一天早晨，格裏高爾.薩姆沙從不安的睡夢中醒來， 現自己躺在床上變成了一隻巨大的甲蟲。他仰臥着，那堅硬 的像鐵甲一般的背貼着床，他稍稍擡了擡頭，便看見自己那 穹頂似的棕色肚子分成了好多塊弧形的硬片，被子幾乎蓋不 住肚子尖，都快滑下來了。比起偌大的身驅來，他那許多衹 腿真是細得可憐，都在他眼前無可奈何地舞動着。
“我出了什麽事啦？”他想。這可不是夢。他的房間， 雖是嫌小了些，的確是普普通通人住的房間，仍然安靜地躺 在四堵熟悉的墻壁當中。在攤放着打開的衣料樣品－－薩姆 沙是個旅行推銷員－－的桌子上面，還是挂着那幅畫，這是 他最近從一本畫報上剪下來裝在漂亮的金色鏡框裏的。畫的 是一位戴皮帽子圍皮圍巾的貴婦人，她挺直身子坐着，把一 衹套沒了整個前臂的厚重的皮手筒遞給看畫的人。
格裏高爾的眼睛接着又朝窗口望去，天空很陰暗——可 以聽到雨點敲打在窗檻上的聲音——他的心情也變得憂鬱了。 “要是再睡一會兒，把這一切晦氣事統統忘掉那該多好。” 他想。但是完全辦不到，平時他習慣於嚮右邊睡，可是在目 前的情況下，再也不能采取那樣的姿態了。無論怎樣用力嚮 右轉，他仍舊滾了回來，肚子朝天。他試了至少一百次，還 閉上眼睛免得看到那些拼命掙紮的腿，到後來他的腰部感到 一種從未體味過的隱痛，纔不得不罷休。
“啊，天哪，”他想，“我怎麽單單挑上這麽一個纍人 的差使呢！長年纍月到處奔波，比坐辦公室辛苦多了。再加 上還有經常出門的煩惱，擔心各次火車的倒換，不定時而且 低劣的飲食，而萍水相逢的人也總是些泛泛之交，不可能有 深厚的交情，永遠不會變成知己朋友。讓這一切都見鬼去吧！ ”他覺得肚子上有點兒癢，就慢慢地挪動身子，靠近床頭， 好讓自己頭擡起來更容易些；他看清了發癢的地方，那兒布 滿着白色的小斑點，他不明白這是怎麽回事，想用一條腿去 搔一搔，可是馬上又縮了回來，因為這一碰使他渾身起了一 陣寒顫。
他又滑下來恢復到原來的姿勢。“起床這麽早，”他想， “會使人變傻的。人是需要睡覺的。別的推銷員生活得像貴 婦人。比如，我有一天上午趕回旅館登記取回定貨單時， 的人才坐下來吃早餐。我若是跟我的老闆也來這一手，準定 當場就給開除。也許開除了倒更好一些，誰說得準呢。如果 不是為了父母親而總是謹小慎微，我早就辭職不幹了，我早 就會跑到老闆面前，把肚子裏的氣出個痛快。那個傢夥準會 從寫字桌後面直蹦起來！他的工作方式也真奇怪，總是那樣 居高臨下坐在桌子上面對職員發號施令，再加上他的耳朵又 偏偏重聽，大傢不得不走到他跟前去。但是事情也未必毫無 轉機；衹要等我攢夠了錢還清了父母欠他的債——也許還得 五六年——可是我一定能做到。到那時我就會時來運轉了。 不過眼下我還是起床為妙，因為火車五點鐘就要開了。 ”
他看了看櫃子上滴滴嗒嗒響着的鬧鐘。天哪！他想到。 已經六點半了，而時針還在悠悠然嚮前移動，連六點半也過 了，馬上就要七點差一刻了。鬧鐘難道沒有響過嗎？從床上 可以看到鬧鐘明明是撥到四點鐘的；顯然它已經響過了。是 的，不過在那震耳欲聾的響聲裏，難道真的能安寧地睡着嗎？ 嗯，他睡得並不安寧，可是卻正說明他睡得不壞。那麽他現 在該幹什麽呢？下一班車七點鐘開；要搭這一班車他得發瘋 似的趕纔行，可是他的樣品都還沒有包好，他也覺得自己的 精神不甚佳。而且即使他趕上這班車，還是逃不過上司的一 頓申斥，因為公司的聽差一定是在等候五點鐘那班火車，這 時早已回去報告他沒有趕上了。那聽差是老闆的心腹，既無 骨氣又愚蠢不堪。那麽，說自己病了行不行呢？不過這將是 最不愉快的事，而且也顯得很可疑，因為他服務五年以來沒 有害過一次病。老闆一定會親自帶了醫藥顧問一起來，一定 會責怪他的父母怎麽養出這樣懶惰的兒子，他還會引證醫藥 顧問的話，粗暴地把所有的理由都駁掉，在那個大夫看來， 世界上除了健康之至的假病號，再也沒有第二種人了。再說 今天這種情況，大夫的話是不是真的不對呢？格裏高爾覺得 身體挺不錯，衹除了有些睏乏，這在如此長久的一次睡眠以 後實在有些多餘，另外，他甚至覺得特別餓。
這一切都飛快地在他腦子裏閃過，他還是沒有下决心起 床——鬧鐘敲六點三刻了——這時，他床頭後面的門上傳來 了輕輕的一下叩門聲。“格裏高爾，”一個聲音說，——這 是他母親的聲音——“已經七點差一刻了。你不是還要趕火 車嗎？”好溫和的聲音！格裏高爾聽到自己的回答聲時不免 大吃一驚。沒錯，這分明是他自己的聲音，可是卻有另一種 可怕的嘰嘰喳喳的尖叫聲同時發了出來，仿佛是伴音似的， 使他的話衹有最初幾個字纔是清清楚楚的，接着馬上就受到 了幹擾，弄得意義含混，使人傢說不上到底聽清楚沒有。格 裏高爾本想回答得詳細些，好把一切解釋清楚，可是在這樣 的情形下他衹得簡單地說：“是的，是的，謝謝你，媽媽， 我這會兒正在起床呢。”隔着木門，外面一定聽不到格裏高 爾聲音的變化，因為他母親聽到這些話也滿意了，就拖着步 子走了開去。然而這場簡短的對話使傢裏人都知道格裏高爾 還在屋子裏，這是出乎他們意料之外的，於是在側邊的一扇 門上立刻就響起了他父親的叩門聲，很輕，不過用的卻是拳 頭。“格裏高爾，格裏高爾，”他喊到，“你怎麽啦？”過 了一小會兒他又用更低沉的聲音催促道：“格裏高爾！格裏 高爾！”在另一側的門上他的妹妹也用輕輕的悲哀的聲音問： “格裏高爾，你不舒服嗎？要不要什麽東西？”他同時回答 了他們兩個人：“我馬上就好了。”他把聲音發得更清晰， 說完一個字過一會兒纔說另一個字，竭力使他的聲音顯得正 常。於是他父親走回去吃他的早飯了，他妹妹卻低聲地說： “格裏高爾，開開門吧，求求你。”可是他並不想開門，所 以暗自慶幸自己由於時常旅行，他養成了晚上鎖住所有門的 習慣。即使回到傢裏也是這樣。
首先他要靜悄悄地不受打擾地起床，穿好衣服，最要緊 的是吃飽早飯，再考慮下一步該怎麽辦，因為他非常明白， 躺在床上瞎想一氣是想不出什麽名堂來的。他還記得過去也 許是因為睡覺姿勢不好，躺在床上時往往會覺得這兒那兒隱 隱作痛，及至起來，就知道純屬心理作用，所以他殷切地盼 望今天早晨的幻覺會逐漸消逝。他也深信，他之所以變聲音 不是因為別的而僅僅是重感冒的朕兆，這是旅行推銷員的職 業病。
要掀掉被子很容易，他衹需把身子稍稍一擡被子就自己 滑下來了。可是下一個動作就非常之睏難，特別是因為他的 身子寬得出奇。他得要有手和胳臂才能讓自己坐起來；可是 他有的衹是無數細小的腿，它們一刻不停地嚮四面八方揮動， 而他自己卻完全無法控製。他想屈起其中的一條腿，可是他 偏偏伸得筆直；等他終於讓它聽從自己的指揮時，所有別的 腿卻莫名其妙地亂動不已。“總是呆在床上有什麽意思呢。” 格裏高爾自言自語地說。
他想，先下去一定可以使自己離床，可是他還沒有 見過自己的，腦子裏根本沒有概念，不知道要移動 真是難上加難，挪動起來是那樣的遲緩；所以到最後，他煩 死了，就用盡全力魯莽地把身子一甩，不料方向算錯，重重 地撞在床腳上，一陣徹骨的痛楚使他明白，如今他身上最敏 感的地方也許正是他的。
於是他就打算先讓上身離床，他小心翼翼地把頭部一點 點挪嚮床沿。這卻毫不睏難，他的身驅雖然又寬又大，也終 於跟着頭部移動了。可是，等到頭部終於懸在床邊上，他又 害怕起來，不敢再前進了，因為，老實說，如果他就這樣讓 自己掉下去，不摔壞腦袋纔怪呢。他現在最要緊的是保持清 醒，特別是現在；他寧願繼續待在床上。
可是重複了幾遍同樣的努力以後，他深深地嘆了一口氣， 還是恢復了原來的姿勢躺着，一面瞧他那些細腿在難以置信 地更瘋狂地掙紮；格裏高爾不知道如何才能擺脫這種荒唐的 混亂處境，他就再一次告訴自己，待在床上是不行的，最最 合理的做法還是冒一切危險來實現離床這個極渺茫的希望。 可是同時他也沒有忘記提醒自己，冷靜地，極其冷靜地考慮 到最最微小的可能性還是比不顧一切地蠻幹強得多。這時節， 他竭力集中眼光望嚮窗外，可是不幸得很，早晨的濃霧把狹 街對面的房子也都裹上了，看來天氣一時不會好轉，這就使 他更加得不到鼓勵和安慰。“已經七點鐘了，”鬧鐘再度敲 響時，他對自己說，“已經七點鐘了，可是霧還這麽重。” 有片刻工夫，他靜靜地躺着，輕輕地呼吸着，仿佛這樣一養 神什麽都會恢復正常似的。
可是接着他又對自己說：“七點一刻前我無論如何非得 離開床不可。到那時一定會有人從公司裏來找我，因為不到 七點公司就開門了。”於是他開始有節奏地來回晃動自己的 整個身子，想把自己甩出床去。倘若他這樣翻下床去，可以 昂起腦袋，頭部不至於受傷。他的背似乎很硬，看來跌在地 毯上並不打緊。他最擔心的還是自己控製不了的巨大響聲， 這聲音一定會在所有的房間裏引起焦慮，即使不是恐懼。可 是，他還是得冒這個險。
當他已經半個身子探到床外的時候——這個新方法與其 說是苦事，不如說是遊戲，因為他衹需來回晃動，逐漸挪過 去就行了——他忽然想起如果有人幫忙，這件事該是多麽簡 單。兩個身強力壯的人——他想到了他的父親和那個使女— —就足夠了；他們衹需把胳臂伸到他那圓鼓鼓的背後，擡他 下床，放下他們的負擔，然後耐心地等他在地板上翻過身來 就行了，一碰到地板他的腿自然會發揮作用的。那麽，姑且 不管所有的門都是鎖着的，他是否真的應該叫人幫忙呢？ 管處境非常睏難，想到這一層，他卻禁不住透出一絲微笑。
他使勁地搖動着，身子已經探出不少，快要失去平衡了， 他非得鼓足勇氣采取决定性的步驟了，因為再過五分鐘就是 七點一刻——正在這時，前門的門鈴響了起來。“是公司裏 派什麽人來了。”他這麽想，身子就隨之而發僵，可是那些 細小的腿卻動彈得更快了。一時之間周圍一片靜默。“他們 不願開門。”格裏高爾懷着不合常情的希望自言自語道。可 是使女當然還是跟往常一樣踏着沉重的步子去開門了。格裏 高爾聽到客人的第一聲招呼就馬上知道這是誰——是秘書主 任親自出馬了。真不知自己生就什麽命，竟落到給這樣一傢 公司當差，衹要有一點小小的差錯，馬上就會招來最大的懷 疑！在這一個所有的職員全是無賴的公司裏，豈不是衹有他 一個人忠心耿耿嗎？他早晨衹占用公司兩三個小時，不是就 給良心折磨得幾乎要發瘋，真的下不了床嗎？如果確有必要 來打聽他出了什麽事，派個學徒來不也夠了嗎——難道秘書 主任非得親自出馬，以便嚮全家人，完全無辜的一傢人表示， 這個可疑的情況衹有他自己那樣的內行來調查纔行嗎？與其 說格裏高爾下了决心，倒不如說他因為想到這些事非常激動， 因而用盡全力把自己甩出了床外。砰的一聲很響，但總算沒 有響得嚇人。地毯把他墜落的聲音減弱了幾分，他的背也不 如他所想象的那麽毫無彈性，所以聲音很悶，不驚動人。 是他不夠小心，頭翹得不夠高，還是在地板上撞了一下；他 扭了扭腦袋，痛苦而忿懣地把頭挨在地板上磨蹭着。
“那裏有什麽東西掉下來了。”秘書主任在左面房間裏 說。格裏高爾試圖設想，今天他身上發生的事有一天也讓秘 書主任碰上了；誰也不敢擔保不會出這樣的事。可是仿佛給 他的設想一個粗暴的回答似的，秘書主任在隔壁的房間裏堅 定地走了幾步，他那漆皮鞋子發出了吱嘎吱嘎的聲音。從右 面的房間裏，他妹妹用耳語嚮他通報消息：“格裏高爾，秘 書主任來了。”“我知道了。”格裏高爾低聲嘟噥道；但是 沒有勇氣提高嗓門讓妹妹聽到他的聲音。
“格裏高爾，”這時候，父親在左邊房間裏說話了，“ 秘書主任來了，他要知道為什麽你沒能趕上早晨的火車。我 們也不知道怎麽跟他說。另外，他還要親自和你談話。所以， 請你開門吧。他度量大，對你房間裏的凌亂不會見怪的。” “早上好，薩姆沙先生，”與此同時，秘書主任和藹地招呼 道。“他不舒服呢，”母親對客人說，這時他父親繼續隔着 門在說話，“他不舒服，先生，相信我吧。他還能為了什麽 原因誤車呢！這孩子衹知道操心公事。他晚上從來不出去， 連我瞧着都要生氣了；這幾天來他沒有出差，可他天天晚上 都守在傢裏。他衹是安安靜靜地坐在桌子旁邊，看看報，或 是把火車時刻表翻來覆去地看。他唯一的消遣就是做木工活 兒。比如說，他花了兩三個晚上刻了一個小鏡框；您看到它 那麽漂亮一定會感到驚奇；這鏡框挂在他房間裏；再過一分 鐘等格裏高爾打開門您就會看到了。您的光臨真叫我高興， 先生；我們怎麽也沒法使他開門；他真是固執；我敢說他一 定是病了，雖然他早晨硬說沒病。”——“我馬上來了，” 格裏高爾慢吞吞地小心翼翼地說，可是卻寸步也沒有移動， 生怕漏過他們談話中的每一個字。“我也想不出有什麽別的 原因，太太，”秘書主任說，“我希望不是什麽大病。雖然 另一方面我不得不說，不知該算福氣還是晦氣，我們這些做 買賣的往往就得不把這些小毛病當作一回事，因為買賣嘛總 是要做的。”——“喂，秘書主任現在能進來了嗎？”格裏 高爾的父親不耐煩地問，又敲起門來了。“不行。”格裏高 爾回答。這聲拒絶以後，在左面房間裏是一陣令人痛苦的寂 靜；右面房間裏他妹妹啜泣起來了。
他妹妹為什麽不和別的人在一起呢？她也許是剛剛起床， 還沒有穿衣服吧。那麽，她為什麽哭呢？是因為他不起床讓 秘書主任進來嗎，是因為他有丟掉差使的危險嗎，是因為老 板又要開口嚮他的父母討還舊債嗎？這些顯然都是眼前不用 擔心的事情。格裏高爾仍舊在傢裏，絲毫沒有棄傢出走的念 頭。的確，他現在暫時還躺在地毯上，知道他的處境的人當 然不會盼望他讓秘書主任走進來。可是這點小小的失禮以後 盡可以用幾句漂亮的辭令解釋過去，格裏高爾不見得馬上就 給辭退。格裏高爾覺得，就目前來說，他們與其對他抹鼻子 流淚苦苦哀求，還不如別打擾他的好。可是，當然啦，他們 的不明情況使他們大惑不解，也說明了他們為什麽有這樣的 舉動。
“薩姆沙先生，”秘書主任現在提高了嗓門說，“您這 是怎麽回事？您這樣把自己關在房間裏，光是回答‘是’和 ‘不是’，毫無必要地引起您父母極大的憂慮，又極嚴重地 疏忽了——這我衹不過順便提一句——疏忽了公事方面的職 責。我現在以您父母和您經理的名義和您說話，我正式要求 您立刻給我一個明確的解釋。我真沒想到，我真沒想到。我 原來還認為您是個安分守己、穩妥可靠的人，可您現在卻突 然决心想讓自己丟醜。經理今天早晨還對我暗示您不露面的 原因可能是什麽——他提到了最近交給您管的現款——我還 幾乎要以自己的名譽嚮他擔保這根本不可能呢。可是現在我 纔知道您真是執拗得可以，從現在起，我絲毫也不想襢護您 了。您在公司裏的地位並不是那麽穩固的。這些話我本來想 私下裏對您說的，可是既然您這樣白白糟蹋我的時間，我就 不懂為什麽您的父母不應該聽到這些話了。近來您的工作叫 人很不滿意；當然，目前買賣並不是旺季，這我們也承認， 可是一年裏整整一個季度一點兒買賣也不做，這是不行的， 薩姆沙先生，這是完全不應該的。”
“可是，先生，”格裏高爾喊道，他控製不住了，激動 得忘記了一切，“我這會兒正要來開門。一點兒小小的不舒 服，一陣頭暈使我起不了床。我現在還躺在床上呢。不過我 已經好了。我現在正要下床。再等我一兩分鐘吧！我不像自 己所想的那樣健康。不過我已經好了，真的。這種小毛病難 道就能打垮我不成！我昨天晚上還好好兒的，這我父親母親 也可以告訴您，不，應該說我昨天晚上就感覺到了一些預兆。 我的樣子想必已經不對勁了。您要問為什麽我不嚮辦公室報 告！可是人總以為一點點不舒服一定能頂過去，用不着請假 在傢休息。哦，先生，別傷我父母的心吧！您剛纔怪罪於我 的事都是沒有根據的；從來沒有誰這樣說過我。也許您還沒 有看到我最近兜來的定單吧。至少，我還能趕上八點鐘的火 車呢，休息了這幾個鐘點我已經好多了。千萬不要因為我而 把您耽擱在這兒，先生；我馬上就會開始工作的，這有勞您 轉告經理，在他面前還得請您多替我美言幾句呢！”
格裏高爾一口氣說着，自己也搞不清楚自己說了些什麽， 也許是因為有了床上的那些鍛煉，格裏高爾沒費多大氣力就 來到櫃子旁邊，打算依靠櫃子使自己直立起來。他的確是想 開門，的確是想出去和秘書主任談話的；他很想知道，大傢 這麽堅持以後，看到了他又會說些什麽。要是他們都大吃一 驚，那麽責任就再也不在他身上，他可以得到安靜了。如果 他們完全不在意，那麽他也根本不必不安，衹要真的趕緊上 車站去搭八點鐘的車就行了。起先，他好幾次從光滑的櫃面 上滑下來，可是最後，在一使勁之後，他終於站直了；現在 他也不管疼得像火燒一般了。接着他讓自己靠嚮附近一 張椅子的背部，用他那些細小的腿抓住了椅背的邊。這使他 得以控製自己的身體，他不再說話，因為這時候他聽見秘書 主任又開口了。
“你們聽得懂哪個字嗎？”秘書主任問，“他不見得在 開我們的玩笑吧？”“哦，天哪，”他母親聲淚俱下地喊道， “也許他病害得不輕，倒是我們在折磨他呢。葛蕾特！葛蕾 特！”接着她嚷道。“什麽事，媽媽？”他妹妹打那一邊的 房間裏喊道。她們就這樣隔着格裏高爾的房間對嚷起來。“ 你得馬上去請醫生。格裏高爾病了。去請醫生，快點兒。你 沒聽見他說話的聲音嗎？”“這不是人的聲音。”秘書主任 說，跟母親的尖叫聲一比他的嗓音顯得格外低沉。“安娜！ 安娜！”他父親從客廳嚮廚房裏喊道，一面還拍着手，“馬 上去找個鎖匠來！”於是兩個姑娘奔跑得裙子颼颼響地穿過 了客廳——他妹妹怎能這麽快就穿好衣服的呢？——接着又 猛然大開了前門，沒有聽見門重新關上的聲音；她們顯然聽 任它洞開着，什麽人傢出了不幸的事情就總是這樣。
格裏高爾現在倒鎮靜多了。顯然，他發出來的聲音人傢 再也聽不懂了，雖然他自己聽來很清楚，甚至比以前更清楚， 這也許是因為他的耳朵變得能適應這種聲音了。不過至少現在 大傢相信他有什麽地方不太妙，都準備來幫助他了。這些初 步措施將帶來的積極效果使他感到安慰。他覺得自己又重新 進入人類的圈子，對大夫和鎖匠都寄於了莫大的希望，卻沒 有怎樣分清兩者之間的區別。為了使自己在即將到來的重要 談話中聲音盡可能清晰些，他稍微嗽了嗽嗓子，他當然盡量 壓低聲音，因為就連他自己聽起來，這聲音也不像人的咳嗽。 這時候，隔壁房間裏一片寂靜。也許他的父母正陪了秘書主 任坐在桌旁，在低聲商談，也許他們都靠在門上細細諦聽呢。
