Again Aschenbach watches as Tadzio and his friends play a game on the beach; they soon leave. Aschenbach goes to the barber. He asks him to try to make him beautiful and young. When he goes on a gondola he realises he is just like the old man he saw on the boat. He follows the Polish family. Tadzio starts to walk separately from his family. He waits for Aschenbach and looks straight at him, but Aschenbach turns away. He is pleased that Tadzio does not let his mother notice what happened. Aschenbach is alone again, and buys some strawberries. They are not fresh. He thinks about the Greek gods again, and about the relationship between a writer and what he writes about.