Chapter III

by Franz Kafka

　　The serious injury done to Gregor, which disabled himfor more than a month-the apple went on sticking in hisbody as a visible reminder, since no one ventured toremove it-seemed to have made even his father recollectthat Gregor was a member of the family, despite hispresent unfortunate and repulsive shape, and ought notto be treated as an enemy, that, on the contrary,family duty required the suppression of disgust and theexercise of patience, nothing but patience.

　　And although his injury had impaired, probably forever, his powers of movement, and for the time being ittook him long, long minutes to creep across his roomlike an old invalid-there was no question now ofcrawling up the wall-yet in his own opinion he wassufficiently compensated for this worsening of hiscondition by the fact that towards evening theliving-room door, which he used to watch intently foran hour or two beforehand, was always thrown open, sothat lying in the darkness of his room, invisible tothe family, he could see them all at the lamp-lit tableand listen to their talk, by general consent as itwere, very different from his earlier eavesdropping.

　　True, their intercourse lacked the lively character offormer times, which he had always called to mind with acertain wistfulness in the small hotel bedrooms wherehe had been wont to throw himself down, tired out, ondamp bedding. They were now mostly very silent. Soonafter supper his father would fall asleep in hisarmchair; his mother and sister would admonish eachother to be silent; his mother, bending low over thelamp, stitched at fine sewing for an underwear firm;his sister, who had taken a job as a salesgirl, waslearning shorthand and French in the evenings on thechance of bettering herself. Sometimes his father wokeup, and as if quite unaware that he had been sleepingsaid to his mother: "What a lot of sewing you're doingtoday!" and at once fell asleep again, while the twowomen exchanged a tired smile.

　　With a kind of mulishness his father persisted inkeeping his uniform on even in the house; his dressinggown hung uselessly on its peg and he slept fullydressed where he sat, as if he were ready for serviceat any moment and even here only at the beck and callof his superior. As a result, his uniform, which wasnot brand-new to start with, began to look dirty,despite all the loving care of the mother and sister tokeep it clean, and Gregor often spent whole eveningsgazing at the many greasy spots on the garment,gleaming with gold buttons always in a high state ofpolish, in which the old man sat sleeping in extremediscomfort and yet quite peacefully.

　　As soon as the clock struck ten his mother tried torouse his father with gentle words and to persuade himafter that to get into bed, for sitting there he couldnot have a proper sleep and that was what he neededmost, since he had to go on duty at six. But with themulishness that had obsessed him since he became a bankmessenger he always insisted on staying longer at thetable, although he regularly fell asleep again and inthe end only with the greatest trouble could be got outof his armchair and into his bed. However insistentlyGregor's mother and sister kept urging him with gentlereminders, he would go on slowly shaking his head for aquarter of an hour, keeping his eyes shut, and refuseto get to his feet. The mother plucked at his sleeve,whispering endearments in his ear, the sister left herlessons to come to her mother's help, but Gregor'sfather was not to be caught. He would only sink downdeeper in his chair. Not until the two women hoistedhim up by the armpits did he open his eyes and look atthem both, one after the other, usually with theremark: "This is a life. This is the peace and quiet ofmy old age." And leaning on the two of them he wouldheave himself up, with difficulty, as if he were agreat burden to himself, suffer them to lead him as faras the door and then wave them off and go on alone,while the mother abandoned her needlework and thesister her pen in order to run after him and help himfarther.

