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| STRIC EINAR | Uncle Einar |
| "Gotovo je za minutu", rekla je ženica strica Einara. | It will take only a minute," said Uncle Einar's sweet wife. |
| "Ma ni govora", odgovorio je on. "I gotovo je za sekundu." | "I refuse," he said. "And that takes but a second." |
| "Ja rintam čitavo jutro", rekla je ona i uhvatila se za vitka leđa, "i ti mi sad nećeš pomoći? Već je počelo i sijevati." | "I've worked all morning," she said, holding to her slender back, "and you won't help? It's drumming for a rain." |
| "Nek samo sijeva", odgovorio je on mrzovoljno. "Još da me i grom probije samo zato što se tebi spuhnulo sušiti veš." | "Let it rain," he cried, morosely. "I'll not be pierced by lightning just to air your clothes." |
| "Ali ti si u tome tako brz." | "But you're so quick at it." |
| "Još jednom: ni slučajno." Golema su mu krila, kao skrojena od cerade, nervozno zabrujala iza indigniranih leđa. | "Again, I refuse." His vast tarpaulin wings hummed nervously behind his indignant back. |
| Ženica mu je pružila tanki konop za koji je bilo pričvršćeno pedesetak netom opranih komada rublja. On ga je stao s gnušanjem prevrtati po rukama. "Uvijek se sve svede na isto", promrmljao je on s gorčinom. "Na ovo, na ovo, na ovo." Zamalo je zaplakao ljutim i kiselim suzama. | She gave him a slender rope on which were tied four dozen fresh-washed clothes. He turned it in his fingers with distaste. "So it's come to this," he muttered, bitterly. "To this, to this, to this." He almost wept angry and acid tears. |
| "Daj ne cmolji; samo ćeš ga opet smočiti", odgovorila je Ona. "Daj malo skoči, daj malo potrči." | "Don't cry; you'll wet them down again," she said. "Jump up, now, run them about." |
| "Daj malo potrči." Glas mu je bio šupalj, dubok, i užasno povrijeđen. "A ja velim: Neka grmi, neka sijeva, neka lijeva!" | "Run them about." His voice was hollow, deep, and terribly wounded. "I say: let it thunder, let it pour!" |
| "Da je lijep, sunčan dan, ne bih te ni pitala", odgovorila je ona razložno. "Ako mi to ne učiniš, badava mi sve pranje. Onda će visjeti posvuda po kući..." | "If it was a nice, sunny day I wouldn't ask," she said, reasonably. "All my washing gone for nothing if you don't. They'll hang about the house--" |
| I to je napokon prevagnulo. Ništa na svijetu nije mrzio kao odjeću obješenu u zastave i girlande, tako da se, kad god hoćeš proći kroz sobu, stalno moraš provlačiti. Poskočio je. Prasnula su mu golema zelena krila. | That did it. Above all, he hated clothes flagged and festooned so a man had to creep under on the way across a room. He jumped up. His vast green wings boomed. "Only so far as the pasture fence!" |
| "Samo do ograde pašnjaka!" Kovitlac. Na noge je poskočio, a krila su mu zagrizla i pomilovala studeni zrak. Prije nego što bi se reklo da stric Einar ima zelena krila, on je već jedrio preko svoje farme, slijedeći rublje u golemom lepršavom lupingu, popraćenom udarnim detonacijama i silnim vrtloženjima iza njegovih krila. | Whirl: up he jumped, his wings chewed and loved the cool air. Before you'd say Uncle Einar Has Green Wings he sailed low across his farmland, trailing the clothes in a vast fluttering loop through the pounding concussion and back-wash of his wings! |
| "Drži!" | "Catch!" |
| Vrativši se s ekspedicije, pustio je rublje da zaplovi, suho kao kokica, na niz čistih plahti što ih je ženica bila rasprostrta za njihovo slijetanje. | Back from the trip, he sailed the clothes, dry as popcorn, down on a series of clean blankets she'd spread for their landing. |
| "Hvala!" uskliknula je ona. | "Thank you!" she cried. |
| "Ghhh!" odviknuo joj je on, pa odletio pod jabuku i utonuo u duboke misli. | "Gahh!" he shouted, and flew off under the apple tree to brood. |
