Kruh a ranná loď

Kruh Brodgar leží na úzkej šiji medzi dvoma jazerami, a len preto pôsobí vysoko. Kamene stoja v kruhu širokom asi sto štyri metrov, oddelenom od vresoviska priekopou vysekanou do pevnej skaly. Postavili ho pred štyrmi až štyri a pol tisíc rokmi a je súčasťou lokality svetového dedičstva.

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.

Kedysi tu stálo okolo šesťdesiat kameňov. Dnes ich stojí tridsaťšesť a medzery patria k tvaru rovnako ako samotné kamene. Polly obišla kruh dlhšou cestou, zvonka, s vresom po kolená a so svetlom, ktoré sa na oboch stranách ploško rozlievalo po vode. Nič na tom nie je usporiadané pre návštevníka. Bolo to usporiadané pre niečo iné a to, čo to bolo, nie je nikde zapísané.

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.

Potom prišlo bežné vybavovanie odchodu. Späť v prístavnej kancelárii sedel za pultom kormorán chochlatý a na stene visel vytlačený list. "O koľkej odchádza trajekt?" spýtala sa Polly. "Koľko to stojí?" Pozerala sa s ním na ten list, kým našiel príslušný riadok. "Chcela by som si kúpiť lístok, prosím."

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."

"Ako dlho trvá plavba?" spýtala sa nakoniec a lístok si odložila. Ráno loď vyplávala popri tom istom nízkom výbežku, popri ktorom prišla, a ostrovy klesali za ňou v poradí, v akom sa ich naučila: mestečko na jednej ulici, záliv s dedinou v ňom, kaplnka z barakov, skala plná tuleňov a vo vnútrozemí, z vody neviditeľný, kruh s väčšinou kameňov ešte stojacich.

"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.