　　Who could find time, in this overworked and tired outfamily, to bother about Gregor more than was absolutelyneedful? The household was reduced more and more; theservant girl was turned off; a gigantic bony charwomanwith white hair flying round her head came in morningand evening to do the rough work; everything else wasdone by Gregor's mother, as well as great piles ofsewing. Even various family ornaments, which his motherand sister used to wear with pride at parties andcelebrations, had to be sold, as Gregor discovered ofan evening from hearing them all discuss the pricesobtained. But what they lamented most was the fact thatthey could not leave the flat which was much too bigfor their present circumstances, because they could notthink of any way to shift Gregor. Yet Gregor saw wellenough that consideration for him was not the maindifficulty preventing the removal, for they could haveeasily shifted him in some suitable box with a few airholes in it; what really kept them from moving intoanother flat was rather their own complete hopelessnessand the belief that they had been singled out for amisfortune such as had never happened to any of theirrelations or acquaintances. They fulfilled to theuttermost all that the world demands of poor people,the father fetched breakfast for the small clerks inthe bank, the mother devoted her energy to makingunderwear for strangers, the sister trotted to and frobehind the counter at the behest of customers, but morethan this they had not the strength to do. And thewound in Gregor's back began to nag at him afresh whenhis mother and sister, after getting his father intobed, came back again, left their work lying, drew closeto each other and sat cheek by cheek; when his mother,pointing towards his room, said: "Shut that door now,Grete," and he was left again in darkness, while nextdoor the women mingled their tears or perhaps satdry-eyed staring at the table.

　　Gregor hardly slept at all by night or by day. He wasoften haunted by the idea that next time the dooropened he would take the family's affairs in hand againjust as he used to do; once more, after this longinterval, there appeared in his thoughts the figures ofthe chief and the chief clerk, the commercial travelersand the apprentices, the porter who was so dull-witted,two or three friends in other firms, a chambermaid inone of the rural hotels, a sweet and fleeting memory, acashier in a milliner's shop, whom he had wooedearnestly but too slowly-they all appeared, togetherwith strangers or people he had quite forgotten, butinstead of helping him and his family they were one andall unapproachable and he was glad when they vanished.At other times he would not be in the mood to botherabout his family, he was only filled with rage at theway they were neglecting him, and although he had noclear idea of what he might care to eat he would makeplans for getting into the larder to take the food thatwas after all his due, even if he were not hungry. Hissister no longer took thought to bring him what mightespecially please him, but in the morning and at noonbefore she went to business hurriedly pushed into hisroom with her foot any food that was available, and inthe evening cleared it out again with one sweep of thebroom, heedless of whether it had been merely tasted,or-as most frequently happened-left untouched. Thecleaning of his room, which she now did always in theevenings, could not have been more hastily done.Streaks of dirt stretched along the walls, here andthere lay balls of dust and filth. At first Gregor usedto station himself in some particularly filthy cornerwhen his sister arrived, in order to reproach her withit, so to speak. But he could have sat there for weekswithout getting her to make any improvement; she couldsee the dirt as well as he did, but she had simply madeup her mind to leave it alone. And yet, with atouchiness that was new to her, which seemed anyhow tohave infected the whole family, she jealously guardedher claim to be the sole caretaker of Gregor's room.His mother once subjected his room to a thoroughcleaning, which was achieved only by means of severalbuckets of water-all this dampness of course upsetGregor too and he lay widespread, sulky and motionlesson the sofa-but she was well punished for it. Hardlyhad his sister noticed the changed aspect of his roomthat evening than she rushed in high dudgeon into theliving room and, despite the imploringly raised handsof her mother, burst into a storm of weeping, while herparents-her father had of course been startled out ofhis chair-looked on at first in helpless amazement;then they too began to go into action; the fatherreproached the mother on his right for not having leftthe cleaning of Gregor's room to his sister; shriekedat the sister on his left that never again was she tobe allowed to clean Gregor's room; while the mothertried to pull the father into his bedroom, since he wasbeyond himself with agitation; the sister, shaken withsobs, then beat upon the table with her small fists;and Gregor hissed loudly with rage because not one ofthem thought of shutting the door to spare him such aspectacle and so much noise.