格裏高爾慢慢地把椅子推嚮門邊，接着便放開椅子，抓 住了門來支撐自己－－他那些細腿的腳底上倒是頗有粘性的 －－他在門上靠了一會兒，喘過一口氣來。接着他開始用嘴 巴來轉動插在鎖孔裏的鑰匙。不幸的是，他並沒有什麽牙齒 －－他得用什麽來咬住鑰匙呢？－－不過他的下顎倒好像非 常結實；靠着這下顎總算轉動了鑰匙，他準是不小心弄傷了 什麽地方，因為有一股棕色的液體從他嘴裏流出來，淌過鑰 匙，滴到地上。“你們聽，”門後的秘書主任說，“他在轉 動鑰匙了。”這對格裏高爾是個很大的鼓勵；不過他們應該 都來給他打氣，他的父親母親都應該喊：“加油，格裏高爾。 ”他們應該大聲喊道：“堅持下去，咬緊鑰匙！”他相信他 們都在全神貫註地關心自己的努力，就集中全力死命咬住鑰 匙。鑰匙需要轉動時，他便用嘴巴銜着它，自己也繞着鎖孔 轉了一圈，好把鑰匙扭過去，或者不如說，用全身的重量使 它轉動。終於屈服的鎖發出響亮的卡嗒一聲，使格裏高爾大 為高興。他深深地舒了一口氣，對自己說：“這樣一來我就 不用鎖匠了。”接着就把頭擱在門柄上，想把門整個打開。 門是嚮他自己這邊拉的，所以雖然已經打開，人傢還是 瞧不見他。他得慢慢地從對開的那半扇門後面把身子挪出來， 而且得非常小心，以免背脊直挺挺地跌倒在房間裏。他正在 睏難地挪動自己，顧不上作任何觀察，卻聽到秘書主任“哦！ ”的一聲大叫－－發出來的聲音像一股猛風－－現在他可以 看見那個人了，他站得靠近門口，一隻手遮在張大的嘴上， 慢慢地往後退去，仿佛有什麽無形的強大壓力在驅逐他似的。 格裏高爾的母親－－雖然秘書主任在場，她的頭髮仍然沒有 梳好，還是亂七八糟地竪着－－她先是雙手合掌瞧瞧他父親， 接着嚮格裏高爾走了兩步，隨即倒在地上，裙子攤了開來， 臉垂到胸前，完全看不見了。他父親握緊拳頭，一副惡狠狠 的樣子，仿佛要把格裏高爾打回到房間裏去，接着他又猶豫 不定地嚮起坐室掃了一眼，然後把雙手遮住眼睛，哭泣起來， 連他那寬闊的胸膛都在起伏不定
"What's happened to me?" he thought. It wasn't a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table - Samsa was a travelling salesman - and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.
Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad. "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense", he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn't get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was. He must have tried it a hundred times, shut his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at the floundering legs, and only stopped when he began to feel a mild, dull pain there that he had never felt before.
"Oh, God", he thought, "what a strenuous career it is that I've chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there's the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them. It can all go to Hell!" He felt a slight itch up on his belly; pushed himself slowly up on his back towards the headboard so that he could lift his head better; found where the itch was, and saw that it was covered with lots of little white spots which he didn't know what to make of; and when he tried to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly back because as soon as he touched it he was overcome by a cold shudder.
He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the time", he thought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough sleep. Other travelling salesmen live a life of luxury. For instance, whenever I go back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts. I ought to just try that with my boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. Well, there's still some hope; once I've got the money together to pay off my parents' debt to him - another five or six years I suppose - that's definitely what I'll do. That's when I'll make the big change. First of all though, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five. "
And he looked over at the alarm clock, ticking on the chest of drawers. "God in Heaven!" he thought. It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards, it was even later than half past, more like quarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He could see from the bed that it had been set for four o'clock as it should have been; it certainly must have rung. Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully, but probably all the more deeply because of that. What should he do now? The next train went at seven; if he were to catch that he would have to rush like mad and the collection of samples was still not packed, and he did not at all feel particularly fresh and lively. And even if he did catch the train he would not avoid his boss's anger as the office assistant would have been there to see the five o'clock train go, he would have put in his report about Gregor's not being there a long time ago. The office assistant was the boss's man, spineless, and with no understanding. What about if he reported sick? But that would be extremely strained and suspicious as in fifteen years of service Gregor had never once yet been ill. His boss would certainly come round with the doctor from the medical insurance company, accuse his parents of having a lazy son, and accept the doctor's recommendation not to make any claim as the doctor believed that no-one was ever ill but that many were workshy. And what's more, would he have been entirely wrong in this case? Gregor did in fact, apart from excessive sleepiness after sleeping for so long, feel completely well and even felt much hungrier than usual.
He was still hurriedly thinking all this through, unable to decide to get out of the bed, when the clock struck quarter to seven. There was a cautious knock at the door near his head. "Gregor", somebody called - it was his mother - "it's quarter to seven. Didn't you want to go somewhere?" That gentle voice! Gregor was shocked when he heard his own voice answering, it could hardly be recognised as the voice he had had before. As if from deep inside him, there was a painful and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it, the words could be made out at first but then there was a sort of echo which made them unclear, leaving the hearer unsure whether he had heard properly or not. Gregor had wanted to give a full answer and explain everything, but in the circumstances contented himself with saying: "Yes, mother, yes, thank-you, I'm getting up now. " The change in Gregor's voice probably could not be noticed outside through the wooden door, as his mother was satisfied with this explanation and shuffled away. But this short conversation made the other members of the family aware that Gregor, against their expectations was still at home, and soon his father came knocking at one of the side doors, gently, but with his fist. "Gregor, Gregor", he called, "what's wrong?" And after a short while he called again with a warning deepness in his voice: "Gregor! Gregor!" At the other side door his sister came plaintively: "Gregor? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?"
Gregor answered to both sides: "I'm ready, now", making an effort to remove all the strangeness from his voice by enunciating very carefully and putting long pauses between each, individual word. His father went back to his breakfast, but his sister whispered: "Gregor, open the door, I beg of you. " Gregor, however, had no thought of opening the door, and instead congratulated himself for his cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was at home.
The first thing he wanted to do was to get up in peace without being disturbed, to get dressed, and most of all to have his breakfast. Only then would he consider what to do next, as he was well aware that he would not bring his thoughts to any sensible conclusions by lying in bed. He remembered that he had often felt a slight pain in bed, perhaps caused by lying awkwardly, but that had always turned out to be pure imagination and he wondered how his imaginings would slowly resolve themselves today. He did not have the slightest doubt that the change in his voice was nothing more than the first sign of a serious cold, which was an occupational hazard for travelling salesmen.
It was a simple matter to throw off the covers; he only had to blow himself up a little and they fell off by themselves. But it became difficult after that, especially as he was so exceptionally broad. He would have used his arms and his hands to push himself up; but instead of them he only had all those little legs continuously moving in different directions, and which he was moreover unable to control. If he wanted to bend one of them, then that was the first one that would stretch itself out; and if he finally managed to do what he wanted with that leg, all the others seemed to be set free and would move about painfully. "This is something that can't be done in bed", Gregor said to himself, "so don't keep trying to do it".
