Stube i stara priča

Izbliza stube izgledaju još gore nego prije. Spuštaju se vrlo strmo, gotovo kao ljestve. To zapravo nije pravo stubište. To je uska crta usječena u stijenu, a duboko dolje Polly vidi zeleno more. Skakuće niz prvih nekoliko. Svaka stuba je malo viša ili niža od prethodne.

Up close the steps look worse than before. They go down very steeply, almost like a ladder. It is not really a staircase. It is a narrow line cut into the rock, and far below Polly can see the green sea. She hops down the first few. Every step is a little higher or lower than the last one.

O ovom mjestu postoji stara priča i svi je pričaju. Godine tisuću četiristo dvadesete došla je vojska napasti grad. Ljudi kažu da su vojnici u jednoj noći potajno usjekli cijelo ovo stubište u liticu. Tako su se mogli popeti gore i iznenaditi grad.

There is an old story about this place, and everybody tells it. In the year fourteen twenty, an army came to attack the town. People say the soldiers cut this whole staircase into the cliff in one night, in secret, so they could climb up and surprise the town above.

To je dobra priča. Ali vjerojatno nije istinita. Jedan istraživač proučio ju je prije sto godina. Rekao je dvije stvari. Dvjesto stuba ne možeš u jednoj noći usjeći u tvrdu stijenu. A ovdje su bile stražarske kule, pa nitko nije mogao raditi cijelu noć, a da ga ne vide.

It is a good story. But it is probably not true. A researcher studied it a hundred years ago. He said two things. You cannot cut two hundred steps into hard rock in one night. And there were guard towers here, so nobody could work all night without being seen.

Polly sjedne na stubu. Ispod nje proleti velika morska ptica, tako nisko da krilom gotovo dotakne more. Uopće ne miče krilima. Pravi odgovor nalazi se negdje niže.

Polly sits down on a step. Below her a big seabird flies past, so low that its wing almost touches the sea. It does not move its wings at all. The real answer is somewhere further down.