling. He was especially 1051 | fond of hanging from the ceiling; it was quite different from lying 1052 | on the floor; he could breathe more freely; his body had a light 1053 | swing to it; and up there, relaxed and almost happy, it might happen 1054 | that he would surprise even himself by letting go of the ceiling and 1055 | landing on the floor with a crash. But now, of course, he had far 1056 | better control of his body than before and, even with a fall as 1057 | great as that, caused himself no damage. Very soon his sister 1058 | noticed Gregor's new way of entertaining himself - he had, after 1059 | all, left traces of the adhesive from his feet as he crawled about - 1060 | and got it into her head to make it as easy as possible for him by 1061 | removing the furniture that got in his way, especially the chest of 1062 | drawers and the desk. Now, this was not something that she would be 1063 | able to do by herself; she did not dare to ask for help from her 1064 | father; the sixteen year old maid had carried on bravely since the 1065 | cook had left but she certainly would not have helped in this, she 1066 | had even asked to be allowed to keep the kitchen locked at all times 1067 | and never to have to open the door unless it was especially 1068 | important; so his sister had no choice but to choose some time when 1069 | Gregor's father was not there and fetch his mother to help her. As 1070 | she approached the room, Gregor could hear his mother express her 1071 | joy, but once at the door she went silent. First, of course, his 1072 | sister came in and looked round to see that everything in the room 1073 | was alright; and only then did she let her mother enter. Gregor had 1074 | hurriedly pulled the sheet down lower over the couch and put more 1075 | folds into it so that everything really looked as if it had just 1076 | been thrown down by chance. Gregor also refrained, this time, from 1077 | spying out from under the sheet; he gave up the chance to see his 1078 | mother until later and was simply glad that she had come. "You can 1079 | come in, he can't be seen", said his sister, obviously leading her 1080 | in by the hand. The old chest of drawers was too heavy for a pair 1081 | of feeble women to be heaving about, but Gregor listened as they 1082 | pushed it from its place, his sister always taking on the heaviest 1083 | part of the work for herself and ignoring her mother's warnings that 1084 | she would strain herself. This lasted a very long time. After 1085 | labouring at it for fifteen minutes or more his mother said it would 1086 | be better to leave the chest where it was, for one thing it was too 1087 | heavy for them to get the job finished before Gregor's father got 1088 | home and leaving it in the middle of the room it would be in his way 1089 | even more, and for another thing it wasn't even sure that taking the 1090 | furniture away would really be any help to him. She thought just 1091 | the opposite; the sight of the bare walls saddened her right to her 1092 | heart; and why wouldn't Gregor feel the same way about it, he'd been 1093 | used to this furniture in his room for a long time and it would make 1094 | him feel abandoned to be in an empty room like that. Then, quietly, 1095 | almost whispering as if wanting Gregor (whose whereabouts she did 1096 | not know) to hear not even the tone of her voice, as she was 1097 | convinced that he did not understand her words, she added "and by 1098 | taking the furniture away, won't it seem like we're showing that 1099 | we've given up all hope of improvement and we're abandoning him to 1100 | cope for himself? I think it'd be best to leave the room exactly the 1101 | way it was before so that when Gregor comes back to us again he'll 1102 | find everything unchanged and he'll be able to forget the time in 1103 | between all the easier". 1104 | 1105 | Hearing these words from his mother made Gregor realise that the 1106 | lack of any direct human communication, along with the monotonous 1107 | life led by the family during these two months, must have made him 1108 | confused - he could think of no other way of explaining to himself 1109 | why he had seriously wanted his room emptied out. Had he really 1110 | wanted to transform his room into a cave, a warm room fitted out 1111 | with the nice furniture he had inherited? That would have let him 1112 | crawl around unimpeded in any direction, but it would also have let 1113 | him quickly forget his past when he had still been human. He had 1114 | come very close to forgetting, and it had only been the voice of his 1115 | mother, unheard for so long, that had shaken him out of it. Nothing 1116 | should be removed; everything had to stay; he could not do without 1117 | the good influence the furniture had on his condition; and if the 1118 | furniture made it difficult for him to crawl about mindlessly that 1119 | was not a loss but a great advantage. 1120 | 1121 | His sister, unfortunately, did not agree; she had become used to the 1122 | idea, not without reason, that she was Gregor's spokesman to his 1123 | parents about the things that concerned him. This meant that his 1124 | mother's advice now was sufficient reason for her to insist on 1125 | removing not only the chest of drawers and the desk, as she had 1126 | thought at first, but all the furniture apart from the all-important 1127 | couch. It was more than childish perversity, of course, or the 1128 | unexpected confidence she had recently acquired, that made her 1129 | insist; she had indeed noticed that Gregor needed a lot of room to 1130 | crawl about in, whereas the furniture, as far as anyone could see, 1131 | was of no use to him at all. Girls of that age, though, do become 1132 | enthusiastic about things and feel they must get their way whenever 1133 | they can. Perhaps this was what tempted Grete to make Gregor's 1134 | situation seem even more shocking than it was so that she could do 1135 | even more for him. Grete would probably be the only one who would 1136 | dare enter a room dominated by Gregor crawling about the bare walls 1137 | by himself. 1138 | 1139 | So she refused to let her mother dissuade her. Gregor's mother 1140 | already looked uneasy in his room, she soon stopped speaking and 1141 | helped Gregor's sister to get the chest of drawers out with what 1142 | strength she had. The chest of drawers was something that Gregor 1143 | could do without if he had to, but the writing desk had to stay. 1144 | Hardly had the two women pushed the chest of drawers, groaning, out 1145 | of the room than Gregor poked his head out from under the couch to 1146 | see what he could do about it. He meant to be as careful and 1147 | considerate as he could, but, unfortunately, it was his mother who 1148 | came back first while Grete in the next room had her arms round the 1149 | chest, pushing and pulling at it from side to side by herself 1150 | without, of course, moving it an inch. His mother was not used to 1151 | the sight of Gregor, he might have made her ill, so Gregor hurried 1152 | backwards to the far end of the couch. In his startlement, though, 1153 | he was not able to prevent the sheet at its front from moving a 1154 | little. It was enough to attract his mother's attention. She stood 1155 | very still, remained there a moment, and then went back out to 1156 | Grete. 1157 | 1158 | Gregor kept trying to assure himself that nothing unusual was 1159 | happening, it was just a few pieces of furniture being moved after 1160 | all, but he soon had to admit that the women going to and fro, their 1161 | little calls to each other, the scraping of the furniture on the 1162 | floor, all these things made him feel as if he were being assailed 1163 | from all sides. With his head and legs pulled in against him and 1164 | his body pressed to the floor, he was forced to admit to himself 1165 | that he could not stand all of this much longer. They were emptying 1166 | his room out; taking away everything that was dear to him; they had 1167 | already taken out the chest containing his fretsaw and other tools; 1168 | now they threatened to remove the writing desk with its place 1169 | clearly worn into the floor, the desk where he had done his homework 1170 | as a business trainee, at high school, even while he had been at 1171 | infant school--he really could not wait any longer to see whether 1172 | the two women's intentions were good. He had nearly forgotten they 1173 | were there anyway, as they were now too tired to say anything while 1174 | they worked and he could only hear their feet as they stepped 1175 | heavily on the floor. 