Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the eleventh chapter of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Come with us as we release one bite a day of one of your favorite classic novels, plays & short stories. Bree reads these classics like she reads to her daughter, one chapter a day. If you love books or audiobooks and want something to listen to as you're getting ready, driving to work, or as you're getting ready for bed, check out Bite at a Time Books!

Follow, rate, and review Bite at a Time Books where we read you your favorite classics, one bite at a time. Available wherever you listen to podcasts.

Check out our website!

Get exclusive Behind the Scenes content on our YouTube!

We are now part of the Bite at a Time Books Productions network!

If you ever wondered what inspired your favorite classic novelist to write their stories, what was happening in their lives or the world at the time, check out Bite at a Time Books Behind the Story wherever you listen to podcasts.

Follow us on all the socials: Instagram - Twitter - Facebook - TikTok

Follow Bree at: Instagram - Twitter - Facebook

Take a look in the book and let's see what we can find.

Take a chapter by chapter, one by one at a time so many adventures and mountains we can't climb.

Take it word for word, line by line, one.

Bite at a Time books where we read you your favorite classics one byte at a time.

My name is Brie Carlyle and I love to read and wanted to share my passion with listeners like you.

If you enjoy the podcast, tag us in your social media posts at Bite at a Time Books and you'll be featured in our new Shout Out Saturday segment.

At the end of each week, we'll be including a special Shout Out Saturday episode featuring whoever tagged us that week.

Be sure to follow my show on your favorite podcast platform so you get all the new episodes.

You can find most of our links in the show notes, but also on our website.

Bite atitimebooks.com includes all of the links for our show, including to our patreon to support the show, and YouTube, where we have special behind the narration of the episodes.

We are part of the Byte at a Time Books Productions network.

If you'd also like to hear what inspired your favorite classic author to write their novels and what was going on in the world at the time, check out the Bite at a Time Books Behind the Story podcast.

Wherever you listen to podcasts today, we'll be continuing Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Chapter Eleven It is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being.

All the events of that period appear confused and indistinct.

A strange multiplicity of sensation seized me, and I saw, felt, heard and smelt at the same time.

And it was indeed a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses.

By degrees I remember a stronger light pressed upon my nerves, so that I was obliged to shut my eyes.

Darkness then came over me and troubled me, but hardly had I felt this when, by opening my eyes, as I now suppose, the light poured in upon me again.

I walked, and I believe descended, but I presently found a great alteration in my sensations.

Before dark and opaque bodies had surrounded me, impervious to my touch or sight.

But I now found that I could wander on at liberty with no obstacles which I could not either surmount or avoid.

The light became more and more oppressive to me and the heat wearing me.

As I walked, I saw the place where I could receive shade.

This was the forest near Inglestod, and here I lay by the side of a brook, resting from my fatigue until I felt tormented by hunger and thirst.

This roused me from my nearly dormant state, and I ate some berries which I found hanging on the trees or lying on the ground.

I slaked my thirst at the brook and then lying down was overcome by sleep.

It was dark when I awoke.

I felt cold also, and half frightened as it were, instinctively finding myself so desolate.

Before I had quitted your apartment on a sensation of cold I had covered myself with some clothes, but these were insufficient to secure me from the dews of night.

I was a poor, helpless, miserable wretch.

I knew and could distinguish nothing but feeling pain invade me on all sides.

I sat down and wept.

Soon a gentle light stole over the heavens and gave me a sensation of pleasure.

I started up and beheld a radiant form rise from among the trees the moon I gazed with a kind of wonder.

It moved slowly, but it enlightened my path, and I again went out in search of berries.

I was still cold when under one of the trees I found a huge cloak with which I covered myself and sat down upon the ground.

No distinct ideas occupied my mind.

All was confused.

I felt light and hunger and thirst and darkness.

Innumerable sounds wring in my ears and on all sides various scents saluted me.

The only object that I could distinguish was the bright moon, and I fixed my eyes on that with pleasure.

Several changes of day and night passed, and the orb of night had greatly lessened.

When I began to distinguish my sensations from each other, I gradually saw plainly the cedar stream that supplied me with drink and the trees that shaded me with their foliage.

I was delighted when I first discovered that a pleasant sound which often saluted my ears proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had often intercepted the light from my eyes.

I began also to observe with greater accuracy the forms that surrounded me and to perceive the boundaries of the radiant roof of light which canopied me.

Sometimes I tried to imitate the pleasant songs of the birds, but was unable.

Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me into silence.

Again the moon had disappeared from the night and again with a lessened form showed itself while I still remained in the forest.

My sensations had by this time become distinct and my mind received every day additional ideas.

My eyes became accustomed to the light and to perceive objects in their right forms.

I distinguished the insect from the herb, and by degrees one herb from another.

I found that the sparrow uttered none but harsh notes, whilst those of the blackbird and thrush were sweet and enticing.