| Lijepa svilasta krila strica Einara sad su mu visjela za leđima nekako morsko modra, pa bi mu fijukala i šaputala s leđa kad god bi kihnuo ili se naglo okrenuo. On je bio jedan od malobrojnih u Obitelji obdarenih jasno vidljivim talentima. Svi njegovi mračni rođaci i nećaci i braća, skriveni po gradićima diljem svijeta, pretvarali su se u nevidljive, čisto mentalne stvorove, ili pak stvorove s vještičjim prstima i bijelim zubima, ili bi letjeli nebom u obliku zapaljenoga lišća, ili zavijali po šumama poput mjesečinom posrebrenih vukova. Živjeli su srazmjemo zaštićeni od normalnih ljudi. Što nije bio slučaj i s čovjekom s velikim zelenim krilima. | Uncle Einar's beautiful silk-like wings hung like sea-green sails behind him, and whirred and whispered from his shoulders when he sneezed or turned swiftly. He was one of the few in the Family whose talent was visible. All his dark cousins and nephews and brothers hid in small towns across the world, did unseen mental things or things with witchfingers and white teeth, or blew down the sky like fire-leaves, or loped in forests like moonsilvered wolves. They lived comparatively safe from normal humans. Not so a man with great green wings. |
| Što ipak ne znači da su mu ona bila mrska. Daleko od toga! U mladosti bi letio svake noći, zato što je noć prava zgoda za krilate ljude! U svjetlu dana krile su se pogibelji, tako je uvijek bilo i uvijek će biti; ali noću, ah, noću, lebdio bi on tako preko arhipelaga oblaka i mora ljetnoga neba. Bez ikakve opasnosti po sebe. Bilo bi to bogato, puno kruženje, pravi ushit. | Not that he hated his wings. Far from it! In his youth he'd always flown nights, because nights were rare times for winged men! Daylight held dangers, always had, always would; but nights, ah, nights, he had sailed over islands of cloud and seas of summer sky. With no danger to himself. It had been a rich, full soaring, an exhilaration. |
| Ali sad više nije mogao letjeti noću. | But now he could not fly at night. |
| Prije povratka kući na nekom visokom planinskom prijevoju u Europi, nakon obiteljskoga prela u Mellin Townu, Illinois (prije nekoliko godina), bio je popio previše bogatog grimiznog vina. "Sve će biti u redu", govorio je samome sebi, nekako neodređeno, dok je odmlaćivao svoj dugi put pod jutarnjim zvijezdama, a nad mjesečinasto-snovitim bregovima iza Mellin Towna. I tada... grom iz vedra neba... | On his way home to some high mountain pass in Europe after a Homecoming among Family members in Mellin Town, Illinois (some years ago) he had drunk too much rich crimson wine. "I'll be all right," he had told himself, vaguely, as he beat his long way under the morning stars, over the moon-dreaming country hills beyond Mellin Town. And then--crack out of the sky-- |
| Stup dalekovoda. | A high-tension tower. |
| Kao patka u mreži! Veliko cvrčanje! Plavo mu je iskrenje žica prsnulo crninu u lice, pokušao je odbiti elektricitet strahovitom odskočnom mlatnjavom krila, i pao. | Like a netted duck! A great sizzle! His face blown black by a blue sparkler of wire, he fended off the electricity with a terrific back-jumping percussion of his wings, and fell. |
| Kad je tresnuo o mjesečinom obasjanu ledinu pod stupom, zvuk je bio kao da je s neba pao teški telefonski imenik. | His hitting the moonlit meadow under the tower made a noise like a large telephone book dropped from the sky. |
| Sutradan rano ujutro, dok su mu se divlje tresla rosom promočena krila, uspio se dići na noge. Još je bio mrak. Na istoku se protezala slabašna pruga zore. Uskoro će se ta pruga obojiti, i onda svi letovi postaju zabranjeni. Nije mu bilo druge no da potraži zaklon u šumi i u najdubljem grmlju pričeka da prođe dan a sljedeća mu noć poda krila i skrovitost gibanja po nebu. | Early the next morning, his dew-sodden wings shaking violently, he stood up. It was still dark. There was a faint bandage of dawn stretched across the east. Soon the bandage would stain and all flight would be restricted. There was nothing to do but take refuge in the forest and wait out the day in the deepest thicket until another night gave his wings a hidden motion in the sky. |
