The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 

źródło: https://jrunderdown.wordpress.com/2017/11/18/metamorphosis-of-the-artist/

I came across this shorten version of famous Franz Kafka's novella many years ago. It's one of the best written summary I've ever read. It tells the story of the salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one morning to find himself unexplainably transformed into a huge insect: ungeheueres. This old German word was translated in many different ways but literally it means "unclean animal not even suitable for sacrifice". Gregor's struggle to understand and adjust to the new situation is piercing. The cruelty of people around - that's what is the most horrified to me. But listen:

One morning, Gregor Samsa woke up from a bad dream and realized he was some kind of terrible insect. He was a cockroach, and he was as large as a man! Lying on his back, he could see his large brown belly and thin legs. He tried to turn over onto his side, but every time he tried, he would roll onto his back again.

He began to think about his job as a traveling salesman. He hated his job, but he had to do it to support his father, mother, and sister because his father no longer worked. He looked at the clock and realized he had overslept - it was 6:30! He was late. The next train left at 7:00. He would have to hurry to make it. A few minutes later his mother yelled to him: "It's 6:45. You're late. Get up!" When he answered her, he was surprised to hear his voice; it sounded so high. 'Yes, mother. I'm getting up now." His sister now whispered through the door, "Gregor, are you all right? Do you need anything?"　　

　　Well, it was time to get up. Surely, as soon as he got out of bed, he would realize this had all been a bad dream. He tried to move his back part out first, but it moved so slowly, and it was so difficult. His thin little legs seemed useless, just moving and moving in the air, not helping him at all. Then he tried the front part. This worked better, but he still couldn't move enough to get out of bed. He began rocking back and forth, stronger and stronger, and finally threw himself onto the floor, hitting his head as he fell.　　

　　All of a sudden, he heard a knock at the door. It was his manager, who had come to see why he was late. "Oh," thought Gregor, "I hate my job." Then the manager spoke. "Mr. Samsa, I must warn you that you could lose your job because of this. Lately, your work has not been very good, and now I find you in bed when you should be at work!" Gregor panicked and said, "No, no, I will come out immediately. I was sick, but now I feel much better." The manager and Gregor's family did not understand a single word he said, for his speech was now the hiss of an insect. As he talked, he managed to move himself to the chest of drawers, tried to stand up, then slipped and fell, holding tightly to a chair with his thin legs. He finally managed to open the door and lean against it.　　

　　At the sight of him, the manager screamed, his mother fainted, and his father wept. The manager began to back out of the room slowly and Gregor realized he couldn't let him leave. He let go of the door and fell into the living room on his tiny little legs. Again his mother screamed, while the manager disappeared out of the door. His father quickly grabbed a walking stick and a newspaper, and began beating Gregor back into his bedroom. Once Gregor was inside, the door was locked from the outside.　　

　　Gregor awoke as it was getting dark. He smelled food and saw that his sister, Grete, had left him one of his favorite meals, a bowl of milk with bread in it. But, when he tasted it, it tasted terrible, and he turned away in disgust. He slid under the couch and slept there until morning.　　

　　The next morning, Gregor's sister looked in and was surprised to see that he hadn't eaten a thing. She picked up the bowl and soon returned with some of vegetables, bones, and smelly cheese. After she left, Gregor hungrily ate them all up. And so the days passed, for she was the only one brave enough to come into the room.　　

　　Gregor grew tired of being in the bedroom day and night, and soon took to walking back and forth across the walls and ceiling. It felt much better than walking on the floor. His sister noticed this because of the brown sticky substance left from his feet wherever he walked. She decided to move most of the furniture out of the room so Gregor would have more walking space. But Gregor wanted to keep a picture on the wall - a picture of a beautiful woman dressed in pretty clothes. While Grete and her mother were in the other room, he quickly climbed the wall and pressed himself against the picture. When his mother saw him, she screamed and fainted. His sister then became very angry with him. He followed her into the dining room to help her, but this frightened her. When his father returned home and learned what had happened, he became very angry. Gregor tried to return to his bedroom but couldn't fit through the doorway. Suddenly, his father started throwing apples at him. The first few didn't hurt him, but then one pierced his body, and he felt terrible pain. His mother ran to his father and begged him not to kill Gregor, as Gregor slowly crawled back to his room.　　

　　The apple remained in Gregor's back and stopped him from being able to walk easily. This gave him great pain. His sister also began to care less and less about feeding him and cleaning his room. Well, he wasn't very hungry anyway. The dust and dirt gradually became thick on the floor and stuck on him whenever he moved.　　

　　The family now left his door to the dining room open for two hours every night after dinner, and he could listen to their conversation. He really loved this. One night, they forgot to lock Gregor's door. When his sister began to play the violin, which she had not done for a long time, he felt so good. The music was beautiful and soothing. He had begun to walk toward her, thinking he would tell her how wonderful it was, when his family saw him. The music suddenly stopped. Grete became very upset. "Momma, Poppa," she said, "This cannot go on. We must find a way to get rid of this thing. It is destroying our lives."　　

　　Gregor slowly crawled back to his room. He lay there in the dark and couldn't move. Even the place in his family tenderly as he lay there, and, when the light began to come through the window, he died.　　

　　When Gregor was found dead the next morning, the whole family seemed to feel relieved. For the first time in a long, long time, they went out and took a train ride to the country, making plans for the future.

P.S. It's not my summary of the novella. I got the English xero of this  story from my daughter when she was a student of the secondary school. Unfortunately, there is no information about the author of this adaptation.