　　Still, even if the sister, exhausted by her daily work,had grown tired of looking after Gregor as she didformerly, there was no need for his mother'sintervention or for Gregor's being neglected at all.The charwoman was there. This old widow, whose strongbony frame had enabled her to survive the worst a longlife could offer, by no means recoiled from Gregor.Without being in the least curious she had once bychance opened the door of his room and at the sight ofGregor, who, taken by surprise, began to rush to andfro although no one was chasing him, merely stood therewith her arms folded. From that time she never failedto open his door a little for a moment, morning andevening, to have a look at him. At first she even usedto call him to her, with words which apparently shetook to be friendly, such as: "Come along, then, youold dung beetle!" or "Look at the old dung beetle,then!" To such allocutions Gregor made no answer, butstayed motionless where he was, as if the door hadnever been opened. Instead of being allowed to disturbhim so senselessly whenever the whim took her, sheshould rather have been ordered to clean out his roomdaily, that charwoman! Once, early in the morning-heavyrain was lashing on the windowpanes, perhaps a signthat spring was on the way-Gregor was so exasperatedwhen she began addressing him again that he ran at her,as if to attack her, although slowly and feebly enough.But the charwoman instead of showing fright merelylifted high a chair that happened to be beside thedoor, and as she stood there with her mouth wide openit was clear that she meant to shut it only when shebrought the chair down on Gregor's back. "So you're notcoming any nearer?" she asked, as Gregor turned awayagain, and quietly put the chair back into the corner.

　　Gregor was now eating hardly anything. Only when hehappened to pass the food laid out for him did he takea bit of something in his mouth as a pastime, kept itthere for an hour at a time and usually spat it outagain. At first he thought it was chagrin over thestate of his room that prevented him from eating, yethe soon got used to the various changes in his room. Ithad become a habit in the family to push into his roomthings there was no room for elsewhere, and there wereplenty of these now, since one of the rooms had beenlet to three lodgers. These serious gentlemen-all threeof them with full beards, as Gregor once observedthrough a crack in the door-had a passion for order,not only in their own room but, since they were nowmembers of the household, in all its arrangements,especially in the kitchen. Superfluous, not to saydirty, objects they could not bear. Besides, they hadbrought with them most of the furnishings they needed.For this reason many things could be dispensed withthat it was no use trying to sell but that should notbe thrown away either. All of them found their way intoGregor's room. The ash can likewise and the kitchengarbage can. Anything that was not needed for themoment was simply flung into Gregor's room by thecharwoman, who did everything in a hurry; fortunatelyGregor usually saw only the object, whatever it was,and the hand that held it. Perhaps she intended to takethe things away again as time and opportunity offered,or to collect them until she could throw them all outin a heap, but in fact they just lay wherever shehappened to throw them, except when Gregor pushed hisway through the junk heap and shifted it somewhat, atfirst out of necessity, because he kind not room enoughto crawl, but later with increasing enjoy meet,although after such excursions, being sad and weary todeath, he would lie motionless for hours. And since thelodgers often ate their supper at home in the commonliving room, the living-room door stayed shut many anevening, yet Gregor reconciled himself quite easily tothe shutting of the door, for often enough on eveningswhen it was opened he had disregarded it entirely andlain in the darkest corner of his room, quite unnoticedby the family. But on one occasion the charwoman leftthe door open a little and it stayed ajar even when thelodgers came in for supper and the lamp was lit Theyset themselves at the top end of the table whereformerly Gregor and his father and mother had eatentheir meals, unfolded their napkins and took knife andfork in hand. At once his mother appeared in the otherdoorway with a dish of meat and close behind her hissister with a dish of potatoes piled high. The foodsteamed with a thick vapor. The lodgers bent over thefood set before them as if to scrutinize it beforeeating, in fact the man in the middle, who seemed topass for an authority with the other two, cut a pieceof meat as it lay on the dish, obviously to discover ifit were tender or should be sent back to the kitchen.He showed satisfaction, and Gregor's mother and sister,who had been watching anxiously, breathed freely andbegan to smile.

　　The family itself took its meals in the kitchen. Nonethe less, Gregor's father came into the living roombefore going into the kitchen and with one prolongedbow, cap in hand, made a round of the table. Thelodgers all stood up and murmured something in theirbeards. When they were alone again they ate their foodin almost complete silence. It seemed remarkable toGregor that among the various noises coming from thetable he could always distinguish the sound of theirmasticating teeth, as if this were a sign to Gregorthat one needed teeth in order to eat, and that withtoothless jaws even of the finest make one could donothing. "I'm hungry enough," said Gregor sadly tohimself, "but not for that kind of food. How theselodgers are stuffing themselves, and here am I dying ofstarvation!"

