Part II

It was not until it was getting dark that nightfall that Gregor awoke from his deep and unconscious condition - like sleep. He would have awakened soon after anyway even if he hadn't been troubled, as he had had enough sleep and felt fully rested. But he had the idea that some quick steps and the sound of the door leading into the front room being carefully shut had awakened him. The light from the electric street lights was bright feebly here and there onto the top of room and tops of the tables, seat and so on, but down below, where Gregor was, it was dark. He pushed himself over to the door, feeling his way badly controlled with his long thin wire structures - of which he was now starting to learn the value - in order to see what had been happening there. The complete left side seemed like one, painfully stretched mark, and he walked unequally badly on his two lines of legs. One of the legs had been badly injured in the events of that morning - it was nearly a strange event that only one of them had been - and moved along without living.

It was only when he had reached the door that he got clear about what it actually was that had drawn him over to it; it was the smell of something to take as food. By the door there was a plate filled with sweetened milk with little pieces of white bread resting in it. He was so pleased he almost laughed, as he was even in greater need of food than he had been that morning, and immediately put in and out his head into the milk, nearly covering his eyes with it. But he soon drew his head back again in damaged hope; not only did the pain in his readily damaged left side make it not simple to take as food - he was only able to take as food if his complete body worked together as a much-smelling all - but the milk did not taste at all pleasing, good, delicate. Milk like this was normally his specially loved, approved drink, and his sister had certainly left it there for him because of that, but he turned, almost against his own will, away from the plate and went very slowly back into the middle of the room. Through the crack in the door, Gregor could see that the gas had been made lighted in the living room. His father at this time would normally be sat with his nightfall paper, reading it out in a loud voice to Gregor's mother, and sometimes to his sister, but there was now not a sound to be heard. Gregor's sister would often write and say to him about this reading, but possibly his father had lost the tendencies in new times. It was so quiet about too, even though there must have been somebody in the flat. "What a quiet existence it is the family lead", said Gregor to himself, and, looking into the dark, felt a great feeling that he was able to give a living like that in such a pleasing, good, delicate house for his sister and parents. But what now, if all this peace and things of value and comfort should come to an unpleasing, shocking and fearful end? That was something that Gregor did not need to have in mind about too much, so he started to move about, going very slowly up and down the room.

Once during that long nightfall , the door on one side of the room was opened very slightly and quickly closed again; later on the door on the other side did the same; it seemed that someone needed to move into the room but thought better of it. Gregor went and waited immediately by the door, came to a decision either to make come the fearful newcomer into the room in some way or at least to see who it was; but the door was opened no more that night and Gregor waited pointlessly. The earlier morning while the doors were locked everyone had wanted to get in there to him, but now, now that he had opened up one of the doors and the other had clearly been unlocked some time during the day , no-one came, and the keys were in the other sides. It was not until late at night that the gaslight in the living room was put out, and now it was simple, not hard to see that parents and sister had stayed awake all that time, as they all could be clearly heard as they went away together softly. It was clear that no-one would come into Gregor's room any more until morning; that gave him enough, a great amount of time to have in mind untroubled about how he would have to reorder his living. For some reason , the tall , with nothing in room where he was forced to keep made him sense not at rest as he put himself there flat on the floor, even though he had been living in it for five years. Hardly having knowledge of what he was doing other than a small, little feeling of shame, he went under the low or day bed. It crushed together down on his back a little, and he was no longer able to lift his head, but he all the same felt immediately in comfort and his only regret was that his body was too wide to get it all under.

He spent the all night there. Some of the time he passed in a light sleep, although he frequently came out of sleep from it with danger signs because of his strong need of food, and some of the time was spent in troubles and not clear hopes which, however, always led to the same opinion come to by reasoning: for the time being he must keep where one is quiet, he must make clear undergoing trouble without protest and the greatest thought so that his family could take the unpleasing state that he, in his present condition, was forced to put on them.