1176 | 1177 | So, while the women were leant against the desk in the other room 1178 | catching their breath, he sallied out, changed direction four times 1179 | not knowing what he should save first before his attention was 1180 | suddenly caught by the picture on the wall - which was already 1181 | denuded of everything else that had been on it - of the lady dressed 1182 | in copious fur. He hurried up onto the picture and pressed himself 1183 | against its glass, it held him firmly and felt good on his hot 1184 | belly. This picture at least, now totally covered by Gregor, would 1185 | certainly be taken away by no-one. He turned his head to face the 1186 | door into the living room so that he could watch the women when they 1187 | came back. 1188 | 1189 | They had not allowed themselves a long rest and came back quite 1190 | soon; Grete had put her arm around her mother and was nearly 1191 | carrying her. "What shall we take now, then?", said Grete and 1192 | looked around. Her eyes met those of Gregor on the wall. Perhaps 1193 | only because her mother was there, she remained calm, bent her face 1194 | to her so that she would not look round and said, albeit hurriedly 1195 | and with a tremor in her voice: "Come on, let's go back in the 1196 | living room for a while?" Gregor could see what Grete had in mind, 1197 | she wanted to take her mother somewhere safe and then chase him down 1198 | from the wall. Well, she could certainly try it! He sat unyielding 1199 | on his picture. He would rather jump at Grete's face. 1200 | 1201 | But Grete's words had made her mother quite worried, she stepped to 1202 | one side, saw the enormous brown patch against the flowers of the 1203 | wallpaper, and before she even realised it was Gregor that she saw 1204 | screamed: "Oh God, oh God!" Arms outstretched, she fell onto the 1205 | couch as if she had given up everything and stayed there immobile. 1206 | "Gregor!" shouted his sister, glowering at him and shaking her fist. 1207 | That was the first word she had spoken to him directly since his 1208 | transformation. She ran into the other room to fetch some kind of 1209 | smelling salts to bring her mother out of her faint; Gregor wanted 1210 | to help too - he could save his picture later, although he stuck 1211 | fast to the glass and had to pull himself off by force; then he, 1212 | too, ran into the next room as if he could advise his sister like in 1213 | the old days; but he had to just stand behind her doing nothing; she 1214 | was looking into various bottles, he startled her when she turned 1215 | round; a bottle fell to the ground and broke; a splinter cut 1216 | Gregor's face, some kind of caustic medicine splashed all over him; 1217 | now, without delaying any longer, Grete took hold of all the bottles 1218 | she could and ran with them in to her mother; she slammed the door 1219 | shut with her foot. So now Gregor was shut out from his mother, 1220 | who, because of him, might be near to death; he could not open the 1221 | door if he did not want to chase his sister away, and she had to 1222 | stay with his mother; there was nothing for him to do but wait; and, 1223 | oppressed with anxiety and self-reproach, he began to crawl about, 1224 | he crawled over everything, walls, furniture, ceiling, and finally 1225 | in his confusion as the whole room began to spin around him he fell 1226 | down into the middle of the dinner table. 1227 | 1228 | He lay there for a while, numb and immobile, all around him it was 1229 | quiet, maybe that was a good sign. Then there was someone at the 1230 | door. The maid, of course, had locked herself in her kitchen so 1231 | that Grete would have to go and answer it. His father had arrived 1232 | home. "What's happened?" were his first words; Grete's appearance 1233 | must have made everything clear to him. She answered him with 1234 | subdued voice, and openly pressed her face into his chest: "Mother's 1235 | fainted, but she's better now. Gregor got out." "Just as I 1236 | expected", said his father, "just as I always said, but you women 1237 | wouldn't listen, would you." It was clear to Gregor that Grete had 1238 | not said enough and that his father took it to mean that something 1239 | bad had happened, that he was responsible for some act of violence. 1240 | That meant Gregor would now have to try to calm his father, as he 1241 | did not have the time to explain things to him even if that had been 1242 | possible. So he fled to the door of his room and pressed himself 1243 | against it so that his father, when he came in from the hall, could 1244 | see straight away that Gregor had the best intentions and would go 1245 | back into his room without delay, that it would not be necessary to 1246 | drive him back but that they had only to open the door and he would 1247 | disappear. 1248 | 1249 | His father, though, was not in the mood to notice subtleties like 1250 | that; "Ah!", he shouted as he came in, sounding as if he were both 1251 | angry and glad at the same time. Gregor drew his head back from the 1252 | door and lifted it towards his father. He really had not imagined 1253 | his father the way he stood there now; of late, with his new habit 1254 | of crawling about, he had neglected to pay attention to what was 1255 | going on the rest of the flat the way he had done before. He really 1256 | ought to have expected things to have changed, but still, still, was 1257 | that really his father? The same tired man as used to be laying 1258 | there entombed in his bed when Gregor came back from his business 1259 | trips, who would receive him sitting in the armchair in his 1260 | nightgown when he came back in the evenings; who was hardly even 1261 | able to stand up but, as a sign of his pleasure, would just raise 1262 | his arms and who, on the couple of times a year when they went for a 1263 | walk together on a Sunday or public holiday wrapped up tightly in 1264 | his overcoat between Gregor and his mother, would always labour his 1265 | way forward a little more slowly than them, who were already walking 1266 | slowly for his sake; who would place his stick down carefully and, 1267 | if he wanted to say something would invariably stop and gather his 1268 | companions around him. He was standing up straight enough now; 1269 | dressed in a smart blue uniform with gold buttons, the sort worn by 1270 | the employees at the banking institute; above the high, stiff collar 1271 | of the coat his strong double-chin emerged; under the bushy 1272 | eyebrows, his piercing, dark eyes looked out fresh and alert; his 1273 | normally unkempt white hair was combed down painfully close to his 1274 | scalp. He took his cap, with its gold monogram from, probably, some 1275 | bank, and threw it in an arc right across the room onto the sofa, 1276 | put his hands in his trouser pockets, pushing back the bottom of his 1277 | long uniform coat, and, with look of determination, walked towards 1278 | Gregor. He probably did not even know himself what he had in mind, 1279 | but nonetheless lifted his feet unusually high. Gregor was amazed 1280 | at the enormous size of the soles of his boots, but wasted no time 1281 | with that - he knew full well, right from the first day of his new 1282 | life, that his father thought it necessary to always be extremely 1283 | strict with him. And so he ran up to his father, stopped when his 1284 | father stopped, scurried forwards again when he moved, even 1285 | slightly. In this way they went round the room several times 1286 | without anything decisive happening, without even giving the 1287 | impression of a chase as everything went so slowly. Gregor remained 1288 | all this time on the floor, largely because he feared his father 1289 | might see it as especially provoking if he fled onto the wall or 1290 | ceiling. Whatever he did, Gregor had to admit that he certainly 1291 | would not be able to keep up this running about for long, as for 1292 | each step his father took he had to carry out countless movements. 