In the Penal Colony | Page 3

"Yes," said the Officer, pushing his cap back a little and running his
hand over his hot face. "Now, listen. Both the bed and the inscriber
have their own electric batteries. The bed needs them for itself, and the
inscriber for the harrow. As soon as the man is strapped in securely, the
bed is set in motion. It quivers with tiny, very rapid oscillations from
side to side and up and down simultaneously. You will have seen
similar devices in mental hospitals. Only with our bed all movements
are precisely calibrated, for they must be meticulously coordinated with
the movements of the harrow. But it's the harrow which has the job of
actually carrying out the sentence."
"What is the sentence?" the Traveler asked. "You don't even know
that?" asked the Officer in astonishment and bit his lip. "Forgive me if
my explanations are perhaps confused. I really do beg your pardon.
Previously it was the Commandant's habit to provide such explanations.
But the New Commandant has excused himself from this honourable
duty. The fact that with such an eminent visitor" -- the traveler tried to
deflect the honour with both hands, but the officer insisted on the
expression -- "that with such an eminent visitor he didn't even once
make him aware of the form of our sentencing is yet again something
new, which . . ." He had a curse on his lips, but controlled himself and
said merely: "I was not informed about it. It's not my fault. In any case,
I am certainly the person best able to explain our style of sentencing,
for here I am carrying" -- he patted his breast pocket -- "the relevant
diagrams drawn by the previous Commandant."
"Diagrams made by the Commandant himself?" asked the Traveler.
"Then was he in his own person a combination of everything? Was he
soldier, judge, engineer, chemist, and draftsman?"
"He was indeed," said the Officer, nodding his head with a fixed and
thoughtful expression. Then he looked at his hands, examining them.
They didn't seem to him clean enough to handle the diagrams. So he

went to the bucket and washed them again. Then he pulled out a small
leather folder and said, "Our sentence does not sound severe. The law
which a condemned man has violated is inscribed on his body with the
harrow. This Condemned Man, for example," and the Officer pointed
to the man, "will have inscribed on his body, 'Honour your superiors.'"
The Traveler had a quick look at the man. When the Officer was
pointing at him, the man kept his head down and appeared to be
directing all his energy into listening in order to learn something. But
the movements of his thick pouting lips showed clearly that he was
incapable of understanding anything. The Traveler wanted to raise
various questions, but after looking at the Condemned Man he merely
asked, "Does he know his sentence?" "No," said the Officer. He wished
to get on with his explanation right away, but the Traveler interrupted
him: "He doesn't know his own sentence?" "No," said the Officer once
more. He then paused for a moment, as if he was asking the Traveler
for a more detailed reason for his question, and said, "It would be
useless to give him that information. He experiences it on his own
body." The Traveler really wanted to keep quiet at this point, but he felt
how the Condemned Man was gazing at him -- he seemed to be asking
whether he could approve of the process the Officer had described. So
the Traveler, who had up to this point been leaning back, bent forward
again and kept up his questions, "But does he nonetheless have some
general idea that he's been condemned?" "Not that either," said the
Officer, and he smiled at the traveler, as if he was still waiting for some
strange revelations from him. "No?" said the Traveler, wiping his
forehead, "then does the man also not yet know how his defence was
received?" "He has had no opportunity to defend himself," said the
Officer and looked away, as if he was talking to himself and wished not
to embarrass the Traveler with an explanation of matters so self-evident
to him. "But he must have had a chance to defend himself," said the
Traveler and stood up from his chair.
The Officer recognized that he was in danger of having his explanation
of the apparatus held up for a long time. So he went to the Traveler,
took him by the arm, pointed with his hand at the Condemned Man,
who stood there stiffly now that the attention was so clearly directed at

him -- the Soldier was also pulling on his chain -- and said, "The matter
stands like this. Here in