Gregor soon had the chance, opening to test the power of his decisions, as early the next morning, almost before the night had ended, his sister, nearly fully dressed, opened the door from the front room and looked all worked up in. She did not see him straight away, but when she did take note of him under the low bed - he had to be somewhere, for God's sake, he couldn't have flown away - she was so shocked that she lost control of herself and slammed the door shut again from the outside. But she seemed to regret her behavior, as she opened the door again straight away and came in on softly as if entering the room of someone seriously ill or even of a stranger. Gregor had pushed his head forward, right to the edge of the low bed, and watched her. Would she take note that he had left the milk as it was, take note that it was not from any need of need of food and take in to him some other food that was more right? If she didn't do it herself he would rather go in need of food than pull her attention to it , although he did sense a very great impulse to act quickly forward from under the low bed, put on without care for himself at his sister's feet and request her for something good to take as food. However, his sister took note of the full plate immediately and looked at it and the few drops of milk with marks around it with some surprise. She immediately picked it up - using a old bit of cloth, not her undressed hands - and carried it out. Gregor was greatly over-interested in connection with what she would take in its place, making a mind-picture of the most far out things possible, but he never could have made an uncertain statement of what his sister, in her goodness, actually did take. In order to test his taste, she brought him a all selection of things, all spread out on an old newspaper. There were old , half-gone off plants used for food; bones from the nightfall meal, covered in white dressing that had gone hard; a few sundried grapes and a type of nut; some cheese that Gregor had declared bad as food two days before; a dry roll and some bread spread with butter and salt. As well as all that she had put some water into the plate, which had probably been fixed for Gregor's use, and placed it at the side of them. Then, out of thought for Gregor's feelings , as she knew that he would not take food in front of her, she moved quickly out again and even turned the key in the lock so that Gregor would be certain he could make things as comfortable for himself as he liked. Gregor's little legs moved quickly, at last he could take food. What's more, his injuries must already have completely made good as he found no trouble in moving. This surprised him, as more than a month earlier he had cut his finger slightly with a knife, he thought of how his finger had still felt damaged the day before yesterday. "am I less sensitive than I used to be, then?", he thought, and was already taking in more than necessary at the cheese which had immediately, almost forcefully, attracted him much more than the other foods on the newspaper. Quickly one after another, his eyes watering with pleasure, he took in the cheese, the plants used for food and the dressing; the somewhat new foods, on the other hand, he didn't like at all, and even moved the things he did need to take food a little way away from them because he couldn't take the smell . Long after he had finished taking food and was tiredly in the same place, his sister slowly turned the key in the lock as a sign to him that he should move away. He was immediately surprised, although he had been half sleeping, and he quickly was back under low bed. But he needed great self-control to not go there even for the short time that his sister was in the room, as taking food so much food had rounded out his body a little and he could hardly breathe in that narrow space. Half stopping breathing, he watched with out-curving eyes as his sister without thinking took a cleaning instrument and swept up the left-overs, mixing them in with the food he had not even touched at all as if it could not be used any more. She quickly dropped it all into a box, closed it with its made-of-wood top, and carried everything out. She had hardly turned her back before Gregor came out again from under the low bed and stretched himself.

This was how Gregor received his food each day now, once in the morning while his parents and the girl in service were still sleeping, and the second time after everyone had taken as food their meal at middle of the day as his parents would sleep for a little while then as well, and Gregor’s sister would send the female servant away on some journey on which one is sent. Gregor’s father and mother certainly did not need him to go without food either, but perhaps it would have been more than they could take to have any more experience of his taking food than being told about it, and perhaps his sister wanted to free them what trouble she could as they were in fact in pain enough.

It was not possible for Gregor to get out what they had told the medical expert and the locks expert that first morning to get them out of the flat. As nobody could get him, nobody, not even his sister, thought that he could get them, so he had to be happy to hear his sister's deep breaths and appeals to the good persons given respect after death as she moved about his room. It was only later, when she had become a little more used to everything - there was, naturally, no question of her ever becoming fully used to the position - that Gregor would sometimes get a friendly saying , or at least a saying that could seem as friendly. "He's enjoyed his chief meal of day today", she might say when he had in a hard-working way cleared away all the food left for him, or if he left most of it, which slowly became more and more frequent, she would often say, sadly, " now everything's just been left there again " .

