kafak

One morning, Grigor Samsha woke up from his restless sleep and found himself lying in bed turning into a giant beetle. He lay on his back, his hard armor-like back against the bed. He raised his head slightly and saw his dome-like Brown belly divided into many curved pieces. The quilt could hardly cover the tip of his belly, and he was almost sliding down. Compared with his big body, many of his legs were so thin that they danced helplessly in front of him.

"What's wrong with me?" He thought. This is not a dream. His room, though a little too small, is really ordinary.

People's room, still quietly lying in four familiar walls. On the table where Samsha was a traveling salesman, an open sample of clothing, was hanging the picture, which he had recently cut from a picture paper and put in a beautiful golden frame. The picture is of a lady in a leather hat, scarf, sitting upright and handing the painter a heavy leather handcuff without her whole forearm.

Gregor's eyes then looked at the window. The sky was dark - you could hear the rain beating on the sill.

—— His mood became melancholy. "If only I could sleep a little longer and forget all the bad things." he

Think. But he can't do it at all. Usually he is used to sleeping on the right side, but under the current circumstances, he can't take that attitude any more. No matter how hard he turned to the right, he still rolled back and his stomach was up. He tried at least a hundred times and closed his eyes to avoid seeing the struggling legs, until he felt a dull pain in his waist that he had never experienced before and had to stop.

"Oh, my God," he thought, "how can I single out such a tired messenger? Years of running around,

It's much harder than sitting in an office. Additionally, there are worries about going out frequently, worrying about the change of trains, unscheduled and inferior diet, and people who meet by chance are always some general acquaintances. It is impossible to have deep friendship and never become bosom friends. Let it all go to hell!" He felt a little itchy on his stomach and slowly moved his body close to the bed to make it easier for him to lift his head. He saw the itchy place, which was covered with small white spots. He did not understand what was going on. He wanted to scratch with one leg, but he immediately retracted because the touch made him muddy. There was a shiver.

He slid down again and returned to his original position. "Getting up so early," he thought, "makes people silly. People need to sleep. Other salesmen live like ladies. For example, one morning when I rushed back to the hotel to check in for the order, something else happened.

Talents sit down for breakfast. If I come with my boss, I'll be fired on the spot. Maybe it would be better to dismiss. Who knows for sure? If I hadn't always been cautious for my parents, I would have quit my job long ago. I would have run to my boss and had a good breath in my stomach. That fellow is bound to jump straight from behind the desk! He worked in a strange way. He always sat down at the table and gave orders to the staff, and his ears were so hard on him that everyone had to come up to him. But things may not turn out to be all right; as long as I save enough money to pay off the debts my parents owe him - maybe five or six years later - I can do it. By then I'll be in good shape. But I'd better get up now, because the train is leaving at five o'clock."

He looked at the ticking alarm clock on the cupboard. My God? He thought. It's half past six and the clock is still running.

But move forward, even after six-thirty, and it's about a quarter to seven. Didn't the alarm clock ring? From the bed you can see that the alarm clock is clearly set to four o'clock; it has obviously gone off. Yes, but in that deafening noise, can you really sleep peacefully? Well, he's not sleeping peacefully, but it just means he's not sleeping badly. So what should he do now? The next bus leaves at seven o'clock; he has to rush madly to catch it, but his samples have not been packed yet, and he feels his spirit is not very good. And even if he caught the bus, he could not escape a reprimand from his superior, because the company's attendants must be waiting for the five o'clock train, when he had already returned to report that he had not caught it. That messenger is the boss's bosom. He's both spineless and foolish.

So, can't you say you're sick? But it would be the most unpleasant thing, and it would be suspicious, because he had not been ill once in five years of service. The boss will bring his medical consultant with him personally and blame his parents for bringing up such a lazy son. He will also testify to the medical consultant and brutally refute all the reasons. In the doctor's opinion, there is no other kind of person in the world besides the false number of the most healthy one. Besides, in today's situation, is the doctor's words really wrong? Gregor felt quite well except for some sleepiness, which was a little redundant after such a long sleep. In addition, he even felt very hungry.

All this flashed through his mind, and he was still not determined to get up - the alarm clock struck six-thirty-five.

At that time, there was a gentle knock on the door behind his bedside. "Gregor," said a voice, "this is him.

Mother's voice - "It's a quarter to seven. Aren't you still catching the train? What a gentle voice! Gregor listens

I was shocked when I answered. Yes, it was clearly his own voice, but there was another terrible squeal that came out at the same time, as if it were accompanying sound, so that his words were clear only in the first few words, and then they were immediately disturbed, making the meaning ambiguous, so that people could not say whether they heard them clearly or not. Gregor wanted to answer in more detail so that he could explain everything clearly, but in this case he had to simply say, "Yes, yes, thank you, Mom, I'm getting up at the moment."

Across the wooden door, there must be no change in Grigor's voice outside, for his mother was satisfied with the words and dragged away. However, this brief conversation let the family know that Grigor was still in the room, which was unexpected. His father's knock on the door on the side immediately sounded, very light, but with his fist. "Gregor, Gregor," he cried, "What's wrong with you?" A little later he urged in a lower voice, "Gregor! Gregor!" On the other side of the door, his sister also asked in a soft, sad voice, "Are you not feeling well, Gregor? Do you want anything?" He answered both of them at the same time: "I'll be ready in a minute."