　　On that very evening-during the whole of his time thereGregor could not remember ever having heard theviolin-the sound of violin-playing came from thekitchen. The lodgers had already finished their supper,the one in the middle had brought out a newspaper andgiven the other two a page apiece, and now they wereleaning back at ease reading and smoking. When theviolin began to play they pricked up their ears, got totheir feet, and went on tiptoe to the hall door wherethey stood huddled together. Their movements must havebeen heard in the kitchen, for Gregor's father calledout: "Is the violin-playing disturbing you, gentlemen?It can be stopped at once." "On the contrary," said themiddle lodger, "could not Fraulein Samsa come and playin this room, beside us, where it is much moreconvenient and comfortable?" "Oh certainly," criedGregor's father, as if he were the violin-player. Thelodgers came back into the living room and waited.Presently Gregor's father arrived with the music stand,his mother carrying the music and his sister with theviolin. His sister quietly made everything ready tostart playing; his parents, who had never let roomsbefore and so had an exaggerated idea of the courtesydue to lodgers, did not venture to sit down on theirown chairs; his father leaned against the door, theright hand thrust between two buttons of his liverycoat, which was formally buttoned up; but his motherwas offered a chair by one of the lodgers and, sinceshe left the chair just where he had happened to putit, sat down in a corner to one side.

　　Gregor's sister began to play; the father and mother,from either side, intently watched the movements of herhands. Gregor, attracted by the playing, ventured tomove forward a little until his head was actuallyinside the living room. He felt hardly any surprise athis growing lack of consideration for the others; therehad been a time when he prided himself on beingconsiderate. And yet just on this occasion he had morereason than ever to hide himself, since owing to theamount of dust which lay thick in his room and roseinto the air at the slightest movement, he too wascovered with dust; fluff and hair and remnants of foodtrailed with him, caught on his back and along hissides; his indifference to everything was much toogreat for him to turn on his back and scrape himselfclean on the carpet, as once he had done several timesa day. And in spite of his condition, no shame deterredhim from advancing a little over the spotless floor ofthe living room.

　　To be sure, no one was aware of him. The family wasentirely absorbed in the violin-playing; the lodgers,however, who first of all had stationed themselves,hands in pockets, much too close behind the music standso that they could all have read the music, which musthave bothered his sister, had soon retreated to thewindow, half-whispering with downbent heads, and stayedthere while his father turned an anxious eye on them.Indeed, they were making it more than obvious that theyhad been disappointed in their expectation of hearinggood or enjoyable violin-playing, that they had hadmore than enough of the performance and only out ofcourtesy suffered a continued disturbance of theirpeace. From the way they all kept blowing the smoke oftheir cigars high in the air through nose and mouth onecould divine their irritation. And yet Gregor's sisterwas playing so beautifully. Her face leaned sideways,intently and sadly her eyes followed the notes ofmusic. Gregor crawled a little farther forward andlowered his head to the ground so that it might bepossible for his eyes to meet hers. Was he an animal,that music had such an effect upon him? He felt as ifthe way were opening before him to the unknownnourishment he craved. He was determined to pushforward till he reached his sister, to pull at herskirt and so let her know that she was to come into hisroom with her violin, for no one here appreciated herplaying as he would appreciate it. He would never lether out of his room, at least, not so long as he lived;his frightful appearance would become, for the firsttime, useful to him; he would watch all the doors ofhis room at once and spit at intruders; but his sistershould need no constraint, she should stay with him ofher own free will; she should sit beside him on thesofa, bend down her ear to him and hear him confidethat he had had the firm intention of sending her tothe Conservatorium, and that, but for his mishap, lastChristmas-surely Christmas was long past?-he would haveannounced it to everybody without allowing a singleobjection. After this confession his sister would be sotouched that she would burst into tears, and Gregorwould then raise himself to her shoulder and kiss heron the neck, which, now that she went to business, shekept free of any ribbon or collar.