| Tako je i upoznao svoju buduću suprugu. | In this fashion he met his wife. |
| Toga dana, koji je bio topao za prvi studenog u zemlji Illinois, lijepa mlada Brunilla Wexley izišla je pomusti vime odlutale krave, pa je nosila srebrenu vjedricu i provlačila se kroz guštik i vrlo umno pledirala na nevidljivu kravu da se, molim, vrati kući, jer će joj inače od nepomuzena mlijeka prsnuti crijeva. Za samu činjenicu da će se krava, kad joj se sise doista zažele natezanja, skoro pouzdano sama vratiti kući, Brunilla je Wexley malo marila. Bila je to prekrasna izlika za izlet u šumu, za puhanje u čičkov cvijet i žvakanje cvijeća; što je sve Brunilla i radila u trenutku kad se spotakla o strica Einara. | During the day, which was warm for November first in Illinois country, pretty young Brunilla Wexley was out to udder a lost cow, for she carried a silver pail in one hand as she sidled through thickets and pleaded cleverly to the unseen cow to please return home or burst her gut with unplucked milk. The fact that the cow would have most certainly come home when her teats needed pulling did not concern Brunilla Wexley. It was a sweet excuse for forest-journeying, thistle-blowing, and flower chewing; all of which Brunilla was doing as she stumbled upon Uncle Einar. |
| Onako usnuo pod grmom, doimao se čovjekom pod zelenim zaklonom. | Asleep near a bush, he seemed a man under a green shelter. |
| "O", rekla je Brunilla, obuzeta nekakvom groznicom. "Muškarac. Pod kamperskim šatorom." | "Oh," said Brunilla, with a fever. "A man. In a camp-tent." |
| Stric Einar se probudio. Kamperski se šator raširio iza njega poput velike, zelene lepeze. | Uncle Einar awoke. The camp-tent spread like a large green fan behind him. |
| "O", rekla je Brunilla, tragačica za kravama. "Čovjek s krilima." | "Oh," said Brunilla, the cow-searcher. "A man with wings." |
| Baš je to tako ona primila. Prepala se jest, to da, ali joj još nitko u životu nije napravio nešto zlo, i zato se nikog nije ni bojala, a bilo je zaista prekrasno vidjeti krilata čovjeka, i ona se jako ponosila što ga je upoznala. I tako je počela razgovor. Nakon sat vremena već su bili stari prijatelji, a nakon dva sata već je bila i posve zaboravila da nekakva krila uopće i postoje. A on joj je nekako priznao kako se uopće i našao u šumi. | That was how she took it. She was startled, yes, but she had never been hurt in her life, so she wasn't afraid of anyone, and it was a fancy thing to see a winged man and she was proud to meet him. She began to talk. In an hour they were old friends, and in two hours she'd quite forgotten his wings were there. And he somehow confessed how he happened to be in this wood. |
| "Da, opazila sam da izgledaš kao da je tobom netko mlatio", odgovorila je ona. "A to ti desno krilo izgleda baš gadno. Bit će najbolje da te odvedem kući i sredim ti ga. I onako ne bi bio sposoban njime letjeti sve do Europe. A i kome se danas živi u Europi?" | "Yes, I noticed you looked banged around," she said. "That right wing looks very bad. You'd best let me take you home and fix it. You won't be able to fly all the way to Europe on it, anyway. And who wants to live in Europe these days?" |
| On joj je zahvalio, ali mu baš nije bilo jasno kako bi to mogao prihvatiti. | He thanked her, but he didn't quite see how he could accept. |
| "Ali ja živim sama", rekla mu je ona. "Zato što sam, kao što vidiš, jako ružna." | "But I live alone," she said. "For, as you see, I'm quite ugly." |
| On ju je počeo odlučno uvjeravati da nije. | He insisted she was not. |
| "Jako ljubezno od tebe", odgovorila je ona. "Ali ja to jesam, i ne želim se obmanjivati. Moji su umrli, i ja imam farmu, samo svoju, i to veliku, podalje od Mellin Towna, i tako bih rado s nekim pričala." | "How kind of you," she said. "But I am, there's no fooling myself. My folks are dead, I've a farm, a big one, all to myself, quite far from Mellin Town, and I'm in need of talking company." |
