The Village Under the Storm

Polly had one place written down. "Can you tell me how to get there?" she asked the ewe at breakfast. Follow the coast road west, the ewe said. The Bay of Skaill is a long curve of pale sand. Behind it is a green shelf, and the village sits there, half sunk into the ground.

Polly havde ét sted skrevet ned. "Kan du fortælle mig, hvordan jeg kommer derhen?" spurgte hun fåret ved morgenmaden. Følg kystvejen mod vest, sagde fåret. Bay of Skaill er en lang bue af lyst sand. Bag den ligger en grøn hylde, og der ligger landsbyen, halvt sunket ned i jorden.

An oystercatcher was working the site. Polly asked, "I would like to know the history of this particular monument." People lived here five thousand years ago, he said. They farmed this coast before Stonehenge and before the Great Pyramid. Then sand covered the village for four thousand years, until a storm in eighteen fifty took it away.

En strandskade arbejdede på stedet. Polly spurgte: "Jeg vil gerne vide noget om dette monuments historie." Her boede mennesker for fem tusind år siden, sagde han. De dyrkede denne kyst før Stonehenge og før den store pyramide. Så lå landsbyen under sand i fire tusind år, indtil en storm i atten hundrede og halvtreds tog sandet væk.

The wind took half of that. "Could you please repeat that for me?" Polly asked. Every house has the same furniture in the same places. A hearth in the middle. Beds at each side. A stone dresser against the far wall. It is stone because there was no wood.

Vinden tog halvdelen af det. "Kunne du gentage det for mig?" spurgte Polly. Hvert hus har de samme møbler de samme steder. Et ildsted i midten. Senge i hver side. En stenreol op ad den fjerneste væg. Den er af sten, fordi der ikke fandtes træ.

"Could you tell me if the museum is open tomorrow?" Polly asked. She knew she would come back. She stood at the edge of one house, looking into a room laid out the way anyone lays out a room.

"Kunne du fortælle mig, om museet er åbent i morgen?" spurgte Polly. Hun vidste, at hun ville komme tilbage. Hun stod ved kanten af et af husene og kiggede ind i et rum, der var stillet op, som enhver stiller et rum op.