　　"Mr. Samsa!" cried the middle lodger, to Gregor'sfather, and pointed, without wasting any more words, atGregor, now working himself slowly forwards. The violinfell silent, the middle lodger first smiled to hisfriends with a shake of the head and then looked atGregor again. Instead of driving Gregor out, his fatherseemed to think it more needful to begin by soothingdown the lodgers, although they were not at allagitated and apparently found Gregor more entertainingthan the violin-playing. He hurried towards them and,spreading out his arms, tried to urge them back intotheir own room and at the same time to block their viewof Gregor. They now began to be really a little angry,one could not tell whether because of the old man'sbehavior or because it had just dawned on them that allunwittingly they had such a neighbor as Gregor nextdoor. They demanded explanations of his father, theywaved their arms like him, tugged uneasily at theirbeards, and only with reluctance backed towards theirroom. Meanwhile Gregor's sister, who stood there as iflost when her playing was so abruptly broken off, cameto life again, pulled herself together all at onceafter standing for a while holding violin and bow innervelessly hanging hands and staring at her music,pushed her violin into the lap of her mother, who wasstill sitting in her chair fighting asthmatically forbreath, and ran into the lodgers' room to which theywere now being shepherded by her father rather morequickly than before. One could see the pillows andblankets on the beds flying under her accustomedfingers and being laid in order. Before the lodgers hadactually reached their room she had finished making thebeds and slipped out.

　　The old man seemed once more to be so possessed by hismulish self-assertiveness that he was forgetting all,the respect he should show to his lodgers. He keptdriving them on and driving them on until in the verydoor of the bedroom the middle lodger stamped his footloudly on the floor and so brought him to a halt. "Ibeg to announce," said the lodger, lifting one hand andlooking also at Gregor's mother and sister, "thatbecause of the disgusting conditions prevailing in thishousehold and family"-here he spat on the floor withemphatic brevity-"I give you notice on the spot.Naturally I won't pay you a penny for the days I havelived here, on the contrary I shall consider bringingan action for damages against you, based onclaims-believe me-that will be easily susceptible ofproof." He ceased and stared straight in front of him,as if he expected something. In fact his two friends atonce rushed into the breach with these words: "And wetoo give notice on the spot." On that he seized thedoor-handle and shut the door with a slam.

　　Gregor's father, groping with his hands, staggeredforward and fell into his chair; it looked as if hewere stretching himself there for his ordinary eveningnap, but the marked jerkings of his head, which was asif uncontrollable, showed that he was far from asleep.Gregor had simply stayed quietly all the time on thespot where the lodgers had espied him. Disappointmentat the failure of his plan, perhaps also the weaknessarising from extreme hunger, made it impossible for himto move. He feared, with a fair degree of certainty,that at any moment the general tension would dischargeitself in a combined attack upon him, and he laywaiting. He did not react even to the noise made by theviolin as it fell off his mother's lap from under hertrembling fingers and gave out a resonant note.

　　"My dear parents," said his sister, slapping her handon the table by way of introduction, "things can't goon like this. Perhaps you don't realize that, but I do.I won't utter my brother's name in the presence of thiscreature, and so all I say is: we must try to get ridof it. We've tried to look after it and to put up withit as far as is humanly possible, and I don't thinkanyone could reproach us in the slightest."

　　"She is more than right," said Gregor's father tohimself. His mother, who was still choking for lack ofbreath, began to cough hollowly into her hand with awild look in her eyes.

　　His sister rushed over to her and held her forehead.His father's thoughts seemed to have lost theirvagueness at Grete's words, he sat more upright,fingering his service cap that lay among the platesstill lying on the table from the lodgers' supper, andfrom time to time looked at the still form of Gregor.

