Before the law [1]
Franz Kafka [2]
Translated by xia23
A doorkeeper stands before the law. A man from the land comes to the doorkeeper and asks for admittance to the law. But the doorkeeper says, that he could not grand him the entry now. The man thinks it over and asks if he could be allowed to enter later. “It is possible”, the doorkeeper says, “but not now”. As the door to the law is open as usual and the doorkeeper steps aside, the man bends over, in order to see the interior through the door. When the doorkeeper notices this, he laughs and says: “if you are so temped, try to go in spite of my prohibition. But remember: I’m powerful. And I’m only the lowest doorkeeper. From room to room there are doorkeepers, one stronger than the other. I can’t even no longer bear to see the third one”. The man from the land has not expected such a difficulty, the law should be always accessible for everyone, he thinks, but as he looks more closely at the doorkeeper in his fur overcoat, his big pointed nose, his long thin, black tartaric beard, he decides it is better to wait, until he gets the permission to enter. The doorkeeper gives him a stool and let him sit down on the side of the door. He sits there for days and years. He tries many times, to let himself in, and tires the doorkeeper out with his requests. From time to time the doorkeeper conducts small interrogations on him, asks him about his homeland and many other disinterested questions, like those asked by great masters, and in the end, he says that he could not give him permission to enter. The man, who equips himself with lot of things for the trip, makes use of all of them, no matter how valuable, in order to bribe the doorkeeper. “I accept it only, so that you do not believe you have overlooked anything”. Over the years the man observes the doorkeeper almost continuously. He forgets the other doorkeeper, and the first one seems the only obstacle for entering into the law. He curses the unfortunate coincidence, in the first few years he is reckless and loud, later as he is old, he just grumbles to himself. He is childish, and, in his year-round study of the doorkeeper he also recognizes the fleas in his fur overcoat, he also asks the fleas to help him to persuade the doorkeeper to change his mind. Finaly his sight is poor, and he does not know, if it is really dark around him, or if his eyes deceive him. But in the darkness he now recognizes a gleam, which inextinguishably breaks out from the door of the law. Now he does not live longer. Before his death all experiences of his entire time gather together around his head into one question, which he previously has not asked the doorkeeper. He waves to him, as he can no longer straighten his rigid body. The doorkeeper has to bend down very low to him, as the change in his body size puts the man a disadvantage. “What do you want to know now?” the doorkeeper asks, “You are insatiable”. “Everyone will strive for the law”, the man says, “Why is it that in many years no one besides me has yet demanded an entry?” The doorkeeper realizes, that the man is already at the end of his life, and in order to reach his diminished hearing, he roars on him: “Here no one could be admitted, because the entrance was for you only. I’ll go now and shut it off.”
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[1]. Vor dem Gesetz. p. 219. Der Weg zum Lessen. 3rd Ed. Harcourt Brace College Publishers, Fort Worth，Philadelphia....Tokyo, 1986.
[2]. Franz Kafka
All of the followings are from wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka:
The picture above is from the bookcover "Franz Kafka. The Complet Stories".
For Franz Kafka, please read from wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka
