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?"

Nyumba ya wageni ilisimama juu ya bandari, na mlango wake upande usio na upepo. Katika visiwa hivi, huo ndio upande unaowekwa mlango. Iliendeshwa na kondoo jike wa North Ronaldsay, mmoja wa kondoo wa ufuoni wanaokula mwani. Polly alisimama ukumbini. "Je, mna vyumba vinavyopatikana?"

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.

Vyumba vilikuwepo. Kwa kawaida huwepo mwezi wa Septemba. Polly akasema, "Ningependa chumba chenye utulivu, tafadhali." Kondoo akasubiri kidogo kabla ya kujibu. Vyumba vya nyuma vinaelekea uani na vya mbele vinaelekea majini. Upepo huvipata vyote viwili. Baada ya usiku mbili unaacha kuusikia.

"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.

"Je, waweza kunisaidia na mizigo yangu, tafadhali?" Kondoo alibeba mfuko hadi juu na kuuweka kando ya kiti kilicho karibu na moto. Kiunzi chake kilikuwa cha mbao zilizoletwa na mawimbi, kwa sababu hakuna mti unaokua hapa. Mgongo wake ulikuwa wa majani makavu ya oti, yaliyosokotwa kuwa kofia. Seremala wa Kirkwall aitwaye David Kirkness aliufanya muundo huo kuwa wa kawaida katikati ya karne ya kumi na tisa.

"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.

"Muda wa kuondoka chumbani ni saa ngapi?" Polly akauliza. Kivuko huamua kila kitu hapa. Kisha akaketi kwenye kiti. Kofia ya majani ilizuia upepo wa mlangoni, na kwa mara ya kwanza tangu alipoteremka melini akajisikia akipumua.