He made his voice clearer and spoke one word a little later, trying to make it sound normal. So his father went back to eat his breakfast, but his sister whispered, "Open the door, Gregor, please." But he didn't want to open the door, so he secretly congratulated himself that he had developed the habit of locking all the doors at night because of his frequent travels. Even back home.

First of all, he should get up quietly and uninterrupted, dress well, the most important thing is to have a full breakfast, and then consider what to do next, because he knows very well that he can't imagine anything in bed. He remembered that perhaps it was because of bad sleeping posture that he often felt a dull pain in bed, and when he got up, he knew it was purely psychological, so he eagerly hoped that this morning's illusion would fade away. He was also convinced that he changed his voice not because of anything else but because of a bad cold, which was a professional disease of traveling salesmen.

It's easy to pull the quilt off. He just lifts the quilt a little and slides down on his own. But the next move is not.

It's often difficult, especially because he's incredibly broad. He had to have hands and arms to sit up; but he did.

It's just a myriad of tiny legs, waving in all directions all the time, but he can't control them. He tried to bend one of his legs, but he stretched it straight; when he finally made it obey his command, all the other legs were in a perplexing disorder. "What's the point of staying in bed all the time?" Grigor said to himself.

He thought that he would be able to get out of bed if he went down first, but he had not seen his lower body and had no idea of it at all.

He had the idea that it was more difficult to move his lower body, which was so slow; so in the end, he was bored to death.

Then he shook himself recklessly with all his strength, unexpectedly miscalculated his direction and hit him hard at the foot of the bed. A sharp pain made him understand that perhaps the most sensitive place on him today was his lower body.

So he decided to get out of bed first, and he moved his head carefully to the edge of the bed. It's not difficult, he

Although the body is wide and big, it moves with the head at last. However, when his head finally hung over the bed, he was afraid to go any further because, to be honest, if he let himself fall like this, he would not break his head. The most important thing for him now is to stay awake, especially now; he prefers to stay in bed.

But after repeating the same effort several times, he sighed deeply and lay back in his original position.

Looking at his thin legs struggling incredibly wildly, Grigor did not know how to get rid of this ridiculous mess, he told himself once again that staying in bed was impossible, and that the most reasonable thing to do was to risk everything to realize the dim hope of leaving the bed. But at the same time, he did not forget to remind himself that it was better to calmly and extremely calmly consider the smallest possibilities than to act recklessly. At this time, he tried to concentrate on looking out of the window, but unfortunately, the morning fog wrapped the house across the narrow street.

It seemed that the weather would not improve for a while, which made him even less encouraged and comfortable. "It's seven o'clock," he said to himself when the alarm clock struck again. "It's seven o'clock, but the fog is still so heavy." For a moment, he lay quietly and breathed softly, as if everything would return to normal once he was refreshed.

But then he said to himself, "I had to leave my bed before 7:15 in any case. Somebody will be there by then.

Come to me from the company because it opens before seven o'clock." So he began to shake his whole body rhythmically back and forth.

Body, want to throw oneself out of bed. If he turns over like this, he can raise his head so as not to hurt his head. His back seemed so hard that it didn't seem to tighten up when he fell on the carpet. What he feared most was the loud noise he could not control, which would cause anxiety in all the rooms, even if not fear. But he still had to take the risk.

When he was half out of bed, the new method was more a game than a pain, because

All he had to do was shake back and forth and move over gradually --- he suddenly remembered how easy it would be if someone helped him. Two strong men, he thought of his father and his maid, were enough; they just put their arms behind his drum, lifted him out of bed, laid down their burdens, and patiently waited for him to turn over on the floor, where his legs would naturally function. So, even if all the doors are locked, should he really ask for help? Although the situation was very difficult, he couldn't help smiling at it.

Two

It was not until dusk that Gregor awoke from his deep sleep, which was more a faint than a deep sleep. In fact, again

He would wake up later because he thought he had slept long enough, but he still felt as if he had been awakened by a rush of footsteps and a gentle closing of the front door. The street lights cast a faint halo on the upper half of the ceiling and furniture, but in the lower part, where he lay, it was dark. Slowly and awkwardly, he tried his sense of touch. Only then did he learn to use the organ for the first time, and then crawled to the door to find out what had happened there. He felt a long, tight, uncomfortable scar, and his legs were actually limping away. And there was a tiny leg badly injured in the morning incident, and now it's useless to drag behind you - just one leg broken, which is a miracle.

When he came to the door, he realized what attracted him: the smell of food. Because there's one.

The basin was full of sweet milk, on which there was still crushed white bread. He almost laughed with delight, for he was hungrier now than in the morning, and he immediately dipped his head in milk and almost his eyes. But he soon retreated in disappointment; he found it difficult not only to eat, because the soft left side was injured - he had to work with the whole body convulsively to eat the food in his mouth - but also he did not like milk, which had always been his favorite drink, and his sister must have prepared for him. Almost disgusting, he turned his head away from the basin and crawled back into the middle of the room.

