Page 33 - the-metamorphosis
P. 33

and now lay lazily in the same spot. The noise immediately
         startled him, in spite of the fact that he was already almost
         asleep, and he scurried back again under the couch. But it
         cost him great self-control to remain under the couch, even
         for the short time his sister was in the room, because his
         body had filled out somewhat on account of the rich meal
         and in the narrow space there he could scarcely breathe.
         In the midst of minor attacks of asphyxiation, he looked
         at her with somewhat protruding eyes, as his unsuspect-
         ing sister swept up with a broom, not just the remnants, but
         even the foods which Gregor had not touched at all, as if
         these were also now useless, and as she dumped everything
         quickly into a bucket, which she closed with a wooden lid,
         and then carried all of it out of the room. She had hardly
         turned around before Gregor had already dragged himself
         out from the couch, stretched out, and let his body expand.
            In this way Gregor got his food every day, once in the
         morning, when his parents and the servant girl were still
         asleep, and a second time after the common noon meal, for
         his parents were, as before, asleep then for a little while, and
         the servant girl was sent off by his sister on some errand
         or other. Certainly they would not have wanted Gregor to
         starve to death, but perhaps they could not have endured
         finding out what he ate other than by hearsay. Perhaps his
         sister wanted to spare them what was possibly only a small
         grief, for they were really suffering quite enough already.
            What  sorts  of  excuses  people  had  used  on  that  first
         morning  to  get  the  doctor  and  the  locksmith  out  of  the
         house Gregor was completely unable to ascertain. Since he

                                            The Metamorphosis
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