The Gathering on the Skerries

The boat to the rocks is short. The rocks are low and wet. Grey seals lay all over them. They were not doing anything.

Turen ud til klipperne er kort. Klipperne er lave og våde. Grå sæler lå ud over dem alle sammen. De lavede ikke noget.

Polly chose a big seal. "How many are there in your family?" she asked. He thought for a long time. Everyone on this rock, he said. And everyone on the next one.

Polly valgte en stor sæl. "Hvor mange er I i din familie?" spurgte hun. Han tænkte længe. Alle på denne klippe, sagde han. Og alle på den næste.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Almost certainly, he said. He did not know which ones. Orkney has about twenty-two thousand seal pups every year.

"Har du nogen brødre eller søstre?" Næsten helt sikkert, sagde han. Han vidste ikke hvilke. Orkneyøerne har omkring toogtyve tusind sælunger hvert år.

Polly tried a phrase. "I want to spend time with my family today." It sounded strange here. Then she tried, "Even though we live far apart, we always keep in touch with each other." That is closer, the seal said.

Polly prøvede en sætning. "Jeg vil gerne bruge tid sammen med min familie i dag." Det lød mærkeligt her. Så prøvede hun: "Selvom vi bor langt fra hinanden, holder vi altid kontakten." Den er tættere på, sagde sælen.