The first thing he wanted to do was get the lower part of his body out of the bed, but he had never seen this lower part, and could not imagine what it looked like; it turned out to be too hard to move; it went so slowly; and finally, almost in a frenzy, when he carelessly shoved himself forwards with all the force he could gather, he chose the wrong direction, hit hard against the lower bedpost, and learned from the burning pain he felt that the lower part of his body might well, at present, be the most sensitive.
So then he tried to get the top part of his body out of the bed first, carefully turning his head to the side. This he managed quite easily, and despite its breadth and its weight, the bulk of his body eventually followed slowly in the direction of the head. But when he had at last got his head out of the bed and into the fresh air it occurred to him that if he let himself fall it would be a miracle if his head were not injured, so he became afraid to carry on pushing himself forward the same way. And he could not knock himself out now at any price; better to stay in bed than lose consciousness.
It took just as much effort to get back to where he had been earlier, but when he lay there sighing, and was once more watching his legs as they struggled against each other even harder than before, if that was possible, he could think of no way of bringing peace and order to this chaos. He told himself once more that it was not possible for him to stay in bed and that the most sensible thing to do would be to get free of it in whatever way he could at whatever sacrifice. At the same time, though, he did not forget to remind himself that calm consideration was much better than rushing to desperate conclusions. At times like this he would direct his eyes to the window and look out as clearly as he could, but unfortunately, even the other side of the narrow street was enveloped in morning fog and the view had little confidence or cheer to offer him. "Seven o'clock, already", he said to himself when the clock struck again, "seven o'clock, and there's still a fog like this. " And he lay there quietly a while longer, breathing lightly as if he perhaps expected the total stillness to bring things back to their real and natural state.
But then he said to himself: "Before it strikes quarter past seven I'll definitely have to have got properly out of bed. And by then somebody will have come round from work to ask what's happened to me as well, as they open up at work before seven o'clock. " And so he set himself to the task of swinging the entire length of his body out of the bed all at the same time. If he succeeded in falling out of bed in this way and kept his head raised as he did so he could probably avoid injuring it. His back seemed to be quite hard, and probably nothing would happen to it falling onto the carpet. His main concern was for the loud noise he was bound to make, and which even through all the doors would probably raise concern if not alarm. But it was something that had to be risked.
When Gregor was already sticking half way out of the bed - the new method was more of a game than an effort, all he had to do was rock back and forth - it occurred to him how simple everything would be if somebody came to help him. Two strong people - he had his father and the maid in mind - would have been more than enough; they would only have to push their arms under the dome of his back, peel him away from the bed, bend down with the load and then be patient and careful as he swang over onto the floor, where, hopefully, the little legs would find a use. Should he really call for help though, even apart from the fact that all the doors were locked? Despite all the difficulty he was in, he could not suppress a smile at this thought.
After a while he had already moved so far across that it would have been hard for him to keep his balance if he rocked too hard. The time was now ten past seven and he would have to make a final decision very soon. Then there was a ring at the door of the flat. "That'll be someone from work", he said to himself, and froze very still, although his little legs only became all the more lively as they danced around. For a moment everything remained quiet. "They're not opening the door", Gregor said to himself, caught in some nonsensical hope. But then of course, the maid's firm steps went to the door as ever and opened it. Gregor only needed to hear the visitor's first words of greeting and he knew who it was - the chief clerk himself. Why did Gregor have to be the only one condemned to work for a company where they immediately became highly suspicious at the slightest shortcoming? Were all employees, every one of them, louts, was there not one of them who was faithful and devoted who would go so mad with pangs of conscience that he couldn't get out of bed if he didn't spend at least a couple of hours in the morning on company business? Was it really not enough to let one of the trainees make enquiries - assuming enquiries were even necessary - did the chief clerk have to come himself, and did they have to show the whole, innocent family that this was so suspicious that only the chief clerk could be trusted to have the wisdom to investigate it? And more because these thoughts had made him upset than through any proper decision, he swang himself with all his force out of the bed. There was a loud thump, but it wasn't really a loud noise. His fall was softened a little by the carpet, and Gregor's back was also more elastic than he had thought, which made the sound muffled and not too noticeable. He had not held his head carefully enough, though, and hit it as he fell; annoyed and in pain, he turned it and rubbed it against the carpet.
"Something's fallen down in there", said the chief clerk in the room on the left. Gregor tried to imagine whether something of the sort that had happened to him today could ever happen to the chief clerk too; you had to concede that it was possible. But as if in gruff reply to this question, the chief clerk's firm footsteps in his highly polished boots could now be heard in the adjoining room. From the room on his right, Gregor's sister whispered to him to let him know: "Gregor, the chief clerk is here. "
"Yes, I know", said Gregor to himself; but without daring to raise his voice loud enough for his sister to hear him.
"Gregor", said his father now from the room to his left, "the chief clerk has come round and wants to know why you didn't leave on the early train. We don't know what to say to him. And anyway, he wants to speak to you personally. So please open up this door. I'm sure he'll be good enough to forgive the untidiness of your room. "
Then the chief clerk called "Good morning, Mr. Samsa".
"He isn't well", said his mother to the chief clerk, while his father continued to speak through the door. "He isn't well, please believe me. Why else would Gregor have missed a train! The lad only ever thinks about the business. It nearly makes me cross the way he never goes out in the evenings; he's been in town for a week now but stayed home every evening. He sits with us in the kitchen and just reads the paper or studies train timetables. His idea of relaxation is working with his fretsaw. He's made a little frame, for instance, it only took him two or three evenings, you'll be amazed how nice it is; it's hanging up in his room; you'll see it as soon as Gregor opens the door. Anyway, I'm glad you're here; we wouldn't have been able to get Gregor to open the door by ourselves; he's so stubborn; and I'm sure he isn't well, he said this morning that he is, but he isn't. "
"I'll be there in a moment", said Gregor slowly and thoughtfully, but without moving so that he would not miss any word of the conversation. "Well I can't think of any other way of explaining it, Mrs. Samsa", said the chief clerk, "I hope it's nothing serious. But on the other hand, I must say that if we people in commerce ever become slightly unwell then, fortunately or unfortunately as you like, we simply have to overcome it because of business considerations. " "Can the chief clerk come in to see you now then?", asked his father impatiently, knocking at the door again. "No", said Gregor. In the room on his right there followed a painful silence; in the room on his left his sister began to cry.