Although Gregor wasn't able to hear any news directly he did give attention to much of what was said in the next rooms, and whenever he heard anyone speaking he would move straight to the right door and push strongly his complete body against it. There was seldom any talk, especially at first, that was not about him in some way, even if only in secret. For two complete days, all the talk at every mealtime was about what they should do now; but even between meals they spoke about the same thing as there were always at least two members of the family at home - nobody wanted to be at home by themselves and it was out of the question to let the flat entirely with nothing in. And on the very first day the female servant had fallen to her knees and requested Gregor's mother to let her go without being put off till later. It was not very clear how much she knew of what had happened but she left within a quarter of an hour, with wet eyes saying one has been kind to Gregor's mother for her letting-go as if she had done her a great branch of public work. She even gave an undertaking markedly not to say to anyone the very smallest part about what had happened, even though no-one had asked that of her.

Now Gregor's sister also had to help his mother with the cooking; although that was not so much trouble as no-one took food very much. Gregor often heard how one of them would make an attempt to make the other take food, and be given no more answer than "no thanks, I've had enough" or something of the same sort. No-one drank very much either. His sister would sometimes question his father whether he would like a beer, hoping for the chance to go and get it herself. When hisfather then said nothing she would make an addition, so that he would not sense self-interested, that she could send the housekeeper for it, but then his father would close the question with a great-sized, loud "No", and no more would be said.

Even before the first day had come to an end, his father had explained to Gregor's mother and sister what their finances and prospects were. Now and then he stood up from the table and took some receipt or form from the little money box he had saved from his business when it had suddenly given way five years earlier. Gregor heard how he opened the complex lock and then closed it again after he had taken the thing he wanted. What he heard his father say was some of the first good news that Gregor heard since he had first been put away in his room. He had thought that nothing at all remained from his father's business, at least he had never told him anything different, and Gregor had never asked him about it anyway. Their business unhappy events had reduced the family to a state of total hopelessness, and Gregor's only trouble at that time had been to put in order things so that they could all overlook it as quickly as possible. So then he started working especially hard, with a violent power that raised him from a less important person whose work is exchange of goods for money to a journeying representative almost overnight, bringing with it the chance to make money in quite different ways. Gregor converted his good outcome at work straight into money that he could make ready on the table at home for the help of his surprised and delighted family. They had been good times and they had never come again, at least not with the same beautiful, much ornamented means, even though Gregor had later earned so much that he was in a position to take the costs of the all family, and did take them. They had even got used to it, both Gregor and the family, they took the money with kind feelings and he was pleased, happy to give it, although there was no longer much warm love given back. Gregor only remained close to his sister now. Unlike him, she was very interested in music and a having natural power of mind and strongly feeling violinist, it was his secret idea to send her to the music school next year even though it would cause great prices that would have to be made up for in some other way. During Gregor's short times in town, talk with his sister would often turn to the music school but it was only ever mentioned as a lovely sleep experience that could never be. Their parents did not like to hear this pointless talk, but Gregor thought about it quite hard and decided he would let them be certain what he planned with a good, great, important something said in public of it on Christmas day.

That was the sort of totally pointless thing that went through his mind in his present state, crushed together hard upright against the door and listening. There were times when he simply became too tired to go on listening, when his head would fall tiredly against the door and he would pull it up again with a start, as even the very small noise he caused would be heard next door and they would all go quiet, without sound. "What's that he's doing now", his father would say after a while, clearly having gone over to the door, and only then would the stopped talk slowly be taken up again.