1293 | He became noticeably short of breath, even in his earlier life his 1294 | lungs had not been very reliable. Now, as he lurched about in his 1295 | efforts to muster all the strength he could for running he could 1296 | hardly keep his eyes open; his thoughts became too slow for him to 1297 | think of any other way of saving himself than running; he almost 1298 | forgot that the walls were there for him to use although, here, they 1299 | were concealed behind carefully carved furniture full of notches and 1300 | protrusions - then, right beside him, lightly tossed, something flew 1301 | down and rolled in front of him. It was an apple; then another one 1302 | immediately flew at him; Gregor froze in shock; there was no longer 1303 | any point in running as his father had decided to bombard him. He 1304 | had filled his pockets with fruit from the bowl on the sideboard and 1305 | now, without even taking the time for careful aim, threw one apple 1306 | after another. These little, red apples rolled about on the floor, 1307 | knocking into each other as if they had electric motors. An apple 1308 | thrown without much force glanced against Gregor's back and slid off 1309 | without doing any harm. Another one however, immediately following 1310 | it, hit squarely and lodged in his back; Gregor wanted to drag 1311 | himself away, as if he could remove the surprising, the incredible 1312 | pain by changing his position; but he felt as if nailed to the spot 1313 | and spread himself out, all his senses in confusion. The last thing 1314 | he saw was the door of his room being pulled open, his sister was 1315 | screaming, his mother ran out in front of her in her blouse (as his 1316 | sister had taken off some of her clothes after she had fainted to 1317 | make it easier for her to breathe), she ran to his father, her 1318 | skirts unfastened and sliding one after another to the ground, 1319 | stumbling over the skirts she pushed herself to his father, her arms 1320 | around him, uniting herself with him totally - now Gregor lost his 1321 | ability to see anything - her hands behind his father's head begging 1322 | him to spare Gregor's life. 1323 | 1324 | 1325 | 1326 | III 1327 | 1328 | 1329 | No-one dared to remove the apple lodged in Gregor's flesh, so it 1330 | remained there as a visible reminder of his injury. He had suffered 1331 | it there for more than a month, and his condition seemed serious 1332 | enough to remind even his father that Gregor, despite his current 1333 | sad and revolting form, was a family member who could not be treated 1334 | as an enemy. On the contrary, as a family there was a duty to 1335 | swallow any revulsion for him and to be patient, just to be patient. 1336 | 1337 | Because of his injuries, Gregor had lost much of his mobility - 1338 | probably permanently. He had been reduced to the condition of an 1339 | ancient invalid and it took him long, long minutes to crawl across 1340 | his room - crawling over the ceiling was out of the question - but 1341 | this deterioration in his condition was fully (in his opinion) made 1342 | up for by the door to the living room being left open every evening. 1343 | He got into the habit of closely watching it for one or two hours 1344 | before it was opened and then, lying in the darkness of his room 1345 | where he could not be seen from the living room, he could watch the 1346 | family in the light of the dinner table and listen to their 1347 | conversation - with everyone's permission, in a way, and thus quite 1348 | differently from before. 1349 | 1350 | They no longer held the lively conversations of earlier times, of 1351 | course, the ones that Gregor always thought about with longing when 1352 | he was tired and getting into the damp bed in some small hotel room. 1353 | All of them were usually very quiet nowadays. Soon after dinner, 1354 | his father would go to sleep in his chair; his mother and sister 1355 | would urge each other to be quiet; his mother, bent deeply under the 1356 | lamp, would sew fancy underwear for a fashion shop; his sister, who 1357 | had taken a sales job, learned shorthand and French in the evenings 1358 | so that she might be able to get a better position later on. 1359 | Sometimes his father would wake up and say to Gregor's mother 1360 | "you're doing so much sewing again today!", as if he did not know 1361 | that he had been dozing - and then he would go back to sleep again 1362 | while mother and sister would exchange a tired grin. 1363 | 1364 | With a kind of stubbornness, Gregor's father refused to take his 1365 | uniform off even at home; while his nightgown hung unused on its peg 1366 | Gregor's father would slumber where he was, fully dressed, as if 1367 | always ready to serve and expecting to hear the voice of his 1368 | superior even here. The uniform had not been new to start with, but 1369 | as a result of this it slowly became even shabbier despite the 1370 | efforts of Gregor's mother and sister to look after it. Gregor 1371 | would often spend the whole evening looking at all the stains on 1372 | this coat, with its gold buttons always kept polished and shiny, 1373 | while the old man in it would sleep, highly uncomfortable but 1374 | peaceful. 1375 | 1376 | As soon as it struck ten, Gregor's mother would speak gently to his 1377 | father to wake him and try to persuade him to go to bed, as he 1378 | couldn't sleep properly where he was and he really had to get his 1379 | sleep if he was to be up at six to get to work. But since he had 1380 | been in work he had become more obstinate and would always insist on 1381 | staying longer at the table, even though he regularly fell asleep 1382 | and it was then harder than ever to persuade him to exchange the 1383 | chair for his bed. Then, however much mother and sister would 1384 | importune him with little reproaches and warnings he would keep 1385 | slowly shaking his head for a quarter of an hour with his eyes 1386 | closed and refusing to get up. Gregor's mother would tug at his 1387 | sleeve, whisper endearments into his ear, Gregor's sister would 1388 | leave her work to help her mother, but nothing would have any effect 1389 | on him. He would just sink deeper into his chair. Only when the 1390 | two women took him under the arms he would abruptly open his eyes, 1391 | look at them one after the other and say: "What a life! This is what 1392 | peace I get in my old age!" And supported by the two women he would 1393 | lift himself up carefully as if he were carrying the greatest load 1394 | himself, let the women take him to the door, send them off and carry 1395 | on by himself while Gregor's mother would throw down her needle and 1396 | his sister her pen so that they could run after his father and 1397 | continue being of help to him. 1398 | 1399 | Who, in this tired and overworked family, would have had time to 1400 | give more attention to Gregor than was absolutely necessary? The 1401 | household budget became even smaller; so now the maid was dismissed; 1402 | an enormous, thick-boned charwoman with white hair that flapped 1403 | around her head came every morning and evening to do the heaviest 1404 | work; everything else was looked after by Gregor's mother on top of 1405 | the large amount of sewing work she did. Gregor even learned, 1406 | listening to the evening conversation about what price they had 1407 | hoped for, that several items of jewellery belonging