So why did his sister not go and join the others? She had probably only just got up and had not even begun to get dressed. And why was she crying? Was it because he had not got up, and had not let the chief clerk in, because he was in danger of losing his job and if that happened his boss would once more pursue their parents with the same demands as before? There was no need to worry about things like that yet. Gregor was still there and had not the slightest intention of abandoning his family. For the time being he just lay there on the carpet, and no-one who knew the condition he was in would seriously have expected him to let the chief clerk in. It was only a minor discourtesy, and a suitable excuse could easily be found for it later on, it was not something for which Gregor could be sacked on the spot. And it seemed to Gregor much more sensible to leave him now in peace instead of disturbing him with talking at him and crying. But the others didn't know what was happening, they were worried, that would excuse their behaviour. The chief clerk now raised his voice, "Mr. Samsa", he called to him, "what is wrong? You barricade yourself in your room, give us no more than yes or no for an answer, you are causing serious and unnecessary concern to your parents and you fail - and I mention this just by the way - you fail to carry out your business duties in a way that is quite unheard of. I'm speaking here on behalf of your parents and of your employer, and really must request a clear and immediate explanation. I am astonished, quite astonished. I thought I knew you as a calm and sensible person, and now you suddenly seem to be showing off with peculiar whims. This morning, your employer did suggest a possible reason for your failure to appear, it's true - it had to do with the money that was recently entrusted to you - but I came near to giving him my word of honour that that could not be the right explanation. But now that I see your incomprehensible stubbornness I no longer feel any wish whatsoever to intercede on your behalf. And nor is your position all that secure. I had originally intended to say all this to you in private, but since you cause me to waste my time here for no good reason I don't see why your parents should not also learn of it. Your turnover has been very unsatisfactory of late; I grant you that it's not the time of year to do especially good business, we recognise that; but there simply is no time of year to do no business at all, Mr. Samsa, we cannot allow there to be. "
“我出了什麽事啦？”他想。這可不是夢。他的房間， 雖是嫌小了些，的確是普普通通人住的房間，仍然安靜地躺 在四堵熟悉的墻壁當中。在攤放着打開的衣料樣品－－薩姆 沙是個旅行推銷員－－的桌子上面，還是挂着那幅畫，這是 他最近從一本畫報上剪下來裝在漂亮的金色鏡框裏的。畫的 是一位戴皮帽子圍皮圍巾的貴婦人，她挺直身子坐着，把一 衹套沒了整個前臂的厚重的皮手筒遞給看畫的人。
格裏高爾的眼睛接着又朝窗口望去，天空很陰暗——可 以聽到雨點敲打在窗檻上的聲音——他的心情也變得憂鬱了。 “要是再睡一會兒，把這一切晦氣事統統忘掉那該多好。” 他想。但是完全辦不到，平時他習慣於嚮右邊睡，可是在目 前的情況下，再也不能采取那樣的姿態了。無論怎樣用力嚮 右轉，他仍舊滾了回來，肚子朝天。他試了至少一百次，還 閉上眼睛免得看到那些拼命掙紮的腿，到後來他的腰部感到 一種從未體味過的隱痛，纔不得不罷休。
“啊，天哪，”他想，“我怎麽單單挑上這麽一個纍人 的差使呢！長年纍月到處奔波，比坐辦公室辛苦多了。再加 上還有經常出門的煩惱，擔心各次火車的倒換，不定時而且 低劣的飲食，而萍水相逢的人也總是些泛泛之交，不可能有 深厚的交情，永遠不會變成知己朋友。讓這一切都見鬼去吧！ ”他覺得肚子上有點兒癢，就慢慢地挪動身子，靠近床頭， 好讓自己頭擡起來更容易些；他看清了發癢的地方，那兒布 滿着白色的小斑點，他不明白這是怎麽回事，想用一條腿去 搔一搔，可是馬上又縮了回來，因為這一碰使他渾身起了一 陣寒顫。
他又滑下來恢復到原來的姿勢。“起床這麽早，”他想， “會使人變傻的。人是需要睡覺的。別的推銷員生活得像貴 婦人。比如，我有一天上午趕回旅館登記取回定貨單時， 的人才坐下來吃早餐。我若是跟我的老闆也來這一手，準定 當場就給開除。也許開除了倒更好一些，誰說得準呢。如果 不是為了父母親而總是謹小慎微，我早就辭職不幹了，我早 就會跑到老闆面前，把肚子裏的氣出個痛快。那個傢夥準會 從寫字桌後面直蹦起來！他的工作方式也真奇怪，總是那樣 居高臨下坐在桌子上面對職員發號施令，再加上他的耳朵又 偏偏重聽，大傢不得不走到他跟前去。但是事情也未必毫無 轉機；衹要等我攢夠了錢還清了父母欠他的債——也許還得 五六年——可是我一定能做到。到那時我就會時來運轉了。 不過眼下我還是起床為妙，因為火車五點鐘就要開了。 ”
他看了看櫃子上滴滴嗒嗒響着的鬧鐘。天哪！他想到。 已經六點半了，而時針還在悠悠然嚮前移動，連六點半也過 了，馬上就要七點差一刻了。鬧鐘難道沒有響過嗎？從床上 可以看到鬧鐘明明是撥到四點鐘的；顯然它已經響過了。是 的，不過在那震耳欲聾的響聲裏，難道真的能安寧地睡着嗎？ 嗯，他睡得並不安寧，可是卻正說明他睡得不壞。那麽他現 在該幹什麽呢？下一班車七點鐘開；要搭這一班車他得發瘋 似的趕纔行，可是他的樣品都還沒有包好，他也覺得自己的 精神不甚佳。而且即使他趕上這班車，還是逃不過上司的一 頓申斥，因為公司的聽差一定是在等候五點鐘那班火車，這 時早已回去報告他沒有趕上了。那聽差是老闆的心腹，既無 骨氣又愚蠢不堪。那麽，說自己病了行不行呢？不過這將是 最不愉快的事，而且也顯得很可疑，因為他服務五年以來沒 有害過一次病。老闆一定會親自帶了醫藥顧問一起來，一定 會責怪他的父母怎麽養出這樣懶惰的兒子，他還會引證醫藥 顧問的話，粗暴地把所有的理由都駁掉，在那個大夫看來， 世界上除了健康之至的假病號，再也沒有第二種人了。再說 今天這種情況，大夫的話是不是真的不對呢？格裏高爾覺得 身體挺不錯，衹除了有些睏乏，這在如此長久的一次睡眠以 後實在有些多餘，另外，他甚至覺得特別餓。
這一切都飛快地在他腦子裏閃過，他還是沒有下决心起 床——鬧鐘敲六點三刻了——這時，他床頭後面的門上傳來 了輕輕的一下叩門聲。“格裏高爾，”一個聲音說，——這 是他母親的聲音——“已經七點差一刻了。你不是還要趕火 車嗎？”好溫和的聲音！格裏高爾聽到自己的回答聲時不免 大吃一驚。沒錯，這分明是他自己的聲音，可是卻有另一種 可怕的嘰嘰喳喳的尖叫聲同時發了出來，仿佛是伴音似的， 使他的話衹有最初幾個字纔是清清楚楚的，接着馬上就受到 了幹擾，弄得意義含混，使人傢說不上到底聽清楚沒有。格 裏高爾本想回答得詳細些，好把一切解釋清楚，可是在這樣 的情形下他衹得簡單地說：“是的，是的，謝謝你，媽媽， 我這會兒正在起床呢。”隔着木門，外面一定聽不到格裏高 爾聲音的變化，因為他母親聽到這些話也滿意了，就拖着步 子走了開去。然而這場簡短的對話使傢裏人都知道格裏高爾 還在屋子裏，這是出乎他們意料之外的，於是在側邊的一扇 門上立刻就響起了他父親的叩門聲，很輕，不過用的卻是拳 頭。“格裏高爾，格裏高爾，”他喊到，“你怎麽啦？”過 了一小會兒他又用更低沉的聲音催促道：“格裏高爾！格裏 高爾！”在另一側的門上他的妹妹也用輕輕的悲哀的聲音問： “格裏高爾，你不舒服嗎？要不要什麽東西？”他同時回答 了他們兩個人：“我馬上就好了。”他把聲音發得更清晰， 說完一個字過一會兒纔說另一個字，竭力使他的聲音顯得正 常。於是他父親走回去吃他的早飯了，他妹妹卻低聲地說： “格裏高爾，開開門吧，求求你。”可是他並不想開門，所 以暗自慶幸自己由於時常旅行，他養成了晚上鎖住所有門的 習慣。即使回到傢裏也是這樣。
首先他要靜悄悄地不受打擾地起床，穿好衣服，最要緊 的是吃飽早飯，再考慮下一步該怎麽辦，因為他非常明白， 躺在床上瞎想一氣是想不出什麽名堂來的。他還記得過去也 許是因為睡覺姿勢不好，躺在床上時往往會覺得這兒那兒隱 隱作痛，及至起來，就知道純屬心理作用，所以他殷切地盼 望今天早晨的幻覺會逐漸消逝。他也深信，他之所以變聲音 不是因為別的而僅僅是重感冒的朕兆，這是旅行推銷員的職 業病。
要掀掉被子很容易，他衹需把身子稍稍一擡被子就自己 滑下來了。可是下一個動作就非常之睏難，特別是因為他的 身子寬得出奇。他得要有手和胳臂才能讓自己坐起來；可是 他有的衹是無數細小的腿，它們一刻不停地嚮四面八方揮動， 而他自己卻完全無法控製。他想屈起其中的一條腿，可是他 偏偏伸得筆直；等他終於讓它聽從自己的指揮時，所有別的 腿卻莫名其妙地亂動不已。“總是呆在床上有什麽意思呢。” 格裏高爾自言自語地說。
他想，先下去一定可以使自己離床，可是他還沒有 見過自己的，腦子裏根本沒有概念，不知道要移動 真是難上加難，挪動起來是那樣的遲緩；所以到最後，他煩 死了，就用盡全力魯莽地把身子一甩，不料方向算錯，重重 地撞在床腳上，一陣徹骨的痛楚使他明白，如今他身上最敏 感的地方也許正是他的。
於是他就打算先讓上身離床，他小心翼翼地把頭部一點 點挪嚮床沿。這卻毫不睏難，他的身驅雖然又寬又大，也終 於跟着頭部移動了。可是，等到頭部終於懸在床邊上，他又 害怕起來，不敢再前進了，因為，老實說，如果他就這樣讓 自己掉下去，不摔壞腦袋纔怪呢。他現在最要緊的是保持清 醒，特別是現在；他寧願繼續待在床上。
可是重複了幾遍同樣的努力以後，他深深地嘆了一口氣， 還是恢復了原來的姿勢躺着，一面瞧他那些細腿在難以置信 地更瘋狂地掙紮；格裏高爾不知道如何才能擺脫這種荒唐的 混亂處境，他就再一次告訴自己，待在床上是不行的，最最 合理的做法還是冒一切危險來實現離床這個極渺茫的希望。 可是同時他也沒有忘記提醒自己，冷靜地，極其冷靜地考慮 到最最微小的可能性還是比不顧一切地蠻幹強得多。這時節， 他竭力集中眼光望嚮窗外，可是不幸得很，早晨的濃霧把狹 街對面的房子也都裹上了，看來天氣一時不會好轉，這就使 他更加得不到鼓勵和安慰。“已經七點鐘了，”鬧鐘再度敲 響時，他對自己說，“已經七點鐘了，可是霧還這麽重。” 有片刻工夫，他靜靜地躺着，輕輕地呼吸着，仿佛這樣一養 神什麽都會恢復正常似的。
可是接着他又對自己說：“七點一刻前我無論如何非得 離開床不可。到那時一定會有人從公司裏來找我，因為不到 七點公司就開門了。”於是他開始有節奏地來回晃動自己的 整個身子，想把自己甩出床去。倘若他這樣翻下床去，可以 昂起腦袋，頭部不至於受傷。他的背似乎很硬，看來跌在地 毯上並不打緊。他最擔心的還是自己控製不了的巨大響聲， 這聲音一定會在所有的房間裏引起焦慮，即使不是恐懼。可 是，他還是得冒這個險。
當他已經半個身子探到床外的時候——這個新方法與其 說是苦事，不如說是遊戲，因為他衹需來回晃動，逐漸挪過 去就行了——他忽然想起如果有人幫忙，這件事該是多麽簡 單。兩個身強力壯的人——他想到了他的父親和那個使女— —就足夠了；他們衹需把胳臂伸到他那圓鼓鼓的背後，擡他 下床，放下他們的負擔，然後耐心地等他在地板上翻過身來 就行了，一碰到地板他的腿自然會發揮作用的。那麽，姑且 不管所有的門都是鎖着的，他是否真的應該叫人幫忙呢？ 管處境非常睏難，想到這一層，他卻禁不住透出一絲微笑。
他使勁地搖動着，身子已經探出不少，快要失去平衡了， 他非得鼓足勇氣采取决定性的步驟了，因為再過五分鐘就是 七點一刻——正在這時，前門的門鈴響了起來。“是公司裏 派什麽人來了。”他這麽想，身子就隨之而發僵，可是那些 細小的腿卻動彈得更快了。一時之間周圍一片靜默。“他們 不願開門。”格裏高爾懷着不合常情的希望自言自語道。可 是使女當然還是跟往常一樣踏着沉重的步子去開門了。格裏 高爾聽到客人的第一聲招呼就馬上知道這是誰——是秘書主 任親自出馬了。真不知自己生就什麽命，竟落到給這樣一傢 公司當差，衹要有一點小小的差錯，馬上就會招來最大的懷 疑！在這一個所有的職員全是無賴的公司裏，豈不是衹有他 一個人忠心耿耿嗎？他早晨衹占用公司兩三個小時，不是就 給良心折磨得幾乎要發瘋，真的下不了床嗎？如果確有必要 來打聽他出了什麽事，派個學徒來不也夠了嗎——難道秘書 主任非得親自出馬，以便嚮全家人，完全無辜的一傢人表示， 這個可疑的情況衹有他自己那樣的內行來調查纔行嗎？與其 說格裏高爾下了决心，倒不如說他因為想到這些事非常激動， 因而用盡全力把自己甩出了床外。砰的一聲很響，但總算沒 有響得嚇人。地毯把他墜落的聲音減弱了幾分，他的背也不 如他所想象的那麽毫無彈性，所以聲音很悶，不驚動人。 是他不夠小心，頭翹得不夠高，還是在地板上撞了一下；他 扭了扭腦袋，痛苦而忿懣地把頭挨在地板上磨蹭着。
“那裏有什麽東西掉下來了。”秘書主任在左面房間裏 說。格裏高爾試圖設想，今天他身上發生的事有一天也讓秘 書主任碰上了；誰也不敢擔保不會出這樣的事。可是仿佛給 他的設想一個粗暴的回答似的，秘書主任在隔壁的房間裏堅 定地走了幾步，他那漆皮鞋子發出了吱嘎吱嘎的聲音。從右 面的房間裏，他妹妹用耳語嚮他通報消息：“格裏高爾，秘 書主任來了。”“我知道了。”格裏高爾低聲嘟噥道；但是 沒有勇氣提高嗓門讓妹妹聽到他的聲音。
“格裏高爾，”這時候，父親在左邊房間裏說話了，“ 秘書主任來了，他要知道為什麽你沒能趕上早晨的火車。我 們也不知道怎麽跟他說。另外，他還要親自和你談話。所以， 請你開門吧。他度量大，對你房間裏的凌亂不會見怪的。” “早上好，薩姆沙先生，”與此同時，秘書主任和藹地招呼 道。“他不舒服呢，”母親對客人說，這時他父親繼續隔着 門在說話，“他不舒服，先生，相信我吧。他還能為了什麽 原因誤車呢！這孩子衹知道操心公事。他晚上從來不出去， 連我瞧着都要生氣了；這幾天來他沒有出差，可他天天晚上 都守在傢裏。他衹是安安靜靜地坐在桌子旁邊，看看報，或 是把火車時刻表翻來覆去地看。他唯一的消遣就是做木工活 兒。比如說，他花了兩三個晚上刻了一個小鏡框；您看到它 那麽漂亮一定會感到驚奇；這鏡框挂在他房間裏；再過一分 鐘等格裏高爾打開門您就會看到了。您的光臨真叫我高興， 先生；我們怎麽也沒法使他開門；他真是固執；我敢說他一 定是病了，雖然他早晨硬說沒病。”——“我馬上來了，” 格裏高爾慢吞吞地小心翼翼地說，可是卻寸步也沒有移動， 生怕漏過他們談話中的每一個字。“我也想不出有什麽別的 原因，太太，”秘書主任說，“我希望不是什麽大病。雖然 另一方面我不得不說，不知該算福氣還是晦氣，我們這些做 買賣的往往就得不把這些小毛病當作一回事，因為買賣嘛總 是要做的。”——“喂，秘書主任現在能進來了嗎？”格裏 高爾的父親不耐煩地問，又敲起門來了。“不行。”格裏高 爾回答。這聲拒絶以後，在左面房間裏是一陣令人痛苦的寂 靜；右面房間裏他妹妹啜泣起來了。
他妹妹為什麽不和別的人在一起呢？她也許是剛剛起床， 還沒有穿衣服吧。那麽，她為什麽哭呢？是因為他不起床讓 秘書主任進來嗎，是因為他有丟掉差使的危險嗎，是因為老 板又要開口嚮他的父母討還舊債嗎？這些顯然都是眼前不用 擔心的事情。格裏高爾仍舊在傢裏，絲毫沒有棄傢出走的念 頭。的確，他現在暫時還躺在地毯上，知道他的處境的人當 然不會盼望他讓秘書主任走進來。可是這點小小的失禮以後 盡可以用幾句漂亮的辭令解釋過去，格裏高爾不見得馬上就 給辭退。格裏高爾覺得，就目前來說，他們與其對他抹鼻子 流淚苦苦哀求，還不如別打擾他的好。可是，當然啦，他們 的不明情況使他們大惑不解，也說明了他們為什麽有這樣的 舉動。
“薩姆沙先生，”秘書主任現在提高了嗓門說，“您這 是怎麽回事？您這樣把自己關在房間裏，光是回答‘是’和 ‘不是’，毫無必要地引起您父母極大的憂慮，又極嚴重地 疏忽了——這我衹不過順便提一句——疏忽了公事方面的職 責。我現在以您父母和您經理的名義和您說話，我正式要求 您立刻給我一個明確的解釋。我真沒想到，我真沒想到。我 原來還認為您是個安分守己、穩妥可靠的人，可您現在卻突 然决心想讓自己丟醜。經理今天早晨還對我暗示您不露面的 原因可能是什麽——他提到了最近交給您管的現款——我還 幾乎要以自己的名譽嚮他擔保這根本不可能呢。可是現在我 纔知道您真是執拗得可以，從現在起，我絲毫也不想襢護您 了。您在公司裏的地位並不是那麽穩固的。這些話我本來想 私下裏對您說的，可是既然您這樣白白糟蹋我的時間，我就 不懂為什麽您的父母不應該聽到這些話了。近來您的工作叫 人很不滿意；當然，目前買賣並不是旺季，這我們也承認， 可是一年裏整整一個季度一點兒買賣也不做，這是不行的， 薩姆沙先生，這是完全不應該的。”
“可是，先生，”格裏高爾喊道，他控製不住了，激動 得忘記了一切，“我這會兒正要來開門。一點兒小小的不舒 服，一陣頭暈使我起不了床。我現在還躺在床上呢。不過我 已經好了。我現在正要下床。再等我一兩分鐘吧！我不像自 己所想的那樣健康。不過我已經好了，真的。這種小毛病難 道就能打垮我不成！我昨天晚上還好好兒的，這我父親母親 也可以告訴您，不，應該說我昨天晚上就感覺到了一些預兆。 我的樣子想必已經不對勁了。您要問為什麽我不嚮辦公室報 告！可是人總以為一點點不舒服一定能頂過去，用不着請假 在傢休息。哦，先生，別傷我父母的心吧！您剛纔怪罪於我 的事都是沒有根據的；從來沒有誰這樣說過我。也許您還沒 有看到我最近兜來的定單吧。至少，我還能趕上八點鐘的火 車呢，休息了這幾個鐘點我已經好多了。千萬不要因為我而 把您耽擱在這兒，先生；我馬上就會開始工作的，這有勞您 轉告經理，在他面前還得請您多替我美言幾句呢！”
格裏高爾一口氣說着，自己也搞不清楚自己說了些什麽， 也許是因為有了床上的那些鍛煉，格裏高爾沒費多大氣力就 來到櫃子旁邊，打算依靠櫃子使自己直立起來。他的確是想 開門，的確是想出去和秘書主任談話的；他很想知道，大傢 這麽堅持以後，看到了他又會說些什麽。要是他們都大吃一 驚，那麽責任就再也不在他身上，他可以得到安靜了。如果 他們完全不在意，那麽他也根本不必不安，衹要真的趕緊上 車站去搭八點鐘的車就行了。起先，他好幾次從光滑的櫃面 上滑下來，可是最後，在一使勁之後，他終於站直了；現在 他也不管疼得像火燒一般了。接着他讓自己靠嚮附近一 張椅子的背部，用他那些細小的腿抓住了椅背的邊。這使他 得以控製自己的身體，他不再說話，因為這時候他聽見秘書 主任又開口了。
“你們聽得懂哪個字嗎？”秘書主任問，“他不見得在 開我們的玩笑吧？”“哦，天哪，”他母親聲淚俱下地喊道， “也許他病害得不輕，倒是我們在折磨他呢。葛蕾特！葛蕾 特！”接着她嚷道。“什麽事，媽媽？”他妹妹打那一邊的 房間裏喊道。她們就這樣隔着格裏高爾的房間對嚷起來。“ 你得馬上去請醫生。格裏高爾病了。去請醫生，快點兒。你 沒聽見他說話的聲音嗎？”“這不是人的聲音。”秘書主任 說，跟母親的尖叫聲一比他的嗓音顯得格外低沉。“安娜！ 安娜！”他父親從客廳嚮廚房裏喊道，一面還拍着手，“馬 上去找個鎖匠來！”於是兩個姑娘奔跑得裙子颼颼響地穿過 了客廳——他妹妹怎能這麽快就穿好衣服的呢？——接着又 猛然大開了前門，沒有聽見門重新關上的聲音；她們顯然聽 任它洞開着，什麽人傢出了不幸的事情就總是這樣。
格裏高爾現在倒鎮靜多了。顯然，他發出來的聲音人傢 再也聽不懂了，雖然他自己聽來很清楚，甚至比以前更清楚， 這也許是因為他的耳朵變得能適應這種聲音了。不過至少現在 大傢相信他有什麽地方不太妙，都準備來幫助他了。這些初 步措施將帶來的積極效果使他感到安慰。他覺得自己又重新 進入人類的圈子，對大夫和鎖匠都寄於了莫大的希望，卻沒 有怎樣分清兩者之間的區別。為了使自己在即將到來的重要 談話中聲音盡可能清晰些，他稍微嗽了嗽嗓子，他當然盡量 壓低聲音，因為就連他自己聽起來，這聲音也不像人的咳嗽。 這時候，隔壁房間裏一片寂靜。也許他的父母正陪了秘書主 任坐在桌旁，在低聲商談，也許他們都靠在門上細細諦聽呢。
格裏高爾慢慢地把椅子推嚮門邊，接着便放開椅子，抓 住了門來支撐自己－－他那些細腿的腳底上倒是頗有粘性的 －－他在門上靠了一會兒，喘過一口氣來。接着他開始用嘴 巴來轉動插在鎖孔裏的鑰匙。不幸的是，他並沒有什麽牙齒 －－他得用什麽來咬住鑰匙呢？－－不過他的下顎倒好像非 常結實；靠着這下顎總算轉動了鑰匙，他準是不小心弄傷了 什麽地方，因為有一股棕色的液體從他嘴裏流出來，淌過鑰 匙，滴到地上。“你們聽，”門後的秘書主任說，“他在轉 動鑰匙了。”這對格裏高爾是個很大的鼓勵；不過他們應該 都來給他打氣，他的父親母親都應該喊：“加油，格裏高爾。 ”他們應該大聲喊道：“堅持下去，咬緊鑰匙！”他相信他 們都在全神貫註地關心自己的努力，就集中全力死命咬住鑰 匙。鑰匙需要轉動時，他便用嘴巴銜着它，自己也繞着鎖孔 轉了一圈，好把鑰匙扭過去，或者不如說，用全身的重量使 它轉動。終於屈服的鎖發出響亮的卡嗒一聲，使格裏高爾大 為高興。他深深地舒了一口氣，對自己說：“這樣一來我就 不用鎖匠了。”接着就把頭擱在門柄上，想把門整個打開。 門是嚮他自己這邊拉的，所以雖然已經打開，人傢還是 瞧不見他。他得慢慢地從對開的那半扇門後面把身子挪出來， 而且得非常小心，以免背脊直挺挺地跌倒在房間裏。他正在 睏難地挪動自己，顧不上作任何觀察，卻聽到秘書主任“哦！ ”的一聲大叫－－發出來的聲音像一股猛風－－現在他可以 看見那個人了，他站得靠近門口，一隻手遮在張大的嘴上， 慢慢地往後退去，仿佛有什麽無形的強大壓力在驅逐他似的。 格裏高爾的母親－－雖然秘書主任在場，她的頭髮仍然沒有 梳好，還是亂七八糟地竪着－－她先是雙手合掌瞧瞧他父親， 接着嚮格裏高爾走了兩步，隨即倒在地上，裙子攤了開來， 臉垂到胸前，完全看不見了。他父親握緊拳頭，一副惡狠狠 的樣子，仿佛要把格裏高爾打回到房間裏去，接着他又猶豫 不定地嚮起坐室掃了一眼，然後把雙手遮住眼睛，哭泣起來， 連他那寬闊的胸膛都在起伏不定
"What's happened to me?" he thought. It wasn't a dream. His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table - Samsa was a travelling salesman - and above it there hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer.
Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather. Drops of rain could be heard hitting the pane, which made him feel quite sad. "How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense", he thought, but that was something he was unable to do because he was used to sleeping on his right, and in his present state couldn't get into that position. However hard he threw himself onto his right, he always rolled back to where he was. He must have tried it a hundred times, shut his eyes so that he wouldn't have to look at the floundering legs, and only stopped when he began to feel a mild, dull pain there that he had never felt before.
"Oh, God", he thought, "what a strenuous career it is that I've chosen! Travelling day in and day out. Doing business like this takes much more effort than doing your own business at home, and on top of that there's the curse of travelling, worries about making train connections, bad and irregular food, contact with different people all the time so that you can never get to know anyone or become friendly with them. It can all go to Hell!" He felt a slight itch up on his belly; pushed himself slowly up on his back towards the headboard so that he could lift his head better; found where the itch was, and saw that it was covered with lots of little white spots which he didn't know what to make of; and when he tried to feel the place with one of his legs he drew it quickly back because as soon as he touched it he was overcome by a cold shudder.
He slid back into his former position. "Getting up early all the time", he thought, "it makes you stupid. You've got to get enough sleep. Other travelling salesmen live a life of luxury. For instance, whenever I go back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract, these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts. I ought to just try that with my boss; I'd get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn't have my parents to think about I'd have given in my notice a long time ago, I'd have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He'd fall right off his desk! And it's a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. Well, there's still some hope; once I've got the money together to pay off my parents' debt to him - another five or six years I suppose - that's definitely what I'll do. That's when I'll make the big change. First of all though, I've got to get up, my train leaves at five. "
And he looked over at the alarm clock, ticking on the chest of drawers. "God in Heaven!" he thought. It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards, it was even later than half past, more like quarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He could see from the bed that it had been set for four o'clock as it should have been; it certainly must have rung. Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise? True, he had not slept peacefully, but probably all the more deeply because of that. What should he do now? The next train went at seven; if he were to catch that he would have to rush like mad and the collection of samples was still not packed, and he did not at all feel particularly fresh and lively. And even if he did catch the train he would not avoid his boss's anger as the office assistant would have been there to see the five o'clock train go, he would have put in his report about Gregor's not being there a long time ago. The office assistant was the boss's man, spineless, and with no understanding. What about if he reported sick? But that would be extremely strained and suspicious as in fifteen years of service Gregor had never once yet been ill. His boss would certainly come round with the doctor from the medical insurance company, accuse his parents of having a lazy son, and accept the doctor's recommendation not to make any claim as the doctor believed that no-one was ever ill but that many were workshy. And what's more, would he have been entirely wrong in this case? Gregor did in fact, apart from excessive sleepiness after sleeping for so long, feel completely well and even felt much hungrier than usual.
He was still hurriedly thinking all this through, unable to decide to get out of the bed, when the clock struck quarter to seven. There was a cautious knock at the door near his head. "Gregor", somebody called - it was his mother - "it's quarter to seven. Didn't you want to go somewhere?" That gentle voice! Gregor was shocked when he heard his own voice answering, it could hardly be recognised as the voice he had had before. As if from deep inside him, there was a painful and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it, the words could be made out at first but then there was a sort of echo which made them unclear, leaving the hearer unsure whether he had heard properly or not. Gregor had wanted to give a full answer and explain everything, but in the circumstances contented himself with saying: "Yes, mother, yes, thank-you, I'm getting up now. " The change in Gregor's voice probably could not be noticed outside through the wooden door, as his mother was satisfied with this explanation and shuffled away. But this short conversation made the other members of the family aware that Gregor, against their expectations was still at home, and soon his father came knocking at one of the side doors, gently, but with his fist. "Gregor, Gregor", he called, "what's wrong?" And after a short while he called again with a warning deepness in his voice: "Gregor! Gregor!" At the other side door his sister came plaintively: "Gregor? Aren't you well? Do you need anything?"
Gregor answered to both sides: "I'm ready, now", making an effort to remove all the strangeness from his voice by enunciating very carefully and putting long pauses between each, individual word. His father went back to his breakfast, but his sister whispered: "Gregor, open the door, I beg of you. " Gregor, however, had no thought of opening the door, and instead congratulated himself for his cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was at home.
The first thing he wanted to do was to get up in peace without being disturbed, to get dressed, and most of all to have his breakfast. Only then would he consider what to do next, as he was well aware that he would not bring his thoughts to any sensible conclusions by lying in bed. He remembered that he had often felt a slight pain in bed, perhaps caused by lying awkwardly, but that had always turned out to be pure imagination and he wondered how his imaginings would slowly resolve themselves today. He did not have the slightest doubt that the change in his voice was nothing more than the first sign of a serious cold, which was an occupational hazard for travelling salesmen.
It was a simple matter to throw off the covers; he only had to blow himself up a little and they fell off by themselves. But it became difficult after that, especially as he was so exceptionally broad. He would have used his arms and his hands to push himself up; but instead of them he only had all those little legs continuously moving in different directions, and which he was moreover unable to control. If he wanted to bend one of them, then that was the first one that would stretch itself out; and if he finally managed to do what he wanted with that leg, all the others seemed to be set free and would move about painfully. "This is something that can't be done in bed", Gregor said to himself, "so don't keep trying to do it".
The first thing he wanted to do was get the lower part of his body out of the bed, but he had never seen this lower part, and could not imagine what it looked like; it turned out to be too hard to move; it went so slowly; and finally, almost in a frenzy, when he carelessly shoved himself forwards with all the force he could gather, he chose the wrong direction, hit hard against the lower bedpost, and learned from the burning pain he felt that the lower part of his body might well, at present, be the most sensitive.
So then he tried to get the top part of his body out of the bed first, carefully turning his head to the side. This he managed quite easily, and despite its breadth and its weight, the bulk of his body eventually followed slowly in the direction of the head. But when he had at last got his head out of the bed and into the fresh air it occurred to him that if he let himself fall it would be a miracle if his head were not injured, so he became afraid to carry on pushing himself forward the same way. And he could not knock himself out now at any price; better to stay in bed than lose consciousness.
It took just as much effort to get back to where he had been earlier, but when he lay there sighing, and was once more watching his legs as they struggled against each other even harder than before, if that was possible, he could think of no way of bringing peace and order to this chaos. He told himself once more that it was not possible for him to stay in bed and that the most sensible thing to do would be to get free of it in whatever way he could at whatever sacrifice. At the same time, though, he did not forget to remind himself that calm consideration was much better than rushing to desperate conclusions. At times like this he would direct his eyes to the window and look out as clearly as he could, but unfortunately, even the other side of the narrow street was enveloped in morning fog and the view had little confidence or cheer to offer him. "Seven o'clock, already", he said to himself when the clock struck again, "seven o'clock, and there's still a fog like this. " And he lay there quietly a while longer, breathing lightly as if he perhaps expected the total stillness to bring things back to their real and natural state.
But then he said to himself: "Before it strikes quarter past seven I'll definitely have to have got properly out of bed. And by then somebody will have come round from work to ask what's happened to me as well, as they open up at work before seven o'clock. " And so he set himself to the task of swinging the entire length of his body out of the bed all at the same time. If he succeeded in falling out of bed in this way and kept his head raised as he did so he could probably avoid injuring it. His back seemed to be quite hard, and probably nothing would happen to it falling onto the carpet. His main concern was for the loud noise he was bound to make, and which even through all the doors would probably raise concern if not alarm. But it was something that had to be risked.
When Gregor was already sticking half way out of the bed - the new method was more of a game than an effort, all he had to do was rock back and forth - it occurred to him how simple everything would be if somebody came to help him. Two strong people - he had his father and the maid in mind - would have been more than enough; they would only have to push their arms under the dome of his back, peel him away from the bed, bend down with the load and then be patient and careful as he swang over onto the floor, where, hopefully, the little legs would find a use. Should he really call for help though, even apart from the fact that all the doors were locked? Despite all the difficulty he was in, he could not suppress a smile at this thought.
After a while he had already moved so far across that it would have been hard for him to keep his balance if he rocked too hard. The time was now ten past seven and he would have to make a final decision very soon. Then there was a ring at the door of the flat. "That'll be someone from work", he said to himself, and froze very still, although his little legs only became all the more lively as they danced around. For a moment everything remained quiet. "They're not opening the door", Gregor said to himself, caught in some nonsensical hope. But then of course, the maid's firm steps went to the door as ever and opened it. Gregor only needed to hear the visitor's first words of greeting and he knew who it was - the chief clerk himself. Why did Gregor have to be the only one condemned to work for a company where they immediately became highly suspicious at the slightest shortcoming? Were all employees, every one of them, louts, was there not one of them who was faithful and devoted who would go so mad with pangs of conscience that he couldn't get out of bed if he didn't spend at least a couple of hours in the morning on company business? Was it really not enough to let one of the trainees make enquiries - assuming enquiries were even necessary - did the chief clerk have to come himself, and did they have to show the whole, innocent family that this was so suspicious that only the chief clerk could be trusted to have the wisdom to investigate it? And more because these thoughts had made him upset than through any proper decision, he swang himself with all his force out of the bed. There was a loud thump, but it wasn't really a loud noise. His fall was softened a little by the carpet, and Gregor's back was also more elastic than he had thought, which made the sound muffled and not too noticeable. He had not held his head carefully enough, though, and hit it as he fell; annoyed and in pain, he turned it and rubbed it against the carpet.
"Something's fallen down in there", said the chief clerk in the room on the left. Gregor tried to imagine whether something of the sort that had happened to him today could ever happen to the chief clerk too; you had to concede that it was possible. But as if in gruff reply to this question, the chief clerk's firm footsteps in his highly polished boots could now be heard in the adjoining room. From the room on his right, Gregor's sister whispered to him to let him know: "Gregor, the chief clerk is here. "
"Yes, I know", said Gregor to himself; but without daring to raise his voice loud enough for his sister to hear him.
"Gregor", said his father now from the room to his left, "the chief clerk has come round and wants to know why you didn't leave on the early train. We don't know what to say to him. And anyway, he wants to speak to you personally. So please open up this door. I'm sure he'll be good enough to forgive the untidiness of your room. "
Then the chief clerk called "Good morning, Mr. Samsa".
"He isn't well", said his mother to the chief clerk, while his father continued to speak through the door. "He isn't well, please believe me. Why else would Gregor have missed a train! The lad only ever thinks about the business. It nearly makes me cross the way he never goes out in the evenings; he's been in town for a week now but stayed home every evening. He sits with us in the kitchen and just reads the paper or studies train timetables. His idea of relaxation is working with his fretsaw. He's made a little frame, for instance, it only took him two or three evenings, you'll be amazed how nice it is; it's hanging up in his room; you'll see it as soon as Gregor opens the door. Anyway, I'm glad you're here; we wouldn't have been able to get Gregor to open the door by ourselves; he's so stubborn; and I'm sure he isn't well, he said this morning that he is, but he isn't. "
"I'll be there in a moment", said Gregor slowly and thoughtfully, but without moving so that he would not miss any word of the conversation. "Well I can't think of any other way of explaining it, Mrs. Samsa", said the chief clerk, "I hope it's nothing serious. But on the other hand, I must say that if we people in commerce ever become slightly unwell then, fortunately or unfortunately as you like, we simply have to overcome it because of business considerations. " "Can the chief clerk come in to see you now then?", asked his father impatiently, knocking at the door again. "No", said Gregor. In the room on his right there followed a painful silence; in the room on his left his sister began to cry.