When giving reasons for things, his father redone himself several times, partly because it was a long time since he had been living with these matters himself and partly because Gregor's mother did not get clearly everything first time. From these redone reasons Gregor learned, to his pleasure, that despite all their unhappy chance, events there was still some money ready to be used from the old days. It was not a great amount, but it had not been touched in that period and some interest had stored. In addition to that, they had not been using up all the money that Gregor had been bringing to the house every month, keeping only a little for himself, so that that, too, had been storing. At the back of the door, Gregor made a head motion in agreement with great interest in his pleasure at this sudden care with money and general care. He could actually have used this added amount of money to make feeble his father's debt to his chief, and the day when he could have freed himself from that regular work would have come much closer, but now it was certainly better the way his father had done things.

This money, however, was certainly not enough to make able the family to live off the interest; it was enough to keep them going for, perhaps, one or two years, no more. That's to say, it was money that should not really be touched but put on one side for serious needs; money to be living on had to be earned. His father was healthy but old, and lacking in self-belief. During the five years that he had not been working - the first rest from work in a living that had been full of tight stretches and no good outcomes - he had put on a great amount of weight and become very slow and badly controlled. Would Gregor's old, getting older mother now have to go and make money? She suffered from asthma 1 and it was a stretch for her just to move about the home, every other day would be spent attempting to get free for hard breathing on the long seat by the open window. Would his sister have to go and make money? She was still a very young person of 17, her living up till then had been very desirable, made up of pleasing, good, delicate clothes, sleeping late, helping out in the business, joining in with a few small pleasures and most of all playing the violin. Whenever they began to talk of the need to make money, Gregor would always first let go of the door and then send down, make fall himself onto the somewhat cold, leather long seat next to it, as he became quite greatly heated with shame and regret.

He would often be there the complete night through, not sleeping a short bit but getting nails into the leather for hours on end. Or he might go to all the hard work of pushing a seat to the window, going up onto the window-shelf and, supported up in the seat, being supported on the window be looking out of it. He had used to sense a great sense of being free from doing this, but doing it now was obviously something more remembered than experienced, as what he actually saw in this way was becoming less clear every day, even things that were quite near; he had used violent language for the ever-present view of the hospital across the street, but now he could not see it at all, and if he had not known that he lived in Charlottenstrasse, which was a quiet street despite being in the middle of the great town, he could have thought that he was looking out the window at a unfertile waste where the gray sky and the gray earth mixed unseparated. His watchful sister only needed to note the seat twice before she would always push it back to its without error, right in every detail position by the window after she had put in order the room, and even left the inner division of the window open from then on.

If Gregor had only been able to say to his sister and say one has been kind to her for all that she had to do for him it would have been easier for him to take it; but as it was it caused him pain. His sister, naturally, tried as far as possible to put forward as being right there was nothing troubling about it, and the longer it went on , of direction taken , the better she was able to do so, but as time went by Gregor was also able to see through it all so much better. It had even become very unpleasing for him, now, whenever she entered the room. No sooner had she come in than she would quickly close the door as a care so that no-one would have to have pain the of a view into Gregor's room, then she would go straight to the window and pull it quickly open almost as if she were stopping breathing. Even if it was cold, she would be at the window breathing deeply for a little while. She would be a danger sign for Gregor twice a day with this running about and noise making; he would be under the low bed shaking with cold the complete while, knowing full well that she would certainly have liked to free him from this hard test, but it was not possible for her to be in the same room with him with the windows closed.

One day, about a month after Gregor's great change when his sister no longer had any one reason to be shocked at his looks, she came into the room a little earlier than general and found him still giving a fixed look out the window, motionless, and just where he would be most unpleasing, shocking. In itself, his sister's not coming into the room would have been no surprise for Gregor as it would have been not simple for her to immediately open the window while he was still there, but not only did she not come in, she went straight back and closed the door behind her, a stranger would have thought he had threatened her and tried to bite her. Gregor went straight to put out of the way himself under the low bed, naturally, but he had to wait until middle of the day before his sister came back and she seemed much more restless than generally. It made him take note that she still found his look hard to take and would go on to do so, she probably even had to overcome the impulse to go away from when she saw the little bit of him that came out from under the low bed. One day, in order to free her even this view, he spent four hours carrying the bed liner over to the low bed on his back and put in order it so that he was completely covered and his sister would not be able to see him even if she bent down. If she did not have in mind this bed liner was necessary then all she had to do was take it off again, as it was clear enough that it was no pleasure for Gregor to cut himself off so completely. She left the bed liner where it was. Gregor even thought he viewed a look of kind feelings one time when he carefully looked out from under the bed liner to see how his sister liked the new trade.