to the family 1408 | had been sold, even though both mother and sister had been very fond 1409 | of wearing them at functions and celebrations. But the loudest 1410 | complaint was that although the flat was much too big for their 1411 | present circumstances, they could not move out of it, there was no 1412 | imaginable way of transferring Gregor to the new address. He could 1413 | see quite well, though, that there were more reasons than 1414 | consideration for him that made it difficult for them to move, it 1415 | would have been quite easy to transport him in any suitable crate 1416 | with a few air holes in it; the main thing holding the family back 1417 | from their decision to move was much more to do with their total 1418 | despair, and the thought that they had been struck with a misfortune 1419 | unlike anything experienced by anyone else they knew or were related 1420 | to. They carried out absolutely everything that the world expects 1421 | from poor people, Gregor's father brought bank employees their 1422 | breakfast, his mother sacrificed herself by washing clothes for 1423 | strangers, his sister ran back and forth behind her desk at the 1424 | behest of the customers, but they just did not have the strength to 1425 | do any more. And the injury in Gregor's back began to hurt as much 1426 | as when it was new. After they had come back from taking his father 1427 | to bed Gregor's mother and sister would now leave their work where 1428 | it was and sit close together, cheek to cheek; his mother would 1429 | point to Gregor's room and say "Close that door, Grete", and then, 1430 | when he was in the dark again, they would sit in the next room and 1431 | their tears would mingle, or they would simply sit there staring 1432 | dry-eyed at the table. 1433 | 1434 | Gregor hardly slept at all, either night or day. Sometimes he would 1435 | think of taking over the family's affairs, just like before, the 1436 | next time the door was opened; he had long forgotten about his boss 1437 | and the chief clerk, but they would appear again in his thoughts, 1438 | the salesmen and the apprentices, that stupid teaboy, two or three 1439 | friends from other businesses, one of the chambermaids from a 1440 | provincial hotel, a tender memory that appeared and disappeared 1441 | again, a cashier from a hat shop for whom his attention had been 1442 | serious but too slow, - all of them appeared to him, mixed together 1443 | with strangers and others he had forgotten, but instead of helping 1444 | him and his family they were all of them inaccessible, and he was 1445 | glad when they disappeared. Other times he was not at all in the 1446 | mood to look after his family, he was filled with simple rage about 1447 | the lack of attention he was shown, and although he could think of 1448 | nothing he would have wanted, he made plans of how he could get into 1449 | the pantry where he could take all the things he was entitled to, 1450 | even if he was not hungry. Gregor's sister no longer thought about 1451 | how she could please him but would hurriedly push some food or other 1452 | into his room with her foot before she rushed out to work in the 1453 | morning and at midday, and in the evening she would sweep it away 1454 | again with the broom, indifferent as to whether it had been eaten or 1455 | - more often than not - had been left totally untouched. She still 1456 | cleared up the room in the evening, but now she could not have been 1457 | any quicker about it. Smears of dirt were left on the walls, here 1458 | and there were little balls of dust and filth. At first, Gregor 1459 | went into one of the worst of these places when his sister arrived 1460 | as a reproach to her, but he could have stayed there for weeks 1461 | without his sister doing anything about it; she could see the dirt 1462 | as well as he could but she had simply decided to leave him to it. 1463 | At the same time she became touchy in a way that was quite new for 1464 | her and which everyone in the family understood - cleaning up 1465 | Gregor's room was for her and her alone. Gregor's mother did once 1466 | thoroughly clean his room, and needed to use several bucketfuls of 1467 | water to do it - although that much dampness also made Gregor ill 1468 | and he lay flat on the couch, bitter and immobile. But his mother 1469 | was to be punished still more for what she had done, as hardly had 1470 | his sister arrived home in the evening than she noticed the change 1471 | in Gregor's room and, highly aggrieved, ran back into the living 1472 | room where, despite her mothers raised and imploring hands, she 1473 | broke into convulsive tears. Her father, of course, was startled 1474 | out of his chair and the two parents looked on astonished and 1475 | helpless; then they, too, became agitated; Gregor's father, standing 1476 | to the right of his mother, accused her of not leaving the cleaning 1477 | of Gregor's room to his sister; from her left, Gregor's sister 1478 | screamed at her that she was never to clean Gregor's room again; 1479 | while his mother tried to draw his father, who was beside himself 1480 | with anger, into the bedroom; his sister, quaking with tears, 1481 | thumped on the table with her small fists; and Gregor hissed in 1482 | anger that no-one had even thought of closing the door to save him 1483 | the sight of this and all its noise. 1484 | 1485 | Gregor's sister was exhausted from going out to work, and looking 1486 | after Gregor as she had done before was even more work for her, but 1487 | even so his mother ought certainly not to have taken her place. 1488 | Gregor, on the other hand, ought not to be neglected. Now, though, 1489 | the charwoman was here. This elderly widow, with a robust bone 1490 | structure that made her able to withstand the hardest of things in 1491 | her long life, wasn't really repelled by Gregor. Just by chance one 1492 | day, rather than any real curiosity, she opened the door to Gregor's 1493 | room and found herself face to face with him. He was taken totally 1494 | by surprise, no-one was chasing him but he began to rush to and fro 1495 | while she just stood there in amazement with her hands crossed in 1496 | front of her. From then on she never failed to open the door 1497 | slightly every evening and morning and look briefly in on him. At 1498 | first she would call to him as she did so with words that she 1499 | probably considered friendly, such as "come on then, you old 1500 | dung-beetle!", or "look at the old dung-beetle there!" Gregor never 1501 | responded to being spoken to in that way, but just remained where he 1502 | was without moving as if the door had never even been opened. If 1503 | only they had told this charwoman to clean up his room every day 1504 | instead of letting her disturb him for no reason whenever she felt 1505 | like it! One day, early in the morning while a heavy rain struck the 1506 | windowpanes, perhaps indicating that spring was coming, she began to 1507 | speak to him in that way once again. Gregor was so resentful of it 1508 | that he started to move toward her, he was slow and infirm, but it 1509 | was like a kind of attack. Instead of being afraid, the charwoman 1510 | just lifted up one of the chairs from near the door and stood there 1511 | with her mouth open, clearly intending not to close her mouth until 1512 | the chair in her hand had been slammed down into Gregor's back. 1513 | "Aren't you coming any closer, then?", she asked when Gregor turned 1514 | round again, and she calmly put the chair back in the corner. 