Franz Kafka

November 2008

A Little Fable

Franz Kafka in 1906.

Artwork : This picture is in the public domain.

“Alas,” said the mouse, “the whole world is growing smaller every day. At first it was so big that I was afraid, I kept running and running, and I was glad when at last I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into.”

“You only need to change your direction,” said the cat, and ate it up.

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About the Author

Franz Kafka

Adapted from Wikipedia: Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. He was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, Austria-Hungary, presently the Czech Republic. His unique body of writing — much of which is incomplete and which was mainly published posthumously — is among the most influential in Western literature. His stories, such as The Metamorphosis (1915), and novels, including The Trial (1925) and The Castle (1926), concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal and bureaucratic world.

Photos of Kafka on this site are in the public domain.

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Copyright

This story was originally published in 1920, and is in the public domain.