　　"We must try to get rid of it," his sister now saidexplicitly to her father, since her mother was coughingtoo much to hear a word, "it will be the death of bothof you, I can see that coming. When one has to work ashard as we do, all of us, one can't stand thiscontinual torment at home on top of it. At least Ican't stand it any longer." And she burst into such apassion of sobbing that her tears dropped on hermother's face, where she wiped them off mechanically.

　　"My dear," said the old man sympathetically, and withevident understanding, "but what can we do?"

　　Gregor's sister merely shrugged her shoulders toindicate the feeling of helplessness that had nowovermastered her during her weeping fit, in contrast toher former confidence.

　　"If he could understand us," said her father, halfquestioningly; Grete, still sobbing, vehemently waved ahand to show how unthinkable that was.

　　"If he could understand us," repeated the old man,shutting his eyes to consider his daughter's convictionthat understanding was impossible, "then perhaps wemight come to some agreement with him. But as it is-"

　　"He must go," cried Gregor's sister, "that's the onlysolution, Father. You must just try to get rid of theidea that this is Gregor. The fact that we've believedit for so long is the root of all our trouble. But howcan it be Gregor? If this were Gregor, he would haverealized long ago that human beings can't live withsuch a creature, and he'd have gone away on his ownaccord. Then we wouldn't have any brother, but we'd beable to go on living and keep his memory in honor. Asit is, this creature persecutes us, drives away ourlodgers, obviously wants the whole apartment to himselfand would have us all sleep in the gutter. Just look,Father," she shrieked all at once, "he's at it again!"And in an access of panic that was quiteincomprehensible to Gregor she even quitted her mother,literally thrusting the chair from her as if she wouldrather sacrifice her mother than stay so near toGregor, and rushed behind her father, who also rose up,being simply upset by her agitation, and half-spreadhis arms out as if to protect her.

　　Yet Gregor had not the slightest intention offrightening anyone, far less his sister. He had onlybegun to turn round in order to crawl back to his room,but it was certainly a startling operation to watch,since because of his disabled condition he could notexecute the difficult turning movements except bylifting his head and then bracing it against the floorover and over again. He paused and looked round. Hisgood intentions seemed to have been recognized; thealarm had only been momentary. Now they were allwatching' him in melancholy silence. His mother lay inher chair, her legs stiffly outstretched and pressedtogether, her eyes almost closing for sheer weariness;his father and his sister were sitting beside eachother, his sister's arm around the old man's neck.

　　Perhaps I can go on turning round now, thought Gregor,and began his labors again. He could not stop himselffrom panting with the effort, and had to pause now andthen to take breath. Nor did anyone harass him, he wasleft entirely to himself. When he had completed theturn-round he began at once to crawl straight back. Hewas amazed at the distance separating him from his roomand could not understand how in his weak state he hadmanaged to accomplish the same journey so recently,almost without remarking it. Intent on crawling as fastas possible, he barely noticed that not a single word,not an ejaculation from his family, interfered with hisprogress. Only when he was already in the doorway didhe turn his head round, not completely, for his neckmuscles were getting stiff, but enough to see thatnothing had changed behind him except that his sisterhad risen to her feet. His last glance fell on hismother, who was not quite overcome by sleep.

　　Hardly was he well inside his room when the door washastily pushed shut, bolted and locked. The suddennoise in his rear startled him so much that his littlelegs gave beneath him. It was his sister who had shownsuch haste. She had been standing ready waiting and hadmade a light spring forward, Gregor had not even heardher coming, and she cried "At last!" to her parents asshe turned the key in the lock.

　　"And what now?" said Gregor to himself, looking roundin the darkness. Soon he made the discovery that he wasnow unable to stir a limb. This did not surprise him,rather it seemed unnatural that he should ever actuallyhave been able to move on these feeble little legs.Otherwise he felt relatively comfortable. True, hiswhole body was aching, but it seemed that the pain wasgradually growing less and would finally pass away. Therotting apple in his back and the inflamed area aroundit, all covered with soft dust, already hardly troubledhim. He thought of his family with tenderness and love.The decision that he must disappear was one that heheld to even more strongly than his sister, if thatwere possible. In this state of vacant and peacefulmeditation he remained until the tower clock struckthree in the morning. The first broadening of light inthe world outside the window entered his consciousnessonce more. Then his head sank to the floor of its ownaccord and from his nostrils came the last faintflicker of his breath.

　　When the charwoman arrived early in the morning- whatbetween her strength and her impatience she slammed allthe doors so loudly, never mind how often she had beenbegged not to do so, that no one in the whole apartmentcould enjoy any quiet sleep after her arrival-shenoticed nothing unusual as she took her customary peepinto Gregor's room. She thought he was lying motionlesson purpose, pretending to be in the sulks; she creditedhim with every kind of intelligence. Since she happenedto have the long-handled broom in her hand she tried totickle him up with it from the doorway. When that tooproduced no reaction she felt provoked and poked at hima little harder, and only when she had pushed him alongthe floor without meeting any resistance was herattention aroused. It did not take her long toestablish the truth of the matter, and her eyeswidened, she let out a whistle, yet did not waste muchtime over it but tore open the door of the Samsas'bedroom and yelled into the darkness at the top of hervoice: "Just look at this, it's dead; it's lying heredead and done for!"

　　Mr. and Mrs. Samsa started up in their double bed andbefore they realized the nature of the charwoman'sannouncement had some difficulty in overcoming theshock of it. But then they got out of bed quickly, oneon either side, Mr. Samsa throwing a blanket over hisshoulders, Mrs. Samsa in nothing but her nightgown; inthis array they entered Gregor's room. Meanwhile thedoor of the living room opened, too, where Grete hadbeen sleeping since the advent of the lodgers; she wascompletely dressed as if she had not been to bed, whichseemed to be confirmed also by the paleness of herface. "Dead? " said Mrs. Samsa, looking questioninglyat the charwoman, although she could have investigatedfor herself, and the fact was obvious enough withoutinvestigation. "I should say so," said the charwoman,proving her words by pushing Gregor's corpse a long wayto one side with her broomstick. Mrs. Samsa made amovement as if to stop her, but checked it. "Well,"said Mr. Samsa, "now thanks be to God." He crossedhimself, and the three women followed his example.Grete, whose eyes never left the corpse, said: "lustsee how thin he was. It's such a long time since he'seaten anything. The food came out again just as it wentin." Indeed, Gregor's body was completely flat and dry,as could only now be seen when it was no longersupported by the legs and nothing prevented one fromlooking closely at it.

　　"Come in beside us, Grete, for a little while," saidMrs. Samsa with a tremulous smile, and Grete, notwithout looking back at the corpse, followed herparents into their bedroom. The charwoman shut the doorand opened the window wide. Although it was so early inthe morning a certain softness was perceptible in thefresh air. After all, it was already the end of March.

　　The three lodgers emerged from their room and weresurprised to see no breakfast; they had been forgotten."Where's our breakfast?" said the middle lodgerpeevishly to the charwoman. But she put her finger toher lips and hastily, without a word, indicated bygestures that they should go into Gregor's room. Theydid so and stood, their hands in the pockets of theirsomewhat shabby coats, around Gregor's corpse in theroom where it was now fully light.

　　At that the door of the Samsas' bedroom opened and Mr.Samsa appeared in his uniform, his wife on one arm, hisdaughter on the other. They all looked a little as ifthey had been crying; from time to time Grete hid herface on her father's arm.

