everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document but changing it is not allowed preamble the licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it by contrast the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software to make sure the software is free for all its users this general public license applies to most of the free software foundation software and to any other program whose authors commit to using it some other free software foundation software is covered by the gnu lesser general public license instead you can apply it to your programs too when we speak of free software we are referring to freedom not price our general public licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software and charge for this service if you wish that you receive source code or can get it if you want it that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs and that you know you can do these things to protect your rights we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights these restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you distribute copies of the software or if you modify it for example if you distribute copies of such program whether gratis or for fee you must give the recipients all the rights that you have you must make sure that they too receive or can get the source code and you must show them these terms so they know their rights we protect your rights with two steps copyright the software and offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy distribute and or modify the software also for each author protection and ours we want to make certain that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free software if the software is modified by someone else and passed on we want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original authors reputations finally any free program is threatened constantly by software patents we wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of free program will individually obtain patent licenses in effect making the program proprietary to prevent this we have made it clear that any patent must be licensed for everyone free use or not licensed at all the precise terms and conditions for copying distribution and modification follow terms and conditions for copying distribution and modification this license applies to any program or other work which contains notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed under the terms of this general public license the program below refers to any such program or work and work based on the program means either the program or any derivative work under copyright law that is to say work containing the program or portion of it either verbatim or with modifications and or translated into another language hereinafter translation is included without limitation in the term modification each licensee is addressed as you activities other than copying distribution and modification are not covered by this license they are outside its scope the act of running the program is not restricted and the output from the program is covered only if its contents constitute work based on the program independent of having been made by running the program whether that is true depends on what the program does you may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the program source code as you receive it in any medium provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty keep intact all the notices that refer to this license and to the absence of any warranty and give any other recipients of the program copy of this license along with the program you may charge 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saying that you provide warranty and that users may redistribute the program under these conditions and telling the user how to view copy of this license exception if the program itself is interactive but does not normally print such an announcement your work based on the program is not required to print an announcement these requirements apply to the modified work as whole if identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the program and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves then this license and its terms do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works but when you distribute the same sections as part of whole which is work based on the program the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this license whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it thus it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest your rights to 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license therefore by modifying or distributing the program or any work based on the program you indicate your acceptance of this license to do so and all its terms and conditions for copying distributing or modifying the program or works based on it each time you redistribute the program or any work based on the program the recipient automatically receives license from the original licensor to copy distribute or modify the program subject to these terms and conditions you may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients exercise of the rights granted herein you are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to this license if as consequence of court judgment or allegation of patent infringement or for any other reason not limited to patent issues conditions are imposed on you whether by court order agreement or otherwise that contradict the conditions of this license they do not excuse you from the conditions of this license if you cannot distribute so as to 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because the program is licensed free of charge there is no warranty for the program to the extent permitted by applicable law except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and or other parties provide the program as is without warranty of any kind either expressed or implied including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose the entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you should the program prove defective you assume the cost of all necessary servicing repair or correction in no event unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing will any copyright holder or any other party who may modify and or redistribute the program as permitted above be liable to you for damages including any general special incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by you or third parties or failure of the program to operate with any other programs even if such holder or other party has been advised of the possibility of such damages end of terms and conditions how to apply these terms to your new programs if you develop new program and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms to do so attach the following notices to the program it is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty and each file should have at least the copyright line and pointer to where the full notice is found one line to give the program name and an idea of what it does copyright yyyy name of author this program is free software you can redistribute it and or modify it under the terms of the gnu general public license as published by the free software foundation either version of the license or at your option any later version this program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful but without any warranty without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for particular purpose see the gnu general public license for more details you should have received copy of the gnu general public license along with this program if not see also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail if the program is interactive make it output short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode gnomovision version copyright year name of author gnomovision comes with absolutely no warranty for details type show this is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions type show for details the hypothetical commands show and show should show the appropriate parts of the general public license of course the commands you use may be called something other than show and show they could even be mouse clicks or menu items whatever suits your program you should also get your employer if you work as programmer or your school if any to sign copyright disclaimer for the program if necessary here is sample alter the names everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document but changing it is not allowed preamble the gnu general public license is free copyleft license for software and other kinds of works the licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works by contrast the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of program to make sure it remains free software for all its users we the free software foundation use the gnu general public license for most of our software it applies also to any other work released this way by its authors you can apply it to your programs too when we speak of free software we are referring to freedom not price our general public licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software and charge for them if you wish that you receive source code or can get it if you want it that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs and that you know you can do these things to protect your rights we need to prevent others from denying you these rights or asking you to surrender the rights therefore you have certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the software or if you modify it responsibilities to respect the freedom of others for example if you distribute copies of such program whether gratis or for fee you must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you received you must make sure that they too receive or can get the source code and you must show them these terms so they know their rights developers that use the gnu gpl protect your rights with two steps assert copyright on the software and 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time to time such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns each version is given distinguishing version number if the program specifies that certain numbered version of the gnu general public license or any later version applies to it you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that numbered version or of any later version published by the free software foundation if the program does not specify version number of the gnu general public license you may choose any version ever published by the free software foundation if the program specifies that proxy can decide which future versions of the gnu general public license can be used that proxy public statement of acceptance of version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the program later license versions may give you additional or different permissions however no additional obligations are imposed on any author or 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it starts in an interactive mode program copyright year name of author this program comes with absolutely no warranty for details type show this is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions type show for details the hypothetical commands show and show should show the appropriate parts of the general public license of course your program commands might be different for gui interface you would use an about box conor mcgregor will run for the irish presidency in elections later this year the controversial former fighter said on thursday as he announced his candidacy for the largely ceremonial role on an anti immigration stance mcgregor who in recent years has emerged as figurehead for the far right in ireland said on social media that he would run for president to oppose long awaited new european union migration pact aimed at sharing the burden of processing asylum claims more evenly across the bloc who else will stand up to government and oppose this bill he said in an instagram post to his more than million followers any other presidential candidate they attempt to put forward will be of no resistance to them will the post comes just days after mcgregor appeared at the white house with donald trump on st patrick day where he became the latest european ally of the us president to promote anti immigrant sentiment drawing controversy and censure back home ireland is at the cusp of potentially losing its irishness mcgregor said monday claiming the government had abandoned the voices of irish people and that rural towns were being overrun by immigrants irish leader micheál martin said mcgregor comments did not reflect the spirit of st patrick day or the views of the people of ireland once the face of the ultimate fighting championship dublin born mcgregor was the first fighter to hold two ufc belts simultaneously and according to forbes was the world highest paid sports star in despite several rumored comebacks he hasn fought in the ufc since back to back defeats four years ago and has become hugely controversial figure in ireland dogged by accusations of sexual assault which he has denied in january civil lawsuit woman accused mcgregor of sexual battery during the nba finals in miami the incident was investigated by police at the time and the miami dade state attorney declined to press charges against him mcgregor said the allegations were false last fall civil jury in dublin awarded nearly euros in damages to woman who claimed mcgregor had brutally raped and battered her in hotel in dublin in mcgregor testified that the two had consensual sex and vowed to appeal the verdict in recent years mcgregor has also turned his attention to sparring with people on social media political analysts and far right experts have told cnn that mcgregor unique brand of irish patriotism that won him supporters as fighter has mutated into strand of far right irish nationalism as far back as mcgregor had expressed support for people protesting against immigration some irish politicians have accused him of fanning the flames of discontent online voicing his anger at ireland immigration policy particularly sensitive issue given the country long history of emigration ireland country of just over million people saw immigrants arrive in the year leading up to april the highest figure in years with some attracted by its strong economic performance according to the central statistics office ireland but for many ordinary workers the benefits are failing to reach their pockets and they are struggling to afford high housing prices and rents ireland next presidential election must take place by november in his instagram post thursday mcgregor said he would put the eu migration bill to referendum if elected although oppose greatly this pact it is neither mine nor government choice to make it is the people of ireland choice always he wrote this is the future of ireland with me as president but mcgregor faces an uphill task to get his name on the ballot as few irish lawmakers share his vehement anti immigrant views and many publicly criticized him after the civil case last november presidential candidates must be nominated by at least of the members of the lower and upper houses of parliament or by four of ireland local councils according to the country electoral commission the government of israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu has voted to dismiss ronen bar the chief of israel shin bet internal security service the vote in the early hours of friday local time could still be subject to appeals by israel supreme court the government has now unanimously approved prime minister benjamin netanyahu proposal to terminate the term of shin bet head ronen bar the prime minister office said in statement friday ronen bar will end his role as shin bet head on april or when permanent shin bet head is appointed whichever comes first it added it came after netanyahu met with bar last week and informed him that he would propose his removal in video statement released on sunday netanyahu said his ongoing distrust of bar had led to the move at all times but especially in such an existential war the prime minister must have full confidence in the head of the shin bet netanyahu said netanyahu added that removing bar would be necessary for achieving israel war goals in gaza and preventing the next disaster the prime minister has frequently criticized the agency placing blame on its leaders for the security lapses that led to the hamas october attacks that killed more than people shin bet which is in charge of monitoring domestic threats to israel conducted an internal investigation that determined that the agency had failed in its mission to prevent the attacks but it also blamed policies enacted by netanyahu government as contributing factors such as politicians visits to the al aqsa compound in jerusalem the treatment of prisoners and the perception that israeli society has been weakened due to the damage to social cohesion an israeli official told cnn on thursday that the government had lost all confidence in ronen bar who continues to cling to his seat while cynically using the families of the hostages and politically improperly using his position to fabricate futile unfounded investigations shin bet is reported to have recently opened an investigation into allegations that members of netanyahu office inappropriately lobbied on behalf of qatar something his office denies on wednesday the office of attorney general gali baharav miara sent letter to netanyahu saying that the government could not fire bar without the approval of special committee netanyahu responded with letter on thursday saying baharav miara was exceeding her authority and giving legal opinions and instructions to the government in violation of supreme court rulings bar released statement just hours before his dismissal saying the vote by netanyahu cabinet was hastily convened contrary to every basic legal rule dealing with the right to be heard and contrary to the position of the legal adviser to the government netanyahu has previously removed both bar and the head of the mossad intelligence service david barnea from the negotiating team engaging in indirect talks with hamas regarding the gaza ceasefire and hostage deal opposition politicians have criticized netanyahu targeting of bar claiming it is politically motivated the dismissal of the head of the service at this time at the initiative of the prime minister sends message to all those involved message that may jeopardize the optimal outcome of the investigation this is direct danger to the security of the state of israel bar said in his statement thursday significance our understanding of life on exoplanets and exomoons must be based on what we know about life on earth liquid water is the common ecological requirement for earth life temperature on an exoplanet is the first parameter to consider both because of its influence on liquid water and because it can be directly estimated from orbital and climate models of exoplanetary systems life needs some water but deserts show that even little can be enough only small amount of light from the central star is required to provide for photosynthesis some nitrogen must be present for life and the presence of oxygen would be good indicator of photosynthesis and possibly complex life abstract the requirements for life on earth its elemental composition and its environmental limits provide way to assess the habitability of exoplanets temperature is key both because of its influence on liquid water and because it can be directly estimated from orbital and climate models of exoplanetary systems life can grow and reproduce at temperatures as low as and as high as studies of life in extreme deserts show that on dry world even small amount of rain fog snow and even atmospheric humidity can be adequate for photosynthetic production producing small but detectable microbial community life is able to use light at levels less than of the solar flux at earth uv or ionizing radiation can be tolerated by many microorganisms at very high levels and is unlikely to be life limiting on an exoplanet biologically available nitrogen may limit habitability levels of over few percent on an exoplanet would be consistent with the presence of multicellular organisms and high levels of on earth like worlds indicate oxygenic photosynthesis other factors such as ph and salinity are likely to vary and not limit life over an entire planet or moon the list of exoplanets is increasing rapidly with diversity of masses orbital distances and star types the long list motivates us to consider which of these worlds could support life and what type of life could live there the only approach to answering these questions is based on observations of life on earth compared with astronomical targets life on earth is easily studied and our knowledge of it is extensive but it is not complete the most important area in which we lack knowledge about life on earth is its origin we have no consensus theory for the origin of life nor do we know the timing or location what we do know about life on earth is what it is made of and we know its ecological requirements and limits thus it is not surprising that most of the discussions related to life on exoplanets focus on the requirements for life rather than its origin in this paper we follow this same approach but later return briefly to the question of the origin of life limits to life there are two somewhat different approaches to the question of the limits of life the first approach is to determine the requirements for life the second approach is to determine the extreme environments in which adapted organisms often referred to as extremophiles can survive both perspectives are relevant to the question of life on exoplanets it is useful to categorize the requirements for life on earth as four items energy carbon liquid water and various other elements these are listed in table along with the occurrence of these factors in the solar system in our solar system it is the occurrence of liquid water that appears to limit the occurrence of habitable environments and this appears to be the case for exoplanetary systems as well from basic thermodynamic considerations it is clear that life requires source of energy to power metabolism and growth life on earth uses only one energy source that associated with the transfer of electrons by chemical reactions of reduction and oxidation for example methane producing microbes use the reaction of co with to produce ch photosynthetic organisms use light absorbing protein such as chlorophyll bacteriochlorophylls and bacteriorhodopsin to convert photon energy to the energy of an electron which then completes redox reaction the electrons from the redox reaction are used to create an electrochemical gradient across cell membranes this occurs in the mitochondria in of most eukaryotes and in the cell membrane of prokaryotic cells it has recently been shown that electrons provided directly as electrical current can also drive microbial metabolism although life can detect and generate other energy sources including magnetic kinetic gravitational thermal gradient and electrostatic none of these is used for metabolic energy carbon has the dominant role as the backbone molecule of biochemistry for earth life and is widespread in the solar system however the abundance of carbon may not be useful indication of the habitability of an exoplanet this is illustrated in fig which shows that the earth is significantly depleted in carbon compared with the outer solar system the vast majority of the carbon on earth is stored in sedimentary rocks within the crust however because light carbon containing molecules are volatile co co and ch adequate carbon is present at the surface of the earth as well as mars and venus leading candidates for the status of required elements table adapted from davies and koch lists the distribution of elements in the cosmos and on the earth and compares these with the common elements in life represented by humans and the bacterium escherichia coli if liquid water and biologically available nitrogen are present then phosphorous potassium sodium sulfur and calcium might come next on requirements list as these are the next most abundant elements in bacteria however there is no definitive list and any list would depend on the organism considered for example habitability for methanogens requires high nickel levels in strict sense habitability can only be confirmed by showing inhabitation no list is conclusive of these secondary elements is probably the one most likely to be in question on an exoplanet as is discussed below sulfur and phosphorous and virtually all of the rest of the elements listed by davies and koch as used in life have major refractory phases at the temperatures of liquid water and should be available if water and rock interact the second approach to the requirements for life is that based on the abilities of extremophiles in range of environmental factors table lists the limits of life under extreme conditions our understanding of the requirements for life listed in table has not changed for many years in contrast the limits of life listed in table have changed in several significant ways over the past few decades if one compares list of the limits of life from few decades ago with table the most notable change is in the high temperature limit this has been raised from to there has been considerable discussion on the limits of life and their application to the search for life on other worlds and it has been realized that the limits vary when organisms face multiple extreme conditions at the same time whereas the limits of life have changed in some ways over the past few decades there has been more radical change in our appreciation of where microbial ecosystems can be found notable examples of the discovery of unexpected microbial ecosystems include endolithic microorganisms in the antarctic cold desert hot deep sea vents cool deep sea vents deep in basalt deep below the subsurface and in an ice covered antarctic lake that has been sealed for thousands of years several aspects of these recently discovered ecosystems are worth comment first the organisms found are not alien and map in expected areas of the tree of life second with the exception of the high temperature vents the organisms do not greatly extend the limits of life derived from more mundane and accessible ecosystems third the organisms themselves do not find these unusual environments extreme and typically are well adapted to the conditions under which they live and fourth the organisms in these environments do not in general control the physical environment temperature and pressure with their own metabolic activity but rather live in locations where the local physical conditions are suitable even when these environments are nestled within larger inhospitable areas the lesson to be learned from these discoveries is that microbial life is extremely adept at locating places to live and we have not been adept at anticipating how small environments can be habitable in otherwise barren locations microbial life is more clever than we are this is factor that should inform our consideration of habitability of exoplanets strategy for exoplanets given the general requirements for life table the elemental composition of life table and the environmental limits for life table we can consider how to assess the habitability of the environment on an exoplanet it may seem logical to focus on primary production because without that there cannot be an ecosystem however it is possible that photochemical processes in an exoplanet atmosphere play the role of primary production as has been suggested for titan many of the limits to life in table such as ph and salinity are unlikely to be extreme over an entire world as on earth they would shape the distribution of life on world but not its possible occurrence and are therefore not considered further the key parameters that could be extreme over an entire world and the order in which they may limit any life on an exoplanet are listed in he most important parameter for earth like life is the presence of liquid water which directly depends on pressure and temperature temperature is key both because of its influence on liquid water and because it can be directly estimated from orbital and climate models of exoplanetary systems we can consider the cold and hot limits temperature cold limit many organisms can grow and reproduce at temperatures well below the freezing point of pure water because their intracellular material contains salts and other solutes that lower the freezing point of the solution recently mykytczuk et al reported an isolate from arctic permafrost that grows and divides at the lowest temperature demonstrated to date and is metabolically active at in frozen soils thin films of water at the interface between ice and soil grains augmented by any solutes provide adequate water for life at these low temperatures the snow algae chlamydomonas nivalis thrives in liquid water associated with snow coloring it red but the algae are the beneficiaries of external processes that melt the snow microbial activity can generate sufficient heat in permafrost soils and landfills and composts such that it is major contributor to melting but there is no known occurrence of an organism using metabolic energy coupled directly through enzymes to overcome the latent heat of fusion of ice thereby liquefying it temperature hot limit many of the exoplanets discovered to date have high surface temperatures and hence the high temperature limit of life is of particular interest takai et al showed growth survival and methane production by methanogen at where the high pressure mpa atmospheres stabilized the liquid water at higher pressure water can be liquid at even higher temperatures however as water is heated and maintained as liquid under pressure the dielectric constant and the polarity of the liquid decreases sharply thus significantly changing its characteristics as solvent and its interaction with dissolved biomolecules in particular lipids but also proteins and nucleic acids at the dielectric constant is about half of the room temperature value it is likely that the destabilization of lipid bilayers as they become soluble in the lower dielectric constant water is what sets the high temperature limit on life it is therefore perhaps not surprising that the organisms that can survive the highest temperatures are archaea as their membrane lipids are held together with ether bonds which are chemically more resistant than ester bonds which are used in the membranes of nonarchaea denaturing of proteins with temperature appears also to play role hot water in contact with rocks can be efficient in generating or recycling redox couples this has been suggested for the interior of enceladus such ecosystems provide compelling example of possible life below the ocean of an exoplanet or exomoon and can even be productive enough to support multicellular life in the presence of an rich environment fig shows crab at the lost city hydrothermal vent water dry limit on worlds where the temperature is within the range discussed above life may be limited by the availability of water mars is an example of this thus the dry limit of life is of interest in dry environments phototrophs seek shelter and water retained in and below rocks fig shows photosynthetic cyanobacteria and lichens from several dry deserts fig shows endolithic cyanobacteria which live just below the surface of halite rocks in the dry core of the atacama desert the water to support their growth comes from absorption of atmospheric moisture by the deliquescence of the salt fig shows the green biofilm of cyanobacteria that live beneath translucent rocks in many deserts surviving on as little as few days of rain or fog each year the example shown is from an unusual carbonate rock from the mojave desert that is clear inside but covered with red coating fig shows lichen forming green and black layer inside sandstone from the dry valleys of antarctica which obtain water from melting of occasional snow these examples show that small amount of rain fog or snow and even atmospheric humidity can be adequate for photosynthetic production producing small but detectable microbial community photosynthesis in dry environments in the driest environments on earth photosynthesis occurs inside and under rocks green layer of cyanobacteria living just below the surface of halite rocks in the dry core of the atacama desert inverted samples of red coated carbonate translucent rocks from the mojave desert showing green biofilm of cyanobacteria that live beneath the rock lichen forming green and black layer inside sandstone from the dry valleys of antarctica scale bar in all images cm images and are courtesy of wierzchos mckay and friedmann respectively energy energy for life can come from chemical redox couples generated by geothermal processes or light from the central star geothermal flux can arise from the planet cooling off from its gravitational heat of formation ii decay of long lived radioactive elements or iii tidal heating for close orbiting world or moon note that on earth only tiny fraction of the geothermal heat is converted into chemical energy whereas about half the solar flux occurs at wavelengths that are usable for photosynthesis this is expected as the free energy available in heat flow is much less than that available in low entropy photons the example of earth indicates that biosphere can have effects on global scale and hence be detectable over interstellar distances only when it is powered by light life based on geothermally derived chemical energy would by dint of energy restrictions always remain small and globally insignificant life is able to use light at very low levels littler et al reported on growth of red macroalgae on deep seamounts at light levels of mol raven et al have reviewed the minimum light levels for photosynthesis and also concluded that mol is needed or of the direct solar flux at earth mol even at the orbit of pluto light levels exceed this value by factor of it has been suggested that exoplanets around stars common star type which radiates more in the infrared compared with the sun could support photosynthesis using three or four photon mechanism photon instead of the two photon system used in plants on earth uv and radiation complex life forms such as humans are sensitive to radiation but the dose that can be tolerated by many microorganisms is astonishingly high given natural levels of radiation in the environment table lists the tolerances and acute dose survival for deinococcus radiodurans well studied soil heterotroph with high radiation tolerance it has been suggested that the high radiation tolerance of radiodurans is due to adaptation to dehydration stress desert cyanobacteria of the genus chroococcidiopsis shown in their characteristic hypolithic growth form in fig are extremely resistant to desiccation ionizing radiation and uv an exoplanet would not