The Circle and the Morning Boat

The Ring of Brodgar sits on a narrow neck of land between two lochs, which is the only reason it feels high. The stones stand in a circle about one hundred and four metres across, cut off from the moor by a ditch hacked into solid rock. It was raised between four and four and a half thousand years ago, and it is part of a world heritage site.

Ring of Brodgar ipo juu ya ukanda mwembamba wa ardhi kati ya maziwa mawili, na hiyo ndiyo sababu pekee inayoifanya ionekane iko juu. Mawe yamesimama katika duara lenye upana wa mita mia moja na nne, likitengwa na uwanda wa nyika kwa handaki lililochongwa kwenye mwamba mgumu. Lilijengwa kati ya miaka elfu nne na elfu nne na nusu iliyopita, nalo ni sehemu ya eneo la urithi wa dunia.

There were around sixty stones once. Thirty-six are standing now, and the gaps are as much of the shape as the stones are. Polly walked the ring the long way, on the outside, with heather to her knees and the light going flat and wide across the water on both sides. Nothing about it is arranged for a visitor. It was arranged for something else, and whatever that was is not recorded anywhere.

Zamani kulikuwa na mawe karibu sitini. Sasa yamesimama thelathini na sita, na nafasi zilizo wazi ni sehemu ya umbo kama yalivyo mawe yenyewe. Polly akalizunguka duara kwa njia ndefu, kwa nje, akiwa na mimea ya heather hadi magotini na mwanga ukitanda bapa na mpana juu ya maji pande zote mbili. Hakuna chochote kilichopangwa kwa ajili ya mgeni. Kilipangwa kwa ajili ya jambo lingine, na jambo hilo halikuandikwa popote.

Then the ordinary business of leaving. Back at the harbour office there was a shag behind a counter and a printed sheet on the wall. "What time does the ferry leave?" Polly asked. "How much does this cost?" She looked at the sheet with him while he found the line. "I would like to buy a ticket, please."

Kisha ikaja shughuli ya kawaida ya kuondoka. Kule ofisini mwa bandari kulikuwa na ndege aina ya shag nyuma ya kaunta na karatasi iliyochapishwa ukutani. "Kivuko kinaondoka saa ngapi?" Polly akauliza. "Hii inagharimu kiasi gani?" Wakaiangalia karatasi pamoja huku akitafuta mstari husika. "Ningependa kununua tikiti, tafadhali."

"How long does the crossing take?" she asked last, and put the ticket away. In the morning the boat pulled out past the same low headland it had come in by, and the islands went down behind it in the order she had learned them: a town on one street, a bay with a village in it, a chapel made of huts, a rock full of seals, and inland, out of sight from the water, a circle with most of its stones still up.

"Safari ya kuvuka inachukua muda gani?" akauliza mwisho, kisha akaiweka tikiti mfukoni. Asubuhi meli ikatoka ikipita rasi ileile fupi iliyoingilia, na visiwa vikazama nyuma yake kwa mpangilio ule alioujifunza: mji wenye barabara moja, ghuba yenye kijiji ndani yake, kanisa dogo lililotengenezwa kwa vibanda, mwamba uliojaa sili, na kule bara, mbali na macho ya baharini, duara lenye mawe mengi bado yamesimama.