For the first fourteen days, Gregor's parents could not take themselves to come into the room to see him. He would often hear them say how they appreciated all the new work his sister was doing even though, before, they had seen her as a girl who was somewhat of no use and frequently been of bad state of mind with her. But now the two of them, father and mother, would often both wait outside the door of Gregor's room while his sister put in order up in there, and as soon as she went out again she would have to say to them exactly how everything looked, what Gregor had taken as food, how he had done this time and whether, perhaps, any small, little thing made better could be seen. His mother also wanted to go in and go to Gregor relatively soon but his father and sister at first got her against it. Gregor gave attention to very closely to all this, and approved fully. Later, though, she had to be held back by force, which made her cry out: "let me go and see Gregor, he is my chanceless son! Are you unable to get clearly I have to see him?", and Gregor would have in mind to himself that possibly it would be better if his mother came in, not every day naturally, but one day a week, perhaps; she could get clearly everything much better than his sister who, for all her power of controlling fear, was still just a very young person at the end, and really might not have had an woman’s high opinion of the troubling regular work she had taken on.

Gregor's desire to see his mother was soon got. Out of thought for his parents, Gregor wanted to keep from being seen at the window during the day, the few square measures of the floor did not give him much room to go about on hands and knees, it was hard to just be quietly through the night, his food soon stopped giving him any pleasure at all, and so, to give amusement to himself, he got into the tendency of going very slowly up and down the walls and top of the room. He was especially interested in hanging from the top of the room; it was quite different from lying on the floor; he could breathe more freely; his body had a light hang to it; and up there, loose and almost happy, it might come about that he would surprise even himself by letting go of the top of room and landing on the floor with a smash. But now, naturally, he had far better control of his body than before and, even with a fall as great as that, caused himself no damage. Very soon his sister took note of Gregor's new way of entertaining himself - he had, after all, left signs of the sticky substance from his feet as he went very slowly about - and got it into her head to make it as simple, not hard as possible for him by removing the tables, seat and so on that got in his way, especially the chest of drawers and the writing-table. Now, this was not something that she would be able to do by herself; she did not test to question for help her father; the sixteen year old girl in service had taken on without fearing since the cook had left but she certainly would not have helped in this, she had even asked to be allowed to keep the cooking place locked at all times and never to have to open the door unless it was especially important; so his sister had no selection but to select some time when Gregor's father was not there and get his mother to help her. As she approached the room, Gregor could hear his mother put into words her deep pleasure , but once at the door she went quiet, without sound. First, naturally, his sister came in and looked round to see that everything in the room was all right; and only then did she let her mother come in. Gregor had quickly pulled the bed liner down lower over the low bed and put more folds into it so that everything really looked as if it had just been thrown down by chance. Gregor also kept, this time, from getting facts secretly out from under the bed liner; he gave up the chance to see his mother until later and was simply pleased, happy that she had come. "You can come in, he can't be seen", said his sister, obviously leading her in by the hand. The old chest of drawers was too weighty for two feeble women to be pulling about, but Gregor heard as they pushed it from its place, his sister always taking on the of greatest weight part of the work for herself and having nothing to do with her mother's saying that it is unwise to do that she would get stretched, be pulled at herself. This lasted a very long time. After working at it for 15 minutes or more his mother said it would be better to let go the chest where it was, for one thing it was too weighty for them to get the work finished before Gregor's father got to the house and leaving it in the middle of the room it would be in his way even more, and for another thing it wasn't even certain that taking the tables, seat and so on away would really be any help to him. She thought just the opposite; the view of the undressed walls saddened her right to her heart; and why wouldn't Gregor sense the same way about it, he'd been used to this tables, seat and so on in his room for a long time and it would make him a touch abandoned to be in a room with nothing in like that. Then, quietly, almost in low voice as if wanting Gregor (whose position she did not have knowledge of) to hear not even the healthy condition of her voice, as she was convinced that he did not get clearly her words, she added "and by taking the tables, seat and so on away, won't it seem like we're showing that we have given up all hope of things getting better and we're giving him up to do things for himself? I have in mind it would be best to let go the room exactly the way it was before so that when Gregor comes back to us again he'll see everything unchanged and he'll be able to overlook the time in between all the easier".