| Ali zar ga se ne boji? upitao ju je on. | But wasn't she afraid of him? he asked. |
| "Prije bi se moglo reći da se ponosim i da sam ljubomorna", odgovorila je ona. "Smijem?" I sad mu je s brižljivom zavišću pomilovala velike zelene opnaste koprene. On se od dodira stresao i ugrizao se za jezik. | "Proud and jealous would be more near it," she said. "May I?" And she stroked his large green membraned veils with careful envy. He shuddered at the touch and put his tongue between his teeth. |
| I tako od toga nije bilo ništa, nego je samo došao k njoj kući po lijekove i meleme, i Bože! kakva opeklina na licu, ispod očiju. "Sreća tvoja da nisi oslijepio", rekla je ona. "Kako se to dogodilo?" | So there was nothing for it but that he come to her house for medicaments and ointments, and my! what a burn across his face, beneath his eyes! "Lucky you weren't blinded," she said. "How'd it happen?" |
| "Pa mislim..." rekao je on, i već su bili na njezinoj farmi, jedva i opazivši da su prevalili čitavu milju, i gledali se. | "Well . . ." he said, and they were at her farm, hardly noticing they'd walked a mile, looking at each other. |
| Prošao je dan, pa još jedan, i on joj je zahvalio na vratima i rekao da sad mora ići, da joj puno zahvaljuje na melemima, na brizi, na gostoprimstvu. Bio je već sumrak, a od sada, u šest sati, pa do pet sutra ujutro, on mora preletjeti i ocean i kontinent. "Hvala ti, i zbogom", rekao je on pa poletio u smiraj i zabio se ravno u javor. | A day passed, and another, and he thanked her at her door and said he must be going, he much appreciated the ointment, the care, the lodging. It was twilight and between now, six o'clock, and five the next morning, he must cross an ocean and a continent. "Thank you; good-by," he said, and started to fly off in the dusk and crashed right into a maple tree. |
| "O!" vrisnula je ona i potrčala prema njegovu onesviještenu tijelu. | "Oh!" she screamed, and ran to his unconscious body. |
| Kad je sat potom prohodao, shvatio je da više nikad neće letjeti u mraku; njegova se osjetljiva noćna percepcija posve izgubila. Njegovu krilatu telepatiju, koja ga je upozoravala da su mu se na putu našli stupovi, drveće, kuće i brda, taj suptilni, jasni vid i osjetljivost koji su ga vodili kroz labirinte šume, gorja i oblaka, sve je to zanavijek spalio onaj udarac po licu, ono modro električno pohanje i cvrčanje. | When he waked the next hour he knew he'd fly no more in the dark again ever; his delicate night-perception was gone. The winged telepathy that had warned him where towers, trees, houses and hills stood across his path, the fine clear vision and sensibility that guided him through mazes of forest, cliff, and cloud, all were burnt forever by that strike across his face, that blue electric fry and sizzle. |
| "Kako?" tiho je zaječao. "Kako da stignem u Europu? Budem li letio danju, vidjet će me i - bijedna li zadovoljstva - možda i oboriti! Ili me možda staviti u zoološki vrt, o jadna li života! Brunilla, reci mi, što da radim?" | "How?" he moaned softly. "How can I go to Europe? If I flew by day, I'd be seen and--miserable joke--maybe shot down! Or kept for a zoo perhaps, what a life that'd be! Brunilla, tell me, what shall I do?" |
| "O", prošaptala je ona i spustila pogled na ruke. "Smislit ćemo već nešto..." | "Oh," she whispered, looking at her hands. "We'll think of something. . . ." |
| I tako su se vjenčali. | They were married. |