One day, when I was oppressed by cold, I found a fire which had been left by some wondering beggars and was overcome with delight at the warmth I experienced from it.

In my joy I thrust my hand into the live embers, but quickly drew it out again with a cry of pain.

How strange, I thought, that the same cause should produce such opposite effects.

I examined the materials of the fire and my joy found it to be composed of wood.

I quickly collected some branches, but they were wet and would not burn.

I was pained at this and sat still watching the operation of the fire.

The wet wood which I had placed near the heat dried itself and became inflamed.

I reflected on this, and by touching the various branches I discovered the cause and busied myself in collecting a great quantity of wood that I might dry it and have plentiful supply of fire.

When night came on and brought sleep with it, I was in the greatest fear lest my fire should be extinguished.

I covered it carefully with dry wood and leaves and placed wet branches upon it and then, spreading my cloak, I lay on the ground and sank into sleep.

It was morning when I awoke and my first care was to visit the fire.

I uncovered it and a gentle breeze quickly sanded into a flame.

I observed this also, and contrived a fan of branches which roused the embers when they were nearly extinguished.

When night came again, I found with pleasure that the fire gave light as well as heat.

Not the discovery of this element was useful to me in my food, for I found some of the awfuls that the travelers had left had been roasted, and tasted much more savory than the berries I gathered from the trees.

I tried, therefore, to dress my food in the same manner, placing it on the live embers.

I found that the berries were spoiled by this operation, and the nuts and roots much improved.

Food, however, became scarce, and I often spent the whole day searching in vain for a few acorns to ASU edge the pains of hunger.

When I found this, I resolved to quit the place that I had hitherto inhabited to seek for one where the few wants I experienced would be more easily satisfied.

In this emigration I exceedingly lamented the loss of the fire which I had obtained through accident and knew not how to reproduce it.

I gave several hours to the serious consideration of this difficulty, but I was obliged to relinquish all attempt to supply it and wrapping myself up in my cloak, I struck across the wood towards the setting sun.

I passed three days in these rambles and at length discovered the open country.

A great fall of snow had taken place the night before and the fields were of one uniform white.

The appearance was disconsolate and I found my feet chilled by the cold damp substance that covered the ground.

It was about seven in the morning and I longed to obtain food and shelter.

At length I perceived a small hut on a rising ground which had doubtless been built for the convenience of some shepherd.

This was a new sight to me and I examined the structure with great curiosity, finding the door open, I entered.

An old man sat in it near a fire over which he was preparing his breakfast.

He turned on, hearing a noise, and perceiving me, shrieked loudly, and quitting.

The hut ran across the field, with the speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable, his appearance, different from any I had ever before seen, and his flight somewhat surprised me.

But I was enchanted by the appearance of the hut.

Here the snow and rain could not penetrate, the ground was dry, and it presented to me then as exquisite and divine a retreat as pandemonium appeared to the demons of h*** after their sufferings in the lake of fire, I greedily devoured the remnants of the shepherd's breakfast, which consisted of bread, cheese, milk and wine.

The latter, however, I did not like.

Then, overcome by fatigue, I laid down among some straw and fell asleep.

It was noon when I awoke, and allured by the warmth of the sun, which shone brightly on the white ground, I determined to recommence my travels and depositing the remains of the peasants breakfast in a wallet I found, I proceeded across the fields for several hours, until at sunset I arrived at a village.

How miraculous did this appear.

The huts, the neater cottages and stately houses, engaged my admiration by turns.

The vegetables in the gardens, the milk and cheese that I saw placed at the windows of some of the cottages, allured my appetite.

One of the best of these I entered, but I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked and one of the women fainted.

The whole village was roused, some fled, some attacked me, until grievously bruised my stones and many other kinds of missile weapons.

I escaped to the open country and fearfully took refuge in a low hovel, quite bare and making a wretched appearance.

After the palaces I had beheld in the village.

This hovel, however, joined a cottage of a neat and pleasant appearance, but after my late, dearly bought experience, I dared not enter it.

My place of refuge was constructed of wood, but so low that I could with difficulty sit upright in it.

No wood, however, was placed on the earth which formed the floor, but it was dry, and although the wind entered it by innumerable chinks, I found it an agreeable asylum from the snow and rain.

Here, then, I retreated and lay down, happy to have found a shelter, however miserable, from the inclemancy of the season and still more from the barbarity of man.

As soon as morning dawned, I crept from my kennel that I might view the adjacent cottage and discover if I could remain in the habitation I had found.

It was situated against the back of the cottage and surrounded on the sides, which were exposed by a pig style and a clear pool of water.

One part was open, and by that I had crept in, but now I covered every crevice by which I might be perceived with stones and wood, yet in such a manner that I might move them on occasion to pass out.

All the light I enjoyed came through the sky, and that was sufficient for me.

Having thus arranged my dwelling and carpeted it with clean straw, I retired, for I saw the figure of a man at a distance, and I remembered too well my treatment the night before to trust myself in his power.

