Waltey
Ječeče sestre
166 The Moaning Sisters
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land · Charles M. SkinnerO besedilu
Ječeče sestre
- Vir
- Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
- Avtor
- Charles M. Skinner
- Jezik branja
- Slovenščina
- Jezik izvirnika
- English
- Čas branja
- 2 min branja
- Obseg
- 2 strani
- Naslov izvirnika
- 166 The Moaning Sisters
O izvirniku
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
Obsežna zgodovinska zbirka ameriških legend, ki jih je Skinner zbral in avtorsko rekonstruiral. Bralni jezik je Slovenščina, izvirnik pa prihaja iz vira Myths and Legends of Our Own Land v jeziku English.
Besedilo
Ječeče sestre
Nad Georgetownom se iz reke Potomac dvigajo tri skale, znane kot Tri sestre, ne le zaradi medsebojne podobnosti — saj so del potopljenega grebena — temveč tudi zaradi izročila, po katerem je pred več kot sto leti čoln, s katerim so se tri sestre odpravile veslat, zaneslo ob eno izmed teh skal. Tistega dne je sunkovito pihalo in čoln se je prevrnil. Vsa tri dekleta so utonila. Bodisi se sestre še vedno zadržujejo ob tem nevarnem kraju bodisi znajo skale napovedovati prihodnost; vsaj tisti, ki živijo na bregu v njihovi bližini, verjamejo eno ali drugo, saj trdijo, da sestre pred vsako smrtjo na reki zaječijo, njihov glas pa se sliši čez pljuskanje valov. Nobenemu drugemu zvoku v naravi ni podoben. Poleg tega je neizpodbitno dejstvo, da se tu zgodi več nesreč kakor kjer koli drugje na reki.
Veliko čolnov se je že prevrnilo in veliko plavalcev je že potonilo; temni obrisi sester so bili zadnje podobe, ki so jih uzrle njihove od vode zamegljene oči. Le kadar je človeškemu življenju usojeno ugasniti, se iz skal oglasi to tiho toženje, in ko je neke majske noči leta 1889 zvok pripotoval do brega prav tedaj, ko je ura v Georgetownu odbila polnoč, so dobri ljudje, ki so bili še budni, zavzdihnili in zmolili za tistega, čigar poguba je bila tako blizu. Dvanajst ur pozneje, opoldne, je po Potomacu navzdol pridrvel ozek tekmovalni čoln, v katerem je mlad športnik lahkotno vihtel vesli. Ko se je približal Trem sestram, se je zazdelo, da je njegov čoln ujel vrtinec; nenadoma ga je zaneslo, kakor bi vanj nekaj udarilo; nato se je prevrnil in veslač je potonil v smrt.
Izvirnik
166 The Moaning Sisters
Naslednje strani prikazujejo izvirno besedilo za primerjavo.
Above Georgetown, on the Potomac River, are three rocks, known as the Three Sisters, not merely because of their resemblance to each other--for they are parts of a submerged reef--but because of a tradition that, more than a hundred years ago, a boat in which three sisters had gone out for a row was swung against one of these rocks. The day was gusty and the boat was upset. All three of the girls were drowned. Either the sisters remain about this perilous spot or the rocks have prescience; at least, those who live near them on the shore hold one view or the other, for they declare that before every death on the river the sisters moan, the sound being heard above the lapping of the waves. It is different from any other sound in nature. Besides, it is an unquestioned fact that more accidents happen here than at any other point on the river.
Many are the upsets that have occurred and many are the swimmers who have gone down, the dark forms of the sisters being the last shapes that their water-blurred eyes have seen. It is only before a human life is to be yielded that this low wailing comes from the rocks, and when, on a night in May, 1889, the sound floated shoreward, just as the clock in Georgetown struck twelve, good people who were awake sighed and uttered a prayer for the one whose doom was so near at hand. Twelve hours later, at noon, a shell came speeding down the Potomac, with a young athlete jauntily pulling at the oars. As he neared the Three Sisters his boat appeared to be caught in an eddy; it swerved suddenly, as if struck; then it upset and the rower sank to his death.
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