| Obitelj je došla na pir. U velikoj jesenskoj lavini lišća javora, američke platane, hrašća i briješća, psikali su i šuškali, padali u pljusku kestenja, lupali u zemlju poput jesenskih jabuka, a vjetar što su ga dizali svojom jurnjavom, mirisao je ljetnim oproštajem. Obred je bio kratak koliko i paljenje crne svijeće, puhanje u nju i zadržavanje dima u zraku. Kratkoća te ceremonije, njezina tamnost, izokrenutost i naopakost posve su promakli Brunilli, koja je čula samo veličanstveni gromor plime što su ga stvarala krila strica Einara, tiho mrmoreći nad njima pri svršetku svetkovine. A što se pak tiče strica Einara, rana što ju je dobio preko nosa već se skoro zaliječila, no dok je Brunillu držao za ruku, osjećao je kako Europa blijedi i topi se u daljini. | The Family came for the wedding. In a great autumnal avalanche of maple, sycamore, oak, elm leaf they hissed and rustled, fell in a shower of horse-chestnut, thumped like winter apples on the earth, with an over-all scent of farewell-summer on the wind they made in their rushing. The ceremony? The ceremony was brief as a black candle lit, blown out, and smoke left still on the air. Its briefness, darkness, upside-down and backward quality escaped Brunilla, who only listened to the great tide of Uncle Einar's wings faintly murmuring above them as they finished out the rite. And as for Uncle Einar, the wound across his nose was almost healed and, holding Brunilla's arm, he felt Europe grow faint and melt away in the distance. |
| Da bi letio ravno gore ili ravno dolje nije mu ni bio potreban nekakav vid. I zato je bilo pove prirodno da je te prve bračne noći uzeo Brunillu u naručje i poletio ravno u nebo. | He didn't have to see very well to fly straight up, or come straight down. It was only natural that on this night of their wedding he take Brunilla in his arms and fly right up into the sky. |
| Neki je farmer, pet milja dalje, u ponoć pogledao niski oblak i opazio slabašni sjaj i pucketanje. | A farmer, five miles over, glanced at a low cloud at midnight, saw faint glows and crackles. |
| "Atmosferski elektricitet", zamijetio je i pošao u postelju. Nisu se spustili sve do jutra, kad su to učinili s rosom. | "Heat lightning," he observed, and went to bed. They didn't come down till morning, with the dew. |
| Brak je funkcionirao. Trebala ga je samo pogledati, pa da je uznese misao da je ona jedina žena na svijetu udana za krilatog muškarca. "Koja to druga može reći?" upitala bi svoje ogledalce. I odgovor bi uvijek bio: "Nijedna!" | The marriage took. She had only to look at him, and it lifted her to think she was the only woman in the world married to a winged man. "Who else could say it?" she asked her mirror. And the answer was: "No one!" |
| On je pak, sa svoje strane, iza njezina lica otkrivao veliku ljepotu, veliku dobrotu i razumijevanje. Malo je promijenio način ishrane i prilagodio ga njezinu načinu mišljenja, i malo bi, kad bi hodao po kući, pazio na krila; srušeni porculan i polomljene lampe bili su turpija za živce, zato se od njih držao podalje. Promijenio je i naviku spavanja, jer sad i tako više nije mogao letjeti noću. A ona je zauzvrat preuredila naslonjače tako da se sad u njima moglo udobno sjediti i s krilima, jer je malo tapecirunga dodala tu, malo oduzela tamo, a osim toga je i govorila baš ono zbog čega ju je i volio. "Mi smo još u čahurama, svi mi. Vidiš kako sam ružna?" rekla bi. "Ali ću ja jednoga dana razbiti čahuru, i raširiti krila velika i lijepa kao tvoja." "Odavno si je već razbila", odgovorio joj je on. | He, on the other hand, found great beauty behind her face, great kindness and understanding. He made some changes in his diet to fit her thinking, and was careful with his wings about the house; knocked porcelains and broken lamps were nerve-scrapers, he stayed away from them. He changed his sleeping habits, since he couldn't fly nights now anyhow. And she in turn fixed chairs so they were comfortable for his wings, put extra padding here or took it out there, and the things she said were the things he loved her for. "We're in our cocoons, all of us. See how ugly I am?" she said. "But one day I'll break out, spread wings as fine and handsome as you." "You broke out long ago," he said. |