1515 | 1516 | Gregor had almost entirely stopped eating. Only if he happened to 1517 | find himself next to the food that had been prepared for him he 1518 | might take some of it into his mouth to play with it, leave it there 1519 | a few hours and then, more often than not, spit it out again. At 1520 | first he thought it was distress at the state of his room that 1521 | stopped him eating, but he had soon got used to the changes made 1522 | there. They had got into the habit of putting things into this room 1523 | that they had no room for anywhere else, and there were now many 1524 | such things as one of the rooms in the flat had been rented out to 1525 | three gentlemen. These earnest gentlemen - all three of them had 1526 | full beards, as Gregor learned peering through the crack in the door 1527 | one day - were painfully insistent on things' being tidy. This 1528 | meant not only in their own room but, since they had taken a room in 1529 | this establishment, in the entire flat and especially in the 1530 | kitchen. Unnecessary clutter was something they could not tolerate, 1531 | especially if it was dirty. They had moreover brought most of their 1532 | own furnishings and equipment with them. For this reason, many 1533 | things had become superfluous which, although they could not be 1534 | sold, the family did not wish to discard. All these things found 1535 | their way into Gregor's room. The dustbins from the kitchen found 1536 | their way in there too. The charwoman was always in a hurry, and 1537 | anything she couldn't use for the time being she would just chuck in 1538 | there. He, fortunately, would usually see no more than the object 1539 | and the hand that held it. The woman most likely meant to fetch the 1540 | things back out again when she had time and the opportunity, or to 1541 | throw everything out in one go, but what actually happened was that 1542 | they were left where they landed when they had first been thrown 1543 | unless Gregor made his way through the junk and moved it somewhere 1544 | else. At first he moved it because, with no other room free where 1545 | he could crawl about, he was forced to, but later on he came to 1546 | enjoy it although moving about in that way left him sad and tired to 1547 | death and he would remain immobile for hours afterwards. 1548 | 1549 | The gentlemen who rented the room would sometimes take their evening 1550 | meal at home in the living room that was used by everyone, and so 1551 | the door to this room was often kept closed in the evening. But 1552 | Gregor found it easy to give up having the door open, he had, after 1553 | all, often failed to make use of it when it was open and, without 1554 | the family having noticed it, lain in his room in its darkest 1555 | corner. One time, though, the charwoman left the door to the living 1556 | room slightly open, and it remained open when the gentlemen who 1557 | rented the room came in in the evening and the light was put on. 1558 | They sat up at the table where, formerly, Gregor had taken his meals 1559 | with his father and mother, they unfolded the serviettes and picked 1560 | up their knives and forks. Gregor's mother immediately appeared in 1561 | the doorway with a dish of meat and soon behind her came his sister 1562 | with a dish piled high with potatoes. The food was steaming, and 1563 | filled the room with its smell. The gentlemen bent over the dishes 1564 | set in front of them as if they wanted to test the food before 1565 | eating it, and the gentleman in the middle, who seemed to count as 1566 | an authority for the other two, did indeed cut off a piece of meat 1567 | while it was still in its dish, clearly wishing to establish whether 1568 | it was sufficiently cooked or whether it should be sent back to the 1569 | kitchen. It was to his satisfaction, and Gregor's mother and 1570 | sister, who had been looking on anxiously, began to breathe again 1571 | and smiled. 1572 | 1573 | The family themselves ate in the kitchen. Nonetheless, Gregor's 1574 | father came into the living room before he went into the kitchen, 1575 | bowed once with his cap in his hand and did his round of the table. 1576 | The gentlemen stood as one, and mumbled something into their beards. 1577 | Then, once they were alone, they ate in near perfect silence. It 1578 | seemed remarkable to Gregor that above all the various noises of 1579 | eating their chewing teeth could still be heard, as if they had 1580 | wanted to show Gregor that you need teeth in order to eat and it was 1581 | not possible to perform anything with jaws that are toothless 1582 | however nice they might be. "I'd like to eat something", said 1583 | Gregor anxiously, "but not anything like they're eating. They do 1584 | feed themselves. And here I am, dying!" 1585 | 1586 | Throughout all this time, Gregor could not remember having heard the 1587 | violin being played, but this evening it began to be heard from the 1588 | kitchen. The three gentlemen had already finished their meal, the 1589 | one in the middle had produced a newspaper, given a page to each of 1590 | the others, and now they leant back in their chairs reading them and 1591 | smoking. When the violin began playing they became attentive, stood 1592 | up and went on tip-toe over to the door of the hallway where they 1593 | stood pressed against each other. Someone must have heard them in 1594 | the kitchen, as Gregor's father called out: "Is the playing perhaps 1595 | unpleasant for the gentlemen? We can stop it straight away." "On 1596 | the contrary", said the middle gentleman, "would the young lady not 1597 | like to come in and play for us here in the room, where it is, after 1598 | all, much more cosy and comfortable?" "Oh yes, we'd love to", 1599 | called back Gregor's father as if he had been the violin player 1600 | himself. The gentlemen stepped back into the room and waited. 1601 | Gregor's father soon appeared with the music stand, his mother with 1602 | the music and his sister with the violin. She calmly prepared 1603 | everything for her to begin playing; his parents, who had never 1604 | rented a room out before and therefore showed an exaggerated 1605 | courtesy towards the three gentlemen, did not even dare to sit on 1606 | their own chairs; his father leant against the door with his right 1607 | hand pushed in between two buttons on his uniform coat; his mother, 1608 | though, was offered a seat by one of the gentlemen and sat - leaving 1609 | the chair where the gentleman happened to have placed it - out of 1610 | the way in a corner. 1611 | 1612 | His sister began to play; father and mother paid close attention, 1613 | one on each side, to the movements of her hands. Drawn in by the 1614 | playing, Gregor had dared to come forward a little and already had 1615 | his head in the living room. Before, he had taken great pride in 1616 | how considerate he was but now it hardly occurred to him that he had 1617 | become so thoughtless about the others. What's more, there was now 1618 | all the more reason to keep himself hidden as he was covered in the 1619 | dust that lay everywhere in his room and flew up at the slightest 1620 | movement; he carried threads, hairs, and remains of food about on 1621 | his back and sides; he was much too indifferent to everything now to 1622 | lay on his back and wipe himself on the carpet like he had used to 1623 | do several times a day. And despite this condition, he was not too 1624 | shy to move forward a little onto the immaculate floor of the living 1625 | room. 1626 | 1627 | No-one noticed him, though. The family was totally preoccupied with 1628 | the violin playing; at first, the three gentlemen had put their 1629 | hands in their pockets and come up far too close behind the music 1630 | stand to look at all the notes being played, and they must have 1631 | disturbed Gregor's sister, but soon, in contrast with the family, 1632 | they withdrew back to the window with their heads sunk and talking 1633 | to each other at half volume, and they stayed by the window while 1634 | Gregor's father observed them anxiously. It really now seemed very 1635 | obvious that they had expected to hear some beautiful or 1636 | entertaining violin playing but had been disappointed, that they had 1637 | had enough of the whole performance and it was only now out of 1638 | politeness that they allowed their peace to be disturbed. It was 1639 | especially unnerving, the way they all blew the smoke from