require magnetic field to be habitable any plausible field would not deflect galactic cosmic rays because these particles are much too energetic these particles are primarily stopped by the mass of the atmosphere or surface materials the column mass earth atmosphere is equivalent to kg cm the earth magnetic field does deflect solar protons channeling these particles to the polar regions creating the aurora however even without the magnetic field these particles would not penetrate the earth atmosphere and would not reach the surface earth occasionally loses its strong dipole field during field reversals these events are not correlated with extinctions in the fossil record nitrogen life requires source of nitrogen after carbon nitrogen is arguably the most important element needed for life experiments have shown that aerobic microorganisms require minimum of atmospheres for fixation variety of energetic processes such as aurorae lightning and volcanoes can convert to nitrate even in co atmospheres in the reducing conditions of the outer solar system is present as ammonia which is also biologically usable the biological availability of nitrogen in an important factor in the assignment of habitability for mars multicellular life on earth generally relies on oxygen metabolism and the rise of multicellular life over earth history tracked the rise of oxygen there are interesting exceptions to the connection between oxygen and multicellular life and the link to may be in need of further scrutiny nonetheless levels of over few percent on an exoplanet would be consistent with and possibly indicative of the presence of multicellular organisms owen suggested that and would be suitable targets for spectroscopy in the search for evidence of life on exoplanets and exomoons it is generally agreed that high levels of on earth like worlds indicate photosynthesis origin of life discussions of life on an exoplanet should logically begin with consideration of the possible origin of life on that world however our understanding of the origin of life is speculative and so we can only assume that planets that have diversity of habitable environments are also generative of life as shown in fig it is useful to divide theories for the origin of life on earth into two main categories depending on whether life originated independently on world or was carried to that world from somewhere else the latter category is usually called panspermia and versions that involve both natural and directed panspermia have been considered there are possible panspermia schemes that are relevant to exoplanets napier has proposed that life could be carried on dust between stars see also ref and others have suggested rocks could travel between star systems if such dust grains or rocks were incorporated into the preplanetary nebula then every planet and moon that formed would be infected with life theories for the origin of life that propose that life on earth began on earth are labeled as terrestrial in fig and could apply to suitable exoplanets as well key question for life on exoplanets is how long the habitable conditions liquid water must persist for life to begin the fossil record on earth provides only broad constraints on how long it took for life to start on this planet simulations of the formation of earth suggest that habitable conditions were present no sooner than billion ago the earliest indication of possible life is present in the carbon isotope record at billion ago and convincing evidence of life is present at billion ago thus the origin of life occurred within million after the formation of earth this is only an upper limit however and the process may have been much faster in review of this question lazcano and miller suggested that in spite of the many uncertainties involved in the estimates of time for life to arise and evolve to cyanobacteria we see no compelling reason to assume that this process from the beginning of the primitive soup to cyanobacteria took more than million years however orgel criticized this conclusion and stated that we do not understand the steps that lead to life consequently we cannot estimate the time required attempts to circumvent this essential difficulty are based on misunderstandings of the nature of the problem thus until new data are obtained the problem of origin of life remains unsolvable titan life in the previous sections the considerations of life on exoplanets have centered on earth like life requiring liquid water this is certainly reasonable starting point in the search for life however it may be that liquids other than water are also suitable media for carbon based life forms benner et al first suggested that the liquid hydrocarbons on titan could be the basis for life playing the role that water does for life on earth those researchers concluded that in many senses hydrocarbon solvents are better than water for managing complex organic chemical reactivity there is also suitable redox energy available for life organic molecules on the surface of titan such as acetylene ethane and solid organics would release energy if they reacted with hydrogen present in the atmosphere forming methane acetylene yields the most energy however all these reactions are kinetically inhibited and thus could be used by biology if suitable catalysts were evolved based on this mckay and smith predicted that sign of life on titan like world would be depletion of hydrogen acetylene and ethane lunine suggested that titan like worlds and moons might be more common in the galaxy than earth like worlds gilliam and mckay showed how titan like worlds orbiting type stars could maintain liquid methane and ethane surface reservoirs titan is an example moon that is of interest with respect to astrobiology in our solar system europa and enceladus are similarly of interest indeed enceladus seems to have all of the requirements for habitability it has long been recognized that moons of giant planets may be warmed by tidal heating from the primary planet and receive sufficient light from central star to power photosynthesis this provides model for possible habitable moons orbiting giant exoplanets conclusion as the number of known exoplanets and exomoons expands we will certainly find worlds that resemble the earth to varying extent based on our understanding of life on earth we can present checklist for speculating on the possibilities of life on these distant worlds is the temperature between and and total pressure high enough to keep water liquid water stable atmospheres ii if the world is arid are there at last few days per year of rain fog snow or rh iii are there adequate light or geothermal energy sources light determined by distance from the star geothermal energy estimated by bulk density iv are the uv and ionizing radiation below the very high limits of microbial tolerance is there biologically available source of nitrogen vi if is present at over atmospheres there could be complex life and the presence of is convincing indicator of photosynthetic life on earth like worlds significance the composition of the biosphere is fundamental question in biology yet global quantitative account of the biomass of each taxon is still lacking we assemble census of the biomass of all kingdoms of life this analysis provides holistic view of the composition of the biosphere and allows us to observe broad patterns over taxonomic categories geographic locations and trophic modes abstract census of the biomass on earth is key for understanding the structure and dynamics of the biosphere however global quantitative view of how the biomass of different taxa compare with one another is still lacking here we assemble the overall biomass composition of the biosphere establishing census of the gigatons of carbon gt of biomass distributed among all of the kingdoms of life we find that the kingdoms of life concentrate at different locations on the planet plants gt the dominant kingdom are primarily terrestrial whereas animals gt are mainly marine and bacteria gt and archaea gt are predominantly located in deep subsurface environments we show that terrestrial biomass is about two orders of magnitude higher than marine biomass and estimate total of gt of marine biota doubling the previous estimated quantity our analysis reveals that the global marine biomass pyramid contains more consumers than producers thus increasing the scope of previous observations on inverse food pyramids finally we highlight that the mass of humans is an order of magnitude higher than that of all wild mammals combined and report the historical impact of humanity on the global biomass of prominent taxa including mammals fish and plants sign up for pnas alerts get alerts for new articles or get an alert when an article is cited one of the most fundamental efforts in biology is to describe the composition of the living world centuries of research have yielded an increasingly detailed picture of the species that inhabit our planet and their respective roles in global ecosystems in describing complex system like the biosphere it is critical to quantify the abundance of individual components of the system species broader taxonomic groups quantitative description of the distribution of biomass is essential for taking stock of biosequestered carbon and modeling global biogeochemical cycles as well as for understanding the historical effects and future impacts of human activities earlier efforts to estimate global biomass have mostly focused on plants in parallel dominant role for prokaryotic biomass has been advocated in landmark paper by whitman et al entitled prokaryotes the unseen majority new sampling and detection techniques make it possible to revisit this claim likewise for other taxa such as fish recent global sampling campaigns have resulted in updated estimates often differing by an order of magnitude or more from previous estimates for groups such as arthropods global estimates are still lacking all of the above efforts are each focused on single taxon we are aware of only two attempts at comprehensive accounting of all biomass components on earth whittaker and likens made remarkable effort in the early noting even then that their study was intended for early obsolescence it did not include for example bacterial or fungal biomass the other attempt by smil was included as subsection of book intended for broad readership his work details characteristic values for the biomass of various taxa in many environments finally wikipedia serves as highly effective platform for making accessible range of estimates on various taxa https en wikipedia org wiki biomass ecology global biomass but currently falls short of comprehensive or integrated view in the past decade several major technological and scientific advances have facilitated an improved quantitative account of the biomass on earth next generation sequencing has enabled more detailed and cultivation independent view of the composition of natural communities based on the relative abundance of genomes better remote sensing tools enable us to probe the environment on global scale with unprecedented resolution and specificity the tara oceans expedition is among recent efforts at global sampling that are expanding our view and coverage continental counterpart efforts such as the national ecological observatory network in north america add more finely resolved continent specific details affording us more robust descriptions of natural habitats here we either assemble or generate estimates of the biomass for each of the major taxonomic groups that contribute to the global biomass distribution our analysis described in detail in si appendix is based on hundreds of studies including recent studies that have overturned earlier estimates for many taxa fish subsurface prokaryotes marine eukaryotes soil fauna results the biomass distribution of the biosphere by kingdom in fig and table we report our best estimates for the biomass of each taxon analyzed we use biomass as measure of abundance which allows us to compare taxa whose members are of very different sizes biomass is also useful metric for quantifying stocks of elements sequestered in living organisms we report biomass using the mass of carbon as this measure is independent of water content and has been used extensively in the literature alternative measures for biomass such as dry weight are discussed in materials and methods for ease of discussion we report biomass in gigatons of carbon with gt of carbon we supply additional estimates for the number of individuals of different taxa in whereas groups like insects dominate in terms of species richness with about million described species their relative biomass fraction is miniscule some species contribute much more than entire families or even classes for example the antarctic krill species euphausia superba contributes gt to global biomass similar to other prominent species such as humans or cows this value is comparable to the contribution from termites which contain many species and far surpasses the biomass of entire vertebrate classes such as birds in this way the picture that arises from taking biomass perspective of the biosphere complements the focus on species richness that is commonly held si appendix fig the uncertainty associated with global biomass estimates the specific methods used for each taxon are highly diverse and are given in detail in the si appendix along with data sources global biomass estimates vary in the amount of information they are based on and consequently in their uncertainty an estimate of relatively high certainty is that of plants which is based on several independent sources one of these is the forest resource assessment survey on the state of world forests conducted by the international food and agriculture organization fao the assessment is based on collection of country reports that detail the area and biomass density of forests in each country using standardized format and methodology the fao also keeps record of nonforest ecosystems such as savannas and shrublands in each country alternatively remote sensing data give high coverage of measurements that indicate plant biomass remote sensing is used to measure for example the height of trees or the number of tree stems per unit area biomass is inferred by field measurements establishing connection between tree plant biomass and satellite based remote sensing measurements combining data from independent sources such as these enables robust assessment of the total plant biomass more characteristic case with larger uncertainties is exemplified by marine prokaryotes where cell concentrations are measured in various locations and binned based on depth for each depth range the average cell concentration is calculated and the total number of marine prokaryotes is estimated through multiplication by the water volume in each depth range the total number of cells is converted to biomass by using the characteristic carbon content per marine prokaryote in cases where there are fewer measurements terrestrial arthropods terrestrial protists the possibility of systematic biases in the estimate is greater and the uncertainty larger to test the robustness of our estimates we used independent approaches and analyzed the agreement between such independent estimates details on the specific methodologies used for each taxon are provided in the si appendix because most datasets used to estimate global biomass rely on fragmentary sampling we project large uncertainties that will be reduced as additional data become available the impact of humanity on the biosphere over the relatively short span of human history major innovations such as the domestication of livestock adoption of an agricultural lifestyle and the industrial revolution have increased the human population dramatically and have had radical ecological effects today the biomass of humans gt si appendix table and the biomass of livestock gt dominated by cattle and pigs si appendix table far surpass that of wild mammals which has mass of gt si appendix table this is also true for wild and domesticated birds for which the biomass of domesticated poultry gt dominated by chickens is about threefold higher than that of wild birds gt si appendix table in fact humans and livestock outweigh all vertebrates combined with the exception of fish even though humans and livestock dominate mammalian biomass they are small fraction of the gt of animal biomass which primarily comprises arthropods gt si appendix tables and followed by fish gt si appendix table comparison of current global biomass with prehuman values which are very difficult to estimate accurately demonstrates the impact of humans on the biosphere human activity contributed to the quaternary megafauna extinction between and ago which claimed around half of the large kg land mammal species the biomass of wild land mammals before this period of extinction was estimated by barnosky at gt the present day biomass of wild land mammals is approximately sevenfold lower at gt si appendix pre human biomass and chordates and table intense whaling and exploitation of other marine mammals have resulted in an approximately fivefold decrease in marine mammal global biomass from gt to gt while the total biomass of wild mammals both marine and terrestrial decreased by factor of the total mass of mammals increased approximately fourfold from gt to gt due to the vast increase of the biomass of humanity and its associated livestock human activity has also impacted global vertebrate stocks with decrease of gt in total fish biomass an amount similar to the remaining total biomass in fisheries and to the gain in the total mammalian biomass due to livestock husbandry si appendix pre human biomass the impact of human civilization on global biomass has not been limited to mammals but has also profoundly reshaped the total quantity of carbon sequestered by plants worldwide census of the total number of trees as well as comparison of actual and potential plant biomass has suggested that the total plant biomass and by proxy the total biomass on earth has declined approximately twofold relative to its value before the start of human civilization the total biomass of crops cultivated by humans is estimated at gt which accounts for only of the extant total plant biomass the distribution of biomass across environments and trophic modes examining global biomass in different environments exposes stark differences between terrestrial and marine environments the ocean covers of the earth surface and occupies much larger volume than the terrestrial environment yet land biomass at gt is about two orders of magnitude higher than the gt in marine biomass as shown in fig even though there is large difference in the biomass content of the terrestrial and marine environments the primary productivity of the two environments is roughly equal for plants we find that most biomass is concentrated in terrestrial environments plants have only small fraction of marine biomass gt in the form of green algae and seagrass fig for animals most biomass is concentrated in the marine environment and for bacteria and archaea most biomass is concentrated in deep subsurface environments we note that several of the results in fig should be interpreted with caution due to the large uncertainty associated with some of the estimates mostly those of total terrestrial protists marine fungi and contributions from deep subsurface environments when analyzing trophic levels the biomass of primary producers on land is much larger than that of primary and secondary consumers in stark contrast in the oceans gt of primary producers supports gt of consumer biomass resulting in an inverted standing biomass distribution as shown in fig such inverted biomass distributions can occur when primary producers have rapid turnover of biomass on the order of days while consumer biomass turns over much more slowly few years in the case of mesopelagic fish thus the standing stock of consumers is larger even though the productivity of producers is necessarily higher previous reports have observed inverted biomass pyramids in local marine environments an additional study noted an inverted consumer producer ratio for the global plankton biomass our analysis suggests that these observations hold true when looking at the global biomass of all producers and consumers in the marine environment discussion our census of the distribution of biomass on earth provides an integrated global picture of the relative and absolute abundances of all kingdoms of life we find that the biomass of plants dominates the biomass of the biosphere and is mostly located on land the marine environment is primarily occupied by microbes mainly bacteria and protists which account for of the total marine biomass the remaining is mainly composed of arthropods and fish the deep subsurface holds of the total biomass in the biosphere it is chiefly composed of bacteria and archaea which are mostly surface attached and turn over their biomass every several months to thousands of years in addition to summarizing current knowledge of the global biomass distribution our work highlights gaps in the current understanding of the biosphere our knowledge of the biomass composition of different taxa is mainly determined by our ability to sample their biomass in the wild for groups such as plants the use of multiple sources to estimate global biomass increases our confidence in the validity of current estimates however for other groups such as terrestrial arthropods and protists quantitative sampling of biomass is limited by technical constraints and comprehensive data are thus lacking beyond specific taxa there are entire environments for which our knowledge is very limited namely the deep subsurface environments such as deep aquifers and the ocean crust which might hold the world largest aquifer studies in these environments are scarce meaning that our estimates have particularly high uncertainty ranges and unknown systematic biases main gaps in our knowledge of these environments pertain to the distribution of biomass between the aquifer fluids and the surrounding rocks and the distribution of biomass between different microbial taxa such as bacteria archaea protists and fungi scientists have closely monitored the impact of humans on global biodiversity but less attention has been given to total biomass resulting in high uncertainty regarding the impact of humanity on the biomass of vertebrates our estimates for the current and prehuman biomasses of vertebrates are only crude first step in calculating these values si appendix prehuman biomass the biomass of amphibians which are experiencing dramatic population decline remains poorly characterized future research could reduce the uncertainty of current estimates by sampling more environments which will better represent the diverse biosphere on earth in the case of prokaryotes some major improvements were recently realized with global estimates of marine deep subsurface prokaryote biomass reduced by about two orders of magnitude due to an increased diversity of sampling locations identifying gaps in our knowledge could indicate areas for which further scientific exploration could have the biggest impact on our understanding of the biosphere as concrete example we identify the ratio between attached to unattached cells in the deep aquifers as major contributor to the uncertainties associated with our estimate of the biomass of bacteria archaea and viruses improving our understanding of this specific parameter could help us better constrain the global biomasses of entire domains of life in addition to improving our reported estimates future studies can achieve finer categorization of taxa for example the biomass of parasites which is not resolved from their hosts in this study might be larger than the biomass of top predators in some environments by providing unified updated and accessible global view of the biomass of different taxa we also aim to disseminate knowledge of the biosphere composition to wide range of students and researchers our survey puts into perspective claims regarding the overarching dominance of groups such as termites and ants nematodes and prokaryotes for example the biomass of termites gt is on par with that of humans but is still around an order of magnitude smaller than that of other taxa such as fish gt si appendix table other groups such as nematodes surpass any other animal species in terms of number of individuals si appendix fig but constitute only about of the total animal biomass the census of biomass distribution on earth presented here is comprehensive in scope and based on synthesis of data from the recent scientific literature the integrated dataset enables us to draw basic conclusions concerning kingdoms that dominate the biomass of the biosphere the distribution of biomass of each kingdom across different environments and the opposite structures of the global marine and terrestrial biomass pyramids we identify areas in which current knowledge is lacking and further research is most required ideally future research will include both temporal and geographic resolution we believe that the results described in this study will provide students and researchers with holistic quantitative context for studying our biosphere materials and methods taxon specific detailed description of data sources and procedures for estimating biomass the complete account of the data sources used for estimating the biomass of each taxon procedures for estimating biomass and projections for the uncertainty associated with the estimate for the biomass of each taxon are provided in the si appendix to make the steps for estimating the biomass of each taxon more accessible we provide supplementary tables that summarize the procedure as well as online notebooks for the calculation of the biomass of each taxon see data flow scheme in si appendix overview in table we detail the relevant supplementary table that summarizes the steps for arriving at each estimate all of the data used to generate our estimates as well as the code used for analysis are open sourced and available at https github com milo lab biomass distribution choice of units for measuring biomass biomass is reported in gigatons of carbon alternative options to represent biomass include among others biovolume wet mass or dry weight we chose to use carbon mass as the measure of biomass because it is independent of water content and is used extensively in the literature dry mass also has these features but is used less frequently all of our reported values can be transformed to dry weight to good approximation by multiplying by the characteristic conversion factor between carbon and total dry mass we report the significant digits for our values throughout the paper using the following scheme for values with an uncertainty projection that is higher than twofold we report single significant digit for values with an uncertainty projection of less than twofold we report two significant digits in cases when we report one significant digit we do not consider leading as significant digit general framework for estimating global biomass in achieving global estimates there is constant challenge of how to move from limited set of local samples to representative global value how does one estimate global biomass based on limited set of local samples for crude estimate the average of all local values of biomass per unit area is multiplied by the total global area more effective estimate can be made by correlating measured values to environmental parameters that are known at global scale temperature depth distance from shore primary productivity biome type as shown in fig this correlation is used to extrapolate the biomass of taxon at specific location based on the known distribution of the environmental parameter the temperature at each location on the globe by integrating across the total surface of the world global estimate is derived we detail the specific extrapolation procedure used for each taxon in both the si appendix and supplementary tables si appendix tables for most taxa our best estimates are based on geometric mean of several independent estimates using different methodologies the geometric mean estimates the median value if the independent estimates are log normally distributed or more generally the distribution of estimates is symmetrical in log space uncertainty estimation and reporting global estimates such as those we use in the present work are largely based on sampling from the distribution of biomass worldwide and then extrapolating for areas in which samples are missing the sampling of biomass in each location can be based on direct biomass measurements or conversion to biomass from other types of measurement such as number of individuals and their characteristic weight some of the main sources of uncertainty for the estimates we present are the result of using such geographical extrapolations and conversion from number of individuals to overall biomass the certainty of the estimate is linked to the amount of sampling on which the estimate is based notable locations in which sampling is scarce are the deep ocean usually deeper than and deep layers of soil usually deeper than for some organisms such as annelids and marine protists and arthropods most estimates neglect these environments thus underestimating the actual biomass sampling can be biased toward places that have high abundance and diversity of wildlife relying on data with such sampling bias can cause overestimation of the actual biomass of taxon another source of uncertainty comes from conversion to biomass conversion from counts of individuals to biomass is based on either known average weights per individual kg of wet weight for human which averages over adults and children or mg of dry weight for characteristic earthworm or empirical allometric equations that are organism specific such as conversion from animal length to biomass when using such conversion methods there is risk of introducing biases and noise into the final estimate nevertheless there is often no way around using such conversions as such we must be aware that the data may contain such biases in addition to describing the procedures leading to the estimate of each taxon we quantitatively survey the main sources of uncertainty associated with each estimate and calculate an uncertainty range for each of our biomass estimates we choose to report uncertainties as representing to the best of our ability given the many constraints what is equivalent to confidence interval for the estimate of the mean uncertainties reported in our analysis are multiplicative fold change from the mean and not additive change of the estimate we chose to use multiplicative uncertainty as it is more robust to large fluctuations in estimates and because it is in accord with the way we generate our best estimates which is usually by using geometric mean of different independent estimates our uncertainty projections are focused on the main kingdoms of life plants bacteria archaea fungi protists and animals the general framework for constructing our uncertainties described in detail for each taxon in the si appendix and in the online notebooks takes into account both intrastudy uncertainty and interstudy uncertainty intrastudy uncertainty refers to uncertainty estimates reported within specific study whereas interstudy uncertainty refers to variation in estimates of certain quantity between different papers in many cases we use several independent methodologies to estimate the same quantity in these cases we can also use the variation between estimates from each methodology as measure of the uncertainty of our final estimate we refer to this type of uncertainty as intermethod uncertainty the way we usually calculate uncertainties is by taking the logarithm of the values reported either within studies or from different studies taking the logarithm moves the values to log space where the se is calculated by dividing the sd by the square root of the number of values we then multiply the se by factor of which would give the confidence interval if the transformed data were normally distributed finally we exponentiate the result to get the multiplicative factor in linear space that represents the confidence interval akin to confidence interval if the data were log normally distributed most of our estimates are constructed by combining several different estimates combining total number of individuals and characteristic carbon content of single organism in these cases we use intrastudy interstudy or intermethod variation associated with each parameter that is used to derive the final estimate and propagate these uncertainties to the final estimate of biomass the uncertainty analysis for each specific biomass estimate incorporates different components of this general scheme depending on the amount of information that is available as detailed on case by case basis in the si appendix in cases where information is ample the procedure described above yields several different uncertainty estimates for each parameter that we use to derive the final estimate intrastudy uncertainty interstudy uncertainty we integrate these different uncertainties usually by taking the highest value as the best projection of uncertainty in some cases for example when information is scarce or some sources of uncertainty are hard to quantify we base our estimates on the uncertainty in analogous taxa and consultation with relevant experts we tend to round up our uncertainty projections when data are especially limited taxonomic levels used our census gives estimates for the global biomass at various taxonomic levels our main results relate to the kingdom level animals archaea bacteria fungi plants and protists although the division into kingdoms is not the most contemporary taxonomic grouping that exists we chose to use it for the current analysis as most of the data we rely upon does not provide finer taxonomic details the division of terrestrial protists is mainly based on morphology and not on taxonomy we supplement these kingdoms of living organisms with an estimate for the global biomass of viruses which are not included in the current tree of life but play key role in global biogeochemical cycles for all kingdoms except animals all taxa making up the kingdom are considered together for estimating the biomass of animals we use bottom up approach which estimates the biomass of key phyla constituting the animal kingdom the sum of the biomass of these phyla represents our estimate of the total biomass of animals we give estimates for most phyla and estimate bounds for the possible biomass contribution for the remaining phyla si appendix other animal phyla within chordates we provide estimates for key classes such as fish mammals and birds we estimate that the contribution of reptiles and amphibians to the total chordate biomass is negligible as we discuss in the si appendix we divide the class of mammals into wild mammals and humans plus livestock without contribution from poultry which is negligible compared with cattle and pigs even though