The Gathering on the Skerries

The boat to the rocks is short. The rocks are low and wet. Grey seals lay all over them. They were not doing anything.

Safari ya mashua kwenda kwenye miamba ni fupi. Miamba ni mifupi na yenye maji. Sili wa kijivu walilala juu yake. Hawakuwa wakifanya lolote.

Polly chose a big seal. "How many are there in your family?" she asked. He thought for a long time. Everyone on this rock, he said. And everyone on the next one.

Polly akamchagua sili mkubwa. "Mko wangapi katika familia yenu?" akauliza. Alifikiri kwa muda mrefu. Kila mmoja aliye juu ya mwamba huu, akasema. Na kila mmoja aliye juu ya mwamba unaofuata.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Almost certainly, he said. He did not know which ones. Orkney has about twenty-two thousand seal pups every year.

"Je, una kaka au dada?" Bila shaka, akasema. Hakujua ni wapi. Orkney ina watoto wa sili karibu elfu ishirini na mbili kila mwaka.

Polly tried a phrase. "I want to spend time with my family today." It sounded strange here. Then she tried, "Even though we live far apart, we always keep in touch with each other." That is closer, the seal said.

Polly akajaribu sentensi. "Nataka kutumia muda na familia yangu leo." Ilisikika ya ajabu hapa. Kisha akajaribu, "Ingawa tunaishi mbali kwa mbali, sisi huwasiliana daima." Hiyo iko karibu zaidi, sili akasema.