their 1640 | cigarettes upwards from their mouth and noses. Yet Gregor's sister 1641 | was playing so beautifully. Her face was leant to one side, 1642 | following the lines of music with a careful and melancholy 1643 | expression. Gregor crawled a little further forward, keeping his 1644 | head close to the ground so that he could meet her eyes if the 1645 | chance came. Was he an animal if music could captivate him so? It 1646 | seemed to him that he was being shown the way to the unknown 1647 | nourishment he had been yearning for. He was determined to make his 1648 | way forward to his sister and tug at her skirt to show her she might 1649 | come into his room with her violin, as no-one appreciated her 1650 | playing here as much as he would. He never wanted to let her out of 1651 | his room, not while he lived, anyway; his shocking appearance 1652 | should, for once, be of some use to him; he wanted to be at every 1653 | door of his room at once to hiss and spit at the attackers; his 1654 | sister should not be forced to stay with him, though, but stay of 1655 | her own free will; she would sit beside him on the couch with her 1656 | ear bent down to him while he told her how he had always intended to 1657 | send her to the conservatory, how he would have told everyone about 1658 | it last Christmas - had Christmas really come and gone already? - if 1659 | this misfortune hadn't got in the way, and refuse to let anyone 1660 | dissuade him from it. On hearing all this, his sister would break 1661 | out in tears of emotion, and Gregor would climb up to her shoulder 1662 | and kiss her neck, which, since she had been going out to work, she 1663 | had kept free without any necklace or collar. 1664 | 1665 | "Mr. Samsa!", shouted the middle gentleman to Gregor's father, 1666 | pointing, without wasting any more words, with his forefinger at 1667 | Gregor as he slowly moved forward. The violin went silent, the 1668 | middle of the three gentlemen first smiled at his two friends, 1669 | shaking his head, and then looked back at Gregor. His father seemed 1670 | to think it more important to calm the three gentlemen before 1671 | driving Gregor out, even though they were not at all upset and 1672 | seemed to think Gregor was more entertaining than the violin playing 1673 | had been. He rushed up to them with his arms spread out and 1674 | attempted to drive them back into their room at the same time as 1675 | trying to block their view of Gregor with his body. Now they did 1676 | become a little annoyed, and it was not clear whether it was his 1677 | father's behaviour that annoyed them or the dawning realisation that 1678 | they had had a neighbour like Gregor in the next room without 1679 | knowing it. They asked Gregor's father for explanations, raised 1680 | their arms like he had, tugged excitedly at their beards and moved 1681 | back towards their room only very slowly. Meanwhile Gregor's sister 1682 | had overcome the despair she had fallen into when her playing was 1683 | suddenly interrupted. She had let her hands drop and let violin and 1684 | bow hang limply for a while but continued to look at the music as if 1685 | still playing, but then she suddenly pulled herself together, lay 1686 | the instrument on her mother's lap who still sat laboriously 1687 | struggling for breath where she was, and ran into the next room 1688 | which, under pressure from her father, the three gentlemen were more 1689 | quickly moving toward. Under his sister's experienced hand, the 1690 | pillows and covers on the beds flew up and were put into order and 1691 | she had already finished making the beds and slipped out again 1692 | before the three gentlemen had reached the room. Gregor's father 1693 | seemed so obsessed with what he was doing that he forgot all the 1694 | respect he owed to his tenants. He urged them and pressed them 1695 | until, when he was already at the door of the room, the middle of 1696 | the three gentlemen shouted like thunder and stamped his foot and 1697 | thereby brought Gregor's father to a halt. "I declare here and 1698 | now", he said, raising his hand and glancing at Gregor's mother and 1699 | sister to gain their attention too, "that with regard to the 1700 | repugnant conditions that prevail in this flat and with this family" 1701 | - here he looked briefly but decisively at the floor - "I give 1702 | immediate notice on my room. For the days that I have been living 1703 | here I will, of course, pay nothing at all, on the contrary I will 1704 | consider whether to proceed with some kind of action for damages 1705 | from you, and believe me it would be very easy to set out the 1706 | grounds for such an action." He was silent and looked straight 1707 | ahead as if waiting for something. And indeed, his two friends 1708 | joined in with the words: "And we also give immediate notice." With 1709 | that, he took hold of the door handle and slammed the door. 1710 | 1711 | Gregor's father staggered back to his seat, feeling his way with his 1712 | hands, and fell into it; it looked as if he was stretching himself 1713 | out for his usual evening nap but from the uncontrolled way his head 1714 | kept nodding it could be seen that he was not sleeping at all. 1715 | Throughout all this, Gregor had lain still where the three gentlemen 1716 | had first seen him. His disappointment at the failure of his plan, 1717 | and perhaps also because he was weak from hunger, made it impossible 1718 | for him to move. He was sure that everyone would turn on him any 1719 | moment, and he waited. He was not even startled out of this state 1720 | when the violin on his mother's lap fell from her trembling fingers 1721 | and landed loudly on the floor. 1722 | 1723 | "Father, Mother", said his sister, hitting the table with her hand 1724 | as introduction, "we can't carry on like this. Maybe you can't see 1725 | it, but I can. I don't want to call this monster my brother, all I 1726 | can say is: we have to try and get rid of it. We've done all that's 1727 | humanly possible to look after it and be patient, I don't think 1728 | anyone could accuse us of doing anything wrong." 1729 | 1730 | "She's absolutely right", said Gregor's father to himself. His 1731 | mother, who still had not had time to catch her breath, began to 1732 | cough dully, her hand held out in front of her and a deranged 1733 | expression in her eyes. 1734 | 1735 | Gregor's sister rushed to his mother and put her hand on her 1736 | forehead. Her words seemed to give Gregor's father some more 1737 | definite ideas. He sat upright, played with his uniform cap between 1738 | the plates left by the three gentlemen after their meal, and 1739 | occasionally looked down at Gregor as he lay there immobile. 1740 | 1741 | "We have to try and get rid of it", said Gregor's sister, now 1742 | speaking only to her father, as her mother was too occupied with 1743 | coughing to listen, "it'll be the death of both of you, I can see it 1744 | coming. We can't all work as hard as we have to and then come home 1745 | to be tortured like this, we can't endure it. I can't endure it any 1746 | more." And she broke out so heavily in tears that they flowed down 1747 | the face of her mother, and she wiped them away with mechanical hand 1748 | movements. 1749 | 1750 | "My child", said her father with sympathy and obvious understanding, 1751 | "what are we to do?" 1752 | 1753 | His sister just shrugged her shoulders as a sign of the helplessness 1754 | and tears that had taken hold of her, displacing her earlier 1755 | certainty. 1756 | 1757 | "If he could just understand us", said his father almost as a 1758 | question; his sister shook her hand vigorously through her tears as 1759 | a sign that of that there was no question. 1760 | 1761 | "If he could just understand us", repeated Gregor's father, closing 1762 | his eyes in acceptance of his sister's certainty that that was quite 1763 | impossible, "then perhaps we could come to some kind of arrangement 1764 | with him. But as it is ..." 