Hearing these words from his mother made Gregor take note that the need of any straightforward exchanges with a person, in company with the uninteresting living led by the family during these two months, must have made him mixed up - he could have in mind of no other way of giving an account to himself of why he had seriously wanted his room put out. Had he really wanted to make a great change to his room into a hole, a warm room fitted out with pleasing, good, delicate tables, seat and so on he had got handed down? That would have let him go very slowly around unstopped in any direction, but it would also have let him quickly overlook his past when he had still been a person. He had come very close to overlooking, and it had only been the voice of his mother, unheard for so long, that had shaken him out of it. Nothing should be removed; everything had to not go; he could not do without the good power the tables, seat and so on had on his condition; and if the tables, seat and so on made it not simple for him to go on hands and knees about mindlessly that was not a loss but a great good point.

His sister, unhappily, did not be in agreement; she had become used to the idea, not without reason, that she was Gregor's representative to his parents about the things that concerned him. This meant that his mother's suggestion now was enough reason for her to request strongly removing not only the chest of drawers and the writing-table, as she had thought at first, but all the tables, seat and so on apart from the all - important low bed. It was more than as done by a boy or girl foolishness, naturally, or the by chance self-belief she had recently gotten, that made her say this request strongly; she had in fact noted of that Gregor needed a great amount of room to go on hands and knees about in, in view of the fact that the tables, seat and so on, as far as anyone could see, was of no use to him at all. Girls of that time in existence, though, do become to have great interest about things and sense they must get their way whenever they can. Perhaps this was what gave strong desire to Grete to make Gregor's place, position seem even more shocking than it was so that she could do even more for him. Grete would probably be the only one who would test to go in, come in a room dominated by Gregor going very slowly about the undressed walls by himself.

So she refused to let her mother change her. Gregor's mother already looked not at rest in his room, she soon stopped speaking and helped Gregor's sister to get the chest of drawers out with what power she had. The chest of drawers was something that Gregor could do without if he had to, but the writing-table had to not go. Hardly had the two women pushed the chest of drawers, making deep low sounds of pain, out of the room than Gregor put through his head out from under the low bed to see what he could do about it. He meant to be as careful and having care for others as he could, but, unhappily, it was his mother who came back first while Grete in the next room had her arms round the chest, pushing and pulling at it from side to side by herself without, naturally, moving it an inch. His mother was not used to the view of Gregor, he might have made her ill, so Gregor moved quick back-part first to the far end of the low bed. In his surprise, though, he was not able to put a stop to the bed liner at its front from moving a little. It was enough to get his mother's attention. She stood very still, remained there a short time, and then went back out to Grete.

Gregor kept trying to say without any doubt to himself that nothing uncommon was happening, it was just a few pieces of tables, seat and so on being moved after all, but he soon had to make no protest that the women going to and from, their little calls to each other, the rubbing of the tables, seat and so on on the floor, all these things made him have desire as if he were being attacked from all sides. With his head and legs pulled in against him and his body crushed together to the floor, he was forced to make no protest to himself that he could not put up with all of this much longer. They were letting nothing in his room; taking away everything that was dear to him; they had already taken out the chest containing his narrow-bladed fine-toothed saw and other instruments; now they threatened to remove the writing-table with its place clearly worn into the floor, the writing-table where he had done his housework as a business learner, at high school, even while he had been at baby school - he really could not wait any longer to see whether the two women's intentions were good. He had nearly forgotten they were there anyway, as they were now too tired to say anything while they worked and he could only hear their feet as they stepped heavily on the floor.