livestock is not valid taxonomic division we use it to consider the impact of humans on the total biomass of mammals data availability acknowledgments we thank shai meiri for help with estimating the biomass of wild mammals birds and reptiles and arren bar even oded beja jorg bernhardt tristan biard chris bowler nuno carvalhais otto coredero gidon eshel ofer feinerman noah fierer daniel fisher avi flamholtz assaf gal josé grünzweig marcel van der heijden dina hochhauser julie huber qusheng jin bo barker jørgensen jens kallmeyer tamir klein christian koerner daniel madar fabrice not katherine donnell gal ofir victoria orphan noam prywes john raven dave savage einat segev maya shamir izak smit rotem sorek ofer steinitz miri tsalyuk assaf vardi colomban de vargas joshua weitz yossi yovel yonatan zegman and two anonymous reviewers for productive feedback on this manuscript this research was supported by the european research council project novcarbfix the israel science foundation grant the isf nrf singapore joint research program grant the beck canadian center for alternative energy research dana and yossie hollander the ullmann family foundation the helmsley charitable foundation the larson charitable foundation the wolfson family charitable trust charles rothschild and selmo nussenbaum this study was also supported by the nih through grant gm mira is the charles and louise gartner professional chair car or an automobile is motor vehicle with wheels most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads seat one to eight people have four wheels and mainly transport people rather than cargo there are around one billion cars in use worldwide the french inventor nicolas joseph cugnot built the first steam powered road vehicle in while the swiss inventor françois isaac de rivaz designed and constructed the first internal combustion powered automobile in the modern car practical marketable automobile for everyday use was invented in when the german inventor carl benz patented his benz patent motorwagen commercial cars became widely available during the th century the oldsmobile curved dash and the ford model both american cars are widely considered the first mass produced and mass affordable cars respectively cars were rapidly adopted in the us where they replaced horse drawn carriages in europe and other parts of the world demand for automobiles did not increase until after world war ii in the st century car usage is still increasing rapidly especially in china india and other newly industrialised countries cars have controls for driving parking passenger comfort and variety of lamps over the decades additional features and controls have been added to vehicles making them progressively more complex these include rear reversing cameras air conditioning navigation systems and in car entertainment most cars in use in the early are propelled by an internal combustion engine fueled by the combustion of fossil fuels electric cars which were invented early in the history of the car became commercially available in the and are predicted to cost less to buy than petrol driven cars before the transition from fossil fuel powered cars to electric cars features prominently in most climate change mitigation scenarios such as project drawdown actionable solutions for climate change there are costs and benefits to car use the costs to the individual include acquiring the vehicle interest payments if the car is financed repairs and maintenance fuel depreciation driving time parking fees taxes and insurance the costs to society include maintaining roads land use road congestion air pollution noise pollution public health and disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life traffic collisions are the largest cause of injury related deaths worldwide personal benefits include on demand transportation mobility independence and convenience societal benefits include economic benefits such as job and wealth creation from the automotive industry transportation provision societal well being from leisure and travel opportunities people ability to move flexibly from place to place has far reaching implications for the nature of societies the english word car is believed to originate from latin carrus carrum wheeled vehicle or via old north french middle english carre two wheeled cart both of which in turn derive from gaulish karros chariot it originally referred to any wheeled horse drawn vehicle such as cart carriage or wagon the word also occurs in other celtic languages motor car attested from is the usual formal term in british english autocar variant likewise attested from and literally meaning self propelled car is now considered archaic horseless carriage is attested from automobile classical compound derived from ancient greek autós self and latin mobilis movable entered english from french and was first adopted by the automobile club of great britain in it fell out of favour in britain and is now used chiefly in north america where the abbreviated form auto commonly appears as an adjective in compound formations like auto industry and auto mechanic in hans hautsch of nuremberg built clockwork driven carriage the first steam powered vehicle was designed by ferdinand verbiest flemish member of jesuit mission in china around it was centimetre long in scale model toy for the kangxi emperor that was unable to carry driver or passenger it is not known with certainty if verbiest model was successfully built or run nicolas joseph cugnot is widely credited with building the first full scale self propelled mechanical vehicle in about he created steam powered tricycle he also constructed two steam tractors for the french army one of which is preserved in the french national conservatory of arts and crafts his inventions were limited by problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure in richard trevithick built and demonstrated his puffing devil road locomotive believed by many to be the first demonstration of steam powered road vehicle it was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods and was of little practical use the development of external combustion steam engines is detailed as part of the history of the car but often treated separately from the development of true cars variety of steam powered road vehicles were used during the first part of the th century including steam cars steam buses phaetons and steam rollers in the united kingdom sentiment against them led to the locomotive acts of in nicéphore niépce and his brother claude created what was probably the world first internal combustion engine which they called pyréolophore but installed it in boat on the river saone in france coincidentally in the swiss inventor françois isaac de rivaz designed his own de rivaz internal combustion engine and used it to develop the world first vehicle to be powered by such an engine the niépces pyréolophore was fuelled by mixture of lycopodium powder dried spores of the lycopodium plant finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil whereas de rivaz used mixture of hydrogen and oxygen neither design was successful as was the case with others such as samuel brown samuel morey and etienne lenoir who each built vehicles usually adapted carriages or carts powered by internal combustion engines in november french inventor gustave trouvé demonstrated three wheeled car powered by electricity at the international exposition of electricity although several other german engineers including gottlieb daimler wilhelm maybach and siegfried marcus were working on cars at about the same time the year is regarded as the birth year of the modern car practical marketable automobile for everyday use when the german carl benz patented his benz patent motorwagen he is generally acknowledged as the inventor of the car in benz was granted patent for his first engine which had been designed in many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering vehicle his first motorwagen was built in in mannheim germany he was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on january under the auspices of his major company benz cie which was founded in benz began promotion of the vehicle on july and about benz vehicles were sold between and when his first four wheeler was introduced along with cheaper model they also were powered with four stroke engines of his own design emile roger of france already producing benz engines under license now added the benz car to his line of products because france was more open to the early cars initially more were built and sold in france through roger than benz sold in germany in august bertha benz the wife and business partner of carl benz undertook the first road trip by car to prove the road worthiness of her husband invention in benz designed and patented the first internal combustion flat engine called boxermotor during the last years of the th century benz was the largest car company in the world with units produced in and because of its size benz cie became joint stock company the first motor car in central europe and one of the first factory made cars in the world was produced by czech company nesselsdorfer wagenbau later renamed to tatra in the präsident automobil daimler and maybach founded daimler motoren gesellschaft dmg in cannstatt in and sold their first car in under the brand name daimler it was horse drawn stagecoach built by another manufacturer which they retrofitted with an engine of their design by about vehicles had been built by daimler and maybach either at the daimler works or in the hotel hermann where they set up shop after disputes with their backers benz maybach and the daimler team seem to have been unaware of each other early work they never worked together by the time of the merger of the two companies daimler and maybach were no longer part of dmg daimler died in and later that year maybach designed an engine named daimler mercedes that was placed in specially ordered model built to specifications set by emil jellinek this was production of small number of vehicles for jellinek to race and market in his country two years later in new model dmg car was produced and the model was named mercedes after the maybach engine which generated hp maybach quit dmg shortly thereafter and opened business of his own rights to the daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers in mile levassor and armand peugeot of france began producing vehicles with daimler engines and so laid the foundation of the automotive industry in france in auguste doriot and his peugeot colleague louis rigoulot completed the longest trip by petrol driven vehicle when their self designed and built daimler powered peugeot type completed kilometres mi from valentigney to paris and brest and back again they were attached to the first paris brest paris bicycle race but finished six days after the winning cyclist charles terront the first design for an american car with petrol internal combustion engine was made in by george selden of rochester new york selden applied for patent for car in but the patent application expired because the vehicle was never built after delay of years and series of attachments to his application on november selden was granted us patent patent for two stroke car engine which hindered more than encouraged development of cars in the united states his patent was challenged by henry ford and others and overturned in in the first running petrol driven american car was built and road tested by the duryea brothers of springfield massachusetts the first public run of the duryea motor wagon took place on september on taylor street in metro center springfield studebaker subsidiary of long established wagon and coach manufacturer started to build cars in and commenced sales of electric vehicles in and petrol vehicles in in britain there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success with thomas rickett even attempting production run in santler from malvern is recognised by the veteran car club of great britain as having made the first petrol driven car in the country in followed by frederick william lanchester in but these were both one offs the first production vehicles in great britain came from the daimler company company founded by harry lawson in after purchasing the right to use the name of the engines lawson company made its first car in and they bore the name daimler in german engineer rudolf diesel was granted patent for new rational combustion engine in he built the first diesel engine steam electric and petrol driven vehicles competed for few decades with petrol internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design only mazda version of the wankel engine has had more than very limited success all in all it is estimated that over patents created the modern automobile and motorcycle large scale production line manufacturing of affordable cars was started by ransom olds in at his oldsmobile factory in lansing michigan and based upon stationary assembly line techniques pioneered by marc isambard brunel at the portsmouth block mills england in the assembly line style of mass production and interchangeable parts had been pioneered in the us by thomas blanchard in at the springfield armory in springfield massachusetts this concept was greatly expanded by henry ford beginning in with the world first moving assembly line for cars at the highland park ford plant as result ford cars came off the line in minute intervals much faster than previous methods increasing productivity eightfold while using less manpower from manhours to hour minutes it was so successful paint became bottleneck only japan black would dry fast enough forcing the company to drop the variety of colours available before until fast drying duco lacquer was developed in this is the source of ford apocryphal remark any color as long as it black in an assembly line worker could buy model with four months pay ford complex safety procedures especially assigning each worker to specific location instead of allowing them to roam about dramatically reduced the rate of injury the combination of high wages and high efficiency is called fordism and was copied by most major industries the efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the economic rise of the us the assembly line forced workers to work at certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods in the automotive industry its success was dominating and quickly spread worldwide seeing the founding of ford france and ford britain in ford denmark ford germany in citroën was the first native european manufacturer to adopt the production method soon companies had to have assembly lines or risk going bankrupt by companies which did not had disappeared development of automotive technology was rapid due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world attention key developments included electric ignition and the electric self starter both by charles kettering for the cadillac motor company in independent suspension and four wheel brakes since the nearly all cars have been mass produced to meet market needs so marketing plans often have heavily influenced car design it was alfred sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company called the general motors companion make program so that buyers could move up as their fortunes improved reflecting the rapid pace of change makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range for example in the lasalles sold by cadillac used cheaper mechanical parts made by oldsmobile in the chevrolet shared bonnet doors roof and windows with pontiac by the corporate powertrains and shared platforms with interchangeable brakes suspension and other parts were common even so only major makers could afford high costs and even companies with decades of production such as apperson cole dorris haynes or premier could not manage of some two hundred american car makers in existence in only survived in and with the great depression by only of those were left in europe much the same would happen morris set up its production line at cowley in and soon outsold ford while beginning in to follow ford practice of vertical integration buying hotchkiss british subsidiary engines wrigley gearboxes and osberton radiators for instance as well as competitors such as wolseley in morris had per cent of total british car production most british small car assemblers from abbey to xtra had gone under citroën did the same in france coming to cars in between them and other cheap cars in reply such as renault cv and peugeot cv they produced cars in and mors hurtu and others could not compete germany first mass manufactured car the opel ps laubfrosch tree frog came off the line at rüsselsheim in soon making opel the top car builder in germany with per cent of the market in japan car production was very limited before world war ii only handful of companies were producing vehicles in limited numbers and these were small three wheeled for commercial uses like daihatsu or were the result of partnering with european companies like isuzu building the wolseley in mitsubishi was also partnered with fiat and built the mitsubishi model based on fiat vehicle toyota nissan suzuki mazda and honda began as companies producing non automotive products before the war switching to car production during the kiichiro toyoda decision to take toyoda loom works into automobile manufacturing would create what would eventually become toyota motor corporation the largest automobile manufacturer in the world subaru meanwhile was formed from conglomerate of six companies who banded together as fuji heavy industries as result of having been broken up under keiretsu legislation fossil fuels most cars in use in the early run on petrol burnt in an internal combustion engine ice some cities ban older more polluting petrol driven cars and some countries plan to ban sales in future however some environmental groups say this phase out of fossil fuel vehicles must be brought forwards to limit climate change production of petrol fuelled cars peaked in other hydrocarbon fossil fuels also burnt by deflagration rather than detonation in ice cars include diesel autogas and cng removal of fossil fuel subsidies concerns about oil dependence tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for cars this includes hybrid vehicles plug in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles out of all cars sold in nine per cent were electric and by the end of that year there were more than million electric cars on the world roads despite rapid growth less than two per cent of cars on the world roads were fully electric and plug in hybrid cars by the end of cars for racing or speed records have sometimes employed jet or rocket engines but these are impractical for common use oil consumption has increased rapidly in the th and st centuries because there are more cars the oil glut even fuelled the sales of low economy vehicles in oecd countries the bric countries are adding to this consumption batteries main article electric vehicle battery see also electric car batteries and automotive battery in almost all hybrid even mild hybrid and pure electric cars regenerative braking recovers and returns to battery some energy which would otherwise be wasted by friction brakes getting hot although all cars must have friction brakes front disc brakes and either disc or drum rear brakes for emergency stops regenerative braking improves efficiency particularly in city driving cars are equipped with controls used for driving passenger comfort and safety normally operated by combination of the use of feet and hands and occasionally by voice on st century cars these controls include steering wheel pedals for operating the brakes and controlling the car speed and in manual transmission car clutch pedal shift lever or stick for changing gears and number of buttons and dials for turning on lights ventilation and other functions modern cars controls are now standardised such as the location for the accelerator and brake but this was not always the case controls are evolving in response to new technologies for example the electric car and the integration of mobile communications some of the original controls are no longer required for example all cars once had controls for the choke valve clutch ignition timing and crank instead of an electric starter however new controls have also been added to vehicles making them more complex these include air conditioning navigation systems and in car entertainment another trend is the replacement of physical knobs and switches by secondary controls with touchscreen controls such as bmw idrive and ford myford touch another change is that while early cars pedals were physically linked to the brake mechanism and throttle in the early cars have increasingly replaced these physical linkages with electronic controls cars are typically equipped with interior lighting which can be toggled manually or be set to light up automatically with doors open an entertainment system which originated from car radios sideways windows which can be lowered or raised electrically manually on earlier cars and one or multiple auxiliary power outlets for supplying portable appliances such as mobile phones portable fridges power inverters and electrical air pumps from the on board electrical system more costly upper class and luxury cars are equipped with features earlier such as massage seats and collision avoidance systems cars are typically fitted with multiple types of lights these include headlights which are used to illuminate the way ahead and make the car visible to other users so that the vehicle can be used at night in some jurisdictions daytime running lights red brake lights to indicate when the brakes are applied amber turn signal lights to indicate the turn intentions of the driver white coloured reverse lights to illuminate the area behind the car and indicate that the driver will be or is reversing and on some vehicles additional lights side marker lights to increase the visibility of the car interior lights on the ceiling of the car are usually fitted for the driver and passengers some vehicles also have boot light and more rarely an engine compartment light during the late th and early st century cars increased in weight due to batteries modern steel safety cages anti lock brakes airbags and more powerful if more efficient engines and as of typically weigh between and tonnes and short tons and long tons heavier cars are safer for the driver from crash perspective but more dangerous for other vehicles and road users the weight of car influences fuel consumption and performance with more weight resulting in increased fuel consumption and decreased performance the wuling hongguang mini ev typical city car weighs about kilograms lb heavier cars include suvs and extended length suvs like the suburban cars have also become wider some places tax heavier cars more as well as improving pedestrian safety this can encourage manufacturers to use materials such as recycled aluminium instead of steel it has been suggested that one benefit of subsidising charging infrastructure is that cars can use lighter batteries most cars are designed to carry multiple occupants often with four or five seats cars with five seats typically seat two passengers in the front and three in the rear full size cars and large sport utility vehicles can often carry six seven or more occupants depending on the arrangement of the seats on the other hand sports cars are most often designed with only two seats utility vehicles like pickup trucks combine seating with extra cargo or utility functionality the differing needs for passenger capacity and their luggage or cargo space has resulted in the availability of large variety of body styles to meet individual consumer requirements that include among others the sedan saloon hatchback station wagon estate coupe and minivan traffic collisions are the largest cause of injury related deaths worldwide mary ward became one of the first documented car fatalities in in parsonstown ireland and henry bliss one of the us first pedestrian car casualties in in new york city there are now standard tests for safety in new cars such as the euro and us ncap tests and insurance industry backed tests by the insurance institute for highway safety iihs however not all such tests consider the safety of people outside the car such as drivers of other cars pedestrians and cyclists the costs of car usage which may include the cost of acquiring the vehicle repairs and auto maintenance fuel depreciation driving time parking fees taxes and insurance are weighed against the cost of the alternatives and the value of the benefits perceived and real of vehicle usage the benefits may include on demand transportation mobility independence and convenience and emergency power during the cars had another benefit ouples finally had way to head off on unchaperoned dates plus they had private space to snuggle up close at the end of the night similarly the costs to society of car use may include maintaining roads land use air pollution noise pollution road congestion public health health care and of disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life and can be balanced against the value of the benefits to society that car use generates societal benefits may include economy benefits such as job and wealth creation of car production and maintenance transportation provision society wellbeing derived from leisure and travel opportunities and revenue generation from the tax opportunities the ability of humans to move flexibly from place to place has far reaching implications for the nature of societies car production and use has large number of environmental impacts it causes local air pollution plastic pollution and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change cars and vans caused of energy related carbon dioxide emissions in as of electric cars produce about half the emissions over their lifetime as diesel and petrol cars this is set to improve as countries produce more of their electricity from low carbon sources cars consume almost quarter of world oil production as of cities planned around cars are often less dense which leads to further emissions as they are less walkable for instance growing demand for large suvs is driving up emissions from cars cars are major cause of air pollution which stems from exhaust gas in diesel and petrol cars and from dust from brakes tyres and road wear electric cars do not produce tailpipe emissions but are generally heavier and therefore produce slightly more particulate matter heavy metals and microplastics from tyres are also released into the environment during production use and at the end of life mining related to car manufacturing and oil spills both cause water pollution animals and plants are often negatively affected by cars via habitat destruction and fragmentation from the road network and pollution animals are also killed every year on roads by cars referred to as roadkill more recent road developments are including significant environmental mitigation in their designs such as green bridges designed to allow wildlife crossings and creating wildlife corridors governments use fiscal policies such as road tax to discourage the purchase and use of more polluting cars vehicle emission standards ban the sale of new highly pollution cars many countries plan to stop selling fossil cars altogether between and various cities have implemented low emission zones banning old fossil fuel and amsterdam is planning to ban fossil fuel cars completely some cities make it easier for people to choose other forms of transport such as cycling many chinese cities limit licensing of fossil fuel cars mass production of personal motor vehicles in the united states and other developed countries with extensive territories such as australia argentina and france vastly increased individual and group mobility and greatly increased and expanded economic development in urban suburban exurban and rural areas citation needed growth in the popularity of cars and commuting has led to traffic congestion moscow istanbul bogotá mexico city and são paulo were the world most congested cities in according to inrix data analytics company access to cars in the united states the transport divide and car dependency resulting from domination of car based transport systems presents barriers to employment in low income neighbourhoods with many low income individuals and families forced to run cars they cannot afford in order to maintain their income dependency on automobiles by african americans may result in exposure to the hazards of driving while black and other types of racial discrimination related to buying financing and insuring them health impact further information motor vehicle pollution and pregnancy air pollution from cars increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease it can also harm pregnancies more children are born too early or with lower birth weight children are extra vulnerable to air pollution as their bodies are still developing and air pollution in children is linked to the development of asthma childhood cancer and neurocognitive issues such as autism the growth in popularity of the car allowed cities to sprawl therefore encouraging more travel by car resulting in inactivity and obesity which in turn can lead to increased risk of variety of diseases when places are designed around cars children have fewer opportunities to go places by themselves and lose opportunities to become more independent emerging car technologies although intensive development of conventional battery electric vehicles is continuing into the other car propulsion technologies that are under development include wireless charging hydrogen cars and hydrogen electric hybrids research into alternative forms of power includes using ammonia instead of hydrogen in fuel cells new materials which may replace steel car bodies include aluminium fiberglass carbon fiber biocomposites and carbon nanotubes telematics technology is allowing more and more people to share cars on pay as you go basis through car share and carpool schemes communication is also evolving due to connected car systems open source cars are not widespread fully autonomous vehicles also known as driverless cars already exist as robotaxis but have long way to go before they are in general use car share arrangements and carpooling are also increasingly popular in the us and europe for example in the us some car sharing services have experienced double digit growth in revenue and membership growth between and services like car sharing offer residents to share vehicle rather than own car in already congested neighbourhoods the automotive industry designs develops manufactures markets and sells the world motor vehicles more than three quarters of which are cars in there were million cars manufactured worldwide down from million the previous year the automotive industry in china produces by far the most million in followed by japan seven million then germany south korea and india the largest market is china followed by the us around the world there are about billion cars on the road they burn over trillion litres us gal imp gal of petrol and diesel fuel yearly consuming about exajoules twh of energy the numbers of cars are increasing rapidly in china and india in the opinion of some urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable consuming excessive energy affecting the health of populations and delivering declining level of service despite increasing investment many of these negative effects fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars the sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to these problems the car industry is also facing increasing competition from the public transport sector as some people re evaluate their private vehicle usage in july the european commission introduced the fit for legislation package outlining crucial directives for the automotive sector future according to this package by all newly sold cars in the european market must be zero emissions vehicles established alternatives for some aspects of car use include public transport such as busses trolleybusses trains subways tramways light rail cycling and walking bicycle sharing systems have been established in china and many european cities including copenhagen and amsterdam similar programmes have been developed in large us cities additional individual modes of transport such as personal rapid transit could serve as an alternative to cars if they prove to be socially accepted study which checked the costs and the benefits of introducing low traffic neighbourhood in london found the benefits overpass the costs approximately by times in the first years and the difference is growing over time dogs are mammals usually to be kept as pets for work on farms or for the police some dogs are trained to be rescue dogs and join teams such as mountain rescue they have been bred by humans from ancestral wolves they were the first animal to live with humans there was lot of different types among wolves in the late pleistocene the dingo is also dog but many dingos have become wild animals again and live in the wild away from humans parts of australia today some dogs are used as pets and others are used to help humans do their work they are popular pets because they are usually playful friendly loyal and listen to humans thirty million dogs in the united states have been registered as pets dogs eat both meat and vegetables often mixed together and sold in stores as dog food dogs often have jobs including police dogs army dogs assistance dogs fire dogs messenger dogs hunting dogs herding dogs or rescue dogs they are sometimes called canines from the latin word for dog canis wolves are also canines baby dog is called pup or puppy dog is called puppy until it is about one year old dogs are sometimes known as human best friend because they are kept as pets are usually loyal and like being around humans dogs like to be petted but only when they can first see the petter hand before petting one should never pet dog from behind august is national dog day worldwide while march is national puppy day in the united states appearance and behaviour dogs can smell and hear better than humans but cannot see well in color because they are color blind due to the structure of the eye dogs can see better in low light than humans they also have larger field of vision like wolves wild dogs travel in groups called packs packs of dogs are listed by rank and dogs with low rank will submit to other dogs with higher rank the highest ranked dog is called the alpha male dog in group helps and cares for others pet dogs often view their owner as the alpha male different dog breeds have different lifespans in general smaller dogs live longer than bigger ones the size and the breed of the dog change how long the dog lives on average breeds such as the dachshund usually live for fifteen years chihuahuas can reach age of twenty on the other hand the great dane has an average lifespan of six to eight years some great danes have lived for as long as