1765 | 1766 | "It's got to go", shouted his sister, "that's the only way, Father. 1767 | You've got to get rid of the idea that that's Gregor. We've only 1768 | harmed ourselves by believing it for so long. How can that be 1769 | Gregor? If it were Gregor he would have seen long ago that it's not 1770 | possible for human beings to live with an animal like that and he 1771 | would have gone of his own free will. We wouldn't have a brother 1772 | any more, then, but we could carry on with our lives and remember 1773 | him with respect. As it is this animal is persecuting us, it's 1774 | driven out our tenants, it obviously wants to take over the whole 1775 | flat and force us to sleep on the streets. Father, look, just 1776 | look", she suddenly screamed, "he's starting again!" In her alarm, 1777 | which was totally beyond Gregor's comprehension, his sister even 1778 | abandoned his mother as she pushed herself vigorously out of her 1779 | chair as if more willing to sacrifice her own mother than stay 1780 | anywhere near Gregor. She rushed over to behind her father, who had 1781 | become excited merely because she was and stood up half raising his 1782 | hands in front of Gregor's sister as if to protect her. 1783 | 1784 | But Gregor had had no intention of frightening anyone, least of all 1785 | his sister. All he had done was begin to turn round so that he 1786 | could go back into his room, although that was in itself quite 1787 | startling as his pain-wracked condition meant that turning round 1788 | required a great deal of effort and he was using his head to help 1789 | himself do it, repeatedly raising it and striking it against the 1790 | floor. He stopped and looked round. They seemed to have realised 1791 | his good intention and had only been alarmed briefly. Now they all 1792 | looked at him in unhappy silence. His mother lay in her chair with 1793 | her legs stretched out and pressed against each other, her eyes 1794 | nearly closed with exhaustion; his sister sat next to his father 1795 | with her arms around his neck. 1796 | 1797 | "Maybe now they'll let me turn round", thought Gregor and went back 1798 | to work. He could not help panting loudly with the effort and had 1799 | sometimes to stop and take a rest. No-one was making him rush any 1800 | more, everything was left up to him. As soon as he had finally 1801 | finished turning round he began to move straight ahead. He was 1802 | amazed at the great distance that separated him from his room, and 1803 | could not understand how he had covered that distance in his weak 1804 | state a little while before and almost without noticing it. He 1805 | concentrated on crawling as fast as he could and hardly noticed that 1806 | there was not a word, not any cry, from his family to distract him. 1807 | He did not turn his head until he had reached the doorway. He did 1808 | not turn it all the way round as he felt his neck becoming stiff, 1809 | but it was nonetheless enough to see that nothing behind him had 1810 | changed, only his sister had stood up. With his last glance he saw 1811 | that his mother had now fallen completely asleep. 1812 | 1813 | He was hardly inside his room before the door was hurriedly shut, 1814 | bolted and locked. The sudden noise behind Gregor so startled him 1815 | that his little legs collapsed under him. It was his sister who had 1816 | been in so much of a rush. She had been standing there waiting and 1817 | sprung forward lightly, Gregor had not heard her coming at all, and 1818 | as she turned the key in the lock she said loudly to her parents "At 1819 | last!". 1820 | 1821 | "What now, then?", Gregor asked himself as he looked round in the 1822 | darkness. He soon made the discovery that he could no longer move 1823 | at all. This was no surprise to him, it seemed rather that being 1824 | able to actually move around on those spindly little legs until then 1825 | was unnatural. He also felt relatively comfortable. It is true 1826 | that his entire body was aching, but the pain seemed to be slowly 1827 | getting weaker and weaker and would finally disappear altogether. 1828 | He could already hardly feel the decayed apple in his back or the 1829 | inflamed area around it, which was entirely covered in white dust. 1830 | He thought back of his family with emotion and love. If it was 1831 | possible, he felt that he must go away even more strongly than his 1832 | sister. He remained in this state of empty and peaceful rumination 1833 | until he heard the clock tower strike three in the morning. He 1834 | watched as it slowly began to get light everywhere outside the 1835 | window too. Then, without his willing it, his head sank down 1836 | completely, and his last breath flowed weakly from his nostrils. 1837 | 1838 | When the cleaner came in early in the morning - they'd often asked 1839 | her not to keep slamming the doors but with her strength and in her 1840 | hurry she still did, so that everyone in the flat knew when she'd 1841 | arrived and from then on it was impossible to sleep in peace - she 1842 | made her usual brief look in on Gregor and at first found nothing 1843 | special. She thought he was laying there so still on purpose, 1844 | playing the martyr; she attributed all possible understanding to 1845 | him. She happened to be holding the long broom in her hand, so she 1846 | tried to tickle Gregor with it from the doorway. When she had no 1847 | success with that she tried to make a nuisance of herself and poked 1848 | at him a little, and only when she found she could shove him across 1849 | the floor with no resistance at all did she start to pay attention. 1850 | She soon realised what had really happened, opened her eyes wide, 1851 | whistled to herself, but did not waste time to yank open the bedroom 1852 | doors and shout loudly into the darkness of the bedrooms: "Come and 1853 | 'ave a look at this, it's dead, just lying there, stone dead!" 1854 | 1855 | Mr. and Mrs. Samsa sat upright there in their marriage bed and had 1856 | to make an effort to get over the shock caused by the cleaner before 1857 | they could grasp what she was saying. But then, each from his own 1858 | side, they hurried out of bed. Mr. Samsa threw the blanket over his 1859 | shoulders, Mrs. Samsa just came out in her nightdress; and that is 1860 | how they went into Gregor's room. On the way they opened the door 1861 | to the living room where Grete had been sleeping since the three 1862 | gentlemen had moved in; she was fully dressed as if she had never 1863 | been asleep, and the paleness of her face seemed to confirm this. 1864 | "Dead?", asked Mrs. Samsa, looking at the charwoman enquiringly, 1865 | even though she could have checked for herself and could have known 1866 | it even without checking. "That's what I said", replied the 1867 | cleaner, and to prove it she gave Gregor's body another shove with 1868 | the broom, sending it sideways across the floor. Mrs. Samsa made a 1869 | movement as if she wanted to hold back the broom, but did not 1870 | complete it. "Now then", said Mr. Samsa, "let's give thanks to God 1871 | for that". He crossed himself, and the three women followed his 1872 | example. Grete, who had not taken her eyes from the corpse, said: 1873 | "Just look how thin he was. He didn't eat anything for so long. 1874 | The food came out again just the same as when it went in". Gregor's 1875 | body was indeed completely dried up and flat, they had not seen it 1876 | until then, but now he was not lifted up on his little legs, nor did 1877 | he do anything to make them look away. 1878 | 1879 | "Grete, come with us in here for a little while", said Mrs. Samsa 1880 | with a pained smile, and Grete followed her parents into the bedroom 1881 | but not without looking back at the body. The cleaner shut the door 1882 | and opened the window wide. Although it was still early in the 1883 | morning the fresh air had something of warmth mixed in with it. It 1884 | was already the end of March, after all. 1885 | 1886 | The three gentlemen stepped out of their room and looked round in 1887 | amazement for their breakfasts; they had been forgotten about. 