[00:00.25]Chapter six.
[00:01.69]The monster story.
[00:03.32]I ask for help.
[00:07.91]Who is it?
[00:09.51]Who's there?
[00:11.28]A traveler, I answered.
[00:15.89]I am seeking rest and shelter.
[00:20.95]There was a brief silence, and then the door was opened to me.
[00:28.30]Mr. De Lacy stood before me, smiling warmly.
[00:33.57]He had seen nothing.
[00:38.99]I stepped into the cottage, which I knew so well, but had only seen by peering in at windows.
[00:48.02]The old man invited me to sit by the fire.
[00:52.95]Thank you, I said.
[00:57.71]You are very kind.
[01:01.98]Have you traveled far?
[01:05.06]He asked.
[01:06.99]I can tell from your voice that you are not from this country.
[01:14.84]Indeed, my voice must have sounded strange to him.
[01:18.54]He was the first man I ever spoke to.
[01:23.44]Yes, I told him.
[01:28.15]I am a stranger here, but I have friends nearby and I wish to make myself known to them.
[01:38.03]Nearby?
[01:39.92]Where?
[01:43.79]Close to this spot?
[01:47.90]Then you will be with them soon, I hope.
[01:51.90]Who are they?
[01:56.82]I hesitated again before answering.
[02:00.74]Everything depended on his response to what I told him, and I was almost too afraid to continue.
[02:09.06]But I knew I had to speak.
[02:15.46]They are good, kind people, I said.
[02:23.39]But they do not know me well.
[02:26.72]I fear that they might reject me before I can ask for their help.
[02:34.60]If they are kind, they will welcome you, surely.
[02:41.70]Why should they do otherwise?
[02:45.93]Because I am so ugly to look upon.
[02:51.29]Men run from me before I can even speak to them.
[02:58.13]He listened carefully and nodded as I spoke.
[03:02.93]The room fell silent, apart from the soft crackling of the fire.
[03:12.40]Well, my friend, he said eventually.
[03:21.88]I am blind and cannot see you, but there is something in your voice that makes me trust you.
[03:30.33]Let me speak to your friends for you.
[03:33.84]I can tell them your story and prepare them.
[03:39.74]At this, I became overwhelmed with happiness and fell to my knees.
[03:47.83]I clutched the good old man's hands.
[03:52.84]Oh, sir, I cried.
[03:58.18]Thank you, thank you.
[04:01.58]Those are the first kind words I ever heard.
[04:07.89]I knew you would help me.
[04:11.72]You knew?
[04:13.97]He said, a look of alarm on his face.
[04:19.03]How could you know?
[04:21.91]Who are you?
[04:25.93]You and your family are the friends I spoke of, sir.
[04:32.29]I have seen you often.
[04:35.10]I have tried to help you.
[04:41.06]At that moment, I heard the latch of the door click behind me.
[04:46.75]I turned and saw Felix, Safi, and Agatha framed in the doorway, their faces frozen in shock.
[04:57.35]Father, shouted Felix.
[05:02.03]What's going on?
[05:04.67]Who is this creature?
[05:11.28]It hurt me to see how Agatha hurried in to protect her father from me.
[05:18.87]Please, I said.
[05:23.92]Listen, but Felix had snatched up a branch from the pile by the fire.
[05:30.93]He swung it angrily at me.
[05:36.01]Again and again he beat me, and I could neither resist him nor make him listen.
[05:45.18]I ran from the cottage, howling with frustration and fury, my hopes scattered and broken.
[05:56.05]I crawled back to my hovel and coward there like a beast.
[06:02.85]The yellow skin of my wretched face was wet with tears.
[06:09.77]But as night came on, I became calmer and more able to reason.
[06:18.33]Surely, if I could make myself heard, if I could explain what I was trying to do, they would overcome their revulsion.
[06:29.07]However, when I crept back to the cottage, I saw the D Lacey family leaving, taking with them all that they could carry.
[06:40.62]And I knew that I had driven these gentle people from their home.
[06:45.26]They could not live in a place that harbored a monstrous creature such as me.
[06:54.49]I watched them go, and then looked in at the window for the last time.