So why did his sister not go and join the others? She had probably only just got up and had not even begun to get dressed. And why was she crying? Was it because he had not got up, and had not let the chief clerk in, because he was in danger of losing his job and if that happened his boss would once more pursue their parents with the same demands as before? There was no need to worry about things like that yet. Gregor was still there and had not the slightest intention of abandoning his family. For the time being he just lay there on the carpet, and no-one who knew the condition he was in would seriously have expected him to let the chief clerk in. It was only a minor discourtesy, and a suitable excuse could easily be found for it later on, it was not something for which Gregor could be sacked on the spot. And it seemed to Gregor much more sensible to leave him now in peace instead of disturbing him with talking at him and crying. But the others didn't know what was happening, they were worried, that would excuse their behaviour. The chief clerk now raised his voice, "Mr. Samsa", he called to him, "what is wrong? You barricade yourself in your room, give us no more than yes or no for an answer, you are causing serious and unnecessary concern to your parents and you fail - and I mention this just by the way - you fail to carry out your business duties in a way that is quite unheard of. I'm speaking here on behalf of your parents and of your employer, and really must request a clear and immediate explanation. I am astonished, quite astonished. I thought I knew you as a calm and sensible person, and now you suddenly seem to be showing off with peculiar whims. This morning, your employer did suggest a possible reason for your failure to appear, it's true - it had to do with the money that was recently entrusted to you - but I came near to giving him my word of honour that that could not be the right explanation. But now that I see your incomprehensible stubbornness I no longer feel any wish whatsoever to intercede on your behalf. And nor is your position all that secure. I had originally intended to say all this to you in private, but since you cause me to waste my time here for no good reason I don't see why your parents should not also learn of it. Your turnover has been very unsatisfactory of late; I grant you that it's not the time of year to do especially good business, we recognise that; but there simply is no time of year to do no business at all, Mr. Samsa, we cannot allow there to be. "
格裏高爾沒有接着往起坐室走去，卻靠在那半扇關緊的 門的後面，所以他衹有半個身子露在外面，還側着探在外面 的頭去看別人。這時候天更亮了，可以清清楚楚地看到街對 面一幢長得沒有盡頭的深灰色的建築－－這是一所醫院－－ 上面惹眼地開着一排排呆板的窗子；雨還在下，不過已成為 一滴滴看得清的大顆粒了。大大小小的早餐盆碟擺了一桌子， 對於格裏高爾的父親，早餐是一天裏最重要的一頓飯，他一 邊看各式各樣的報紙，一邊吃，要吃上好幾個鐘頭，在格裏 高爾正對面的墻上挂着一幅他服兵役時的照片，當時他是少 尉，他的手按在劍上，臉上挂着無憂無慮的笑容，分明要人 傢尊敬他的軍人風度和。前廳的門開着，大門也開着， 可以一直看到住宅前的院子和最下面的幾級樓梯。
“好吧，”格裏高爾說，他完全明白自己是唯一多少保 持着鎮靜的人，“我立刻穿上衣服，等包好樣品就動身，您 是否還容許我去呢？您瞧，先生，我並不是冥頑不化的人， 我很願意工作；出差是很辛苦的，但我不出差就活不下去。 您上哪兒去，先生？ 去辦公室？是嗎？ 我這些情形您能如 實地反映上去嗎？人總有暫時不能胜任工作的時候，不過這 時正需要想起他過去的成績。而且還要想到以後他又恢復了 工作能力的時候，他一定會幹得更勤懇更用心。我一心想忠 誠地為老闆做事，這您也很清楚。何況，我還要供養我的父 母和妹妹。我現在景況十分睏難，不過我會重新掙脫出來的。 請您千萬不要火上加油。在公司裏請一定幫我說幾句好話。 旅行推銷員在公司裏不討人喜歡，這我知道。大傢以為他們 賺的是大錢，過的是逍遙自在的日子。這種成見也犯不着去 糾正。可是您呢，先生，比公司裏所有的人看得都全面，是 的，讓我私下裏告訴您，您比老闆本人還全面，他是東傢， 當然可以憑自己的好惡隨便不喜歡哪個職員。您知道得最清 楚，旅行推銷員幾乎長年不在辦公室，他們自然很容易成為 閑話、怪罪和飛短流長的目標。可他自己卻幾乎完全不知道， 所以防不勝防。直待他精疲力竭地轉完一個圈子回到傢裏， 這纔親身體驗到連原因都無法找尋的惡果落到了自己身上。 先生，先生，您不能不說我一句好話就走啊，請表明您覺得 我至少還有幾分是對的呀！”
可是格裏高爾纔說頭幾個字，秘書主任就已經踉蹌倒退， 衹是張着嘴唇，側過顫抖的肩膀直勾勾地瞪着他。格裏高爾 說話時，他片刻也沒有站定，卻偷偷地嚮門口踅去，眼睛始 終盯緊了格裏高爾，衹是每次衹移動一寸，仿佛存在某項不 準離開房間的禁令一般。好不容易退入了前廳，他最後一步 跨出起坐室時動作好猛，真像是他的腳跟剛給火燒着了。他 一到前廳就伸出右手嚮樓梯跑去，好似那邊有什麽神秘的救 星在等待他。
格裏高爾明白，如果要保住他在公司裏的職位，不想砸 掉飯碗，那就决不能讓秘書主任抱着這樣的心情回去。他的 父母對這一點不太瞭然；多年以來，他們已經深信格裏高爾 在這傢公司裏要待上一輩子的，再說，他們的心裏已經完全 放在當前的不幸事件上，根本無法考慮將來的事。可是格裏 高爾卻考慮到了。一定得留住秘書信任，安慰他，勸告他， 最後還要說服他；格裏高爾和他一傢人的前途全係在這上面 呢！衹要妹妹在場就好了！她很聰明；當格裏高爾還安靜地 仰在床上的時候她就已經哭了。總是那麽偏襢女性的秘書主 任一定會乖乖地聽她的話；她會關上大門，在前廳裏把他說 得不再懼怕。可是她偏偏不在。格裏高爾衹得自己來應付當 前的局面。他沒有想到自己的身體究竟有什麽活動能力，也 沒有想一想他的話人傢仍舊很可能聽不懂，而且簡直根本聽 不懂，就放開了那扇門，擠過門口，邁步嚮秘書主任走去， 而後者正可笑地用兩衹手抱住樓梯的欄桿；格裏高爾剛要摸 索可以支撐的東西，忽然輕輕喊了一聲，身子趴了下來，他 那許多衹腿着了地。還沒等全部落地，他的身子已經獲得了 安穩的感覺，從早晨以來，這還是第一次；他腳底下現在是 結結實實的地板了；他高興地註意到，他的腿完全聽衆指揮； 它們甚至努力地把他朝他心裏所想的任何方向帶去；他簡直 要相信，他所有的痛苦總解脫的時候終於快來了。可是就在 這一剎那間，當他搖搖擺擺一心想動彈的時候，當他離開母 親不遠，躺在她對面地板上的時候，本來似乎已經完全癱瘓 的母親，這時卻霍地跳了起來，伸直兩臂，張開了所有的手 指，喊道：“救命啊，老天爺，救命啊！”一面又低下頭來， 仿佛想把格裏高爾看得更清楚些，同時又偏偏身不由已地一 直往後退，根本沒顧到她後面有張擺滿了食物的桌子；她撞 上桌子，又糊裏糊塗倏地坐了上去，似乎全然沒有註意她旁 邊那把大咖啡壺已經打翻，咖啡也汩汩地流到了地毯上。
“媽媽，媽媽。”格裏高爾低聲地說道，擡起頭來看着 她。這時候已經完全把秘書主任撇在腦後；他的嘴卻忍不住 咂巴起來，因為他看到了淌出來的咖啡。這使他母親再一次 尖叫起來。她從桌子旁邊逃開，倒在急忙來扶她的父親的懷 抱裏。可是格裏高爾現在顧不得他的父母；秘書主任已經在 走下樓梯了，他的下巴探在欄桿上扭過頭來最後回顧了一眼。 格裏高爾急走幾步，想盡可能追上他；可是秘書主任一定是 看出了他的意圖，因為他往下蹦了幾級，隨即消失了；可是 還在不斷地叫嚷“噢！”回聲傳遍了整個樓梯。不幸得很， 秘書主任的逃走仿佛使一直比較鎮定的父親也慌亂萬分，因 為他非但自己不去追趕那人，或者至少別去阻攔格裏高爾去 追逐，反而右手操起秘書主任連同帽子和大衣一起留在一張 椅子上的手杖，左手從桌子上抓起一張大報紙，一面頓腳， 一面揮動手杖和報紙，要把格裏高爾趕回到房間裏去。格裏 高爾的請求全然無效，事實上別人根本不理解；不管他怎樣 謙恭地低下頭去，他父親反而把腳頓得更響。另一邊，他母 親不顧天氣寒冷，打開了一扇窗子，雙手掩住臉，盡量把身 子往外探。一陣勁風從街上颳到樓梯，窗簾掀了起來，桌上 的報紙吹得拍達拍達亂響，有幾張吹落在地板上。格裏高爾 的父親無情地把他往後趕，一面噓噓叫着，簡直像個野人。 可是格裏高爾還不熟悉怎麽往後退，所以走得很慢。如果有 機會掉過頭，他能很快回進房間的，但是他怕轉身的遲緩會 使他父親更加生氣，他父親手中的手杖隨時會照準他的背上 或頭上給以狠狠的一擊的，到後來，他竟不知怎麽辦纔好， 因為他絶望地註意到，倒退着走連方向都掌握不了；因此， 他一面始終不安地側過頭瞅着父親，一面開始掉轉身子，他 想盡量快些，事實上卻非常迂緩。也許父親發現了他的良好 意圖，因此並不干涉他，衹是在他挪動時遠遠地用手杖尖撥 撥他。衹要父親不再發出那種無法忍受的噓噓聲就好了。這 簡直要使格裏高爾發狂。他已經完全轉過去了，衹是因為給 噓聲弄得心煩意亂，甚至轉得過了頭。最後他總算對準了門 口，可是他的身體又偏巧寬得過不去。但是在目前精神狀態 下的父親，當然不會想到去打開另外半扇門好讓格裏高爾得 以通過。他父親腦子裏衹有一件事，盡快把格裏高爾趕回房 間。讓格裏高爾直立起來，側身進入房間，就要做許多麻煩 的準備，父親是絶不會答應的。他現在發出的聲音更加響亮， 他拼命催促格裏高爾往前走，好像他前面沒有什麽障礙似的； 格裏高爾聽到他後面響着的聲音不再像是父親一個人的了； 現在更不是鬧着玩的了，所以格裏高爾不顧一切狠命嚮門口 擠去。他身子的一邊拱了起來，傾斜地卡在門口，腰部擠傷 了，在潔白的門上留下了可憎的斑點，不一會兒他就給夾住 了，不管怎麽掙紮，還是絲毫動彈不得，他一邊的腿在空中 顫抖地舞動，另一邊的腿卻在地上給壓得十分疼痛－－這時， 他父親從後面使勁地推了他一把，實際上這倒是支援，使他 一直跌進了房間中央，汩汩地流着血。在他後面，門砰的一 聲用手杖關上了，屋子裏終於恢復了寂靜。
"Did you understand a word of all that?" the chief clerk asked his parents, "surely he's not trying to make fools of us". "Oh, God!" called his mother, who was already in tears, "he could be seriously ill and we're making him suffer. Grete! Grete!" she then cried. "Mother?" his sister called from the other side. They communicated across Gregor's room. "You'll have to go for the doctor straight away. Gregor is ill. Quick, get the doctor. Did you hear the way Gregor spoke just now?" "That was the voice of an animal", said the chief clerk, with a calmness that was in contrast with his mother's screams. "Anna! Anna!" his father called into the kitchen through the entrance hall, clapping his hands, "get a locksmith here, now!" And the two girls, their skirts swishing, immediately ran out through the hall, wrenching open the front door of the flat as they went. How had his sister managed to get dressed so quickly? There was no sound of the door banging shut again; they must have left it open; people often do in homes where something awful has happened.
Gregor, in contrast, had become much calmer. So they couldn't understand his words any more, although they seemed clear enough to him, clearer than before - perhaps his ears had become used to the sound. They had realised, though, that there was something wrong with him, and were ready to help. The first response to his situation had been confident and wise, and that made him feel better. He felt that he had been drawn back in among people, and from the doctor and the locksmith he expected great and surprising achievements - although he did not really distinguish one from the other. Whatever was said next would be crucial, so, in order to make his voice as clear as possible, he coughed a little, but taking care to do this not too loudly as even this might well sound different from the way that a human coughs and he was no longer sure he could judge this for himself. Meanwhile, it had become very quiet in the next room. Perhaps his parents were sat at the table whispering with the chief clerk, or perhaps they were all pressed against the door and listening.
Gregor slowly pushed his way over to the door with the chair. Once there he let go of it and threw himself onto the door, holding himself upright against it using the adhesive on the tips of his legs. He rested there a little while to recover from the effort involved and then set himself to the task of turning the key in the lock with his mouth. He seemed, unfortunately, to have no proper teeth - how was he, then, to grasp the key? - but the lack of teeth was, of course, made up for with a very strong jaw; using the jaw, he really was able to start the key turning, ignoring the fact that he must have been causing some kind of damage as a brown fluid came from his mouth, flowed over the key and dripped onto the floor.
"Listen", said the chief clerk in the next room, "he's turning the key. " Gregor was greatly encouraged by this; but they all should have been calling to him, his father and his mother too: "Well done, Gregor", they should have cried, "keep at it, keep hold of the lock!" And with the idea that they were all excitedly following his efforts, he bit on the key with all his strength, paying no attention to the pain he was causing himself. As the key turned round he turned around the lock with it, only holding himself upright with his mouth, and hung onto the key or pushed it down again with the whole weight of his body as needed. The clear sound of the lock as it snapped back was Gregor's sign that he could break his concentration, and as he regained his breath he said to himself: "So, I didn't need the locksmith after all". Then he lay his head on the handle of the door to open it completely.