1888 | "Where is our breakfast?", the middle gentleman asked the cleaner 1889 | irritably. She just put her finger on her lips and made a quick and 1890 | silent sign to the men that they might like to come into Gregor's 1891 | room. They did so, and stood around Gregor's corpse with their 1892 | hands in the pockets of their well-worn coats. It was now quite 1893 | light in the room. 1894 | 1895 | Then the door of the bedroom opened and Mr. Samsa appeared in his 1896 | uniform with his wife on one arm and his daughter on the other. All 1897 | of them had been crying a little; Grete now and then pressed her 1898 | face against her father's arm. 1899 | 1900 | "Leave my home. Now!", said Mr. Samsa, indicating the door and 1901 | without letting the women from him. "What do you mean?", asked the 1902 | middle of the three gentlemen somewhat disconcerted, and he smiled 1903 | sweetly. The other two held their hands behind their backs and 1904 | continually rubbed them together in gleeful anticipation of a loud 1905 | quarrel which could only end in their favour. "I mean just what I 1906 | said", answered Mr. Samsa, and, with his two companions, went in a 1907 | straight line towards the man. At first, he stood there still, 1908 | looking at the ground as if the contents of his head were 1909 | rearranging themselves into new positions. "Alright, we'll go 1910 | then", he said, and looked up at Mr. Samsa as if he had been 1911 | suddenly overcome with humility and wanted permission again from 1912 | Mr. Samsa for his decision. Mr. Samsa merely opened his eyes wide 1913 | and briefly nodded to him several times. At that, and without 1914 | delay, the man actually did take long strides into the front 1915 | hallway; his two friends had stopped rubbing their hands some time 1916 | before and had been listening to what was being said. Now they 1917 | jumped off after their friend as if taken with a sudden fear that 1918 | Mr. Samsa might go into the hallway in front of them and break the 1919 | connection with their leader. Once there, all three took their hats 1920 | from the stand, took their sticks from the holder, bowed without a 1921 | word and left the premises. Mr. Samsa and the two women followed 1922 | them out onto the landing; but they had had no reason to mistrust 1923 | the men's intentions and as they leaned over the landing they saw how 1924 | the three gentlemen made slow but steady progress down the many 1925 | steps. As they turned the corner on each floor they disappeared and 1926 | would reappear a few moments later; the further down they went, the 1927 | more that the Samsa family lost interest in them; when a butcher's 1928 | boy, proud of posture with his tray on his head, passed them on his 1929 | way up and came nearer than they were, Mr. Samsa and the women came 1930 | away from the landing and went, as if relieved, back into the flat. 1931 | 1932 | They decided the best way to make use of that day was for relaxation 1933 | and to go for a walk; not only had they earned a break from work but 1934 | they were in serious need of it. So they sat at the table and wrote 1935 | three letters of excusal, Mr. Samsa to his employers, Mrs. Samsa 1936 | to her contractor and Grete to her principal. The cleaner came in 1937 | while they were writing to tell them she was going, she'd finished 1938 | her work for that morning. The three of them at first just nodded 1939 | without looking up from what they were writing, and it was only when 1940 | the cleaner still did not seem to want to leave that they looked up 1941 | in irritation. "Well?", asked Mr. Samsa. The charwoman stood in 1942 | the doorway with a smile on her face as if she had some tremendous 1943 | good news to report, but would only do it if she was clearly asked 1944 | to. The almost vertical little ostrich feather on her hat, which 1945 | had been a source of irritation to Mr. Samsa all the time she had 1946 | been working for them, swayed gently in all directions. "What is it 1947 | you want then?", asked Mrs. Samsa, whom the cleaner had the most 1948 | respect for. "Yes", she answered, and broke into a friendly laugh 1949 | that made her unable to speak straight away, "well then, that thing 1950 | in there, you needn't worry about how you're going to get rid of it. 1951 | That's all been sorted out." Mrs. Samsa and Grete bent down over 1952 | their letters as if intent on continuing with what they were 1953 | writing; Mr. Samsa saw that the cleaner wanted to start describing 1954 | everything in detail but, with outstretched hand, he made it quite 1955 | clear that she was not to. So, as she was prevented from telling 1956 | them all about it, she suddenly remembered what a hurry she was in 1957 | and, clearly peeved, called out "Cheerio then, everyone", turned 1958 | round sharply and left, slamming the door terribly as she went. 1959 | 1960 | "Tonight she gets sacked", said Mr. Samsa, but he received no reply 1961 | from either his wife or his daughter as the charwoman seemed to have 1962 | destroyed the peace they had only just gained. They got up and went 1963 | over to the window where they remained with their arms around each 1964 | other. Mr. Samsa twisted round in his chair to look at them and sat 1965 | there watching for a while. Then he called out: "Come here, then. 1966 | Let's forget about all that old stuff, shall we. Come and give me a 1967 | bit of attention". The two women immediately did as he said, 1968 | hurrying over to him where they kissed him and hugged him and then 1969 | they quickly finished their letters. 1970 | 1971 | After that, the three of them left the flat together, which was 1972 | something they had not done for months, and took the tram out to the 1973 | open country outside the town. They had the tram, filled with warm 1974 | sunshine, all to themselves. Leant back comfortably on their seats, 1975 | they discussed their prospects and found that on closer examination 1976 | they were not at all bad - until then they had never asked each 1977 | other about their work but all three had jobs which were very good 1978 | and held particularly good promise for the future. The greatest 1979 | improvement for the time being, of course, would be achieved quite 1980 | easily by moving house; what they needed now was a flat that was 1981 | smaller and cheaper than the current one which had been chosen by 1982 | Gregor, one that was in a better location and, most of all, more 1983 | practical. All the time, Grete was becoming livelier. With all the 1984 | worry they had been having of late her cheeks had become pale, but, 1985 | while they were talking, Mr. and Mrs. Samsa were struck, almost 1986 | simultaneously, with the thought of how their daughter was 1987 | blossoming into a well built and beautiful young lady. They became 1988 | quieter. Just from each other's glance and almost without knowing 1989 | it they agreed that it would soon be time to find a good man for 1990 | her. And, as if in confirmation of their new dreams and good 1991 | intentions, as soon as they reached their destination Grete was the 1992 | first to get up and stretch out her young body. 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka 2000 | Translated by David Wyllie. 2001 | 2002 | *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK METAMORPHOSIS *** 2003 | 2004 | ***** This file should be named 5200.txt or 5200.zip ***** 2005 | This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: 2006 | http://www.gutenberg.net/5/2/0/5200/ 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions 2011 | will be renamed. 2012 | 2013 | Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no 2014 | one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation 2015 | (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without 2016 | permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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