ten years an american bulldog lives for around years bigger dogs will have smaller lives than smaller dogs because of the pressure on its heart to move around dogs are often called man best friend because they fit in with human life dogs can serve people in many ways for example there are guard dogs hunting dogs herding dogs guide dogs for blind people and police dogs there are also dogs that are trained to smell for diseases in the human body or to find bombs or illegal drugs these dogs sometimes help police in airports or other areas sniffer dogs usually beagles are sometimes trained for this job dogs have even been sent by russians into outer space few years before any human being the first dog sent up was named laika but she died within few hours there is much more variety in dogs than in cats that is mainly because of the way humans have selected and bred dogs for specific jobs and functions it may also have something to do with the fact that dogs are pack animals whereas cats are not one morning when gregor samsa woke from troubled dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into horrible vermin he lay on his armour like back and if he lifted his head little he could see his brown belly slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections the bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any moment his many legs pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him waved about helplessly as he looked what happened to me he thought it wasn dream his room proper human room although little too small lay peacefully between its four familiar walls collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table samsa was travelling salesman and above it there hung picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in nice gilded frame it showed lady fitted out with fur hat and fur boa who sat upright raising 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 sleep 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 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 hundred times shut his eyes so that he wouldn have to look at the floundering legs and only stopped when he began to feel mild dull pain there that he had never felt before oh god he thought what strenuous career it is that 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 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 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 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 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 life of luxury for instance whenever go back to the guest house during the morning to copy out the contract these gentlemen are always still sitting there eating their breakfasts ought to just try that with my boss get kicked out on the spot but who knows maybe that would be the best thing for me if didn have my parents to think about have given in my notice long time ago have gone up to the boss and told him just what think tell him everything would let him know just what feel he fall right off his desk and it 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 still some hope once ve got the money together to pay off my parents debt to him another five or six years suppose that definitely what ll do that when ll make the big change first of all though 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 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 anger as the office assistant would have been there to see the five clock train go he would have put in his report about gregor not being there long time ago the office assistant was the boss 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 lazy son and accept the doctor recommendation not to make any claim as the doctor believed that no one was ever ill but that many were workshy and what 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 cautious knock at the door near his head gregor somebody called it was his mother it quarter to seven didn 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 painful and uncontrollable squeaking mixed in with it the words could be made out at first but then there was sort of echo which made them unclear leaving the hearer unsure whether he had heard properly or not gregor had wanted to give full answer and explain everything but in the circumstances contented himself with saying yes mother yes thank you getting up now the change in gregor 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 wrong and after short while he called again with warning deepness in his voice gregor gregor at the other side door his sister came plaintively gregor aren you well do you need anything gregor answered to both sides 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 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 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 serious cold which was an occupational hazard for travelling salesmen it was simple matter to throw off the covers he only had to blow himself up 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 be done in bed gregor said to himself so don 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 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 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 clock already he said to himself when the clock struck again seven clock and there still fog like this and he lay there quietly 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 ll definitely have to have got properly out of bed and by then somebody will have come round from work to ask what happened to me as well as they open up at work before seven 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 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 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 smile at this thought after 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 final decision very soon then there was 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 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 firm steps went to the door as ever and opened it gregor only needed to hear the visitor 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 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 get out of bed if he didn spend at least 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 loud thump but it wasn really loud noise his fall was softened little by the carpet and gregor 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 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 firm footsteps in his highly polished boots could now be heard in the adjoining room from the room on his right gregor sister whispered to him to let him know gregor the chief clerk is here yes 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 leave on the early train we don know what to say to him and anyway he wants to speak to you personally so please open up this door sure he ll be good enough to forgive the untidiness of your room then the chief clerk called good morning mr samsa he isn well said his mother to the chief clerk while his father continued to speak through the door he isn well please believe me why else would gregor have missed train the lad only ever thinks about the business it nearly makes me cross the way he never goes out in the evenings he been in town for 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 made little frame for instance it only took him two or three evenings you ll be amazed how nice it is it hanging up in his room you ll see it as soon as gregor opens the door anyway glad you re here we wouldn have been able to get gregor to open the door by ourselves he so stubborn and sure he isn well he said this morning that he is but he isn ll be there in moment said gregor slowly and thoughtfully but without moving so that he would not miss any word of the conversation well can think of any other way of explaining it mrs samsa said the chief clerk hope it nothing serious but on the other hand 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 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 minor discourtesy and 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 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 mention this just by the way you fail to carry out your business duties in way that is quite unheard of speaking here on behalf of your parents and of your employer and really must request clear and immediate explanation am astonished quite astonished thought knew you as calm and sensible person and now you suddenly seem to be showing off with peculiar whims this morning your employer did suggest possible reason for your failure to appear it true it had to do with the money that was recently entrusted to you but came near to giving him my word of honour that that could not be the right explanation but now that see your incomprehensible stubbornness no longer feel any wish whatsoever to intercede on your behalf and nor is your position all that secure 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 don see why your parents should not also learn of it your turnover has been very unsatisfactory of late grant you that it 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 but sir called gregor beside himself and forgetting all else in the excitement ll open up immediately just moment slightly unwell an attack of dizziness haven been able to get up still in bed now quite fresh again now though just getting out of bed just moment be patient it not quite as easy as thought quite alright now though it shocking what can suddenly happen to person was quite alright last night my parents know about it perhaps better than me had small symptom of it last night already they must have noticed it don know why didn let you know at work but you always think you can get over an illness without staying at home please don make my parents suffer there no basis for any of the accusations you re making nobody ever said word to me about any of these things maybe you haven read the latest contracts sent in ll set off with the eight clock train as well these few hours of rest have given me strength you don need to wait sir ll be in the office soon after you and please be so good as to tell that to the boss and recommend me to him and while gregor gushed out these words hardly knowing what he was saying he made his way over to the chest of drawers this was easily done probably because of the practise he had already had in bed where he now tried to get himself upright he really did want to open the door really did want to let them see him and to speak with the chief clerk the others were being so insistent and he was curious to learn what they would say when they caught sight of him if they were shocked then it would no longer be gregor responsibility and he could rest if however they took everything calmly he would still have no reason to be upset and if he hurried he really could be at the station for eight clock the first few times he tried to climb up on the smooth chest of drawers he just slid down again but he finally gave himself one last swing and stood there upright the lower part of his body was in serious pain but he no longer gave any attention to it now he let himself fall against the back of nearby chair and held tightly to the edges of it with his little legs by now he had also calmed down and kept quiet so that he could listen to what the chief clerk was saying did you understand word of all that the chief clerk asked his parents surely he 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 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 calmness that was in contrast with his mother screams anna anna his father called into the kitchen through the entrance hall clapping his hands get 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 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 little but taking care to do this not too loudly as even this might well sound different from the way that 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 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 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 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 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 sign that he could break his concentration and as he regained his breath he said to himself so didn 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 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 steady and invisible force gregor mother her hair still dishevelled from bed despite the chief clerk 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 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 time the washing up from breakfast lay on the table there was so much of it because for gregor father breakfast was the most important meal of the day and he would stretch it out for several hours as he sat reading number of different newspapers on the wall exactly opposite there was photograph of gregor when he was lieutenant in the army his sword in his hand and 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 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 not stubborn and like like to do my job being commercial traveller is arduous but without travelling couldn earn my living so where are you going in to the office yes will you report everything accurately then it quite possible for someone to be temporarily unable to work but that just the right time to remember what 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 seriously in debt to our employer as well as having to look after my parents and my sister so that trapped in difficult situation but will work my way out of it again please don make things any harder for me than they are already and don take sides against me at the office know that nobody likes the travellers they think we earn an enormous wage as well as having soft time of it that just prejudice but they have no particular reason to think better it but you sir you have better overview than the rest of the staff in fact if can say this in confidence better overview than the boss himself it very easy for 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 almost impossible to defend yourself from that sort of thing we don usually even hear about them or if at all it when we arrive back home exhausted from trip and that when we feel the harmful effects of what been going on without even knowing what caused them please don go away at least first say something to show that you grant that 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 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 sudden movement drew his foot from the living room and rushed forward in 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 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 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 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 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 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 father into 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 father seized the chief clerk stick in his right hand the chief clerk had left it behind on chair along with his hat and overcoat picked up 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 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 mother had pulled open window leant far out of it and pressed her hands to her face 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 father as he drove him back making hissing noises at him like 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 lethal blow to his back or head from the stick in his father 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 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 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 mistake and turned himself back 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 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 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 ii it was not until it was getting dark that evening that gregor awoke from his deep and coma like sleep he would have woken soon afterwards anyway even if he hadn been disturbed as he had had enough sleep and felt fully rested but he had the impression that some hurried steps and the sound of the door leading into the front room being carefully shut had woken him the light from the electric street lamps shone palely here and there onto the ceiling and tops of the furniture but down below where gregor was it was dark he pushed himself over to the door feeling his way clumsily with his antennae of which he was now beginning to learn the value in order to see what had been happening there the whole of his left side seemed like one painfully stretched scar and he limped badly on his two rows of legs one of the legs had been badly injured in the events of that morning it was nearly miracle that only one of them had been and dragged along lifelessly it was only when he had reached the door that he realised what it actually was that had drawn him over to it it was the smell of something to eat by the door there was dish filled with sweetened milk with little pieces of white bread floating in it he was so pleased he almost laughed as he was even hungrier than he had been that morning and immediately dipped his head into the milk nearly covering his eyes with it but he soon drew his head back again in disappointment not only did the pain in his tender left side make it difficult to eat the food he was only able to eat if his whole body worked together as snuffling whole but the milk did not taste at all nice milk like this was normally his favourite drink and his sister had certainly left it there for him because of that but he turned almost against his own will away from the dish and crawled back into the centre of the room through the crack in the door gregor could see that the gas had been lit in the living room his father at this time would normally be sat with his evening paper reading it out in loud voice to gregor mother and sometimes to his sister but there was now not sound to be heard gregor sister would often write and tell him about this reading but maybe his father had lost the habit in recent times it was so quiet all around too even though there must have been somebody in the flat what quiet life it is the family lead said gregor to himself and gazing into the darkness felt great pride that he was able to provide life like that in such nice home for his sister and parents but what now if all this peace and wealth and comfort should come to horrible and frightening end that was something that gregor did not want to think about too much so he started to move about crawling up and down the room once during that long evening the door on one side of the room was opened very slightly and hurriedly closed again later on the door on the other side did the same it seemed that someone needed to enter the room but thought better of it gregor went and waited immediately by the door resolved either to bring the timorous visitor into the room in some way or at least to find out who it was but the door was opened no more that night and gregor waited in vain the previous morning while the doors were locked everyone had wanted to get in there to him but now now that he had opened up one of the doors and the other had clearly been unlocked some time during the day no one came and the keys were in the other sides it was not until late at night that the gaslight in the living room was put out and now it was easy to see that parents and sister had stayed awake all that time as they all could be distinctly heard as they went away together on tip toe it was clear that no one would come into gregor room any more until morning that gave him plenty of time to think undisturbed about how he would have to re arrange his life for some reason the tall empty room where he was forced to remain made him feel uneasy as he lay there flat on the floor even though he had been living in it for five years hardly aware of what he was doing other than slight feeling of shame he hurried under the couch it pressed down on his back little and he was no longer able to lift his head but he nonetheless felt immediately at ease and his only regret was that his body was too broad to get it all underneath he spent the whole night there some of the time he passed in light sleep although he frequently woke from it in alarm because of his hunger and some of the time was spent in worries and vague hopes which however always led to the same conclusion for the time being he must remain calm he must show patience and the greatest consideration so that his family could bear the unpleasantness that he in his present condition was forced to impose on them gregor soon had the opportunity to test the strength of his decisions as early the next morning almost before the night had ended his sister nearly fully dressed opened the door from the front room and looked anxiously in she did not see him straight away but when she did notice him under the couch he had to be somewhere for god sake he couldn have flown away she was so shocked that she lost control of herself and slammed the door shut again from outside but she seemed to regret her behaviour as she opened the door again straight away and came in on tip toe as if entering the room of someone seriously ill or even of stranger gregor had pushed his head forward right to the edge of the couch and watched her would she notice that he had left the milk as it was realise that it was not from any lack of hunger and bring him in some other food that was more suitable if she didn do it herself he would rather go hungry than draw her attention to it although he did feel terrible urge to rush forward from under the couch throw himself at his sister feet and beg her for something good to eat however his sister noticed the full dish immediately and looked at it and the few drops of milk splashed around it with some surprise she immediately picked it up using rag not her bare hands and carried it out gregor was extremely curious as to what she would bring in its place imagining the wildest possibilities but he never could have guessed what his sister in her goodness actually did bring in order to test his taste she brought him whole selection of things all spread out on an old newspaper there were old half rotten vegetables bones from the evening meal covered in white sauce that had gone hard few raisins and almonds some cheese that gregor had declared inedible two days before dry roll and some bread spread with butter and salt as well as all that she had poured some water into the dish which had probably been permanently set aside for gregor use and placed it beside them then out of consideration for gregor feelings as she knew that he would not eat in front of her she hurried out again and even turned the key in the lock so that gregor would know he could make things as comfortable for himself as he liked gregor little legs whirred at last he could eat what more his injuries must already have completely healed as he found no difficulty in moving this amazed him as more than month earlier he had cut his finger slightly with knife he thought of how his finger had still hurt the day before yesterday am less sensitive than used to be then he thought and was already sucking greedily at the cheese which had immediately almost compellingly attracted him much more than the other foods on the newspaper quickly one after another his eyes watering with pleasure he consumed the cheese the vegetables and the sauce the fresh foods on the other hand he didn like at all and even dragged the things he did want to eat little way away from them because he couldn stand the smell long after he had finished eating and lay lethargic in the same place his sister slowly turned the key in the lock as sign to him that he should withdraw he was immediately startled although he had been half asleep and he hurried back under the couch but he needed great self control to stay there even for the short time that his sister was in the room as eating so much food had rounded out his body little and he could hardly breathe in that narrow space half suffocating he watched with bulging eyes as his sister unselfconsciously took broom and swept up the left overs mixing them in with the food he had not even touched at all as if it could not be used any more she quickly dropped it all into bin closed it with its wooden lid and carried everything out she had hardly turned her back before gregor came out again from under the couch and stretched himself this was how gregor received his food each day now once in the morning while his parents and the maid were still asleep and the second time after everyone had eaten their meal at midday as his parents would sleep for little while then as well and gregor sister would send the maid away on some errand gregor father and mother certainly did not want him to starve either but perhaps it would have been more than they could stand to have any more experience of his feeding than being told about it and perhaps his sister wanted to spare them what distress she could as they were indeed suffering enough it was impossible for gregor to find out what they had told the doctor and the locksmith that first morning to get them out of the flat as nobody could understand him nobody not even his sister thought that he could understand them so he had to be content to hear his sister sighs and appeals to the saints as she moved about his room it was only later when she had become little more used to everything there was of course no question of her ever becoming fully used to the situation that gregor would sometimes catch friendly comment or at least comment that could be construed as friendly he enjoyed his dinner today she might say when he had diligently cleared away all the food left for him or if he left most of it which slowly became more and more frequent she would often say sadly now everything just been left there again although gregor wasn able to hear any news directly he did listen to much of what was said in the next rooms and whenever he heard anyone speaking he would scurry straight to the appropriate door and press his whole body against it there was seldom any conversation especially at first that was not about him in some way even if only in secret for two whole days all the talk at every mealtime was about what they should do now but even between meals they spoke about the same subject as there were always at least two members of the family at home nobody wanted to be at home by themselves and it was out of the question to leave the flat entirely empty and on the very first day the maid had fallen to her knees and begged gregor mother to let her go without delay it was not very clear how much she knew of what had happened but she left within quarter of an hour tearfully thanking gregor mother for her dismissal as if she had done her an enormous service she even swore emphatically not to tell anyone the slightest about what had happened even though no one had asked that of her now gregor sister also had to help his mother with the cooking although that was not so much bother as no one ate very much gregor often heard how one of them would unsuccessfully urge another to eat and receive no more answer than no thanks ve had enough or something similar no one drank very much either his sister would sometimes ask his father whether he would like beer hoping for the chance to go and fetch it herself when his father then said nothing she would add so that he would not feel selfish that she could send the housekeeper for it but then his father would close the matter with big loud no and no more would be said even before the first day had come to an end his father had explained to gregor mother and sister what their finances and prospects were now and then he stood up from the table and took some receipt or document from the little cash box he had saved from his business when it had collapsed five years earlier gregor heard how he opened the complicated lock and then closed it again after he had taken the item he wanted what he heard his father say was some of the first good news that gregor heard since he had first been incarcerated in his room he had thought that nothing at all remained from his father business at least he had never told him anything different and gregor had never asked him about it anyway their business misfortune had reduced the family to state of total despair and gregor only concern at that time had been to arrange things so that they could all forget about it as quickly as possible so then he started working especially hard with fiery vigour that raised him from junior salesman to travelling representative almost overnight bringing with it the chance to earn money in quite different ways gregor converted his success at work straight into cash that he could lay on the table at home for the benefit of his astonished and delighted family they had been good times and they had never come again at least not with the same splendour even though gregor had later earned so much that he was in position to bear the costs of the whole family and did bear them they had even got used to it both gregor and the family they took the money with gratitude and he was glad to provide it although there was no longer much warm affection given in return gregor only remained close to his sister now unlike him she was very fond of music and gifted and expressive violinist it was his secret plan to send her to the conservatory next year even though it would cause great expense that would have to be made up for in some other way during gregor short periods in town conversation with his sister would often turn to the conservatory but it was only ever mentioned as lovely dream that could never be realised their parents did not like to hear this innocent talk but gregor thought about it quite hard and decided he would let them know what he planned with grand announcement of it on christmas day that was the sort of totally pointless thing that went through his mind in his present state pressed upright against the door and listening there were times when he simply became too tired to continue listening when his head would fall wearily against the door and he would pull it up again with start as even the slightest noise he caused would be heard next door and they would all go silent what that he doing now his father would say after while clearly having gone over to the door and only then would the interrupted conversation slowly be taken up again when explaining things his father repeated himself several times partly because it was long time since he had been occupied with these matters himself and partly because gregor mother did not understand everything first time from these repeated explanations gregor learned to his pleasure that despite all their misfortunes there was still some money available from the old days it was not lot but it had not been touched in the meantime and some interest had accumulated besides that they had not been using up all the money that gregor had been bringing home every month keeping only little for himself so that that too had been accumulating behind the door gregor nodded with enthusiasm in his pleasure at this unexpected thrift and caution he could actually have used this surplus money to reduce his father debt to his boss and the day when he could have freed himself from that job would have come much closer but now it was certainly better the way his father had done things this money however was certainly not enough to enable the family to live off the interest it was enough to maintain them for perhaps one or two years no more that to say it was money that should not really be touched but set aside for emergencies money to live on had to be earned his father was healthy but old and lacking in self confidence during the five years that he had not been working the first holiday in life that had been full of strain and no success he had put on lot of weight and become very slow and clumsy would gregor elderly mother now have to go and earn money she suffered from asthma and it was strain for her just to move about the home every other day would be spent struggling for breath on the sofa by the open window would his sister have to go and earn money she was still child of seventeen her life up till then had been very enviable consisting of wearing nice clothes sleeping late helping out in the business joining in with few modest pleasures and most of all playing the violin whenever they began to talk of the need to earn money gregor would always first let go of the door and then throw himself onto the cool leather sofa next to it as he became quite hot with shame and regret he would often lie there the whole night through not sleeping wink but scratching at the leather for hours on end or he might go to all the effort of pushing chair to the window climbing up onto the sill and propped up in the chair leaning on the window to stare out of it he had used to feel great sense of freedom from doing this but doing it now was obviously something more remembered than experienced as what he actually saw in this way was becoming less distinct every day even things that were quite near he had used to curse the ever present view of the hospital across the street but now he could not see it at all and if he had not known that he lived in charlottenstrasse which was quiet street despite being in the middle of the city he could have thought that he was looking out the window at barren waste where the grey sky and the grey earth mingled inseparably his observant sister only needed to notice the chair twice before she would always push it back to its exact position by the window after she had tidied up the room and even left the inner pane of the window open from then on if gregor had only been able to speak to his sister and thank her for all that she had to do for him it would have been easier for him to bear it but as it was it caused him pain his sister naturally tried as far as possible to pretend there was nothing burdensome about it and the longer it went on of course the better she was able to do so but as time went by gregor was also able to see through it all so much better it had even become very unpleasant for him now whenever she entered the room no sooner had she come in than she would quickly close the door as precaution so that no one would have to suffer the view into gregor room then she would go straight to the window and pull it hurriedly open almost as if she were suffocating even if it was cold she would stay at the window breathing deeply for little while she would alarm gregor twice day with this running about and noise making he would stay under the couch shivering the whole while knowing full well that she would certainly have liked to spare him this ordeal but it was impossible for her to be in the same room with him with the windows closed one day about month after gregor transformation when his sister no longer had any particular reason to be shocked at his appearance she came into the room little earlier than usual and found him still staring out the window motionless and just where he would be most horrible in itself his sister not coming into the room