[07:01.90]It was so cold and empty now.
[07:06.53]A brief chance of happiness had been held out to me and had then been dashed from my grasp.
[07:17.58]I felt rage build up inside me at the thought of this, and suddenly I could bear it no longer.
[07:25.94]Fierce anger shook my body.
[07:29.79]I began to pile wood and kindling around the cottage.
[07:35.33]Then I set fire to it and looked on as it roared and burned away to nothing.
[07:44.42]And what could I do then, Frankenstein?
[07:48.88]Where could I turn for relief after being so cruelly denied?
[07:55.63]I knew of only one soul in the whole world who might help me.
[08:02.21]You, my maker, my creator.
[08:12.03]So I left that place too, and made my way to your hometown, to Geneva.
[08:23.32]The journey was not an easy one.
[08:26.97]I was constantly reminded that mankind can feel only hatred for what it does not understand, that ugly creatures such as me can expect no sympathy.
[08:41.50]Even when I tried to do some good, men still shunned me.
[08:49.90]Once, I saved a child from drowning in a river, and what was my reward?
[08:59.02]Her father snatched her from me, as if I were not her rescuer, but the cause of danger.
[09:07.94]Then he turned a gun on me and shattered my flesh and bone.
[09:15.05]I sank to the ground, cursing all humanity and swearing vengeance on everyone I met from that day on.
[09:25.60]The pain of this wound was so great that I lost consciousness.
[09:32.30]But even as I fainted away, there were still curses on my cracked lips.
[09:42.28]Days of loneliness and pain followed before I was able to continue my journey.
[09:50.66]And two months passed before I eventually reached my destination.
[09:57.97]By then I was weary with traveling and sick at heart.
[10:03.62]Night was falling, so I lay down to sleep in a field at the edge of the town.
[10:12.15]I do not know how long I remained there, but my sleep was a deep and soothing one, and it was only disturbed by the sounds of someone approaching.
[10:24.53]A little boy was coming towards me, a child so bright and innocent that, for a moment, the sight of him soothed the sickness in my heart.
[10:39.08]He seemed so young and natural that I thought there could be no taint of cruelty or evil in him.
[10:49.40]If I can hold on to him a little while, I told myself, he will surely learn that I mean him no harm and come to know me as a friend.
[11:03.71]But as soon as he caught sight of me, he began the same old cries that I had heard throughout my life, from the very moment of my creation.
[11:18.02]Leave me alone!
[11:20.95]Monster, ugly wretch!
[11:28.36]I held onto him and pleaded with him, but his cries grew more frantic.
[11:36.33]Monster, monster!
[11:39.87]I'll tell my father.
[11:42.35]He's a great man.
[11:45.21]His name is Frankenstein.
[11:52.25]The sound of that name cut me to my soul.
[11:59.88]Frankenstein, my enemy.
[12:08.18]I put my hands around his throat to stop his terrified screams, and before I knew what I had done, his little body was lifeless at my feet.
[12:21.13]And when I saw that I had destroyed a thing my master must have loved, my heart was filled with bitter joy.
[12:31.84]I clapped my hands in triumph.
[12:37.70]The child had a locket about his neck.
[12:43.19]I took it, not because I thought it was valuable, but simply because it was beautiful.
[12:56.10]Then I left him there for others to find, while I went in search of some better hiding place.
[13:04.78]I found it in the shape of an old barn.
[13:10.46]I thought this barn was empty, but when I went inside, I saw a girl asleep on some straw.
[13:19.29]My mind was still full of murderous thoughts, and yet I hesitated to kill this sleeping girl.
[13:31.38]A better way of causing misery occurred to me.
[13:38.63]I hid the locket in the folds of her dress and crept away, knowing she would be blamed for the murder.
[13:50.57]Oh, Frankenstein, you see how wild and bitter your creature has become.
[13:59.34]You see how I spread sorrow and heartbreak through the world.
[14:05.55]And why?
[14:08.78]Because I am alone and miserable.
[14:15.67]I have no friend or companion, and I shall be the cause of more sorrow and more deaths unless you help me.
[14:27.30]You alone can help me, Frankenstein.
[14:33.14]You must make a companion for me.