Berta and the Leaning Houses

In the morning, Polly meets a stone marten on a drainpipe. Her name is Berta. She has lived inside the town walls for many years. She offers to show Polly the town. A marten's tour uses shortcuts, she says. Polly likes shortcuts very much.

Ujutro Polly upozna kunu bjelicu na oluku. Zove se Berta. Živi unutar gradskih zidina već mnogo godina. Nudi Polly da joj pokaže grad. Kunin obilazak koristi prečace, kaže ona. Polly jako voli prečace.

The streets of Albarracín are never straight. They climb in steps and pass under little archways. The wooden balconies above the lanes almost touch each other. Neighbors could pass a cup of sugar from one balcony to another. All the walls are painted in that soft pink color.

Ulice Albarracína nikada nisu ravne. Penju se stubama i prolaze ispod malih lukova. Drveni balkoni iznad uličica gotovo se dodiruju. Susjedi bi mogli dodati šalicu šećera s jednog balkona na drugi. Svi su zidovi obojeni onom mekom ružičastom bojom.

At a corner, Berta stops and points up with her paw. There stands a very strange house. It is narrow at the bottom and wide at the top. Nothing about it is straight. It is called the Julianeta, and it is famous in all of Spain. It has leaned like this for hundreds of years.

Na jednom uglu Berta stane i pokaže šapom prema gore. Tamo stoji vrlo čudna kuća. Uska je pri dnu i široka pri vrhu. Ništa na njoj nije ravno. Zove se Julianeta i poznata je u cijeloj Španjolskoj. Ovako se naginje već stotinama godina.

They finish the tour on a rooftop and share a fig. Polly asks how people find their way in these streets. Berta smiles. You do not find your way, she says. You get lost in a friendly way, and then you are home.

Obilazak završavaju na krovu i dijele smokvu. Polly pita kako ljudi pronalaze put u ovim ulicama. Berta se nasmiješi. Ne pronalaziš put, kaže. Izgubiš se na prijateljski način, i onda si doma.