| Ona se nad time malo zamislila. "Da", morala je priznati. "I točno znam koji je to dan bilo. U šumi, kad sam tražila kravu, a našla šator!" Oboje se nasmijalo, i dok ju je on grlio osjećala se tako lijepom, da je shvatila da ju je brak izvukao iz ružnoće, baš onako kako se sjajni mač izvlači iz korica. | She thought it over. "Yes," she had to admit. "I know just which day it was, too. In the woods when I looked for a cow and found a tent!" They laughed, and with him holding her she felt so beautiful she knew their marriage had slipped her from her ugliness, like a bright sword from its case. |
| Imali su i djecu. S početka je bilo i straha, isključivo s njegove strane, da će biti krilata. | They had children. At first there was fear, all on his part, that they'd be winged. |
| "Gluposti, baš bih to voljela!" rekla je ona. "Bar mi se ne bi plela pod noge." | "Nonsense, I'd love it!" she said. "Keep them out from under foot." |
| "Al bi ti se tada", usklinuo je on, "plela u kosu!" | "Then," he exclaimed, "they'd be in your hair!" |
| "Au!" kriknula je ona. | "Ow!" she cried. |
| Rodilo se četvero djece, tri dečka i curica, za koje se činilo, zbog silne njihove živosti, da doista imaju krila. Za nekoliko su godina izdikljali kao gljive poslije kiše, a u vruće bi ljetne dane molili oca da ih, sjedeći pod jabukom, hladi kao lepezom svojim prohladnim krilima i priča im neobuzdane zvjezdane priče o arhipelazima otoka i oceanu nebesa i teksturi magle i vjetra i kakav je okus zvijezda u ustima, i kako se pije hladni planinski zrak, i kako se osjeća šljunčić kad ga bace s Mount Everesta, i kako se pretvara u zeleni cvat, jer mu se krila rascvjetaju čas prije no što će udariti u podnožje! | Four children were born, three boys and a girl, who, for their energy, seemed to have wings. They popped up like toadstools in a few years, and on hot summer days asked their father to sit under the apple tree and fan them with his cooling wings and tell them wild starlit tales of island clouds and ocean skies and textures of mist and wind and how a star tastes melting in your mouth, and how to drink cold mountain air, and how it feels to be a pebble dropped from Mt. Everest, turning to a green bloom, flowering your wings just before you strike bottom! |
| Njegov je brak bio to. | This was his marriage. |
| A danas, šest godina potom, evo nam strica Einara, tu gdje jest, kako trune pod jabukom, postavši i nervozan i neljubezan; i to ne zato što mu to bijaše želja, nego zato što, ni nakon dugog čekanja, još nije povratio moć da se digne u silno noćno nebo; ono mu se dodatno osjetilo nikad nije vratilo. I tako tu sjedi potunjeno, tek puki ljetni suncobran protiv sunca, zelen i odbačen, napušten na kraju sezone od bezočnih izletnika koji su nekoć tražili pribježište u njegovoj prozračnoj sjeni. Hoće li on tu sjediti dovijeka, jer se boji letjeti danju zato što bi ga netko mogao vidjeti? Hoće li se sve njegovo letenje svesti na to da ženi bude sušilica za rublje i djeci lepeza u vruća kolovoška podneva? Jedina mu je okupacija oduvijek bila da Obitelji bude potrčko, i pritom leti brže od oluje. | And today, six years later, here sat Uncle Einar, here he was, festering under the apple tree, grown impatient and unkind; not because this was his desire, but because after the long wait, he was still unable to fly the wild night sky; his extra sense had never returned. Here he sat despondently, nothing more than a summer sun-parasol, green and discarded, abandoned for the season by the reckless vacationers who once sought the refuge of its translucent shadow. Was he to sit here forever, afraid to fly by day because someone might see him? Was his only flight to be as a drier of clothes for his wife, or a fanner of children on hot August noons? His one occupation had always been flying Family errands, quicker than storms. |