So, while the women were supported against the writing-table in the other room getting their breath, he went out, changed direction four times not knowing what he should keep first before his attention was suddenly caught by the picture on the wall - which was already removed of everything else that had been on it - of the woman of good birth dressed in great amounts of animal’s coat. He moved quick up onto the picture and crushed together himself against its glass, it held him firmly and felt good on his burning stomach. This picture at least, now totally covered by Gregor, would certainly be taken away by no-one. He turned his head to face the door into the living room so that he could watch the women when they came back.

They had not allowed themselves a long rest and came back quite soon; Grete had put her arm around her mother and was nearly carrying her. "What shall we take now, then?", said Grete and looked around. Her eyes met those of Gregor on the wall. Perhaps only because her mother was there, she remained untroubled, bent her face to her so that she would not look round and said, though quickly and with a shaking in her voice: "come on, let's go back in the living room for a while?" Gregor could see what Grete had in mind, she wanted to take her mother somewhere safe and then go after him down the wall. Well, she could certainly attempt it! He sat without giving in on his picture. He would rather jump at Grete's face.

But Grete's words had made her mother quite troubled, she stepped to one side, saw the great brown bit of land against the flowers of the wallpaper, and before she even took note it was Gregor that she saw cried in pain, fear : "surprise! God, surprise! God! "arms outstretched , she fell onto the low bed as if she had given up everything and stayed there without motion. "Gregor! "shouted his sister, looking angrily at him and shaking her shut hand. That was the first word she had spoken to him directly since his great change. She ran into the other room to get, go and get some kind of smelling salts to take her mother out of her feebleness; Gregor wanted to help too - he could keep his picture later, although he stuck tightly to the glass and had to pull himself off by force; then he, too, ran into the next room as if he could give opinions to his sister like in the old days; but he had to just be upright behind her doing nothing; she was looking into different bottles, he surprised her when she turned round; a bottle fell to the land and broke; a sharp wood-bit cut Gregor's face, some kind of burning medical substance sent liquid in all directions all over him; now, without putting off till later any longer, Grete took to keep all the bottles she could and ran with them in to her mother; she slammed the door shut with her foot. So now Gregor was shut out from his mother, who, because of him, might be near to death; he could not open the door if he did not need to attempt to go after his sister away, and she had to be with his mother; there was nothing for him to do but wait; and, with a weight on being worked up and self–angry words, he began to go on hands and knees about, he went very slowly over everything, walls, tables, seat and so, top of room , and finally in his orderless mind as the all room began to turn around him he fell down into the middle of the chief meal- of-day table.

He was there for a while, without feeling and without motion, all round him it was quiet, possibly that was a good sign.

Then there was someone at the door. The female servant, naturally, had locked herself in her cooking place so that Grete would have to go and answer it. His father had arrived to the house. "What's happened?" were his first words; Grete's look must have made everything clear to him. She answered him with a quiet voice, and openly crushed together her face into his chest: "mother's become suddenly unconscious, but she's better now. Gregor got out." “Just as I expected", said his father, "just as I always said , but you women wouldn't give attention, would you." It was clear to Gregor that Grete had not said enough and that his father took it to have the sense of that something bad had happened, that he was responsible for some act of violent acts. That meant Gregor would now have to attempt to quiet his father, as he did not have the time to give an account of things to him even if that had been possible. So he fled to the door of his room and crushed together himself against it so that his father, when he came in from the hall, could see straight away that Gregor had the best intentions and would go back into his room without loss (waste) of time, that it would not be necessary to make go him back but that they had only to open the door and he would go from view.

