The Village Under the Storm

Polly had one place written down. "Can you tell me how to get there?" she asked the ewe at breakfast. Follow the coast road west, the ewe said. The Bay of Skaill is a long curve of pale sand. Behind it is a green shelf, and the village sits there, half sunk into the ground.

Polly je imala zapisano jedno mjesto. „Možete li mi reći kako da dođem onamo?” pitala je ovcu za doručkom. Idi obalnom cestom na zapad, rekla je ovca. Uvala Skaill duga je krivulja blijedog pijeska. Iza nje je zelena polica, a ondje stoji selo Skara Brae, napola utonulo u zemlju.

An oystercatcher was working the site. Polly asked, "I would like to know the history of this particular monument." People lived here five thousand years ago, he said. They farmed this coast before Stonehenge and before the Great Pyramid. Then sand covered the village for four thousand years, until a storm in eighteen fifty took it away.

Na nalazištu je radio ostrigar. Polly je pitala: „Htjela bih saznati povijest baš ovog spomenika.” Ovdje su ljudi živjeli prije pet tisuća godina, rekao je. Obrađivali su ovu obalu prije Stonehengea i prije Velike piramide. Onda je pijesak prekrio selo na četiri tisuće godina, dok ga oluja tisuću osamsto pedesete nije odnijela.

The wind took half of that. "Could you please repeat that for me?" Polly asked. Every house has the same furniture in the same places. A hearth in the middle. Beds at each side. A stone dresser against the far wall. It is stone because there was no wood.

Vjetar je odnio pola toga. „Možete li mi to, molim vas, ponoviti?” pitala je Polly. Svaka kuća ima isti namještaj na istim mjestima. Ognjište u sredini. Postelje sa svake strane. Kamena polica uza suprotni zid. Kamena je zato što nije bilo drva.

"Could you tell me if the museum is open tomorrow?" Polly asked. She knew she would come back. She stood at the edge of one house, looking into a room laid out the way anyone lays out a room.

„Možete li mi reći je li muzej sutra otvoren?” pitala je Polly. Znala je da će se vratiti. Stajala je na rubu jedne kuće i gledala u prostoriju posloženu onako kako svatko slaže prostoriju.