| Bio bi bumerang, perjao bi preko brda i dola i prizemljivao poput maslačkove sjemenke. I uvijek je imao novaca; Obitelj je znala koliko im vrijedi taj krileša! A sad? Gorčina! Krila su mu drhturila i sjekla zrak i grmjela poput zarobljena groma. | A boomerang, he'd whickled over hills and valleys and like a thistle, landed. He had always had money; the Family had good use for their winged man! But now? Bitterness! His wings jittered and whisked the air and made a captive thunder. |
| "Tata", rekla je mala Meg. | "Papa," said little Meg. |
| Djeca su stajala i gledala ga u od crnih misli zamračeno lice. | The children stood looking at his thought-dark face. |
| "Tata", rekao je Ronald. "Daj još malo grmljavine!" | "Papa," said Ronald. "Make more thunder!" |
| "Danas je hladan ožujski dan, uskoro će biti i kiše i grmljavine na klaftre", odgovorio je stric Einar. | "It's a cold March day, there'll soon be rain and plenty of thunder," said Uncle Einar. |
| "Hoćeš nam pokazati?" upitao je Michael. | "Will you come watch us?" asked Michael. |
| "Bježite, bježite! Tata razmišlja!" | "Run on, run on! Let papa brood!" |
| Bio je zatvoren za ljubav, ljubav djece i ljubav prema djeci. Mislio je samo na nebesa, plavetni svod, horizonte, nedogled, noću i danju, nebesa osvijetljena zvijezdom, Mjesecom, Suncem, oblačne i vedre, no uvijek su to bila nebesa i plavetni svodovi i horizonti što su jurili pred tobom dovijeka kad god bi se digao nebu pod oblake. Pa ipak je on bio tu, veslajući jednim veslom po pašnjaku, stalno pognute glave zbog straha da bi ga netko mogao vidjeti. | He was shut of love, the children of love, and the love of children. He thought only of heavens, skies, horizons, infinities, by night or day, lit by star, moon, or sun, cloudy or clear, but always it was skies and heavens and horizons that ran ahead of you forever when you soared. Yet here he was, sculling the pasture, kept low for fear of being seen. |
| Jad i bijeda na dnu dubokoga zdenca! | Misery in a deep well! |
| "Tata, dođi nas gledati; već je ožujak!" kliknula je Meg. "I idemo na brijeg sa svom djecom iz grada!" | "Papa, come watch us; it's March!" cried Meg. "And we're going to the Hill with all the kids from town!" |
| Stric Einar na ovo je samo progunđao: "Kakav sad brijeg?" | Uncle Einar grunted. "What hill is that?" |
| "Brijeg Zmajeva, naravno!" zapjevala su sva djeca uglas. Sad ih je pogledao. | "The Kite Hill, of course!" they all sang together. |
| Svako je od njih u rukama imalo velikog papirnatog zmaja, a lica su im se znojila od radosnog iščekivanja i blistala od životnosti. U prstićima su im bila klupka bijele dretve. Sa zmajeva, obojenih crveno i plavo i žuto i zeleno, visjeli su paunski repovi pamučnih i svilenih traka. | Now he looked at them. Each held a large paper kite, their faces sweating with anticipation and an animal glowing. In their small fingers were balls of white twine. From the kites, colored red and blue and yellow and green, hung caudal appendages of cotton and silk strips. |
| "Puštat ćemo zmajeve!" rekao je Ronald. "Hoćeš doći?" | "We'll fly our kites!" said Ronald. "Won't you come?" |
| "Ne", odgovorio je on tužno. "Mene nitko ne smije vidjeti, jer će biti zlo." | "No," he said, sadly. "I mustn't be seen by anyone or there'd be trouble." |
| "Mogao bi se sakriti i gledati iz šume", rekla je Meg. "Mi smo svoje zmajeve napravili sami. Zato što smo odmah znali kako se to radi." | "You could hide and watch from the woods." said Meg. "We made the kites ourselves. Just because we know how." |
| "Kako ste to odmah znali?" | "How do you know?" |
| "Pa ti si nam tata!" glasio je časovit otklik. "Eto kako!" | "You're our father!" was the instant cry. "That's why!" |
| Sad se on dugo zagledao u svoju djecu. Pa uzdahnuo. "Festival zmajeva, znači?" | He looked at his children for a long while. He sighed. "A kite festival, is it?" |
| "Da, kapetane!" | "Yes, sir!" |
| "Ja ću pobijediti", rekla je Meg. | "I'm going to win," said Meg. |
