Prevod
Drummondov ribnik ali jezero v močvirju Dismal Swamp je temno, samotno jezerce sredi tega znamenitega virginijskega močvirja. Po stoletnem izročilu je Stiks dveh nesrečnih duhov, ki čakata na konec časa, da bi prestopila njegove meje in uživala sončno svetlobo spokojnejših svetov. Mlada ženska iz družine, ki se je naselila blizu tega močvirja, je umrla za vročico, ki so jo povzročili njegovi malarični hlapi, in pokopali so jo ob močvirju. Mladeniča, s katerim je bila zaročena, je njena izguba tako hudo prizadela, da več dni ni ne jedel ne spal, nazadnje pa se je zlomil na duhu in telesu. Čez čas si je telesno nekoliko opomogel, toda razum je bil zanj za vselej izgubljen.
V svoji blodnji je verjel, da dekle ni umrlo, temveč so jo izgnali v samotne predele te vodnate divjine. Slišali so ga mrmrati: »Našel jo bom, in ko pride Smrt, jo bom skril v duplo ciprese, dokler ne odide.« Izmaknil se je tistim, ki so ga skušali zadržati, in se pognal v močvirje. Več dni je blodil po njem, jedel jagodičevje in spal na travnatih šopih, medtem ko so čezenj lezle vodne kače in so strupene rastline na njegovo kožo otresale pogubno roso. Nazadnje je prišel do jezera. Nad gladino je poplesaval blodeči ogenj. »Ona je!« je vzkliknil. »Vidim jo, stoji v svetlobi.« Na hitro je iz cipresovih vej sestavil splav, ga spustil na vodo in se odrinil proti sredini ribnika, toda njegova vnema in veter, ki se je dvignil, sta razdrla krhki splav. Padel je v črno vodo in se ni nikoli več dvignil na površje. Vendar ponoči pogosto uzrejo prikazen kanuja, na čigar premcu gori svetilka iz kresnic. Dve postavi ga nemirno ženeta sem in tja, kakor da zaman iščeta izhod iz tega kraja, in ljudje verjamejo, da sta to dekle in njen ljubi.
Izvirnik
Drummond's Pond, or the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, is a dark and lonely tarn that lies in the centre of this noted Virginia morass. It is, in a century-old tradition, the Styx of two unhappy ghosts that await the end of time to pass its confines and enjoy the sunshine of serener worlds. A young woman of a family that had settled near this marsh died of a fever caused by its malarial exhalations, and was buried near the swamp. The young man to whom she was betrothed felt her loss so keenly that for days he neither ate nor slept, and at last broke down in mind and body. He recovered a measure of physical health, after a time, but his reason was hopelessly lost.
It was his hallucination that the girl was not dead, but had been exiled to the lonely reaches of this watery wilderness. He was heard to mutter, “I'll find her, and when Death comes I'll hide her in the hollow of a cypress until he passes on.” Evading restraint, he plunged into the fen, and for some days he wandered there, eating berries, sleeping on tussocks of grass, with water-snakes crawling over him and poisonous plants shedding their baneful dew on his flesh. He came to the lake at last. A will-o'the-wisp played along the surface. “'Tis she!” he cried. “I see her, standing in the light.” Hastily fashioning a raft of cypress boughs he floated it and pushed toward the centre of the pond, but the eagerness of his efforts and the rising of a wind dismembered the frail platform, and he fell into the black water to rise no more. But often, in the night, is seen the wraith of a canoe, with a fire-fly lamp burning on its prow, restlessly urged to and fro by two figures that seem to be vainly searching for an exit from the place, and that are believed to be those of the maiden and her lover.
