Skala, ki je odšla

Še globlje spodaj Polly sreča soseda. V vodi, čisto blizu, stoji visok stolp bledega kamna. Okoli njegovega dna se lomijo beli valovi. Ljudje mu pravijo Zrno peska. To je šala, ker je velik skoraj kot majhna cerkev.

Further down still, Polly goes down and meets a neighbour. Out in the water, quite close, there is a tall tower of pale rock. White waves break around the bottom of it. People call it the Grain of Sand. That is a joke, because it is about as big as a small church.

Ni bil vedno tam zunaj. Pred približno osemsto leti je bil del te pečine. Potem so valovi odnesli skalo pod njim in stolp je ostal sam v morju. Polly ga gleda. Spodaj je tanjši kot zgoraj. Morje še vedno dela na njem.

It was not always out there. About eight hundred years ago it was part of this cliff. Then the waves took away the rock underneath, and the tower was left alone in the sea. Polly looks at it. It is thinner at the bottom than at the top. The sea is still working on it.

Mimo nje prileti galeb. Ta je poseben. Ni eden od glasnih galebov, ki sledijo ladjam in ljudem jemljejo hrano. To je Audouinov galeb. Nikoli ne jemlje hrane drugim živalim. Ribe si ulovi sam na odprtem morju.

A gull flies past her. This one is special. It is not one of the noisy gulls that follow boats and take food from people. This is an Audouin's gull. It never takes food from other animals. It catches its own fish out at sea.

Galeb odleti nad vodo, dokler ga Polly ne vidi več. Spet pogleda visoko skalo in prostor med njo in pečino. Ta prostor je bil nekoč trden kamen.

The gull flies away over the water until Polly cannot see it. She looks again at the tall rock, and at the space between it and the cliff. That space was once solid stone.