The Chair by the Fire

The guesthouse stood above the harbour, with its door on the sheltered side. On these islands, that is the side you put a door on. It was kept by a North Ronaldsay ewe, one of the shore sheep that eat seaweed. Polly stood in the hall. "Do you have any available rooms?"

Penzión stál nad prístavom a dvere mal na záveternej strane. Na týchto ostrovoch je to tá strana, na ktorú sa dvere dávajú. Viedla ho ovca plemena North Ronaldsay, jedna z pobrežných oviec, ktoré jedia morské riasy. Polly stála v hale. "Máte voľné izby?"

There were rooms. There usually are in September. Polly said, "I would like a quiet room, please." The ewe waited a moment before she answered. The back rooms face the yard and the front rooms face the water. The wind finds both. After two nights you stop hearing it.

Izby boli. V septembri zvyčajne bývajú. Polly povedala: "Chcela by som tichú izbu, prosím." Ovca chvíľu počkala, kým odpovedala. Zadné izby sú obrátené do dvora a predné k vode. Vietor si nájde jedny aj druhé. Po dvoch nociach ho prestanete počuť.

"Could you assist me with my luggage, please?" The ewe carried the bag up and set it beside a chair by the fire. Its frame was driftwood, because no tree grows here. Its back was oat straw, coiled into a hood. A joiner in Kirkwall named David Kirkness made that design standard in the middle of the eighteen hundreds.

"Mohli by ste mi pomôcť s batožinou, prosím?" Ovca vyniesla tašku hore a položila ju vedľa kresla pri ohni. Jeho kostra bola z dreva vyplaveného morom, lebo tu nerastie ani jeden strom. Operadlo bolo z ovsenej slamy stočenej do kapucne. Stolár z Kirkwallu menom David Kirkness urobil z tohto typu štandard v polovici devätnásteho storočia.

"What time is check-out?" Polly asked. The ferry decides everything here. Then she sat in the chair. The straw hood cut the draught from the door, and for the first time since the boat she could hear herself breathe.

"O koľkej je odhlásenie z izby?" spýtala sa Polly. Tu o všetkom rozhoduje trajekt. Potom si sadla do kresla. Slamená kapucňa odrezala prievan od dverí a Polly po prvý raz od vylodenia počula samu seba dýchať.