　　"Leave my house at once!" said Mr. Samsa, and pointedto the door without disengaging himself from the women."What do you mean by that?" said the middle lodger,taken somewhat aback, with a feeble smile. The twoothers put their hands behind them and kept rubbingthem together, as if in gleeful expectation of a fineset-to in which they were bound to come off thewinners. "I mean just what I say," answered Mr. Samsa,and advanced in a straight line with his two companionstowards the lodger. He stood his ground at firstquietly, looking at the floor as if his thoughts weretaking a new pattern in his head. "Then let us go, byall means," he said, and looked up at Mr. Samsa as ifin a sudden access of humility he were expecting somerenewed sanction for this decision. Mr. Samsa merelynodded briefly once or twice with meaning eyes. Uponthat the lodger really did go with long strides intothe hall, his two friends had been listening and hadquite stopped rubbing their hands for some moments andnow went scuttling after him as if afraid that Mr.Samsa might get into the hall before them and cut themoff from their leader. In the hall they all three tooktheir hats from the rack, their sticks from theumbrella stand, bowed in silence and quitted theapartment. With a suspiciousness which proved quiteunfounded Mr. Samsa and the two women followed them outto the landing; leaning over the banister they watchedthe three figures slowly but surely going down the longstairs, vanishing from sight at a certain turn of thestaircase on every floor and coming into view againafter a moment or so; the more they dwindled, the morethe Samsa family's interest in them dwindled, and whena butcher's boy met them and passed them on the stairscoming up proudly with a tray on his head, Mr. Samsaand the two women soon left the landing and as if aburden had been lifted from them went back into theirapartment.

　　They decided to spend this day in resting and going fora stroll; they had not only deserved such a respitefrom work, but absolutely needed it. And so they satdown at the table and wrote three notes of excuse, Mr.Samsa to his board of management, Mrs. Samas to heremployer and Grete to the head of her firm. While theywere writing, the charwoman came in to say that she wasgoing now, since her morning's work was finished. Atfirst they only nodded without looking up, but as shekept hovering there they eyed her irritably. "Well?"said Mr. Samsa The charwoman stood grinning in thedoorway as if she had good news to impart to the familybut meant not to say a word unless properly questioned.The small ostrich feather standing upright on her hat,which had annoyed Mr. Samsa ever since she was engaged,was waving gaily in all directions. "Well, what is itthen?" asked Mrs. Samsa, who obtained more respect fromthe charwoman than the others. "Oh," said thecharwoman, giggling so amiably that she could not atonce continue, "just this, you don't need to botherabout how to get rid of the thing next door. It's beenseen to already." Mrs. Samsa and Grete bent over theirletters again, as if preoccupied; Mr. Samsa, whoperceived that she was eager to begin describing it allin detail, stopped her with a decisive hand. But sinceshe was not allowed to tell her story, she rememberedthe great hurry she was in, being obviously deeplyhuffed: "Bye, everybody," she said, whirling offviolently, and departed with a frightful slamming ofdoors.

　　"She'll be given notice tonight," said Mr. Samsa, butneither from his wife nor his daughter did he get anyanswer, for the charwoman seemed to have shatteredagain the composure they had barely achieved. Theyrose, went to the window and stayed there, claspingeach other tight. Mr. Samsa turned in his chair to lookat them and quietly observed them for a little. Then hecalled out: "Come along, now, do. Let bygones bebygones. And you might have some consideration for me."The two of them complied at once, hastened to him,caressed him and quickly finished their letters.

　　Then they all three left the apartment together, whichwas more than they had done for months, and went bytram into the open country outside the town. The tram,in which they were the only passengers, was filled withwarm sunshine. Leaning comfortably back in their seatsthey canvassed their prospects for the future, and itappeared on closer inspection that these were not atall bad, for the jobs they had got, which so far theyhad never really discussed with each other, were allthree admirable and likely to lead to better thingslater on. The greatest immediate improvement in theircondition would of course arise from moving to anotherhouse; they wanted to take a smaller and cheaper butalso better situated and more easily run apartment thanthe one they had, which Gregor had selected. While theywere thus conversing, it struck both Mr. and Mrs.Samsa, almost at the same moment, as they became awareof their daughter's increasing vivacity, that in spiteof all the sorrow of recent times, which had made hercheeks pale, she had bloomed into a pretty girl with agood figure. They grew quieter and half unconsciouslyexchanged glances of complete agreement, having come tothe conclusion that it would soon be time to find agood husband for her. And it was like a confirmation oftheir new dreams and excellent intentions that at theend of their journey their daughter sprang to her feetfirst and stretched her young body.

　　The End