(解説文要約)
炭坑の人々は荒っぽかったのですが、犬を殺すことは嫌いました。
犬は山神様の使いと言われていたからです。
昼間、犬を殺した者は、山神様のたたりが怖く、夜の仕事を休んでいたそうです。
また、煙突の煙が二筋に分かれて出るのも災害の前兆と恐れていました。
While miners were known to be rough and boisterous characters, they heeded dogs and disliked the killing of them.
They believed dogs to be the messengers of the mountain goddess.
If a miner happened to kill a dog in the daytime they might even go as far as to take that night’s shift off, for fear of retribution from the mountain goddess.
Split smoke from a chimney stack also put fear into miners, as they thought it was a sign of foreboding danger.