Because he had to open the door in this way, it was already wide open before he could be seen. He had first to slowly turn himself around one of the double doors, and he had to do it very carefully if he did not want to fall flat on his back before entering the room. He was still occupied with this difficult movement, unable to pay attention to anything else, when he heard the chief clerk exclaim a loud "Oh!", which sounded like the soughing of the wind. Now he also saw him - he was the nearest to the door - his hand pressed against his open mouth and slowly retreating as if driven by a steady and invisible force. Gregor's mother, her hair still dishevelled from bed despite the chief clerk's being there, looked at his father. Then she unfolded her arms, took two steps forward towards Gregor and sank down onto the floor into her skirts that spread themselves out around her as her head disappeared down onto her breast. His father looked hostile, and clenched his fists as if wanting to knock Gregor back into his room. Then he looked uncertainly round the living room, covered his eyes with his hands and wept so that his powerful chest shook.
So Gregor did not go into the room, but leant against the inside of the other door which was still held bolted in place. In this way only half of his body could be seen, along with his head above it which he leant over to one side as he peered out at the others. Meanwhile the day had become much lighter; part of the endless, grey-black building on the other side of the street - which was a hospital - could be seen quite clearly with the austere and regular line of windows piercing its facade; the rain was still falling, now throwing down large, individual droplets which hit the ground one at a time. The washing up from breakfast lay on the table; there was so much of it because, for Gregor's father, breakfast was the most important meal of the day and he would stretch it out for several hours as he sat reading a number of different newspapers. On the wall exactly opposite there was photograph of Gregor when he was a lieutenant in the army, his sword in his hand and a carefree smile on his face as he called forth respect for his uniform and bearing. The door to the entrance hall was open and as the front door of the flat was also open he could see onto the landing and the stairs where they began their way down below.
"Now, then", said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one to have kept calm, "I'll get dressed straight away now, pack up my samples and set off. Will you please just let me leave? You can see", he said to the chief clerk, "that I'm not stubborn and like I like to do my job; being a commercial traveller is arduous but without travelling I couldn't earn my living. So where are you going, in to the office? Yes? Will you report everything accurately, then? It's quite possible for someone to be temporarily unable to work, but that's just the right time to remember what's been achieved in the past and consider that later on, once the difficulty has been removed, he will certainly work with all the more diligence and concentration. You're well aware that I'm seriously in debt to our employer as well as having to look after my parents and my sister, so that I'm trapped in a difficult situation, but I will work my way out of it again. Please don't make things any harder for me than they are already, and don't take sides against me at the office. I know that nobody likes the travellers. They think we earn an enormous wage as well as having a soft time of it. That's just prejudice but they have no particular reason to think better it. But you, sir, you have a better overview than the rest of the staff, in fact, if I can say this in confidence, a better overview than the boss himself - it's very easy for a businessman like him to make mistakes about his employees and judge them more harshly than he should. And you're also well aware that we travellers spend almost the whole year away from the office, so that we can very easily fall victim to gossip and chance and groundless complaints, and it's almost impossible to defend yourself from that sort of thing, we don't usually even hear about them, or if at all it's when we arrive back home exhausted from a trip, and that's when we feel the harmful effects of what's been going on without even knowing what caused them. Please, don't go away, at least first say something to show that you grant that I'm at least partly right!"
But the chief clerk had turned away as soon as Gregor had started to speak, and, with protruding lips, only stared back at him over his trembling shoulders as he left. He did not keep still for a moment while Gregor was speaking, but moved steadily towards the door without taking his eyes off him. He moved very gradually, as if there had been some secret prohibition on leaving the room. It was only when he had reached the entrance hall that he made a sudden movement, drew his foot from the living room, and rushed forward in a panic. In the hall, he stretched his right hand far out towards the stairway as if out there, there were some supernatural force waiting to save him.
Gregor realised that it was out of the question to let the chief clerk go away in this mood if his position in the firm was not to be put into extreme danger. That was something his parents did not understand very well; over the years, they had become convinced that this job would provide for Gregor for his entire life, and besides, they had so much to worry about at present that they had lost sight of any thought for the future. Gregor, though, did think about the future. The chief clerk had to be held back, calmed down, convinced and finally won over; the future of Gregor and his family depended on it! If only his sister were here! She was clever; she was already in tears while Gregor was still lying peacefully on his back. And the chief clerk was a lover of women, surely she could persuade him; she would close the front door in the entrance hall and talk him out of his shocked state. But his sister was not there, Gregor would have to do the job himself.
And without considering that he still was not familiar with how well he could move about in his present state, or that his speech still might not - or probably would not - be understood, he let go of the door; pushed himself through the opening; tried to reach the chief clerk on the landing who, ridiculously, was holding on to the banister with both hands; but Gregor fell immediately over and, with a little scream as he sought something to hold onto, landed on his numerous little legs. Hardly had that happened than, for the first time that day, he began to feel alright with his body; the little legs had the solid ground under them; to his pleasure, they did exactly as he told them; they were even making the effort to carry him where he wanted to go; and he was soon believing that all his sorrows would soon be finally at an end. He held back the urge to move but swayed from side to side as he crouched there on the floor. His mother was not far away in front of him and seemed, at first, quite engrossed in herself, but then she suddenly jumped up with her arms outstretched and her fingers spread shouting: "Help, for pity's sake, Help!" The way she held her head suggested she wanted to see Gregor better, but the unthinking way she was hurrying backwards showed that she did not; she had forgotten that the table was behind her with all the breakfast things on it; when she reached the table she sat quickly down on it without knowing what she was doing; without even seeming to notice that the coffee pot had been knocked over and a gush of coffee was pouring down onto the carpet.
"Mother, mother", said Gregor gently, looking up at her. He had completely forgotten the chief clerk for the moment, but could not help himself snapping in the air with his jaws at the sight of the flow of coffee. That set his mother screaming anew, she fled from the table and into the arms of his father as he rushed towards her. Gregor, though, had no time to spare for his parents now; the chief clerk had already reached the stairs; with his chin on the banister, he looked back for the last time. Gregor made a run for him; he wanted to be sure of reaching him; the chief clerk must have expected something, as he leapt down several steps at once and disappeared; his shouts resounding all around the staircase. The flight of the chief clerk seemed, unfortunately, to put Gregor's father into a panic as well. Until then he had been relatively self controlled, but now, instead of running after the chief clerk himself, or at least not impeding Gregor as he ran after him, Gregor's father seized the chief clerk's stick in his right hand (the chief clerk had left it behind on a chair, along with his hat and overcoat), picked up a large newspaper from the table with his left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his room, stamping his foot at him as he went. Gregor's appeals to his father were of no help, his appeals were simply not understood, however much he humbly turned his head his father merely stamped his foot all the harder.
Across the room, despite the chilly weather, Gregor's mother had pulled open a window, leant far out of it and pressed her hands to her face. A strong draught of air flew in from the street towards the stairway, the curtains flew up, the newspapers on the table fluttered and some of them were blown onto the floor. Nothing would stop Gregor's father as he drove him back, making hissing noises at him like a wild man. Gregor had never had any practice in moving backwards and was only able to go very slowly. If Gregor had only been allowed to turn round he would have been back in his room straight away, but he was afraid that if he took the time to do that his father would become impatient, and there was the threat of a lethal blow to his back or head from the stick in his father's hand any moment. Eventually, though, Gregor realised that he had no choice as he saw, to his disgust, that he was quite incapable of going backwards in a straight line; so he began, as quickly as possible and with frequent anxious glances at his father, to turn himself round. It went very slowly, but perhaps his father was able to see his good intentions as he did nothing to hinder him, in fact now and then he used the tip of his stick to give directions from a distance as to which way to turn.
If only his father would stop that unbearable hissing! It was making Gregor quite confused. When he had nearly finished turning round, still listening to that hissing, he made a mistake and turned himself back a little the way he had just come. He was pleased when he finally had his head in front of the doorway, but then saw that it was too narrow, and his body was too broad to get through it without further difficulty. In his present mood, it obviously did not occur to his father to open the other of the double doors so that Gregor would have enough space to get through. He was merely fixed on the idea that Gregor should be got back into his room as quickly as possible. Nor would he ever have allowed Gregor the time to get himself upright as preparation for getting through the doorway. What he did, making more noise than ever, was to drive Gregor forwards all the harder as if there had been nothing in the way; it sounded to Gregor as if there was now more than one father behind him; it was not a pleasant experience, and Gregor pushed himself into the doorway without regard for what might happen. One side of his body lifted itself, he lay at an angle in the doorway, one flank scraped on the white door and was painfully injured, leaving vile brown flecks on it, soon he was stuck fast and would not have been able to move at all by himself, the little legs along one side hung quivering in the air while those on the other side were pressed painfully against the ground. Then his father gave him a hefty shove from behind which released him from where he was held and sent him flying, and heavily bleeding, deep into his room. The door was slammed shut with the stick, then, finally, all was quiet.
“好吧，”格裏高爾說，他完全明白自己是唯一多少保 持着鎮靜的人，“我立刻穿上衣服，等包好樣品就動身，您 是否還容許我去呢？您瞧，先生，我並不是冥頑不化的人， 我很願意工作；出差是很辛苦的，但我不出差就活不下去。 您上哪兒去，先生？ 去辦公室？是嗎？ 我這些情形您能如 實地反映上去嗎？人總有暫時不能胜任工作的時候，不過這 時正需要想起他過去的成績。而且還要想到以後他又恢復了 工作能力的時候，他一定會幹得更勤懇更用心。我一心想忠 誠地為老闆做事，這您也很清楚。何況，我還要供養我的父 母和妹妹。我現在景況十分睏難，不過我會重新掙脫出來的。 請您千萬不要火上加油。在公司裏請一定幫我說幾句好話。 旅行推銷員在公司裏不討人喜歡，這我知道。大傢以為他們 賺的是大錢，過的是逍遙自在的日子。這種成見也犯不着去 糾正。可是您呢，先生，比公司裏所有的人看得都全面，是 的，讓我私下裏告訴您，您比老闆本人還全面，他是東傢， 當然可以憑自己的好惡隨便不喜歡哪個職員。您知道得最清 楚，旅行推銷員幾乎長年不在辦公室，他們自然很容易成為 閑話、怪罪和飛短流長的目標。可他自己卻幾乎完全不知道， 所以防不勝防。直待他精疲力竭地轉完一個圈子回到傢裏， 這纔親身體驗到連原因都無法找尋的惡果落到了自己身上。 先生，先生，您不能不說我一句好話就走啊，請表明您覺得 我至少還有幾分是對的呀！”
可是格裏高爾纔說頭幾個字，秘書主任就已經踉蹌倒退， 衹是張着嘴唇，側過顫抖的肩膀直勾勾地瞪着他。格裏高爾 說話時，他片刻也沒有站定，卻偷偷地嚮門口踅去，眼睛始 終盯緊了格裏高爾，衹是每次衹移動一寸，仿佛存在某項不 準離開房間的禁令一般。好不容易退入了前廳，他最後一步 跨出起坐室時動作好猛，真像是他的腳跟剛給火燒着了。他 一到前廳就伸出右手嚮樓梯跑去，好似那邊有什麽神秘的救 星在等待他。
格裏高爾明白，如果要保住他在公司裏的職位，不想砸 掉飯碗，那就决不能讓秘書主任抱着這樣的心情回去。他的 父母對這一點不太瞭然；多年以來，他們已經深信格裏高爾 在這傢公司裏要待上一輩子的，再說，他們的心裏已經完全 放在當前的不幸事件上，根本無法考慮將來的事。可是格裏 高爾卻考慮到了。一定得留住秘書信任，安慰他，勸告他， 最後還要說服他；格裏高爾和他一傢人的前途全係在這上面 呢！衹要妹妹在場就好了！她很聰明；當格裏高爾還安靜地 仰在床上的時候她就已經哭了。總是那麽偏襢女性的秘書主 任一定會乖乖地聽她的話；她會關上大門，在前廳裏把他說 得不再懼怕。可是她偏偏不在。格裏高爾衹得自己來應付當 前的局面。他沒有想到自己的身體究竟有什麽活動能力，也 沒有想一想他的話人傢仍舊很可能聽不懂，而且簡直根本聽 不懂，就放開了那扇門，擠過門口，邁步嚮秘書主任走去， 而後者正可笑地用兩衹手抱住樓梯的欄桿；格裏高爾剛要摸 索可以支撐的東西，忽然輕輕喊了一聲，身子趴了下來，他 那許多衹腿着了地。還沒等全部落地，他的身子已經獲得了 安穩的感覺，從早晨以來，這還是第一次；他腳底下現在是 結結實實的地板了；他高興地註意到，他的腿完全聽衆指揮； 它們甚至努力地把他朝他心裏所想的任何方向帶去；他簡直 要相信，他所有的痛苦總解脫的時候終於快來了。可是就在 這一剎那間，當他搖搖擺擺一心想動彈的時候，當他離開母 親不遠，躺在她對面地板上的時候，本來似乎已經完全癱瘓 的母親，這時卻霍地跳了起來，伸直兩臂，張開了所有的手 指，喊道：“救命啊，老天爺，救命啊！”一面又低下頭來， 仿佛想把格裏高爾看得更清楚些，同時又偏偏身不由已地一 直往後退，根本沒顧到她後面有張擺滿了食物的桌子；她撞 上桌子，又糊裏糊塗倏地坐了上去，似乎全然沒有註意她旁 邊那把大咖啡壺已經打翻，咖啡也汩汩地流到了地毯上。
“媽媽，媽媽。”格裏高爾低聲地說道，擡起頭來看着 她。這時候已經完全把秘書主任撇在腦後；他的嘴卻忍不住 咂巴起來，因為他看到了淌出來的咖啡。這使他母親再一次 尖叫起來。她從桌子旁邊逃開，倒在急忙來扶她的父親的懷 抱裏。可是格裏高爾現在顧不得他的父母；秘書主任已經在 走下樓梯了，他的下巴探在欄桿上扭過頭來最後回顧了一眼。 格裏高爾急走幾步，想盡可能追上他；可是秘書主任一定是 看出了他的意圖，因為他往下蹦了幾級，隨即消失了；可是 還在不斷地叫嚷“噢！”回聲傳遍了整個樓梯。不幸得很， 秘書主任的逃走仿佛使一直比較鎮定的父親也慌亂萬分，因 為他非但自己不去追趕那人，或者至少別去阻攔格裏高爾去 追逐，反而右手操起秘書主任連同帽子和大衣一起留在一張 椅子上的手杖，左手從桌子上抓起一張大報紙，一面頓腳， 一面揮動手杖和報紙，要把格裏高爾趕回到房間裏去。格裏 高爾的請求全然無效，事實上別人根本不理解；不管他怎樣 謙恭地低下頭去，他父親反而把腳頓得更響。另一邊，他母 親不顧天氣寒冷，打開了一扇窗子，雙手掩住臉，盡量把身 子往外探。一陣勁風從街上颳到樓梯，窗簾掀了起來，桌上 的報紙吹得拍達拍達亂響，有幾張吹落在地板上。格裏高爾 的父親無情地把他往後趕，一面噓噓叫着，簡直像個野人。 可是格裏高爾還不熟悉怎麽往後退，所以走得很慢。如果有 機會掉過頭，他能很快回進房間的，但是他怕轉身的遲緩會 使他父親更加生氣，他父親手中的手杖隨時會照準他的背上 或頭上給以狠狠的一擊的，到後來，他竟不知怎麽辦纔好， 因為他絶望地註意到，倒退着走連方向都掌握不了；因此， 他一面始終不安地側過頭瞅着父親，一面開始掉轉身子，他 想盡量快些，事實上卻非常迂緩。也許父親發現了他的良好 意圖，因此並不干涉他，衹是在他挪動時遠遠地用手杖尖撥 撥他。衹要父親不再發出那種無法忍受的噓噓聲就好了。這 簡直要使格裏高爾發狂。他已經完全轉過去了，衹是因為給 噓聲弄得心煩意亂，甚至轉得過了頭。最後他總算對準了門 口，可是他的身體又偏巧寬得過不去。但是在目前精神狀態 下的父親，當然不會想到去打開另外半扇門好讓格裏高爾得 以通過。他父親腦子裏衹有一件事，盡快把格裏高爾趕回房 間。讓格裏高爾直立起來，側身進入房間，就要做許多麻煩 的準備，父親是絶不會答應的。他現在發出的聲音更加響亮， 他拼命催促格裏高爾往前走，好像他前面沒有什麽障礙似的； 格裏高爾聽到他後面響着的聲音不再像是父親一個人的了； 現在更不是鬧着玩的了，所以格裏高爾不顧一切狠命嚮門口 擠去。他身子的一邊拱了起來，傾斜地卡在門口，腰部擠傷 了，在潔白的門上留下了可憎的斑點，不一會兒他就給夾住 了，不管怎麽掙紮，還是絲毫動彈不得，他一邊的腿在空中 顫抖地舞動，另一邊的腿卻在地上給壓得十分疼痛－－這時， 他父親從後面使勁地推了他一把，實際上這倒是支援，使他 一直跌進了房間中央，汩汩地流着血。在他後面，門砰的一 聲用手杖關上了，屋子裏終於恢復了寂靜。
"Did you understand a word of all that?" the chief clerk asked his parents, "surely he's not trying to make fools of us". "Oh, God!" called his mother, who was already in tears, "he could be seriously ill and we're making him suffer. Grete! Grete!" she then cried. "Mother?" his sister called from the other side. They communicated across Gregor's room. "You'll have to go for the doctor straight away. Gregor is ill. Quick, get the doctor. Did you hear the way Gregor spoke just now?" "That was the voice of an animal", said the chief clerk, with a calmness that was in contrast with his mother's screams. "Anna! Anna!" his father called into the kitchen through the entrance hall, clapping his hands, "get a locksmith here, now!" And the two girls, their skirts swishing, immediately ran out through the hall, wrenching open the front door of the flat as they went. How had his sister managed to get dressed so quickly? There was no sound of the door banging shut again; they must have left it open; people often do in homes where something awful has happened.
