Page 33 - the-metamorphosis

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