| "Ne, nego ja!" usprotivio je Michael. | "No, I'm!" Michael contradicted. |
| "Ja, ja!" zapištao je Stephen. | "Me, me!" piped Stephen. |
| "Boga vam u dimnjaku!" zagrmio je stric Einar, i visoko poskočio uz zaglušni talambas krila. "Djeco! Djeco, kako vas volim!" | "God up the chimney!" roared Uncle Einar, leaping high with a deafening kettledrum of wings. "Children! Children, I love you dearly!" |
| "Tata, što nije u redu?" upitao je Michael i ustuknuo. | "Father, what's wrong?" said Michael, backing off. |
| "Ništa, ništa, ništa!" zapjevušio je Einar. Napeo je krila na maksimalnu propulziju i zahvat. Vuum! pljesnula su poput činela. Silni zapuh bacio je djecu s nogu i prostro ih po tlu! "Pobijedio sam, pobijedio sam; napokon slobodan! Vatre mi u paperju! Perja mi na vjetru! Brunilla!" zazvao je Einar prema kući. I žena se pojavila. "Čuj me, Brunilla, nikakva mi noć više ne treba! Jer mogu letjeti i danju! Kog će mi vraga noć! Od sada pa nadalje, letjet ću svaki dan i u svaki dan godine! Ali, Bože, samo gubim vrijeme na priče. Vidi!" | "Nothing, nothing, nothing!" chanted Einar. He flexed his wings to their greatest propulsion and plundering. Whoom! they slammed like cymbals. The children fell flat in the backwash! "I have it, I have it! I'm free again! Fire in the flue! Feather on the wind! Brunilla!" Einar called to the house. His wife appeared. "I'm free!" he called, flushed and tall, on his toes. "Listen, Brunilla, I don't need the night any more! I can fly by day! I don't need the night! I'll fly every day and any day of the year from now on!--but, God, I waste time, talking. Look!" |
| I dok su zabrinuti članovi njegove obitelji gledali, dohvatio je pamučni rep s jednog malog zmaja, vezao ga otraga za pojas, dohvatio klupko dretve, pa jedan kraj uhvatio zubima, a drugi kraj pružio djeci, i onda se gore, gore u zrak se digao, sve dalje i dalje u ožujski vjetar! | And as the worried members of his family watched, he seized the cotton tail from one of the little kites, tied it to his belt behind, grabbed the twine ball, held one end in his teeth, gave the other end to his children, and up, up into the air he flew, away into the March wind! |
| I preko ledina i preko farmi trčala su njegova djeca, ispuštajući dretvu u nebo puno dnevnoga sjaja, frtljajući i prtljajući, a Brunilla je ostala u dvorištu i mahala i smijala se videći što se zbiva; a djeca su joj odmarširala na daleki Zmajski brijeg, i tu stala, njih četvero, držeći klupko dretve u oduševljenim, gordim prstima, i svaki je od njih potezao i upravljao i vukao. | And across the meadows and over the farms his children ran, letting out string to the daylit sky, bubbling and stumbling, and Brunilla stood back in the farmyard and waved and laughed to see what was happening; and her children marched to the far Kite Hill and stood, the four of them, holding the twine in their eager, proud fingers, each tugging and directing and pulling. |
| A djeca iz Mellin Towna dotrčala su sa svojim zmajićima da ih dignu u vjetar, i onda ugledala velikog zelenog zmaja kako poskakuje i lebdi na nebu i uskliknula: "O, o, kakav zmaj! Kakav zmaj! O, što bih dao za takvoga zmaja! Gdje, gdje li ste ga samo našli!" "To nam je napravio naš tata!" uskliknuli su Meg i Michael i Stephen i Ronald, pa prpošno povukli dretvu i onda se brujavi, gromoglasni zmaj nagnuo i zaplovio i na oblaku opisao velik i magičan uskličnik! | And the children from Mellin Town came running with their small kites to let up on the wind, and they saw the great green kite leap and hover in the sky and exclaimed: "Oh, oh, what a kite! What a kite! Oh, I wish I'd a kite like that! Where, where did you get it!" "Our father made it!" cried Meg and Michael and Stephen and Ronald, and gave an exultant pull on the twine and the humming, thundering kite in the sky dipped and soared and made a great and magical exclamation mark across a cloud! |