Gregor, in contrast, had become much calmer. So they couldn't understand his words any more, although they seemed clear enough to him, clearer than before - perhaps his ears had become used to the sound. They had realised, though, that there was something wrong with him, and were ready to help. The first response to his situation had been confident and wise, and that made him feel better. He felt that he had been drawn back in among people, and from the doctor and the locksmith he expected great and surprising achievements - although he did not really distinguish one from the other. Whatever was said next would be crucial, so, in order to make his voice as clear as possible, he coughed a little, but taking care to do this not too loudly as even this might well sound different from the way that a human coughs and he was no longer sure he could judge this for himself. Meanwhile, it had become very quiet in the next room. Perhaps his parents were sat at the table whispering with the chief clerk, or perhaps they were all pressed against the door and listening.
Gregor slowly pushed his way over to the door with the chair. Once there he let go of it and threw himself onto the door, holding himself upright against it using the adhesive on the tips of his legs. He rested there a little while to recover from the effort involved and then set himself to the task of turning the key in the lock with his mouth. He seemed, unfortunately, to have no proper teeth - how was he, then, to grasp the key? - but the lack of teeth was, of course, made up for with a very strong jaw; using the jaw, he really was able to start the key turning, ignoring the fact that he must have been causing some kind of damage as a brown fluid came from his mouth, flowed over the key and dripped onto the floor.
"Listen", said the chief clerk in the next room, "he's turning the key. " Gregor was greatly encouraged by this; but they all should have been calling to him, his father and his mother too: "Well done, Gregor", they should have cried, "keep at it, keep hold of the lock!" And with the idea that they were all excitedly following his efforts, he bit on the key with all his strength, paying no attention to the pain he was causing himself. As the key turned round he turned around the lock with it, only holding himself upright with his mouth, and hung onto the key or pushed it down again with the whole weight of his body as needed. The clear sound of the lock as it snapped back was Gregor's sign that he could break his concentration, and as he regained his breath he said to himself: "So, I didn't need the locksmith after all". Then he lay his head on the handle of the door to open it completely.
Because he had to open the door in this way, it was already wide open before he could be seen. He had first to slowly turn himself around one of the double doors, and he had to do it very carefully if he did not want to fall flat on his back before entering the room. He was still occupied with this difficult movement, unable to pay attention to anything else, when he heard the chief clerk exclaim a loud "Oh!", which sounded like the soughing of the wind. Now he also saw him - he was the nearest to the door - his hand pressed against his open mouth and slowly retreating as if driven by a steady and invisible force. Gregor's mother, her hair still dishevelled from bed despite the chief clerk's being there, looked at his father. Then she unfolded her arms, took two steps forward towards Gregor and sank down onto the floor into her skirts that spread themselves out around her as her head disappeared down onto her breast. His father looked hostile, and clenched his fists as if wanting to knock Gregor back into his room. Then he looked uncertainly round the living room, covered his eyes with his hands and wept so that his powerful chest shook.
So Gregor did not go into the room, but leant against the inside of the other door which was still held bolted in place. In this way only half of his body could be seen, along with his head above it which he leant over to one side as he peered out at the others. Meanwhile the day had become much lighter; part of the endless, grey-black building on the other side of the street - which was a hospital - could be seen quite clearly with the austere and regular line of windows piercing its facade; the rain was still falling, now throwing down large, individual droplets which hit the ground one at a time. The washing up from breakfast lay on the table; there was so much of it because, for Gregor's father, breakfast was the most important meal of the day and he would stretch it out for several hours as he sat reading a number of different newspapers. On the wall exactly opposite there was photograph of Gregor when he was a lieutenant in the army, his sword in his hand and a carefree smile on his face as he called forth respect for his uniform and bearing. The door to the entrance hall was open and as the front door of the flat was also open he could see onto the landing and the stairs where they began their way down below.
"Now, then", said Gregor, well aware that he was the only one to have kept calm, "I'll get dressed straight away now, pack up my samples and set off. Will you please just let me leave? You can see", he said to the chief clerk, "that I'm not stubborn and like I like to do my job; being a commercial traveller is arduous but without travelling I couldn't earn my living. So where are you going, in to the office? Yes? Will you report everything accurately, then? It's quite possible for someone to be temporarily unable to work, but that's just the right time to remember what's been achieved in the past and consider that later on, once the difficulty has been removed, he will certainly work with all the more diligence and concentration. You're well aware that I'm seriously in debt to our employer as well as having to look after my parents and my sister, so that I'm trapped in a difficult situation, but I will work my way out of it again. Please don't make things any harder for me than they are already, and don't take sides against me at the office. I know that nobody likes the travellers. They think we earn an enormous wage as well as having a soft time of it. That's just prejudice but they have no particular reason to think better it. But you, sir, you have a better overview than the rest of the staff, in fact, if I can say this in confidence, a better overview than the boss himself - it's very easy for a businessman like him to make mistakes about his employees and judge them more harshly than he should. And you're also well aware that we travellers spend almost the whole year away from the office, so that we can very easily fall victim to gossip and chance and groundless complaints, and it's almost impossible to defend yourself from that sort of thing, we don't usually even hear about them, or if at all it's when we arrive back home exhausted from a trip, and that's when we feel the harmful effects of what's been going on without even knowing what caused them. Please, don't go away, at least first say something to show that you grant that I'm at least partly right!"
But the chief clerk had turned away as soon as Gregor had started to speak, and, with protruding lips, only stared back at him over his trembling shoulders as he left. He did not keep still for a moment while Gregor was speaking, but moved steadily towards the door without taking his eyes off him. He moved very gradually, as if there had been some secret prohibition on leaving the room. It was only when he had reached the entrance hall that he made a sudden movement, drew his foot from the living room, and rushed forward in a panic. In the hall, he stretched his right hand far out towards the stairway as if out there, there were some supernatural force waiting to save him.
Gregor realised that it was out of the question to let the chief clerk go away in this mood if his position in the firm was not to be put into extreme danger. That was something his parents did not understand very well; over the years, they had become convinced that this job would provide for Gregor for his entire life, and besides, they had so much to worry about at present that they had lost sight of any thought for the future. Gregor, though, did think about the future. The chief clerk had to be held back, calmed down, convinced and finally won over; the future of Gregor and his family depended on it! If only his sister were here! She was clever; she was already in tears while Gregor was still lying peacefully on his back. And the chief clerk was a lover of women, surely she could persuade him; she would close the front door in the entrance hall and talk him out of his shocked state. But his sister was not there, Gregor would have to do the job himself.
And without considering that he still was not familiar with how well he could move about in his present state, or that his speech still might not - or probably would not - be understood, he let go of the door; pushed himself through the opening; tried to reach the chief clerk on the landing who, ridiculously, was holding on to the banister with both hands; but Gregor fell immediately over and, with a little scream as he sought something to hold onto, landed on his numerous little legs. Hardly had that happened than, for the first time that day, he began to feel alright with his body; the little legs had the solid ground under them; to his pleasure, they did exactly as he told them; they were even making the effort to carry him where he wanted to go; and he was soon believing that all his sorrows would soon be finally at an end. He held back the urge to move but swayed from side to side as he crouched there on the floor. His mother was not far away in front of him and seemed, at first, quite engrossed in herself, but then she suddenly jumped up with her arms outstretched and her fingers spread shouting: "Help, for pity's sake, Help!" The way she held her head suggested she wanted to see Gregor better, but the unthinking way she was hurrying backwards showed that she did not; she had forgotten that the table was behind her with all the breakfast things on it; when she reached the table she sat quickly down on it without knowing what she was doing; without even seeming to notice that the coffee pot had been knocked over and a gush of coffee was pouring down onto the carpet.
"Mother, mother", said Gregor gently, looking up at her. He had completely forgotten the chief clerk for the moment, but could not help himself snapping in the air with his jaws at the sight of the flow of coffee. That set his mother screaming anew, she fled from the table and into the arms of his father as he rushed towards her. Gregor, though, had no time to spare for his parents now; the chief clerk had already reached the stairs; with his chin on the banister, he looked back for the last time. Gregor made a run for him; he wanted to be sure of reaching him; the chief clerk must have expected something, as he leapt down several steps at once and disappeared; his shouts resounding all around the staircase. The flight of the chief clerk seemed, unfortunately, to put Gregor's father into a panic as well. Until then he had been relatively self controlled, but now, instead of running after the chief clerk himself, or at least not impeding Gregor as he ran after him, Gregor's father seized the chief clerk's stick in his right hand (the chief clerk had left it behind on a chair, along with his hat and overcoat), picked up a large newspaper from the table with his left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his room, stamping his foot at him as he went. Gregor's appeals to his father were of no help, his appeals were simply not understood, however much he humbly turned his head his father merely stamped his foot all the harder.
Across the room, despite the chilly weather, Gregor's mother had pulled open a window, leant far out of it and pressed her hands to her face. A strong draught of air flew in from the street towards the stairway, the curtains flew up, the newspapers on the table fluttered and some of them were blown onto the floor. Nothing would stop Gregor's father as he drove him back, making hissing noises at him like a wild man. Gregor had never had any practice in moving backwards and was only able to go very slowly. If Gregor had only been allowed to turn round he would have been back in his room straight away, but he was afraid that if he took the time to do that his father would become impatient, and there was the threat of a lethal blow to his back or head from the stick in his father's hand any moment. Eventually, though, Gregor realised that he had no choice as he saw, to his disgust, that he was quite incapable of going backwards in a straight line; so he began, as quickly as possible and with frequent anxious glances at his father, to turn himself round. It went very slowly, but perhaps his father was able to see his good intentions as he did nothing to hinder him, in fact now and then he used the tip of his stick to give directions from a distance as to which way to turn.
If only his father would stop that unbearable hissing! It was making Gregor quite confused. When he had nearly finished turning round, still listening to that hissing, he made a mistake and turned himself back a little the way he had just come. He was pleased when he finally had his head in front of the doorway, but then saw that it was too narrow, and his body was too broad to get through it without further difficulty. In his present mood, it obviously did not occur to his father to open the other of the double doors so that Gregor would have enough space to get through. He was merely fixed on the idea that Gregor should be got back into his room as quickly as possible. Nor would he ever have allowed Gregor the time to get himself upright as preparation for getting through the doorway. What he did, making more noise than ever, was to drive Gregor forwards all the harder as if there had been nothing in the way; it sounded to Gregor as if there was now more than one father behind him; it was not a pleasant experience, and Gregor pushed himself into the doorway without regard for what might happen. One side of his body lifted itself, he lay at an angle in the doorway, one flank scraped on the white door and was painfully injured, leaving vile brown flecks on it, soon he was stuck fast and would not have been able to move at all by himself, the little legs along one side hung quivering in the air while those on the other side were pressed painfully against the ground. Then his father gave him a hefty shove from behind which released him from where he was held and sent him flying, and heavily bleeding, deep into his room. The door was slammed shut with the stick, then, finally, all was quiet.