Hestene i elvesletta

Den fjerde morgenen våknet Polly av en lyd som torden. Men det var ingen skyer på himmelen. Lyden rullet gjennom canyonen og ristet i grenen hennes. Hun så ned. Tordenen hadde bein. En flokk hester løp over den flate sanden.

On the fourth morning, Polly woke to a sound like thunder. But there were no clouds in the sky. The sound rolled along the canyon and shook her branch. She looked down. The thunder had legs. A group of horses was running on the flat sand.

Polly fløy bort til en ung, brun hoppe bakerst i flokken. Hvor skal dere, spurte hun. Ingen steder, sa hoppa glad. Vi løper bare her. Hester har bodd i denne canyonen lenge. Noen tilhører familiene som har gårder her. Noen tilhører canyonen selv.

Polly flew next to a young brown mare at the back. Where are you going, she asked. Nowhere, said the mare happily. We just run here. Horses have lived in this canyon for a long time. Some belong to the families who farm here. Some belong to the canyon.

Polly skjønte hvorfor de løp akkurat her. Sanden var myk og flat, og den strakte seg mange kilometer mellom veggene. Og lyden var fantastisk. Den traff den ene veggen, spratt tilbake fra den andre, og fikk tjue hester til å høres ut som to hundre.

Polly understood why they ran here. The sand was soft and flat, and it went on for miles between the walls. And the noise was wonderful. The sound hit one wall, came back off the other, and made twenty horses sound like two hundred.

Til slutt saktnet hestene farten. En tynn bekk rant gjennom midten av all den tørre sanden. Hestene stilte seg i vannet og drakk. Polly landet på den varme sanden ved siden av dem og sa ingenting i det hele tatt.

At last the horses slowed down. A thin stream ran through the middle of all that dry sand. The horses stood in the water and drank. Polly landed on the warm sand next to them and said nothing at all.