His father, though, was not in the condition of mind to note things, ideas complex, delicate like that; "Ah! ", he shouted as he came in, sounding as if he were both angry and pleased, happy at the same time. Gregor drew his head back from the door and lifted it in the direction of his father. He really had not had an idea of his father the way he stood there now; of late, with his new tendencies of going very slowly about, he had not taken care to look to what was going on in the rest of the flat the way he had done before. He really would be right to have expected things to have changed, but still, still, was that really his father? The same tired man as used to be laying there put in a last resting place in his bed when Gregor came back from his business trips, who would get him sitting in the comfortable seat in his nightdress when he came back in the night falls; who was hardly even able to be upright but, as a sign of his pleasure, would just make higher his arms and who, on the two times a year when they went for a walk together on a Sunday or public day of rest from work covered up tightly in his overcoat between Gregor and his mother, would always work his way forward a little more slowly than them, who were already walking slowly for his purposes; who would place his stick down carefully and, if he wanted to say something would at all times stop and get together his company around him. He was standing up straight enough now; dressed in a well-dress blue military dress with gold buttons, the sort worn by the employees at the banking organization; above the high, stiff collar of the coat his strong two-chins came out; under the thick arch of hair over his eye, his hole-making, dark eyes looked out somewhat cold and ready; his normally unkempt white hair was combed down painfully close to his skin and hair on top of head. He took his hat, with its gold letters made into a design from, probably, some bank, and threw it in a part of line of a circle right across the room onto the long seat, put his hands in his trouser pockets, pushing back the lowest part of his long military dress coat, and, with look of a decision, walked in the direction of Gregor. He probably did not even be certain himself what he had in mind, but all the same lifted his feet unusually high. Gregor was made very surprised at the great size of the under parts of his boots, but wasted no time with that - he knew full well, right from the first day of his new existence, that his father thought it necessary to always be get out with fixed rules with him. And so he ran up to his father, stopped when his father stopped, moved forwards again when he moved, even slightly. In this way they went round the room several times without anything making an outcome certain happening, without even giving the idea of a going after as everything went so slowly.

Gregor remained all this time on the floor, largely because he feared his father might see it as especially being the cause of an outburst if he fled onto the wall or top of room. Whatever he did, Gregor had to make no protest that he certainly would not be able to keep up this running about for long, as for each step his father took he had to do a great number moving. He became readily short of breath, even in his earlier living his breathing parts had not been very good, and that will not let one down. Now, as he moved uncertainly about in his efforts to get together all the power he could for running he could hardly keep his eyes open; his thoughts became too slow for him to have in mind of any other way of saving himself than running; he almost had out of mind that the walls were there for him to use although, here, they were put out of view behind carefully made cut tables, seat and so on full of small cuts and bits coming out - then, right at the side of him, lightly took quickly, something flew down and rolled in front of him. It was an apple; then another one immediately flew at him; Gregor became iced in shock; there was no longer any point in running as his father had decided to make an attack on him. He had filled his pockets with fruit from the basin on the sideboard and now, without even taking the time for taking care of direction, threw one apple after another. These little, red apples rolled about on the floor, giving blows to each other as if they had electric engines. An apple thrown without much force glanced against Gregor's back and slid off without doing any damage. Another one however, immediately following it, came with force squarely and tightly fixed in his back; Gregor wanted to move himself away, as if he could remove the surprising , the not possible/probable pain by changing his position; but he felt as if nailed to the place and spread himself out, all his senses without order. The last thing he saw was the door of his room being pulled open, his sister was crying, his mother ran out in front of her in her woman's shirt ( as his sister had taken off some of her clothes after she had become suddenly unconscious to make it easier for her to breathe), she ran to his father, her skirts loose and slipping one after another to the land, coming across over the skirts she pushed herself to his father, her arms around him, uniting herself with him totally - now Gregor lost his ableness to see anything - her hands behind his father's head requesting him to let free Gregor's living.

Part III