From the crack in the door, he saw that the gas lamp in the sitting room had been lit. On weekdays, by this time, his father would always speak loudly.

The evening paper was read to my mother and sometimes to my sister, but now there is no sound. Maybe it's my father who recently abandoned the habit of reading newspapers aloud. His sister often mentioned this in her words and letters. But it was so quiet everywhere, although there was obviously no one at home. "How peaceful our family is." Grigor said to himself that he was proud to stare at the darkness without moving because he could make his parents and sisters live a good life in such a nice room. But what if all this tranquility, comfort and satisfaction end horribly? To keep himself from falling into such thoughts, Gregor moved up and down the room.

On this long night, one door opened a crack on one side, then closed again, and then the other door.

It happened again; apparently someone was planning to come in but hesitant. Gregor was now leaning tightly against the door of the sitting-room, trying to persuade the hesitant man to come in, at least to know who he was; but the door never opened again, and he waited in vain. At that moment in the morning, the door was locked, and they all wanted to come in; but now he opened one door, and another door was obviously open during the day, but nobody came in, and even the keys were inserted outside.

It was not until late at night that the gas lights in the sitting room went out. It was easy for Gregor to imagine that his parents and sisters had been there for a long time.

He sat there soberly, for he could clearly hear the sound of them creeping away. No one will come to see him, at least not before daybreak. That's for sure, so he has plenty of time to think carefully about how he should arrange his life. But this large, empty room on the floor filled him with an unspeakable fear, even though it was the room he had lived in for five years - he did not know what was going on, and he rushed beneath the sofa in a harmless hurry, and he immediately felt very comfortable here, though. His back was a little pinned down and his head could not be raised. His only regret was that he was too wide to hide under the sofa.

He stayed there all night, part of the time spent in his sleep, and the hunger in his stomach kept him awake.

For another part of the time, he had been immersed in worries and dim hopes, but he always had only one knot to think about.

On: That is, at present he must lie quietly, with patience and extreme consideration to help his family overcome the inconvenience that he will inevitably cause them under the present circumstances.

At dawn, in fact, at night, Gregor had a chance to test his new determination, because he was determined.

Before she was fully dressed, her sister opened the door to the living room and looked nervously in. She did not see him immediately, but as soon as she saw him hiding under the sofa, he always stayed where he could not fly away, could she? She was so shocked that she could not help slamming the door shut again. But as if she regretted what she had done, she immediately opened the door again and tiptoed in, as if she were visiting a serious patient or even a stranger.

Gregor poked his head out of the edge of the sofa and looked at her. Would she notice that he didn't keep milk because he wasn't hungry? Would she bring something more to his taste? Unless she noticed this layer automatically, he would rather starve than arouse her attention, although he had a strong desire to rush out from under the sofa and lie at her feet, begging her to bring some food. But her sister noticed immediately.

She was surprised to find that besides spilling some, the basin was still full. She immediately lifted the basin up, though not with her hands, but with the cloth in her hands. She took the basin away. Gregor was curious to know what she would change, and made all sorts of guesses. But what the kind-hearted sister actually did was beyond his imagination. To find out his hobbies, she brought him many kinds of food, all in an old newspaper. Here are half of the stale vegetables, the meat bones left over from last night's dinner, covered with thick and hard white soy sauce, some raisins and almonds, a piece of cheese that Gregor would have said he couldn't eat two days ago, an old piece of bread, a piece of bread with butter and a piece of bread with salt.

In addition to all this, she put down the basin and poured some fresh water into it, which was obviously his special purpose. She was very thoughtful, afraid that Gregor would not eat in front of her, so she immediately withdrew and even locked the door to let him know that he could eat at will with ease. All Grigor's legs rushed towards the food. And his wound must have healed completely, because he did not feel inconvenient, which surprised him and reminded him that a month ago, he slightly cut a finger with a knife, until the day before yesterday he felt pain. "Am I feeling a little dull now?" He thought, and then he wolfed down the cheese.

Get up, in all the food, this one immediately attracted him strongly. With tears of satisfaction in his eyes, he ate cheese, vegetables and soy sauce one by one; but the fresh food did not give him any favor, and he could not even bear it.

Smell. In fact, he took all the edible things to a farther place to eat. When he was full and lying lazily in his place, his sister slowly turned the key as if to give him a hint to withdraw. He woke up immediately, and though he was almost asleep, he rushed back down to the bottom of the sofa. But hiding under the sofa required considerable self-restraint, even if it was just a short moment for his sister in the room, because the meal made his body swell a little, and he only felt narrow and difficult to breathe.

His eyes bulged slightly because he could not breathe. He watched his sister, who had not noticed anything, sweep away not only the food he had left behind, but also the things he had never touched. It seemed that no one wanted them at all now. After sweeping, he hastily poured them all into a bucket and covered them with wooden lids. I took it up and left. As soon as she turned around, Gregor climbed out under the sofa to stretch herself and gasped for a few breaths.