would have been no surprise for gregor as it would have been difficult for her to immediately open the window while he was still there but not only did she not come in she went straight back and closed the door behind her stranger would have thought he had threatened her and tried to bite her gregor went straight to hide himself under the couch of course but he had to wait until midday before his sister came back and she seemed much more uneasy than usual it made him realise that she still found his appearance unbearable and would continue to do so she probably even had to overcome the urge to flee when she saw the little bit of him that protruded from under the couch one day in order to spare her even this sight he spent four hours carrying the bedsheet over to the couch on his back and arranged it so that he was completely covered and his sister would not be able to see him even if she bent down if she did not think this sheet was necessary then all she had to do was take it off again as it was clear enough that it was no pleasure for gregor to cut himself off so completely she left the sheet where it was gregor even thought he glimpsed look of gratitude one time when he carefully looked out from under the sheet to see how his sister liked the new arrangement for the first fourteen days gregor parents could not bring themselves to come into the room to see him he would often hear them say how they appreciated all the new work his sister was doing even though before they had seen her as girl who was somewhat useless and frequently been annoyed with her but now the two of them father and mother would often both wait outside the door of gregor room while his sister tidied up in there and as soon as she went out again she would have to tell them exactly how everything looked what gregor had eaten how he had behaved this time and whether perhaps any slight improvement could be seen his mother also wanted to go in and visit gregor relatively soon but his father and sister at first persuaded her against it gregor listened very closely to all this and approved fully later though she had to be held back by force which made her call out let me go and see gregor he is my unfortunate son can you understand have to see him and gregor would think to himself that maybe it would be better if his mother came in not every day of course but one day week perhaps she could understand everything much better than his sister who for all her courage was still just child after all and really might not have had an adult appreciation of the burdensome job she had taken on gregor wish to see his mother was soon realised out of consideration for his parents gregor wanted to avoid being seen at the window during the day the few square meters of the floor did not give him much room to crawl about it was hard to just lie quietly through the night his food soon stopped giving him any pleasure at all and so to entertain himself he got into the habit of crawling up and down the walls and ceiling he was especially fond of hanging from the ceiling it was quite different from lying on the floor he could breathe more freely his body had light swing to it and up there relaxed and almost happy it might happen that he would surprise even himself by letting go of the ceiling and landing on the floor with crash but now of course he had far better control of his body than before and even with fall as great as that caused himself no damage very soon his sister noticed gregor new way of entertaining himself he had after all left traces of the adhesive from his feet as he crawled about and got it into her head to make it as easy as possible for him by removing the furniture that got in his way especially the chest of drawers and the desk now this was not something that she would be able to do by herself she did not dare to ask for help from her father the sixteen year old maid had carried on bravely since the cook had left but she certainly would not have helped in this she had even asked to be allowed to keep the kitchen locked at all times and never to have to open the door unless it was especially important so his sister had no choice but to choose some time when gregor father was not there and fetch his mother to help her as she approached the room gregor could hear his mother express her joy but once at the door she went silent first of course his sister came in and looked round to see that everything in the room was alright and only then did she let her mother enter gregor had hurriedly pulled the sheet down lower over the couch and put more folds into it so that everything really looked as if it had just been thrown down by chance gregor also refrained this time from spying out from under the sheet he gave up the chance to see his mother until later and was simply glad that she had come you can come in he can be seen said his sister obviously leading her in by the hand the old chest of drawers was too heavy for pair of feeble women to be heaving about but gregor listened as they pushed it from its place his sister always taking on the heaviest part of the work for herself and ignoring her mother warnings that she would strain herself this lasted very long time after labouring at it for fifteen minutes or more his mother said it would be better to leave the chest where it was for one thing it was too heavy for them to get the job finished before gregor father got home and leaving it in the middle of the room it would be in his way even more and for another thing it wasn even sure that taking the furniture away would really be any help to him she thought just the opposite the sight of the bare walls saddened her right to her heart and why wouldn gregor feel the same way about it he been used to this furniture in his room for long time and it would make him feel abandoned to be in an empty room like that then quietly almost whispering as if wanting gregor whose whereabouts she did not know to hear not even the tone of her voice as she was convinced that he did not understand her words she added and by taking the furniture away won it seem like we re showing that we ve given up all hope of improvement and we re abandoning him to cope for himself think it be best to leave the room exactly the way it was before so that when gregor comes back to us again he ll find everything unchanged and he ll be able to forget the time in between all the easier hearing these words from his mother made gregor realise that the lack of any direct human communication along with the monotonous life led by the family during these two months must have made him confused he could think of no other way of explaining to himself why he had seriously wanted his room emptied out had he really wanted to transform his room into cave warm room fitted out with the nice furniture he had inherited that would have let him crawl around unimpeded in any direction but it would also have let him quickly forget his past when he had still been human he had come very close to forgetting and it had only been the voice of his mother unheard for so long that had shaken him out of it nothing should be removed everything had to stay he could not do without the good influence the furniture had on his condition and if the furniture made it difficult for him to crawl about mindlessly that was not loss but great advantage his sister unfortunately did not agree she had become used to the idea not without reason that she was gregor spokesman to his parents about the things that concerned him this meant that his mother advice now was sufficient reason for her to insist on removing not only the chest of drawers and the desk as she had thought at first but all the furniture apart from the all important couch it was more than childish perversity of course or the unexpected confidence she had recently acquired that made her insist she had indeed noticed that gregor needed lot of room to crawl about in whereas the furniture as far as anyone could see was of no use to him at all girls of that age though do become enthusiastic about things and feel they must get their way whenever they can perhaps this was what tempted grete to make gregor situation seem even more shocking than it was so that she could do even more for him grete would probably be the only one who would dare enter room dominated by gregor crawling about the bare walls by himself so she refused to let her mother dissuade her gregor mother already looked uneasy in his room she soon stopped speaking and helped gregor sister to get the chest of drawers out with what strength she had the chest of drawers was something that gregor could do without if he had to but the writing desk had to stay hardly had the two women pushed the chest of drawers groaning out of the room than gregor poked his head out from under the couch to see what he could do about it he meant to be as careful and considerate as he could but unfortunately it was his mother who came back first while grete in the next room had her arms round the chest pushing and pulling at it from side to side by herself without of course moving it an inch his mother was not used to the sight of gregor he might have made her ill so gregor hurried backwards to the far end of the couch in his startlement though he was not able to prevent the sheet at its front from moving little it was enough to attract his mother attention she stood very still remained there moment and then went back out to grete gregor kept trying to assure himself that nothing unusual was happening it was just few pieces of furniture being moved after all but he soon had to admit that the women going to and fro their little calls to each other the scraping of the furniture on the floor all these things made him feel as if he were being assailed from all sides with his head and legs pulled in against him and his body pressed to the floor he was forced to admit to himself that he could not stand all of this much longer they were emptying his room out taking away everything that was dear to him they had already taken out the chest containing his fretsaw and other tools now they threatened to remove the writing desk with its place clearly worn into the floor the desk where he had done his homework as business trainee at high school even while he had been at infant school he really could not wait any longer to see whether the two women intentions were good he had nearly forgotten they were there anyway as they were now too tired to say anything while they worked and he could only hear their feet as they stepped heavily on the floor so while the women were leant against the desk in the other room catching their breath he sallied out changed direction four times not knowing what he should save first before his attention was suddenly caught by the picture on the wall which was already denuded of everything else that had been on it of the lady dressed in copious fur he hurried up onto the picture and pressed himself against its glass it held him firmly and felt good on his hot belly this picture at least now totally covered by gregor would certainly be taken away by no one he turned his head to face the door into the living room so that he could watch the women when they came back they had not allowed themselves long rest and came back quite soon grete had put her arm around her mother and was nearly carrying her what shall we take now then said grete and looked around her eyes met those of gregor on the wall perhaps only because her mother was there she remained calm bent her face to her so that she would not look round and said albeit hurriedly and with tremor in her voice come on let go back in the living room for while gregor could see what grete had in mind she wanted to take her mother somewhere safe and then chase him down from the wall well she could certainly try it he sat unyielding on his picture he would rather jump at grete face but grete words had made her mother quite worried she stepped to one side saw the enormous brown patch against the flowers of the wallpaper and before she even realised it was gregor that she saw screamed oh god oh god arms outstretched she fell onto the couch as if she had given up everything and stayed there immobile gregor shouted his sister glowering at him and shaking her fist that was the first word she had spoken to him directly since his transformation she ran into the other room to fetch some kind of smelling salts to bring her mother out of her faint gregor wanted to help too he could save his picture later although he stuck fast to the glass and had to pull himself off by force then he too ran into the next room as if he could advise his sister like in the old days but he had to just stand behind her doing nothing she was looking into various bottles he startled her when she turned round bottle fell to the ground and broke splinter cut gregor face some kind of caustic medicine splashed all over him now without delaying any longer grete took hold of all the bottles she could and ran with them in to her mother she slammed the door shut with her foot so now gregor was shut out from his mother who because of him might be near to death he could not open the door if he did not want to chase his sister away and she had to stay with his mother there was nothing for him to do but wait and oppressed with anxiety and self reproach he began to crawl about he crawled over everything walls furniture ceiling and finally in his confusion as the whole room began to spin around him he fell down into the middle of the dinner table he lay there for while numb and immobile all around him it was quiet maybe that was good sign then there was someone at the door the maid of course had locked herself in her kitchen so that grete would have to go and answer it his father had arrived home what happened were his first words grete appearance must have made everything clear to him she answered him with subdued voice and openly pressed her face into his chest mother fainted but she better now gregor got out just as expected said his father just as always said but you women wouldn listen would you it was clear to gregor that grete had not said enough and that his father took it to mean that something bad had happened that he was responsible for some act of violence that meant gregor would now have to try to calm his father as he did not have the time to explain things to him even if that had been possible so he fled to the door of his room and pressed himself against it so that his father when he came in from the hall could see straight away that gregor had the best intentions and would go back into his room without delay that it would not be necessary to drive him back but that they had only to open the door and he would disappear his father though was not in the mood to notice subtleties like that ah he shouted as he came in sounding as if he were both angry and glad at the same time gregor drew his head back from the door and lifted it towards his father he really had not imagined his father the way he stood there now of late with his new habit of crawling about he had neglected to pay attention to what was going on the rest of the flat the way he had done before he really ought to have expected things to have changed but still still was that really his father the same tired man as used to be laying there entombed in his bed when gregor came back from his business trips who would receive him sitting in the armchair in his nightgown when he came back in the evenings who was hardly even able to stand up but as sign of his pleasure would just raise his arms and who on the couple of times year when they went for walk together on sunday or public holiday wrapped up tightly in his overcoat between gregor and his mother would always labour his way forward little more slowly than them who were already walking slowly for his sake who would place his stick down carefully and if he wanted to say something would invariably stop and gather his companions around him he was standing up straight enough now dressed in smart blue uniform with gold buttons the sort worn by the employees at the banking institute above the high stiff collar of the coat his strong double chin emerged under the bushy eyebrows his piercing dark eyes looked out fresh and alert his normally unkempt white hair was combed down painfully close to his scalp he took his cap with its gold monogram from probably some bank and threw it in an arc right across the room onto the sofa put his hands in his trouser pockets pushing back the bottom of his long uniform coat and with look of determination walked towards gregor he probably did not even know himself what he had in mind but nonetheless lifted his feet unusually high gregor was amazed at the enormous size of the soles of his boots but wasted no time with that he knew full well right from the first day of his new life that his father thought it necessary to always be extremely strict with him and so he ran up to his father stopped when his father stopped scurried forwards again when he moved even slightly in this way they went round the room several times without anything decisive happening without even giving the impression of chase as everything went so slowly gregor remained all this time on the floor largely because he feared his father might see it as especially provoking if he fled onto the wall or ceiling whatever he did gregor had to admit that he certainly would not be able to keep up this running about for long as for each step his father took he had to carry out countless movements he became noticeably short of breath even in his earlier life his lungs had not been very reliable now as he lurched about in his efforts to muster all the strength he could for running he could hardly keep his eyes open his thoughts became too slow for him to think of any other way of saving himself than running he almost forgot that the walls were there for him to use although here they were concealed behind carefully carved furniture full of notches and protrusions then right beside him lightly tossed something flew down and rolled in front of him it was an apple then another one immediately flew at him gregor froze in shock there was no longer any point in running as his father had decided to bombard him he had filled his pockets with fruit from the bowl on the sideboard and now without even taking the time for careful aim threw one apple after another these little red apples rolled about on the floor knocking into each other as if they had electric motors an apple thrown without much force glanced against gregor back and slid off without doing any harm another one however immediately following it hit squarely and lodged in his back gregor wanted to drag himself away as if he could remove the surprising the incredible pain by changing his position but he felt as if nailed to the spot and spread himself out all his senses in confusion the last thing he saw was the door of his room being pulled open his sister was screaming his mother ran out in front of her in her blouse as his sister had taken off some of her clothes after she had fainted to make it easier for her to breathe she ran to his father her skirts unfastened and sliding one after another to the ground stumbling over the skirts she pushed herself to his father her arms around him uniting herself with him totally now gregor lost his ability to see anything her hands behind his father head begging him to spare gregor life iii no one dared to remove the apple lodged in gregor flesh so it remained there as visible reminder of his injury he had suffered it there for more than month and his condition seemed serious enough to remind even his father that gregor despite his current sad and revolting form was family member who could not be treated as an enemy on the contrary as family there was duty to swallow any revulsion for him and to be patient just to be patient because of his injuries gregor had lost much of his mobility probably permanently he had been reduced to the condition of an ancient invalid and it took him long long minutes to crawl across his room crawling over the ceiling was out of the question but this deterioration in his condition was fully in his opinion made up for by the door to the living room being left open every evening he got into the habit of closely watching it for one or two hours before it was opened and then lying in the darkness of his room where he could not be seen from the living room he could watch the family in the light of the dinner table and listen to their conversation with everyone permission in way and thus quite differently from before they no longer held the lively conversations of earlier times of course the ones that gregor always thought about with longing when he was tired and getting into the damp bed in some small hotel room all of them were usually very quiet nowadays soon after dinner his father would go to sleep in his chair his mother and sister would urge each other to be quiet his mother bent deeply under the lamp would sew fancy underwear for fashion shop his sister who had taken sales job learned shorthand and french in the evenings so that she might be able to get better position later on sometimes his father would wake up and say to gregor mother you re doing so much sewing again today as if he did not know that he had been dozing and then he would go back to sleep again while mother and sister would exchange tired grin with kind of stubbornness gregor father refused to take his uniform off even at home while his nightgown hung unused on its peg gregor father would slumber where he was fully dressed as if always ready to serve and expecting to hear the voice of his superior even here the uniform had not been new to start with but as result of this it slowly became even shabbier despite the efforts of gregor mother and sister to look after it gregor would often spend the whole evening looking at all the stains on this coat with its gold buttons always kept polished and shiny while the old man in it would sleep highly uncomfortable but peaceful as soon as it struck ten gregor mother would speak gently to his father to wake him and try to persuade him to go to bed as he couldn sleep properly where he was and he really had to get his sleep if he was to be up at six to get to work but since he had been in work he had become more obstinate and would always insist on staying longer at the table even though he regularly fell asleep and it was then harder than ever to persuade him to exchange the chair for his bed then however much mother and sister would importune him with little reproaches and warnings he would keep slowly shaking his head for quarter of an hour with his eyes closed and refusing to get up gregor mother would tug at his sleeve whisper endearments into his ear gregor sister would leave her work to help her mother but nothing would have any effect on him he would just sink deeper into his chair only when the two women took him under the arms he would abruptly open his eyes look at them one after the other and say what life this is what peace get in my old age and supported by the two women he would lift himself up carefully as if he were carrying the greatest load himself let the women take him to the door send them off and carry on by himself while gregor mother would throw down her needle and his sister her pen so that they could run after his father and continue being of help to him who in this tired and overworked family would have had time to give more attention to gregor than was absolutely necessary the household budget became even smaller so now the maid was dismissed an enormous thick boned charwoman with white hair that flapped around her head came every morning and evening to do the heaviest work everything else was looked after by gregor mother on top of the large amount of sewing work she did gregor even learned listening to the evening conversation about what price they had hoped for that several items of jewellery belonging to the family had been sold even though both mother and sister had been very fond of wearing them at functions and celebrations but the loudest complaint was that although the flat was much too big for their present circumstances they could not move out of it there was no imaginable way of transferring gregor to the new address he could see quite well though that there were more reasons than consideration for him that made it difficult for them to move it would have been quite easy to transport him in any suitable crate with few air holes in it the main thing holding the family back from their decision to move was much more to do with their total despair and the thought that they had been struck with misfortune unlike anything experienced by anyone else they knew or were related to they carried out absolutely everything that the world expects from poor people gregor father brought bank employees their breakfast his mother sacrificed herself by washing clothes for strangers his sister ran back and forth behind her desk at the behest of the customers but they just did not have the strength to do any more and the injury in gregor back began to hurt as much as when it was new after they had come back from taking his father to bed gregor mother and sister would now leave their work where it was and sit close together cheek to cheek his mother would point to gregor room and say close that door grete and then when he was in the dark again they would sit in the next room and their tears would mingle or they would simply sit there staring dry eyed at the table gregor hardly slept at all either night or day sometimes he would think of taking over the family affairs just like before the next time the door was opened he had long forgotten about his boss and the chief clerk but they would appear again in his thoughts the salesmen and the apprentices that stupid teaboy two or three friends from other businesses one of the chambermaids from provincial hotel tender memory that appeared and disappeared again cashier from hat shop for whom his attention had been serious but too slow all of them appeared to him mixed together with strangers and others he had forgotten but instead of helping him and his family they were all of them inaccessible and he was glad when they disappeared other times he was not at all in the mood to look after his family he was filled with simple rage about the lack of attention he was shown and although he could think of nothing he would have wanted he made plans of how he could get into the pantry where he could take all the things he was entitled to even if he was not hungry gregor sister no longer thought about how she could please him but would hurriedly push some food or other into his room with her foot before she rushed out to work in the morning and at midday and in the evening she would sweep it away again with the broom indifferent as to whether it had been eaten or more often than not had been left totally untouched she still cleared up the room in the evening but now she could not have been any quicker about it smears of dirt were left on the walls here and there were little balls of dust and filth at first gregor went into one of the worst of these places when his sister arrived as reproach to her but he could have stayed there for weeks without his sister doing anything about it she could see the dirt as well as he could but she had simply decided to leave him to it at the same time she became touchy in way that was quite new for her and which everyone in the family understood cleaning up gregor room was for her and her alone gregor mother did once thoroughly clean his room and needed to use several bucketfuls of water to do it although that much dampness also made gregor ill and he lay flat on the couch bitter and immobile but his mother was to be punished still more for what she had done as hardly had his sister arrived home in the evening than she noticed the change in gregor room and highly aggrieved ran back into the living room where despite her mothers raised and imploring hands she broke into convulsive tears her father of course was startled out of his chair and the two parents looked on astonished and helpless then they too became agitated gregor father standing to the right of his mother accused her of not leaving the cleaning of gregor room to his sister from her left gregor sister screamed at her that she was never to clean gregor room again while his mother tried to draw his father who was beside himself with anger into the bedroom his sister quaking with tears thumped on the table with her small fists and gregor hissed in anger that no one had even thought of closing the door to save him the sight of this and all its noise gregor sister was exhausted from going out to work and looking after gregor as she had done before was even more work for her but even so his mother ought certainly not to have taken her place gregor on the other hand ought not to be neglected now though the charwoman was here this elderly widow with robust bone structure that made her able to withstand the hardest of things in her long life wasn really repelled by gregor just by chance one day rather than any real curiosity she opened the door to gregor room and found herself face to face with him he was taken totally by surprise no one was chasing him but he began to rush to and fro while she just stood there in amazement with her hands crossed in front of her from then on she never failed to open the door slightly every evening and morning and look briefly in on him at first she would call to him as she did so with words that she probably considered friendly such as come on then you old dung beetle or look at the old dung beetle there gregor never responded to being spoken to in that way but just remained where he was without moving as if the door had never even been opened if only they had told this charwoman to clean up his room every day instead of letting her disturb him for no reason whenever she felt like it one day early in the morning while heavy rain struck the windowpanes perhaps indicating that spring was coming she began to speak to him in that way once again gregor was so resentful of it that he started to move toward her he was slow and infirm but it was like kind of attack instead of being afraid the charwoman just lifted up one of the chairs from near the door and stood there with her mouth open clearly intending not to close her mouth until the chair in her hand had been slammed down into gregor back aren you coming any closer then she asked when gregor turned round again and she calmly put the chair back in the corner gregor had almost entirely stopped eating only if he happened to find himself next to the food that had been prepared for him he might take some of it into his mouth to play with it leave it there few hours and then more often than not spit it out again at first he thought it was distress at the state of his room that stopped him eating but he had soon got used to the changes made there they had got into the habit of putting things into this room that they had no room for anywhere else and there were now many such things as one of the rooms in the flat had been rented out to three gentlemen these earnest gentlemen all three of them had full beards as gregor learned peering through the crack in the door one day were painfully insistent on things being tidy this meant not only in their own room but since they had taken room in this establishment in the entire flat and especially in the kitchen unnecessary clutter was something they could not tolerate especially if it was dirty they had moreover brought most of their own furnishings and equipment with them for this reason many things had become superfluous which although they could not be sold the family did not wish to discard all these things found their way into gregor room the dustbins from the kitchen found their way in there too the charwoman was always in hurry and anything she couldn use for the time being she would just chuck in there he fortunately would usually see no more than the object and the hand that held it the woman most likely meant to fetch the things back out again when she had time and the opportunity or to throw everything out in one go but what actually happened was that they were left where they landed when they had first been thrown unless gregor made his way through the junk and moved it somewhere else at first he moved it because with no other room free where he could crawl about he was forced to but later on he came to enjoy it although moving about in the way left him sad and tired to death and he would remain immobile for hours afterwards the gentlemen who rented the room would sometimes take their evening meal at home in the living room that was used by everyone and so the door to this room was often kept closed in the evening but gregor found it easy to give up having the door open he had after all often failed to make use of it when it was open and without the family having noticed it lain in his room in its darkest corner one time though the charwoman left the door to the living room slightly open and it remained open when the gentlemen who rented the room came in in the evening and the light was put on they sat up at the table where formerly gregor had taken his meals with his father and mother they unfolded the serviettes and picked up their knives and forks gregor mother immediately appeared in the doorway with dish of meat and soon behind her came his sister with dish piled high with potatoes the food was steaming and filled the room with its smell the gentlemen bent over the dishes set in front of them as if they wanted to test the food before eating it and the gentleman in the middle who seemed to count as an authority for the other two did indeed cut off piece of meat while it was still in its dish clearly wishing to establish whether it was sufficiently cooked or whether it should be sent back to the kitchen it was to his satisfaction and gregor mother and sister who had been looking on anxiously began to breathe again and smiled the family themselves ate in the kitchen nonetheless gregor father came into the living room before he went into the kitchen bowed once with his cap in his hand and did his round of the table the gentlemen stood as one and mumbled something into their beards then once they were alone they ate in near perfect silence it seemed remarkable to gregor that above all the various noises of eating their chewing teeth could still be heard as if they had wanted to show gregor that you need teeth in order to eat and it was not possible to perform anything with jaws that are toothless however nice they might be like to eat something said gregor anxiously but not anything like they re eating they do feed themselves and here am dying throughout all this time gregor could not remember having heard the violin being played but this evening it began to be heard from the kitchen the three gentlemen had already finished their meal the one in the middle had produced newspaper given page to each of the others and now they leant back in their chairs reading them and smoking when the violin began playing they became attentive stood up and went on tip toe over to the door of the