I had first, however, provided for my sustenance for that day by a loaf of coarse bread which I pourloined, and a cup with which I could drink more conveniently, and from my hand of the pure water which flowed by my retreat.

The floor was a little raised, so that it was kept perfectly dry, and by its vicinity to the chimney of the cottage it was tolerably warm.

Being thus provided, I resolved to reside in this hovel until something should occur which might alter my determination.

It was indeed a paradise compared to the bleak forest my former residents, the raindropping branches and dank earth.

I ate my breakfast with pleasure, and was about to remove a plank to procure myself a little water, when I heard a step, and looking through a small c****, I beheld a young creature with a pail on her head, passing before my hovel.

The girl was young and of gentle demeanour, unlike what I have since found cottagers and farmhouse servants to be.

Yet she was meanly dressed, a coarse blue petticoat and a linen jacket being her only garb.

Her fair hair was plated but not adorned.

She looked patient, yet sad.

I lost sight of her, and in about a quarter of an hour she returned bearing the pail which was now partly filled with milk.

As she walked along, seemingly incomoted by the burden, a young man met her whose countenance expressed a deeper despondence, uttering a few sounds with an air of melancholy, he took the pail from her head and bore it to the cottage himself.

She followed, and they disappeared.

Presently I saw the young man again, with some tools in his hand, crossed the field behind the cottage, and the girl was also busied, sometimes in the house and sometimes in the yard.

On examining my dwelling, I found that one of the windows of the cottage had formerly occupied a part of it, but the panes had been filled up with wood, and one of these was a small and almost imperceptible c****, through which the eye could just penetrate.

Through this crevice a small room was visible, whitewashed and clean, but bare of furniture.

In one corner, near a small fire, sat an old man leaning his head on his hands in a disconsolate attitude.

The young girl was occupied in arranging the cottage, but presently she took something out of a drawer which employed her hands, and she sat down beside the old man, who, taking up an instrument began to play, and to produce sounds sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the nightingale.

It was a lovely sight even to me.

Poor wretch, who had never beheld aught beautiful before.

The silver hair and benevolent countenance of the aged cottager won my reverence, while the gentle manners of the girl enticed my love.

He played a sweet mournful air, which I perceived drew tears from the eyes of his amiable companion, of which the old man took no notice until she sobbed audibly.

He then pronounced a few sounds, and the fair creature, leaving her work, knelt at his feet.

He raised her and smiled with such kindness and affection that I felt sensations of a peculiar and overpowering nature.

They were a mixture of pain and pleasure such as I had never before experienced, either from hunger or cold, warmth or food, and I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions.

Soon after this, the young man returned, bearing on his shoulders a load of wood.

The girl met him at the door, helped to relieve him of his burden, and taking some of the fuel into the cottage, placed it on the fire.

Then she and the youth went apart into a nook of the cottage, and he showed her a large loaf and a piece of cheese.

She seemed pleased, and went into the garden for some roots and plants, which she placed in water, and then upon the fire.

She afterwards continued her work, whilst the young man went into the garden and appeared busily employed in digging and pulling up roots.

After he had been employed thus about an hour, the young woman joined him, and they entered the cottage together.

The old man had in the meantime been pensive, but on the appearance of his companions he assumed a more cheerful heir, and they sat down to eat.

The meal was quickly dispatched.

The young woman was again occupied in arranging the cottage.

The old man walked before the cottage in the sun for a few minutes, leaning on the arm of the youth.

Nothing could exceed in beauty the contrast between these two excellent creatures.

One was old, with silver hairs and accountenance, beaming with benevolence and love.

The younger was slight and graceful in his figure, and his features were molded with the finest symmetry, yet his eyes and attitude expressed the utmost sadness and despondency.

The old man returned to the cottage, and the youth, with tools different from those he had used in the morning, directed his steps across the fields.

Night quickly shut in, but to my extreme wonder I found that the cottagers had a means of prolonging light by the use of tapers, and was delighted to find that the setting of the sun did not put an end to the pleasure I experienced in watching my human neighbors in the evening.

The young girl and her companion were employed in various occupations which I did not understand and the old man again took up the instrument which produced the divine sounds that had enchanted me in the morning.

So soon as he had finished, the youth began not to play, but to utter sounds that were monotonous and neither resembling the harmony of the old man's instrument nor the songs of the birds.

I since found that he read aloud, but at that time I knew nothing of the science of words or letters.

The family, after having been thus occupied for a short time, extinguished their lights and retired, as I conjectured, to rest.

Thank you for joining Bite atotime Books today while we read a bite of one of your favorite classics.

Again, my name is Brie Carlyle, and I hope you come back tomorrow for the next bite of Frankenstein.

Don't forget to tag us on your social media posts at Bite at A Time Books, and we hope to be able to feature you in this Saturday segment.

Check out the show notes or our website, Bite at a Time Books for the links for our show.