馬も召されておぢいさんおばあさんthe horse too called up — an old man and an old woman

若い者は兵にとられ、馬までも軍馬として「召され」ていった。あとに残ったのは、おじいさんとおばあさん。ひらがなの呼び名のやさしさが、人手も馬も失った村の心細さをかえって際立たせる。The young men are taken as soldiers, and even the horse is "called up" for the army. What remains are an old man and an old woman. The gentleness of the plain hiragana names only sharpens the forlornness of a village stripped of its hands and its horses.