hallway where they stood pressed against each other someone must have heard them in the kitchen as gregor father called out is the playing perhaps unpleasant for the gentlemen we can stop it straight away on the contrary said the middle gentleman would the young lady not like to come in and play for us here in the room where it is after all much more cosy and comfortable oh yes we love to called back gregor father as if he had been the violin player himself the gentlemen stepped back into the room and waited gregor father soon appeared with the music stand his mother with the music and his sister with the violin she calmly prepared everything for her to begin playing his parents who had never rented room out before and therefore showed an exaggerated courtesy towards the three gentlemen did not even dare to sit on their own chairs his father leant against the door with his right hand pushed in between two buttons on his uniform coat his mother though was offered seat by one of the gentlemen and sat leaving the chair where the gentleman happened to have placed it out of the way in corner his sister began to play father and mother paid close attention one on each side to the movements of her hands drawn in by the playing gregor had dared to come forward little and already had his head in the living room before he had taken great pride in how considerate he was but now it hardly occurred to him that he had become so thoughtless about the others what more there was now all the more reason to keep himself hidden as he was covered in the dust that lay everywhere in his room and flew up at the slightest movement he carried threads hairs and remains of food about on his back and sides he was much too indifferent to everything now to lay on his back and wipe himself on the carpet like he had used to do several times day and despite this condition he was not too shy to move forward little onto the immaculate floor of the living room no one noticed him though the family was totally preoccupied with the violin playing at first the three gentlemen had put their hands in their pockets and come up far too close behind the music stand to look at all the notes being played and they must have disturbed gregor sister but soon in contrast with the family they withdrew back to the window with their heads sunk and talking to each other at half volume and they stayed by the window while gregor father observed them anxiously it really now seemed very obvious that they had expected to hear some beautiful or entertaining violin playing but had been disappointed that they had had enough of the whole performance and it was only now out of politeness that they allowed their peace to be disturbed it was especially unnerving the way they all blew the smoke from their cigarettes upwards from their mouth and noses yet gregor sister was playing so beautifully her face was leant to one side following the lines of music with careful and melancholy expression gregor crawled little further forward keeping his head close to the ground so that he could meet her eyes if the chance came was he an animal if music could captivate him so it seemed to him that he was being shown the way to the unknown nourishment he had been yearning for he was determined to make his way forward to his sister and tug at her skirt to show her she might come into his room with her violin as no one appreciated her playing here as much as he would he never wanted to let her out of his room not while he lived anyway his shocking appearance should for once be of some use to him he wanted to be at every door of his room at once to hiss and spit at the attackers his sister should not be forced to stay with him though but stay of her own free will she would sit beside him on the couch with her ear bent down to him while he told her how he had always intended to send her to the conservatory how he would have told everyone about it last christmas had christmas really come and gone already if this misfortune hadn got in the way and refuse to let anyone dissuade him from it on hearing all this his sister would break out in tears of emotion and gregor would climb up to her shoulder and kiss her neck which since she had been going out to work she had kept free without any necklace or collar mr samsa shouted the middle gentleman to gregor father pointing without wasting any more words with his forefinger at gregor as he slowly moved forward the violin went silent the middle of the three gentlemen first smiled at his two friends shaking his head and then looked back at gregor his father seemed to think it more important to calm the three gentlemen before driving gregor out even though they were not at all upset and seemed to think gregor was more entertaining that the violin playing had been he rushed up to them with his arms spread out and attempted to drive them back into their room at the same time as trying to block their view of gregor with his body now they did become little annoyed and it was not clear whether it was his father behaviour that annoyed them or the dawning realisation that they had had neighbour like gregor in the next room without knowing it they asked gregor father for explanations raised their arms like he had tugged excitedly at their beards and moved back towards their room only very slowly meanwhile gregor sister had overcome the despair she had fallen into when her playing was suddenly interrupted she had let her hands drop and let violin and bow hang limply for while but continued to look at the music as if still playing but then she suddenly pulled herself together lay the instrument on her mother lap who still sat laboriously struggling for breath where she was and ran into the next room which under pressure from her father the three gentlemen were more quickly moving toward under his sister experienced hand the pillows and covers on the beds flew up and were put into order and she had already finished making the beds and slipped out again before the three gentlemen had reached the room gregor father seemed so obsessed with what he was doing that he forgot all the respect he owed to his tenants he urged them and pressed them until when he was already at the door of the room the middle of the three gentlemen shouted like thunder and stamped his foot and thereby brought gregor father to halt declare here and now he said raising his hand and glancing at gregor mother and sister to gain their attention too that with regard to the repugnant conditions that prevail in this flat and with this family here he looked briefly but decisively at the floor give immediate notice on my room for the days that have been living here will of course pay nothing at all on the contrary will consider whether to proceed with some kind of action for damages from you and believe me it would be very easy to set out the grounds for such an action he was silent and looked straight ahead as if waiting for something and indeed his two friends joined in with the words and we also give immediate notice with that he took hold of the door handle and slammed the door gregor father staggered back to his seat feeling his way with his hands and fell into it it looked as if he was stretching himself out for his usual evening nap but from the uncontrolled way his head kept nodding it could be seen that he was not sleeping at all throughout all this gregor had lain still where the three gentlemen had first seen him his disappointment at the failure of his plan and perhaps also because he was weak from hunger made it impossible for him to move he was sure that everyone would turn on him any moment and he waited he was not even startled out of this state when the violin on his mother lap fell from her trembling fingers and landed loudly on the floor father mother said his sister hitting the table with her hand as introduction we can carry on like this maybe you can see it but can don want to call this monster my brother all can say is we have to try and get rid of it we ve done all that humanly possible to look after it and be patient don think anyone could accuse us of doing anything wrong she absolutely right said gregor father to himself his mother who still had not had time to catch her breath began to cough dully her hand held out in front of her and deranged expression in her eyes gregor sister rushed to his mother and put her hand on her forehead her words seemed to give gregor father some more definite ideas he sat upright played with his uniform cap between the plates left by the three gentlemen after their meal and occasionally looked down at gregor as he lay there immobile we have to try and get rid of it said gregor sister now speaking only to her father as her mother was too occupied with coughing to listen it ll be the death of both of you can see it coming we can all work as hard as we have to and then come home to be tortured like this we can endure it can endure it any more and she broke out so heavily in tears that they flowed down the face of her mother and she wiped them away with mechanical hand movements my child said her father with sympathy and obvious understanding what are we to do his sister just shrugged her shoulders as sign of the helplessness and tears that had taken hold of her displacing her earlier certainty if he could just understand us said his father almost as question his sister shook her hand vigorously through her tears as sign that of that there was no question if he could just understand us repeated gregor father closing his eyes in acceptance of his sister certainty that that was quite impossible then perhaps we could come to some kind of arrangement with him but as it is it got to go shouted his sister that the only way father you ve got to get rid of the idea that that gregor we ve only harmed ourselves by believing it for so long how can that be gregor if it were gregor he would have seen long ago that it not possible for human beings to live with an animal like that and he would have gone of his own free will we wouldn have brother any more then but we could carry on with our lives and remember him with respect as it is this animal is persecuting us it driven out our tenants it obviously wants to take over the whole flat and force us to sleep on the streets father look just look she suddenly screamed he starting again in her alarm which was totally beyond gregor comprehension his sister even abandoned his mother as she pushed herself vigorously out of her chair as if more willing to sacrifice her own mother than stay anywhere near gregor she rushed over to behind her father who had become excited merely because she was and stood up half raising his hands in front of gregor sister as if to protect her but gregor had had no intention of frightening anyone least of all his sister all he had done was begin to turn round so that he could go back into his room although that was in itself quite startling as his pain wracked condition meant that turning round required great deal of effort and he was using his head to help himself do it repeatedly raising it and striking it against the floor he stopped and looked round they seemed to have realised his good intention and had only been alarmed briefly now they all looked at him in unhappy silence his mother lay in her chair with her legs stretched out and pressed against each other her eyes nearly closed with exhaustion his sister sat next to his father with her arms around his neck maybe now they ll let me turn round thought gregor and went back to work he could not help panting loudly with the effort and had sometimes to stop and take rest no one was making him rush any more everything was left up to him as soon as he had finally finished turning round he began to move straight ahead he was amazed at the great distance that separated him from his room and could not understand how he had covered that distance in his weak state little while before and almost without noticing it he concentrated on crawling as fast as he could and hardly noticed that there was not word not any cry from his family to distract him he did not turn his head until he had reached the doorway he did not turn it all the way round as he felt his neck becoming stiff but it was nonetheless enough to see that nothing behind him had changed only his sister had stood up with his last glance he saw that his mother had now fallen completely asleep he was hardly inside his room before the door was hurriedly shut bolted and locked the sudden noise behind gregor so startled him that his little legs collapsed under him it was his sister who had been in so much of rush she had been standing there waiting and sprung forward lightly gregor had not heard her coming at all and as she turned the key in the lock she said loudly to her parents at last what now then gregor asked himself as he looked round in the darkness he soon made the discovery that he could no longer move at all this was no surprise to him it seemed rather that being able to actually move around on those spindly little legs until then was unnatural he also felt relatively comfortable it is true that his entire body was aching but the pain seemed to be slowly getting weaker and weaker and would finally disappear altogether he could already hardly feel the decayed apple in his back or the inflamed area around it which was entirely covered in white dust he thought back of his family with emotion and love if it was possible he felt that he must go away even more strongly than his sister he remained in this state of empty and peaceful rumination until he heard the clock tower strike three in the morning he watched as it slowly began to get light everywhere outside the window too then without his willing it his head sank down completely and his last breath flowed weakly from his nostrils when the cleaner came in early in the morning they often asked her not to keep slamming the doors but with her strength and in her hurry she still did so that everyone in the flat knew when she arrived and from then on it was impossible to sleep in peace she made her usual brief look in on gregor and at first found nothing special she thought he was laying there so still on purpose playing the martyr she attributed all possible understanding to him she happened to be holding the long broom in her hand so she tried to tickle gregor with it from the doorway when she had no success with that she tried to make nuisance of herself and poked at him little and only when she found she could shove him across the floor with no resistance at all did she start to pay attention she soon realised what had really happened opened her eyes wide whistled to herself but did not waste time to yank open the bedroom doors and shout loudly into the darkness of the bedrooms come and ave look at this it dead just lying there stone dead mr and mrs samsa sat upright there in their marriage bed and had to make an effort to get over the shock caused by the cleaner before they could grasp what she was saying but then each from his own side they hurried out of bed mr samsa threw the blanket over his shoulders mrs samsa just came out in her nightdress and that is how they went into gregor room on the way they opened the door to the living room where grete had been sleeping since the three gentlemen had moved in she was fully dressed as if she had never been asleep and the paleness of her face seemed to confirm this dead asked mrs samsa looking at the charwoman enquiringly even though she could have checked for herself and could have known it even without checking that what said replied the cleaner and to prove it she gave gregor body another shove with the broom sending it sideways across the floor mrs samsa made movement as if she wanted to hold back the broom but did not complete it now then said mr samsa let give thanks to god for that he crossed himself and the three women followed his example grete who had not taken her eyes from the corpse said just look how thin he was he didn eat anything for so long the food came out again just the same as when it went in gregor body was indeed completely dried up and flat they had not seen it until then but now he was not lifted up on his little legs nor did he do anything to make them look away grete come with us in here for little while said mrs samsa with pained smile and grete followed her parents into the bedroom but not without looking back at the body the cleaner shut the door and opened the window wide although it was still early in the morning the fresh air had something of warmth mixed in with it it was already the end of march after all the three gentlemen stepped out of their room and looked round in amazement for their breakfasts they had been forgotten about where is our breakfast the middle gentleman asked the cleaner irritably she just put her finger on her lips and made quick and silent sign to the men that they might like to come into gregor room they did so and stood around gregor corpse with their hands in the pockets of their well worn coats it was now quite light in the room then the door of the bedroom opened and mr samsa appeared in his uniform with his wife on one arm and his daughter on the other all of them had been crying little grete now and then pressed her face against her father arm leave my home now said mr samsa indicating the door and without letting the women from him what do you mean asked the middle of the three gentlemen somewhat disconcerted and he smiled sweetly the other two held their hands behind their backs and continually rubbed them together in gleeful anticipation of loud quarrel which could only end in their favour mean just what said answered mr samsa and with his two companions went in straight line towards the man at first he stood there still looking at the ground as if the contents of his head were rearranging themselves into new positions alright we ll go then he said and looked up at mr samsa as if he had been suddenly overcome with humility and wanted permission again from mr samsa for his decision mr samsa merely opened his eyes wide and briefly nodded to him several times at that and without delay the man actually did take long strides into the front hallway his two friends had stopped rubbing their hands some time before and had been listening to what was being said now they jumped off after their friend as if taken with sudden fear that mr samsa might go into the hallway in front of them and break the connection with their leader once there all three took their hats from the stand took their sticks from the holder bowed without word and left the premises mr samsa and the two women followed them out onto the landing but they had had no reason to mistrust the men intentions and as they leaned over the landing they saw how the three gentlemen made slow but steady progress down the many steps as they turned the corner on each floor they disappeared and would reappear few moments later the further down they went the more that the samsa family lost interest in them when butcher boy proud of posture with his tray on his head passed them on his way up and came nearer than they were mr samsa and the women came away from the landing and went as if relieved back into the flat they decided the best way to make use of that day was for relaxation and to go for walk not only had they earned break from work but they were in serious need of it so they sat at the table and wrote three letters of excusal mr samsa to his employers mrs samsa to her contractor and grete to her principal the cleaner came in while they were writing to tell them she was going she finished her work for that morning the three of them at first just nodded without looking up from what they were writing and it was only when the cleaner still did not seem to want to leave that they looked up in irritation well asked mr samsa the charwoman stood in the doorway with smile on her face as if she had some tremendous good news to report but would only do it if she was clearly asked to the almost vertical little ostrich feather on her hat which had been source of irritation to mr samsa all the time she had been working for them swayed gently in all directions what is it you want then asked mrs samsa whom the cleaner had the most respect for yes she answered and broke into friendly laugh that made her unable to speak straight away well then that thing in there you needn worry about how you re going to get rid of it that all been sorted out mrs samsa and grete bent down over their letters as if intent on continuing with what they were writing mr samsa saw that the cleaner wanted to start describing everything in detail but with outstretched hand he made it quite clear that she was not to so as she was prevented from telling them all about it she suddenly remembered what hurry she was in and clearly peeved called out cheerio then everyone turned round sharply and left slamming the door terribly as she went tonight she gets sacked said mr samsa but he received no reply from either his wife or his daughter as the charwoman seemed to have destroyed the peace they had only just gained they got up and went over to the window where they remained with their arms around each other mr samsa twisted round in his chair to look at them and sat there watching for while then he called out come here then let forget about all that old stuff shall we come and give me bit of attention the two women immediately did as he said hurrying over to him where they kissed him and hugged him and then they quickly finished their letters after that the three of them left the flat together which was something they had not done for months and took the tram out to the open country outside the town they had the tram filled with warm sunshine all to themselves leant back comfortably on their seats they discussed their prospects and found that on closer examination they were not at all bad until then they had never asked each other about their work but all three had jobs which were very good and held particularly good promise for the future the greatest improvement for the time being of course would be achieved quite easily by moving house what they needed now was flat that was smaller and cheaper than the current one which had been chosen by gregor one that was in better location and most of all more practical all the time grete was becoming livelier with all the worry they had been having of late her cheeks had become pale but while they were talking mr and mrs samsa were struck almost simultaneously with the thought of how their daughter was blossoming into well built and beautiful young lady they became quieter just from each other glance and almost without knowing it they agreed that it would soon be time to find good man for her and as if in confirmation of their new dreams and good intentions as soon as they reached their destination grete was the first to get up and stretch out her young body once when was six years old saw magnificent picture in book called true stories from nature about the primeval forest it was picture of boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal here is copy of the drawing in the book it said boa constrictors swallow their prey whole without chewing it after that they are not able to move and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion pondered deeply then over the adventures of the jungle and after some work with colored pencil succeeded in making my first drawing my drawing number one it looked like this showed my masterpiece to the grown ups and asked them whether the drawing frightened them but they answered frighten why should any one be frightened by hat my drawing was not picture of hat it was picture of boa constrictor digesting an elephant but since the grown ups were not able to understand it made another drawing drew the inside of the boa constrictor so that the grown ups could see it clearly they always need to have things explained my drawing number two looked like this the grown ups response this time was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors whether from the inside or the outside and devote myself instead to geography history arithmetic and grammar that is why at the age of six gave up what might have been magnificent career as painter had been disheartened by the failure of my drawing number one and my drawing number two grown ups never understand anything by themselves and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them so then chose another profession and learned to pilot airplanes have flown little over all parts of the world and it is true that geography has been very useful to me at glance can distinguish china from arizona if one gets lost in the night such knowledge is valuable in the course of this life have had great many encounters with great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence have lived great deal among grown ups have seen them intimately close at hand and that hasn much improved my opinion of them whenever met one of them who seemed to me at all clear sighted tried the experiment of showing him my drawing number one which have always kept would try to find out so if this was person of true understanding but whoever it was he or she would always say that is hat then would never talk to that person about boa constrictors or primeval forests or stars would bring myself down to his level would talk to him about bridge and golf and politics and neckties and the grown up would be greatly pleased to have met such sensible man chapter the narrator crashes in the desert and makes the acquaintance of the little prince so lived my life alone without anyone that could really talk to until had an accident with my plane in the desert of sahara six years ago something was broken in my engine and as had with me neither mechanic nor any passengers set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone it was question of life or death for me had scarcely enough drinking water to last week the first night then went to sleep on the sand thousand miles from any human habitation was more isolated than shipwrecked sailor on raft in the middle of the ocean thus you can imagine my amazement at sunrise when was awakened by an odd little voice it said if you please draw me sheep what draw me sheep jumped to my feet completely thunderstruck blinked my eyes hard looked carefully all around me and saw most extraordinary small person who stood there examining me with great seriousness here you may see the best potrait that later was able to make of him but my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model that however is not my fault the grown ups discouraged me in my painter career when was six years old and never learned to draw anything except boas from the outside and boas from the inside now stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment remember had crashed in the desert thousand miles from any inhabited region and yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear nothing about him gave any suggestion of child lost in the middle of the desert thousand miles from any human habitation when at last was able to speak said to him but what are you doing here and in answer he repeated very slowly as if he were speaking of matter of great consequence if you please draw me sheep when mystery is too overpowering one dare not disobey absurd as it might seem to me thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death took out of my pocket sheet of paper and my fountain pen but then remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography history arithmetic and grammar and told the little chap little crossly too that did not know how to draw he answered me that doesn matter draw me sheep but had never drawn sheep so drew for him one of the two pictures had drawn so often it was that of the boa constrictor from the outside and was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with no no no do not want an elephant inside boa constrictor boa constrictor is very dangerous creature and an elephant is very cumbersome where live everything is very small what need is sheep draw me sheep so then made drawing he looked at it carefully then he said no this sheep is already very sickly make me another so made another drawing my friend smiled gently and indulgenty you see yourself he said that this is not sheep this is ram it has horns so then did my drawing over once more but it was rejected too just like the others this one is too old want sheep that will live long time by this time my patience was exhausted because was in hurry to start taking my engine apart so tossed off this drawing and threw out an explanation with it this is only his box the sheep you asked for is inside was very surprised to see light break over the face of my young judge that is exactly the way wanted it do you think that this sheep will have to have great deal of grass why because where live everything is very small there will surely be enough grass for him said it is very small sheep that have given you he bent his head over the drawing not so small that look he has gone to sleep and that is how made the acquaintance of the little prince chapter the narrator learns more about from where the little prince came it took me long time to learn where he came from the little prince who asked me so many questions never seemed to hear the ones asked him it was from words dropped by chance that little by little everything was revealed to me the first time he saw my airplane for instance shall not draw my airplane that would be much too complicated for me he asked me what is that object that is not an object it flies it is an airplane it is my airplane and was proud to have him learn that could fly he cried out then what you dropped down from the sky yes answered modestly oh that is funny and the little prince broke into lovely peal of laughter which irritated me very much like my misfortunes to be taken seriously then he added so you too come from the sky which is your planet at that moment caught gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence and demanded abruptly do you come from another planet but he did not reply he tossed his head gently without taking his eyes from my plane it is true that on that you can have come from very far away and he sank into reverie which lasted long time then taking my sheep out of his pocket he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure you can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half confidence about the other planets made great effort therefore to find out more on this subject my little man where do you come from what is this where live of which you speak where do you want to take your sheep after reflective silence he answered the thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house that is so and if you are good will give you string too so that you can tie him during the day and post to tie him to but the little prince seemed shocked by this offer tie him what queer idea but if you don tie him said he will wander off somewhere and get lost my friend broke into another peal of laughter but where do you think he would go anywhere straight ahead of him then the little prince said earnestly that doesn matter where live everything is so small and with perhaps hint of sadness he added straight ahead of him nobody can go very far chapter the narrator speculates as to which asteroid from which the little prince came had thus learned second fact of great importance this was that the planet the little prince came from was scarcely any larger than house but that did not really surprise me much knew very well that in addition to the great planets such as the earth jupiter mars venus to which we have given names there are also hundreds of others some of which are so small that one has hard time seeing them through the telescope when an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it name but only number he might call it for example asteroid have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as this asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope that was by turkish astronomer in on making his discovery the astronomer had presented it to the international astronomical congress in great demonstration but he was in turkish costume and so nobody would believe what he said grown ups are like that fortunately however for the reputation of asteroid turkish dictator made law that his subjects under pain of death should change to european costume so in the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again dressed with impressive style and elegance and this time everybody accepted his report if have told you these details about the asteroid and made note of its number for you it is on account of the grown ups and their ways when you tell them that you have made new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters they never say to you what does his voice sound like what games does he love best does he collect butterflies instead they demand how old is he how many brothers has he how much does he weigh how much money does his father make only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him if you were to say to the grown ups saw beautiful house made of rosy brick with geraniums in the windows and doves on the roof they would not be able to get any idea of that house at all you would have to say to them saw house that cost then they would exclaim oh what pretty house that is just so you might say to them the proof that the little prince existed is that he was charming that he laughed and that he was looking for sheep if anybody wants sheep that is proof that he exists and what good would it do to tell them that they would shrug their shoulders and treat you like child but if you said to them the planet he came from is asteroid then they would be convinced and leave you in peace from their questions they are like that one must not hold it against them children should always show great forbearance toward grown up people but certainly for us who understand life figures are matter of indifference should have liked to begin this story in the fashion of the fairy tales should have like to say once upon time there was little prince who lived on planet that was scarcely any bigger than himself and who had need of sheep to those who understand life that would have given much greater air of truth to my story for do not want any one to read my book carelessly have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories six years have already passed since my friend went away from me with his sheep if try to describe him here it is to make sure that shall not forget him to forget friend is sad not every one has had friend and if forget him may become like the grown ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures it is for that purpose again that have bought box of paints and some pencils it is hard to take up drawing again at my age when have never made any pictures except those of the boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside since was six shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible but am not at all sure of success one drawing goes along all right and another has no resemblance to its subject make some errors too