Bajkalsøen

Polly vågnede på den femte morgen. Verden var blevet til vand.

Polly woke on the fifth morning. The world had become water.

Toget kørte langs Bajkalsøen. Søen fyldte hele vinduet. Vandet var en dyb, perfekt blå.

The train was running along Lake Baikal. The lake filled the whole window. The water was a deep, perfect blue.

Igor, fiskeren, stod ved vinduet med en notesbog.

Igor, the fisherman, was at the window with a notebook.

"Bajkal," sagde han. "Det er den dybeste sø i verden. 1.642 meter dyb. Det er også den ældste sø. 25 millioner år gammel."

"Baikal," he said. "It is the deepest lake in the world. 1,642 metres deep. It is also the oldest lake. 25 million years old."

Vandet var så klart, at Polly kunne se stenene på søens bund i de lavvandede områder.

The water was so clear that Polly could see rocks on the lake floor in the shallow places.

"Den indeholder 23 procent af al ferskvand på Jorden, der ikke er frosset," sagde Igor. "Mere end alle de Store Søer i Nordamerika tilsammen."

"It holds 23 percent of all the fresh water on Earth that is not frozen," Igor said. "More than all the Great Lakes in North America together."

Toget stoppede ved Slyudyanka station. Igor steg af. Han gav Polly et håndtryk med to fingre. "Tre dage med fiskeri. Så hjem." Han vinkede og var væk.

The train stopped at Slyudyanka station. Igor got off. He shook Polly's wing tip with two fingers. "Three days fishing. Then home." He waved and was gone.

Toget kørte langs søen i tre timer mere. En gruppe Bajkalsæler kom op til overfladen. De er de eneste ferskvandssæler i verden.

The train ran along the lake for three more hours. A group of Baikal seals came up to the surface. They are the only freshwater seals in the world.

Polly tænkte på, hvor meget vand der var under hende. En lille lyserød reje lever i Bajkal. Den holder vandet rent. Den har gjort dette arbejde i 20 millioner år.

Polly thought about how much water was below her. A tiny pink shrimp lives in Baikal. It keeps the water clean. It has been doing this job for 20 million years.