in the little prince height in one place he is too tall and in another too short and feel some doubts about the color of his costume so fumble along as best can now good now bad and hope generally fair to middling in certain more important details shall make mistakes also but that is something that will not be my fault my friend never explained anything to me he thought perhaps that was like himself but alas do not know how to see sheep through he walls of boxes perhaps am little like the grown ups have had to grow old chapter we are warned as to the dangers of the baobabs as each day passed would learn in our talk something about the little prince planet his departure from it his journey the information would come very slowly as it might chance to fall from his thoughts it was in this way that heard on the third day about the catastrophe of the baobabs this time once more had the sheep to thank for it for the little prince asked me abruptly as if seized by grave doubt it is true isn it that sheep eat little bushes yes that is true ah am glad did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes but the little prince added then it follows that they also eat baobabs pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes but on the contrary trees as big as castles and that even if he took whole herd of elephants away with him the herd would not eat up one single baobab the idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh we would have to put them one on top of the other he said but he made wise comment before they grow so big the baobabs start out by being little that is strictly correct said but why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs he answered me at once oh come come as if he were speaking of something that was self evident and was obliged to make great mental effort to solve this problem without any assistance indeed as learned there were on the planet where the little prince lived as on all planets good plants and bad plants in consequence there were good seeds from good plants and bad seeds from bad plants but seeds are invisible they sleep deep in the heart of the earth darkness until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken then this little seed will stretch itself and begin timidly at first to push charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun if it is only sprout of radish or the sprig of rose bush one would let it grow wherever it might wish but when it is bad plant one must destroy it as soon as possible the very first instant that one recognizes it now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince and these were the seeds of the baobab the soil of that planet was infested with them baobab is something you will never never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late it spreads over the entire planet it bores clear through it with its roots and if the planet is too small and the baobabs are too many they split it in pieces it is question of discipline the little prince said to me later on when you ve finished your own toilet in the morning then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet just so with the greatest care you must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth it is very tedious work the little prince added but very easy and one day he said to me you ought to make beautiful drawing so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is that would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day sometimes he added there is no harm in putting off piece of work until another day but when it is matter of baobabs that always means catastrophe knew planet that was inhabited by lazy man he neglected three little bushes so as the little prince described it to me have made drawing of that planet do not much like to take the tone of moralist but the danger of the baobabs is so little understood and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid that for once am breaking through my reserve children say plainly watch out for the baobabs my friends like myself have been skirting this danger for long time without ever knowing it and so it is for them that have worked so hard over this drawing the lesson which pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me perhaps you will ask me why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs the reply is simple have tried but with the others have not been successful when made the drawing of the baobabs was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity chapter the little prince and the narrator talk about sunsets oh little prince bit by bit came to understand the secrets of your sad little life for long time you had found your only entertainment in the quiet pleasure of looking at the sunset learned that new detail on the morning of the fourth day hen you said to me am very fond of sunsets come let us go look at sunset now but we must wait said wait for what for the sunset we must wait until it is time at first you seemed to be very much surprised and then you laughed to yourself you said to me am always thinking that am at home just so everybody knows that when it is noon in the united states the sun is setting over france if you could fly to france in one minute you could go straight into the sunset right from noon unfortunately france is too far away for that but on your tiny planet my little prince all you need do is move your chair few steps you can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like one day you said to me saw the sunset forty four times and little later you added you know one loves the sunset when one is so sad were you so sad then asked on the day of the forty four sunsets but the little prince made no reply chapter the narrator learns about the secret of the little prince life on the fifth day again as always it was thanks to the sheep the secret of the little prince life was revealed to me abruptly without anything to lead up to it and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem he demanded sheep if it eats little bushes does it eat flowers too sheep answered eats anything it finds in its reach even flowers that have thorns yes even flowers that have thorns then the thorns what use are they did not know at that moment was very busy trying to unscrew bolt that had got stuck in my engine was very much worried for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious and had so little drinking water left that had to fear for the worst the thorns what use are they the little prince never let go of question once he had asked it as for me was upset over that bolt and answered with the first thing that came into my head the thorns are of no use at all flowers have thorns just for spite oh there was moment of complete silence then the little prince flashed back at me with kind of resentfulness don believe you flowers are weak creatures they are na they reassure themselves as best they can they believe that their thorns are terrible weapons did not answer at that instant was saying to myself if this bolt still won turn am going to knock it out with the hammer again the little prince disturbed my thoughts and you actually believe that the flowers oh no cried no no no don believe anything answered you with the first thing that came into my head don you see am very busy with matters of consequence he stared at me thunderstruck matters of consequence he looked at me there with my hammer in my hand my fingers black with engine grease bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly you talk just like the grown ups that made me little ashamed but he went on relentlessly you mix everything up together you confuse everything he was really very angry he tossed his golden curls in the breeze know planet where there is certain red faced gentleman he has never smelled flower he has never looked at star he has never loved any one he has never done anything in his life but add up figures and all day he says over and over just like you am busy with matters of consequence and that makes him swell up with pride but he is not man he is mushroom what mushroom the little prince was now white with rage the flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years for millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same and is it not matter of consequence to try to understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important is this not of more consequence than fat red faced gentleman sums and if know myself one flower which is unique in the world which grows nowhere but on my planet but which one little sheep can destroy in single bite some morning without even noticing what he is doing oh you think that is not important his face turned from white to red as he continued if some one loves flower of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars he can say to himself somewhere my flower is there but if the sheep eats the flower in one moment all his stars will be darkened and you think that is not important he could not say anything more his words were choked by sobbing the night had fallen had let my tools drop from my hands of what moment now was my hammer my bolt or thirst or death on one star one planet my planet the earth there was little prince to be comforted took him in my arms and rocked him said to him the flower that you love is not in danger will draw you muzzle for your sheep will draw you railing to put around your flower will did not know what to say to him felt awkward and blundering did not know how could reach him where could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more it is such secret place the land of tears chapter the rose arrives at the little prince planet soon learned to know this flower better on the little prince planet the flowers had always been very simple they had only one ring of petals they took up no room at all they were trouble to nobody one morning they would appear in the grass and by night they would have faded peacefully away but one day from seed blown from no one knew where new flower had come up and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet it might you see have been new kind of baobab the shrub soon stopped growing and began to get ready to produce flower the little prince who was present at the first appearance of huge bud felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it but the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber she chose her colours with the greatest care she adjusted her petals one by one she did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled like the field poppies it was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear oh yes she was coquettish creature and her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days then one morning exactly at sunrise she suddenly showed herself and after working with all this painstaking precision she yawned and said ah am scarcely awake beg that you will excuse me my petals are still all disarranged but the little prince could not restrain his admiration oh how beautiful you are am not the flower responded sweetly and was born at the same moment as the sun the little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest but how moving and exciting she was think it is time for breakfast she added an instant later if you would have the kindness to think of my needs and the little prince completely abashed went to look for sprinkling can of fresh water so he tended the flower so too she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity which was if the truth be known little difficult to deal with one day for instance when she was speaking of her four thorns she said to the little prince let the tigers come with their claws there are no tigers on my planet the little prince objected and anyway tigers do not eat weeds am not weed the flower replied sweetly please excuse me am not at all afraid of tigers she went on but have horror of drafts suppose you wouldn have screen for me horror of drafts that is bad luck for plant remarked the little prince and added to himself this flower is very complex creature at night want you to put me under glass globe it is very cold where you live in the place came from but she interrupted herself at that point she had come in the form of seed she could not have known anything of any other worlds embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such na untruth she coughed two or three times in order to put the little prince in the wrong the screen was just going to look for it when you spoke to me then she forced her cough little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same so the little prince in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love had soon come to doubt her he had taken seriously words which were without importance and it made him very unhappy ought not to have listened to her he confided to me one day one never ought to listen to the flowers one should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance mine perfumed all my planet but did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace this tale of claws which disturbed me so much should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity and he continued his confidences the fact is that did not know how to understand anything ought to have judged by deeds and not by words she cast her fragrance and her radiance over me ought never to have run away from her ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems flowers are so inconsistent but was too young to know how to love her chapter the little prince leaves his planet believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of flock of wild birds on the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order he carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes he possessed two active volcanoes and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning he also had one volcano that was extinct but as he said one never knows so he cleaned out the extinct volcano too if they are well cleaned out volcanoes burn slowly and steadily without any eruptions volcanic eruptions are like fires in chimney on our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes that is why they bring no end of trouble upon us the little prince also pulled up with certain sense of dejection the last little shoots of the baobabs he believed that he would never want to return but on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him and when he watered the flower for the last time and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe he realised that he was very close to tears goodbye he said to the flower but she made no answer goodbye he said again the flower coughed but it was not because she had cold have been silly she said to him at last ask your forgiveness try to be happy he was surprised by this absence of reproaches he stood there all bewildered the glass globe held arrested in mid air he did not understand this quiet sweetness of course love you the flower said to him it is my fault that you have not known it all the while that is of no importance but you you have been just as foolish as try to be happy let the glass globe be don want it any more but the wind my cold is not so bad as all that the cool night air will do me good am flower but the animals well must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if wish to become acquainted with the butterflies it seems that they are very beautiful and if not the butterflies and the caterpillars who will call upon me you will be far away as for the large animals am not at all afraid of any of them have my claws and na ely she showed her four thorns then she added don linger like this you have decided to go away now go for she did not want him to see her crying she was such proud flower chapter the little prince visits the king he found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids and he began therefore by visiting them in order to add to his knowledge the first of them was inhabited by king clad in royal purple and ermine he was seated upon throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic ah here is subject exclaimed the king when he saw the little prince coming and the little prince asked himself how could he recognize me when he had never seen me before he did not know how the world is simplified for kings to them all men are subjects approach so that may see you better said the king who felt consumingly proud of being at last king over somebody the little prince looked everywhere to find place to sit down but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king magnificent ermine robe so he remained standing upright and since he was tired he yawned it is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of king the monarch said to him forbid you to do so can help it can stop myself replied the little prince thoroughly embarrassed have come on long journey and have had no sleep ah then the king said order you to yawn it is years since have seen anyone yawning yawns to me are objects of curiosity come now yawn again it is an order that frightens me cannot any more murmured the little prince now completely abashed hum hum replied the king then order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to he sputtered little and seemed vexed for what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected he tolerated no disobedience he was an absolute monarch but because he was very good man he made his orders reasonable if ordered general he would say by way of example if ordered general to change himself into sea bird and if the general did not obey me that would not be the fault of the general it would be my fault may sit down came now timid inquiry from the little prince order you to do so the king answered him and majestically gathered in fold of his ermine mantle but the little prince was wondering the planet was tiny over what could this king really rule sire he said to him beg that you will excuse my asking you question order you to ask me question the king hastened to assure him sire over what do you rule over everything said the king with magnificent simplicity over everything the king made gesture which took in his planet the other planets and all the stars over all that asked the little prince over all that the king answered for his rule was not only absolute it was also universal and the stars obey you certainly they do the king said they obey instantly do not permit insubordination such power was thing for the little prince to marvel at if he had been master of such complete authority he would have been able to watch the sunset not forty four times in one day but seventy two or even hundred or even two hundred times with out ever having to move his chair and because he felt bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken he plucked up his courage to ask the king favor should like to see sunset do me that kindness order the sun to set if ordered general to fly from one flower to another like butterfly or to write tragic drama or to change himself into sea bird and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received which one of us would be in the wrong the king demanded the general or myself you said the little prince firmly exactly one much require from each one the duty which each one can perform the king went on accepted authority rests first of all on reason if you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea they would rise up in revolution have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable then my sunset the little prince reminded him for he never forgot question once he had asked it you shall have your sunset shall command it but according to my science of government shall wait until conditions are favorable when will that be inquired the little prince hum hum replied the king and before saying anything else he consulted bulky almanac hum hum that will be about about that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight and you will see how well am obeyed the little prince yawned he was regretting his lost sunset and then too he was already beginning to be little bored have nothing more to do here he said to the king so shall set out on my way again do not go said the king who was very proud of having subject do not go will make you minister minister of what minster of of justice but there is nobody here to judge we do not know that the king said to him have not yet made complete tour of my kingdom am very old there is no room here for carriage and it tires me to walk oh but have looked already said the little prince turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet on that side as on this there was nobody at all then you shall judge yourself the king answered that is the most difficult thing of all it is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others if you succeed in judging yourself rightly then you are indeed man of true wisdom yes said the little prince but can judge myself anywhere do not need to live on this planet hum hum said the king have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat hear him at night you can judge this old rat from time to time you will condemn him to death thus his life will depend on your justice but you will pardon him on each occasion for he must be treated thriftily he is the only one we have replied the little prince do not like to condemn anyone to death and now think will go on my way no said the king but the little prince having now completed his preparations for departure had no wish to grieve the old monarch if your majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed he said he should be able to give me reasonable order he should be able for example to order me to be gone by the end of one minute it seems to me that conditions are favorable as the king made no answer the little prince hesitated moment then with sigh he took his leave made you my ambassador the king called out hastily he had magnificent air of authority the grown ups are very strange the little prince said to himself as he continued on his journey chapter the little prince visits the conceited man the second planet was inhabited by conceited man ah ah am about to receive visit from an admirer he exclaimed from afar when he first saw the little prince coming for to conceited men all other men are admirers good morning said the little prince that is queer hat you are wearing it is hat for salutes the conceited man replied it is to raise in salute when people acclaim me unfortunately nobody at all ever passes this way yes said the little prince who did not understand what the conceited man was talking about clap your hands one against the other the conceited man now directed him the little prince clapped his hands the conceited man raised his hat in modest salute this is more entertaining than the visit to the king the little prince said to himself and he began again to clap his hands one against the other the conceited man against raised his hat in salute after five minutes of this exercise the little prince grew tired of the game monotony and what should one do to make the hat come down he asked but the conceited man did not hear him conceited people never hear anything but praise do you really admire me very much he demanded of the little prince what does that mean admire to admire mean that you regard me as the handsomest the best dressed the richest and the most intelligent man on this planet but you are the only man on your planet do me this kindness admire me just the same admire you said the little prince shrugging his shoulders slightly but what is there in that to interest you so much and the little prince went away the grown ups are certainly very odd he said to himself as he continued on his journey chapter the little prince visits the tippler the next planet was inhabited by tippler this was very short visit but it plunged the little prince into deep dejection what are you doing there he said to the tippler whom he found settled down in silence before collection of empty bottles and also collection of full bottles am drinking replied the tippler with lugubrious air why are you drinking demanded the little prince so that may forget replied the tippler forget what inquired the little prince who already was sorry for him forget that am ashamed the tippler confessed hanging his head ashamed of what insisted the little prince who wanted to help him ashamed of drinking the tippler brought his speech to an end and shut himself up in an impregnable silence and the little prince went away puzzled the grown ups are certainly very very odd he said to himself as he continued on his journey chapter the little prince visits the businessman the fourth planet belonged to businessman this man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince arrival good morning the little prince said to him your cigarette has gone out three and two make five five and seven make twelve twelve and three make fifteen good morning fifteen and seven make twenty two twenty two and six make twenty eight haven time to light it again twenty six and five make thirty one phew then that makes five hundred and one million six hundred twenty two thousand seven hundred thirty one five hundred million what asked the little prince eh are you still there five hundred and one million can stop have so much to do am concerned with matters of consequence don amuse myself with balderdash two and five make seven five hundred and one million what repeated the little prince who never in his life had let go of question once he had asked it the businessman raised his head during the fifty four years that have inhabited this planet have been disturbed only three times the first time was twenty two years ago when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where he made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place and made four mistakes in my addition the second time eleven years ago was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism don get enough exercise have no time for loafing the third time well this is it was saying then five hundred and one millions millions of what the businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question millions of those little objects he said which one sometimes sees in the sky flies oh no little glittering objects bees oh no little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming as for me am concerned with matters of consequence there is no time for idle dreaming in my life ah you mean the stars yes that it the stars and what do you do with five hundred millions of stars five hundred and one million six hundred twenty two thousand seven hundred thirty one am concerned with matters of consequence am accurate and what do you do with these stars what do do with them yes nothing own them you own the stars yes but have already seen king who kings do not own they reign over it is very different matter and what good does it do you to own the stars it does me the good of making me rich and what good does it do you to be rich it makes it possible for me to buy more stars if any are ever discovered this man the little prince said to himself reasons little like my poor tippler nevertheless he still had some more questions how is it possible for one to own the stars to whom do they belong the businessman retorted peevishly don know to nobody then they belong to me because was the first person to think of it is that all that is necessary certainly when you find diamond that belongs to nobody it is yours when you discover an island that belongs to nobody it is yours when you get an idea before any one else you take out patent on it it is yours so with me own the stars because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them yes that is true said the little prince and what do you do with them administer them replied the businessman count them and recount them it is difficult but am man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence the little prince was still not satisfied if owned silk scarf he said could put it around my neck and take it away with me if owned flower could pluck that flower and take it away with me but you cannot pluck the stars from heaven no but can put them in the bank whatever does that mean that means that write the number of my stars on little paper and then put this paper in drawer and lock it with key and that is all that is enough said the businessman it is entertaining thought the little prince it is rather poetic but it is of no great consequence on matters of consequence the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grown ups myself own flower he continued his conversation with the businessman which water every day own three volcanoes which clean out every week for also clean out the one that is extinct one never knows it is of some use to my volcanoes and it is of some use to my flower that own them but you are of no use to the stars the businessman opened his mouth but he found nothing to say in answer and the little prince went away the grown ups are certainly altogether extraordinary he said simply talking to himself as he continued on his journey chapter the little prince visits the lamplighter the fifth planet was very strange it was the smallest of all there was just enough room on it for street lamp and lamplighter the little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of street lamp and lamplighter somewhere in the heavens on planet which had no people and not one house but he said to himself nevertheless it may well be that this man is absurd but he is not so absurd as the king the conceited man the businessman and the tippler for at least his work has some meaning when he lights his street lamp it is as if he brought one more star to life or one flower when he puts out his lamp he sends the flower or the star to sleep that is beautiful occupation and since it is beautiful it is truly useful when he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter good morning why have you just put out your lamp those are the orders replied the lamplighter good morning what are the orders the orders are that put out my lamp good evening and he lighted his lamp again but why have you just lighted it again those are the orders replied the lamplighter do not understand said the little prince there is nothing to understand said the lamplighter orders are orders good morning and he put out his lamp then he mopped his forehead with handkerchief decorated with red squares follow terrible profession in the old days it was reasonable put the lamp out in the morning and in the evening lighted it again had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep and the orders have been changed since that time the orders have not been changed said the lamplighter that is the tragedy from year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed then what asked the little prince then the planet now makes complete turn every minute and no longer have single second for repose once every minute have to light my lamp and put it out that is very funny day lasts only one minute here where you live it is not funny at all said the lamplighter while we have been talking together month has gone by month yes month thirty minutes thirty days good evening and he lighted his lamp again as the little prince watched him he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders he remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek in other days merely by pulling up his chair and he wanted to help his friend you know he said can tell you way you can rest whenever you want to always want to rest said the lamplighter for it is possible for man to be faithful and lazy at the same time the little prince went on with his explanation your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it to be always in the sunshine you need only walk along rather slowly when you want to rest you will walk and the day will last as long as you like that doesn do me much good said the lamplighter the one thing love in life is to sleep then you re unlucky said the little prince am unlucky said the lamplighter good morning and he put out his lamp that man said the little prince to himself as he continued farther on his journey that man would be scorned by all the others by the king by the conceited man by the tippler by the businessman nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself he breathed sigh of regret and said to himself again that man is the only one of them all whom could have made my friend but his planet is indeed too small there is no room on it for two people what the little prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet because it was blest every day with sunsets chapter the little prince visits the geographer the sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one it was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books oh look here is an explorer he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming the little prince sat down on the table and panted little he had already traveled so much and so far where do you come from the old gentleman said to him what is that big book said the little prince what are you doing am geographer the old gentleman said to him what is geographer asked the little prince geographer is scholar who knows the location of all the seas rivers towns mountains and deserts that is very interesting said the little prince here at last is man who has real profession and he cast look around him at the planet of the geographer it was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen your planet is very beautiful he said has it any oceans couldn tell you said the geographer ah the little prince was disappointed has it any mountains couldn tell you said the geographer and towns and rivers and deserts couldn tell you that either but you are geographer exactly the geographer said but am not an explorer haven single explorer on my planet it is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns the rivers the mountains the seas the oceans and the deserts the geographer is much too important to go loafing about he does not leave his desk but he receives the explorers in his study he asks them questions and he notes down what they recall of their travels and if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer moral character why is that because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer so would an explorer who drank too much why is that asked the little prince because intoxicated men see double then the geographer would note down two mountains in place where there was only one know some one said the little prince who would make bad explorer that is possible then when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good an inquiry is ordered into his discovery one goes to see it no that would be too complicated but one requires the explorer to furnish proofs for example if the discovery in question is that of large mountain one requires that large stones be brought back from it the geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement but you you come from far away you are an explorer you shall describe your planet to me and having opened his big register the geographer sharpened his pencil the recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil one waits until the explorer has furnished proofs before putting them down in ink well said the geographer expectantly oh where live said the little prince it is not very interesting it is all so small have three volcanoes two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct but one never knows one never knows said the geographer have also flower we do not record flowers said the geographer why is that the flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet we do not record them said the geographer because they are ephemeral what does that mean ephemeral geographies said the geographer are the books which of all books are most concerned with matters of consequence they never become old fashioned it is very rarely that mountain changes its position it is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters we write of eternal things but extinct volcanoes may come to life again the little prince interrupted what does that mean ephemeral whether volcanoes are extinct or alive it comes to the same thing for us said the geographer the thing that matters to us is the mountain it does not change but what does that mean ephemeral repeated the little prince who never in his life had let go of question once he had asked it it means which is in danger of speedy disappearance is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance certainly it is my flower is ephemeral the little prince said to himself and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world and have left her on my planet all alone that was his first moment of regret but he took courage once more what place would you advise me to visit now he asked the planet earth replied the geographer it has good reputation and the little prince went away thinking of his flower chapter the narrator discusses the earth lamplighters so then the seventh planet was the earth the earth is not just an ordinary planet one can count there kings not forgetting to be sure the negro kings among them geographers businessmen tipplers conceited men that is to say about grown ups to give you an idea of the size of the earth will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain over the whole of the six continents veritable army of lamplighters for the street lamps seen from slight distance that would make splendid spectacle the movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the opera first would come the turn of the lamplighters of new zealand and australia having set their lamps alight these would go off to sleep next the lamplighters of china and siberia would enter for their steps in the dance and then they too would be waved back into the wings after that would come the turn of the lamplighters of russia and the indies then those of africa and europe then those of south america then those of south america then those of north america and never would they make mistake in the order of their entry upon the stage it would be magnificent only the man who was in charge of the single lamp at the north pole and his colleague who was responsible for the single lamp at the south pole only these two would live free from toil and care they would be busy twice year chapter the little prince makes the acquaintance of the snake when one wishes to play the wit he sometimes wanders little from the truth have not been altogether honest in what have told you about the lamplighters and realize that run the risk of giving false idea of our planet to those who do not now it men occupy very small place upon the earth if the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together as they do for some big public assembly they could easily be put into one public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide all humanity could be piled up on small pacific islet the grown ups to be sure will not believe you when you tell them that they imagine that they fill great deal of space they fancy themselves as important as the baobabs you should advise them then to make their own calculations they adore fig ures and that will please them but do not waste your time on this extra task it is unnecessary you have know confidence in me when the little prince arrived on the earth he was very much surprised not to see any people he was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet when coil of gold the color of the moonlight flashed across the sand good evening said the little prince courteously good evening said the snake what planet is this on which have come down asked the little prince this is the earth this is africa the snake answered ah then there are no people on the earth this is the desert there are no people in the desert the earth is large said the snake the little prince sat down on stone and raised his eyes toward the sky wonder he said whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again look at my planet it is right there above us but how far away it is it is beautiful the snake said what has brought you here have been having some trouble with flower said the little prince ah said the snake and they were both silent where are the men the little prince at last took up the conversation again it is little lonely in the desert it is also lonely among men the snake said the little prince gazed at him for long time you are funny animal he said at last you are no thicker than finger but am more powerful than the finger of king said the snake the little prince smiled you are not very powerful you haven even any feet you cannot even travel can carry you farther than any ship could take you said the snake he twined himself around the little prince ankle like golden bracelet whomever touch send back to the earth from whence he came the snake spoke again but you are innocent and true and you come from star the little prince made no reply you move me to pity you are so weak on this earth made of granite the snake said can help you some day if you grow too homesick for your own planet can oh understand you very well said the little prince but why do you always speak in riddles solve them all said the snake and they were both silent chapter the little prince goes looking for men and meets flower the little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower it was flower with three petals flower of no account at all good morning said the little prince good morning said the flower where are the men the little prince asked politely the flower had once seen caravan passing men she echoed think there are six or seven of them in existence saw them several years ago but one never knows where to find them the wind blows them away they have no roots and that makes their life very difficult goodbye said the little prince goodbye said the flower chapter the little prince climbs mountain range after that the little prince climbed high mountain the only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes which came up to his knees and he used the extinct volcano as footstool from mountain as high as this one he said to himself shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance and all the people but he saw nothing save peaks of rock that were sharpened like needles good morning he said courteously good morning good morning good morning answered the echo who are you said the little prince who are you who are you who are you answered the echo be my friends am all alone he said am all alone all alone all alone answered the echo what queer planet he thought it is altogether dry and altogether pointed and altogether harsh and forbidding and the people have no imagination they repeat whatever one says to them on my planet had flower she always was the first to speak chapter the little prince discovers garden of roses but it happened that after walking for long time through sand and rocks and snow the little prince at last came upon road and all roads lead to the abodes of men good morning he said he was standing before garden all bloom with roses good morning said the roses the little prince gazed at them they all looked like his flower who are you he demanded thunderstruck we are roses the roses said and he was overcome with sadness his flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe and here were five thousand of them all alike in one single garden she would be very much annoyed he said to himself if she should see that she would cough most dreadfully and she would pretend that she was dying to avoid being laughed at and should be obliged to pretend that was nursing her back to life for if did not do that to humble myself also she would really allow herself to die then he went on with his reflections thought that was rich with flower that was unique in all the world and all had was common rose common rose and three volcanoes that come up to my knees and one of them perhaps extinct forever that doesn make me very great prince and he lay down in the grass and cried chapter the little prince befriends the fox it was then that the fox appeared good morning said the fox good morning the little prince responded politely although when he turned around he saw nothing am right here the voice said under the apple tree who are you asked the little prince and added you are very pretty to look at am fox said the fox come and play with me proposed the little prince am so unhappy cannot play with you the fox said am not tamed ah please excuse me said the little prince but after some thought he added what does that mean tame you do not live here said the fox what is it that you are looking for am looking for men said the little prince what does that mean tame men said the fox they have guns and they hunt it is very disturbing they also raise chickens these are their only interests are you looking for chickens no said the little prince am looking for friends what does that mean tame it is an act too often neglected said the fox it means to establish ties to establish ties just that said the fox to me you are still nothing more than little boy who is just like hundred thousand other little boys and have no need of you and you on your part have no need of me to you am nothing more than fox like hundred thousand other foxes but if you tame me then we shall need each other to me you will be unique in all the world to you shall be unique in all the world am beginning to understand said the little prince there is flower think that she has tamed me it is possible said the fox on the earth one sees all sorts of things oh but this is not on the earth said the little prince the fox seemed perplexed and very curious on another planet yes are there hunters on this planet no ah that is interesting are there chickens no nothing is perfect sighed the fox but he came back to his idea my life is very monotonous the fox said hunt chickens men hunt me all the chickens are just alike and all the men are just alike and in consequence am little bored but if you tame me it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life shall know the sound of step that will be different from all the others other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground yours will call me like music out of my burrow and then look you see the grain fields down yonder do not ea bread wheat is of no use to me the wheat fields have nothing to say to me and that is sad but you have hair that is the colour of gold think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me the grain which is also golden will bring me bac the thought of you and shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat the fox gazed at the little prince for long time please tame me he said want to very much the little prince replied but have not much time have friends to discover and great many things to understand one only understands the things that one tames said the fox men have no more time to understand anything they buy things all ready made at the shops but there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship and so men have no friends any more if you want friend tame me what must do to tame you asked the little prince you must be very patient replied the fox first you will sit down at little distance from me like that in the grass shall look at you out of the corner of my eye and you will say nothing words are the source of misunderstandings but you will sit little closer to me every day the next day the little prince came back it would have been better to come back at the same hour said the fox if for example you come at four clock in the afternoon then at three clock shall begin to be happy shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances at four clock shall already be worrying and jumping about shall show you how happy am but if you come at just any time shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you one must observe the proper rites what is rite asked the little prince those also are actions too often neglected said the fox they are what make one day different from other days one hour from other hours there is rite for example among my hunters every thursday they dance with the village girls so thursday is wonderful day for me can take walk as far as the vineyards but if the hunters danced at just any time every day would be like every other day and should never have any vacation at all so the little prince tamed the fox and when the hour of his departure drew near ah said the fox shall cry it is your own fault said the little prince never wished you any sort of harm but you wanted me to tame you yes that is so said the fox but now you are going to cry said the little prince yes that is so said the fox then it has done you no good at all it has done me good said the fox because of the color of the wheat fields and then he added go and look again at the roses you will understand now that yours is unique in all the world then come back to say goodbye to me and will make you present of secret the little prince went away to look again at the roses you are not at all like my rose he said as yet you are nothing no one has tamed you and you have tamed no one you are like my fox when first knew him he was only fox like hundred thousand other foxes but have made him my friend and now he is unique in all the world and the roses were very much embarrassed you are beautiful but you are empty he went on one could not die for you to be sure an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you the rose that belongs to me but in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses because it is she that have watered because it is she that have put under the glass globe because it is she that have sheltered behind the screen because it is for her that have killed the caterpillars except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies because it is she that have listened to when she grumbled or boasted or even sometimes when she said nothing because she is my rose and he went back to meet the fox goodbye he said goodbye said the fox and now here is my secret very simple secret it is only with the heart that one can see rightly what is essential is invisible to the eye what is essential is invisible to the eye the little prince repeated so that he would be sure to remember it is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important it is the time have wasted for my rose said the little prince so that he would be sure to remember men have forgotten this truth said the fox but you must not forget it you become responsible forever for what you have tamed you are responsible for your rose am responsible for my rose the little prince repeated so that he would be sure to remember chapter the little prince encounters railway switchman good morning said the little prince good morning said the railway switchman what do you do here the little prince asked sort out travelers in bundles of thousand said the switchman send off the trains that carry them now to the right now to the left and brilliantly lighted express train shook the switchman cabin as it rushed by with roar like thunder they are in great hurry said the little prince what are they looking for not even the locomotive engineer knows that said the switchman and second brilliantly lighted express thundered by in the opposite direction are they coming back already demanded the little prince these are not the same ones said the switchman it is an exchange were they not satisfied where they were asked the little prince no one is ever satisfied where he is said the switchman and they heard the roaring thunder of third brilliantly lighted express are they pursuing the first travelers demanded the little prince they are pursuing nothing at all said the switchman they are asleep in there or if they are not asleep they are yawning only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes only the children know what they are looking for said the little prince they waste their time over rag doll and it becomes very important to them and if anybody takes it away from them they cry they are lucky the switchman said chapter the little prince encounters merchant good morning said the little prince good morning said the merchant this was merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst you need only swallow one pill week and you would feel no need of anything to drink why are you selling those asked the little prince because they save tremendous amount of time said the merchant computations have been made by experts with these pills you save fifty three minutes in every week and what do do with those fifty three minutes anything you like as for me said the little prince to himself if had fifty three minutes to spend as liked should walk at my leisure toward spring of fresh water chapter the narrator and the little prince thirsty hunt for well in the desert it was now the eighth day since had had my accident in the desert and had listened to the story of the merchant as was drinking the last drop of my water supply ah said to the little prince these memories of yours are very charming but have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane have nothing more to drink and too should be very happy if could walk at my leisure toward spring of fresh water my friend the fox the little prince said to me my dear little man this is no longer matter that has anything to do with the fox why not because am about to die of thirst he did not follow my reasoning and he answered me it is good thing to have had friend even if one is about to die for instance am very glad to have had fox as friend he has no way of guessing the danger said to myself he has never been either hungry or thirsty little sunshine is all he needs but he looked at me steadily and replied to my thought am thirsty too let us look for well made gesture of weariness it is absurd to look for well at random in the immensity of the desert but nevertheless we started walking when we had trudged along for several hours in silence the darkness fell and the stars began to come out thirst had made me little feverish and looked at them as if were in dream the little prince last words came reeling back into my memory then you are thirsty too demanded but he did not reply to my question he merely said to me water may also be good for the heart did not understand this answer but said nothing knew very well that it was impossible to cross examine him he was tired he sat down sat down beside him and after little silence he spoke again the stars are beautiful because of flower that cannot be seen replied yes that is so and without saying anything more looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight the desert is beautiful the little prince added and that was true have always loved the desert one sits down on desert sand dune sees nothing hears nothing yet through the silence something throbs and gleams what makes the desert beautiful said the little prince is that somewhere it hides well was astonished by sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands when was little boy lived in an old house and legend told us that treasure was buried there to be sure no one had ever known how to find it perhaps no one had ever even looked for it but it cast an enchantment over that house my home was hiding secret in the depths of its heart yes said to the little prince the house the stars the desert what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible am glad he said that you agree with my fox as the little prince dropped off to sleep took him in my arms and set out walking once more felt deeply moved and stirred it seemed to me that was carrying very fragile treasure it seemed to me even that there was nothing more fragile on all earth in the moonlight looked at his pale forehead his closed eyes his locks of hair that trembled in the wind and said to myself what see here is nothing but shell what is most important is invisible as his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of half smile said to myself again what moves me so deeply about this little prince who is sleeping here is his loyalty to flower the image of rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of lamp even when he is asleep and felt him to be more fragile still felt the need of protecting him as if he himself were flame that might be extinguished by little puff of wind and as walked on so found the well at daybreak chapter finding well the narrator and the little prince discuss his return to his planet men said the little prince set out on their way in express trains but they do not know what they are looking for then they rush about and get excited and turn round and round and he added it is not worth the trouble the well that we had come to was not like the wells of the sahara the wells of the sahara are mere holes dug in the sand this one was like well in village but there was no village here and thought must be dreaming it is strange said to the little prince everything is ready for use the pulley the bucket the rope he laughed touched the rope and set the pulley to working and the pulley moaned like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten do you hear said the little prince we have wakened the well and it is singing did not want him to tire himself with the rope leave it to me said it is too heavy for you hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there happy tired as was over my achievement the song of the pulley was still in my ears and could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water am thirsty for this water said the little prince give me some of it to drink and understood what he had been looking for raised the bucket to his lips he drank his eyes closed it was as sweet as some special festival treat this water was indeed different thing from ordinary nourishment its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars the song of the pulley the effort of my arms it was good for the heart like present when was little boy the lights of the christmas tree the music of the midnight mass the tenderness of smiling faces used to make up so the radiance of the gifts received the men where you live said the little prince raise five thousand roses in the same garden and they do not find in it what they are looking for they do not find it replied and yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose or in little water yes that is true said and the little prince added but the eyes are blind one must look with the heart had drunk the water breathed easily at sunrise the sand is the color of honey and that honey color was making me happy too what brought me then this sense of grief you must keep your promise said the little prince softly as he sat down beside me once more what promise you know muzzle for my sheep am responsible for this flower took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket the little prince looked them over and laughed as he said your baobabs they look little like cabbages oh had been so proud of my baobabs your fox his ears look little like horns and they are too long and he laughed again you are not fair little prince said don know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside oh that will be all right he said children understand so then made pencil sketch of muzzle and as gave it to him my heart was torn you have plans that do not know about said but he did not answer me he said to me instead you know my descent to the earth tomorrow will be its anniversary then after silence he went on came down very near here and he flushed and once again without understanding why had queer sense of sorrow one question however occurred to me then it was not by chance that on the morning when first met you week ago you were strolling along like that all alone thousand miles from any inhabited region you were on the your back to the place where you landed the little prince flushed again and added with some hesitancy perhaps it was because of the anniversary the little prince flushed once more he never answered questions but when one flushes does that not mean yes ah said to him am little frightened but he interrupted me now you must work you must return to your engine will be waiting for you here come back tomorrow evening but was not reassured remembered the fox one runs the risk of weeping little if one lets himself be tamed chapter the little prince converses with the snake the little prince consoles the narrator the little prince returns to his planet beside the well there was the ruin of an old stone wall when came back from my work the next evening saw from some distance away my little price sitting on top of wall with his feet dangling and heard him say then you don remember this is not the exact spot another voice must have answered him for he replied to it yes yes it is the right day but this is not the place continued my walk toward the wall at no time did see or hear anyone the little prince however replied once again exactly you will see where my track begins in the sand you have nothing to do but wait for me there shall be there tonight was only twenty metres from the wall and still saw nothing after silence the little prince spoke again you have good poison you are sure that it will not make me suffer too long stopped in my tracks my heart torn asunder but still did not understand now go away said the little prince want to get down from the wall dropped my eyes then to the foot of the wall and leaped into the air there before me facing the little prince was one of those yellow snakes that take just thirty seconds to bring your life to an end even as was digging into my pocked to get out my revolver made running step back but at the noise made the snake let himself flow easily across the sand like the dying spray of fountain and in no apparent hurry disappeared with light metallic sound among the stones reached the wall just in time to catch my little man in my arms his face was white as snow what does this mean demanded why are you talking with snakes had loosened the golden muffler that he always wore had moistened his temples and had given him some water to drink and now did not dare ask him any more questions he looked at me very gravely and put his arms around my neck felt his heart beating like the heart of dying bird shot with someone rifle am glad that you have found what was the matter with your engine he said now you can go back home how do you know about that was just coming to tell him that my work had been successful beyond anything that had dared to hope he made no answer to my question but he added too am going back home today then sadly it is much farther it is much more difficult realized clearly that something extraordinary was happening was holding him close in my arms as if he were little child and yet it seemed to me that he was rushing headlong toward an abyss from which could do nothing to restrain him his look was very serious like some one lost far away have your sheep and have the sheep box and have the muzzle and he gave me sad smile waited long time could see that he was reviving little by little dear little man said to him you are afraid he was afraid there was no doubt about that but he laughed lightly shall be much more afraid this evening once again felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable and knew that could not bear the thought of never hearing that laughter any more for me it was like spring of fresh water in the desert little man said want to hear you laugh again but he said to me tonight it will be year my star then can be found right above the place where came to the earth year ago little man said tell me that it is only bad dream this affair of the snake and the meeting place and the star but he did not answer my plea he said to me instead the thing that is important is the thing that is not seen yes know it is just as it is with the flower if you love flower that lives on star it is sweet to look at the sky at night all the stars are bloom with flowers yes know it is just as it is with the water because of the pulley and the rope what you gave me to drink was like music you remember how good it was yes know and at night you will look up at the stars where live everything is so small that cannot show you where my star is to be found it is better like that my star will just be one of the stars for you and so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens they will all be your friends and besides am going to make you present he laughed again ah little prince dear little prince love to hear that laughter that is my present just that it will be as it was when we drank the water what are you trying to say all men have the stars he answered but they are not the same things for different people for some who are travelers the stars are guides for others they are no more than little lights in the sky for others who are scholars they are problems for my businessman they were wealth but all these stars are silent you you alone will have the stars as no one else has them what are you trying to say in one of the stars shall be living in one of them shall be laughing and so it will be as if all the stars were laughing when you look at the sky at night you only you will have stars that can laugh and he laughed again and when your sorrow is comforted time soothes all sorrows you will be content that you have known me you will always be my friend you will want to laugh with me and you will sometimes open your window so for that pleasure and your friends ill be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky then you will say to them yes the stars always make me laugh and they will think you are crazy it will be very shabby trick that shall have played on you and he laughed again it will be as if in place of the stars had given you great number of little bells that knew how to laugh and he laughed again then he quickly became serious tonight you know do not come said the little prince shall not leave you said shall look as if were suffering shall look little as if were dying it is like that do not come to see that it is not worth the trouble shall not leave you but he was worried tell you it is also because of the snake he must not bite you snakes they are malicious creatures this one might bite you just for fun shall not leave you but thought came to reassure him it is true that they have no more poison for second bite that night did not see him set out on his way he got away from me without making sound when succeeded in catching up with him he was walking along with quick and resolute step he said to me merely ah you are there and he took me by the hand but he was still worrying it was wrong of you to come you will suffer shall look as if were dead and that will not be true said nothing you understand it is too far cannot carry this body with me it is too heavy said nothing but it will be like an old abandoned shell there is nothing sad about old shells said nothing he was little discouraged but he made one more effort you know it will be very nice too shall look at the stars all the stars will be wells with rusty pulley all the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink said nothing that will be so amusing you will have five hundred million little bells and shall have five hundred million springs of fresh water and he too said nothing more because he was crying here it is let me go on by myself and he sat down because he was afraid then he said again you know my flower am responsible for her and she is so weak she is so naive she has four thorns of no use at all to protect herself against all the world too sat down because was not able to stand up any longer there now that is all he still hesitated little then he got up he took one step could not move there was nothing but flash of yellow close to his ankle he remained motionless for an instant he did not cry out he fell as gently as tree falls there was not even any sound because of the sand chapter the narrator afterthoughts and now six years have already gone by have never yet told this story the companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive was sad but told them am tired now my sorrow is comforted little that is to say not entirely but know that he did go back to his planet because did not find his body at daybreak it was not such heavy body and at night love to listen to the stars it is like five hundred million little bells but there is one extraordinary thing when drew the muzzle for the little prince forgot to add the leather strap to it he will never have been able to fasten it on his sheep so now keep wondering what is happening on his planet perhaps the sheep has eaten the flower at one time say to myself surely not the little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night and he watches over his sheep very carefully then am happy and there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars but at another time say to myself at some moment or other one is absent minded and that is enough on some one evening he forgot the glass globe or the sheep got out without making any noise in the night and then the little bells are changed to tears here then is great mystery for you who also love the little prince and for me nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere we do not know where sheep that we never saw has yes or no eaten rose look up at the sky ask yourselves is it yes or no has the sheep eaten the flower and you will see how everything changes and no grown up will ever understand that this is matter of so much importance this is to me the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world it is the same as that on the preceding page but have drawn it again to impress it on your memory it is here that the little prince appeared on earth and disappeared look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognise it in case you travel some day to the african desert and if you should come upon this spot please do not hurry on wait for time exactly under the star then if little man appears who laughs who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions you will know who he is if this should happen please comfort me send me word that he has come back a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a 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