原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
龍宮輕卦
The Dragon Scorns the Diviner
龍王辭別，出長安，回水府。大小水神接著，問曰：「大王訪那賣卦的如何？」龍王道：「有，有，有。但是一個掉嘴口討春的先生。我問他幾時下雨，他就說明日下雨。問他甚麼時辰，甚麼雨數，他就說辰時布雲，巳時發雷，午時下雨，未時雨足，得水三尺三寸零四十八點。我與他打了個賭賽：若果如他言，送他謝金五十兩；如略差些，就打破他門面，趕他起身，不許在長安惑眾。」眾水族笑曰：「大王是八河都總管，司雨大龍神，有雨無雨，惟大王知之。他怎敢這等胡言？那賣卦的定是輸了，定是輸了。」龙王辞别，出长安，回水府。大小水神接着，问曰：「大王访那卖卦的如何？」龙王道：「有，有，有。但是一个掉嘴口讨春的先生。我问他几时下雨，他就说明日下雨。问他甚么时辰，甚么雨数，他就说辰时布云，巳时发雷，午时下雨，未时雨足，得水三尺三寸零四十八点。我与他打了个赌赛：若果如他言，送他谢金五十两；如略差些，就打破他门面，赶他起身，不许在长安惑众。」众水族笑曰：「大王是八河都总管，司雨大龙神，有雨无雨，惟大王知之。他怎敢这等胡言？那卖卦的定是输了，定是输了。」
逐句解 Line by line
龍王辭別，出長安，回水府。大小水神接著，問曰：「大王訪那賣卦的如何？」
龙王辞别，出长安，回水府。大小水神接着，问曰：「大王访那卖卦的如何？」
The Dragon King took his leave, left Chang'an, and returned to his water-court. The water-spirits great and small received him and asked: 'How did Your Majesty find that seller of fortunes?'
著 in 接著, 'to receive, to meet,' is the ongoing-state zhe; 長 in 長安 is cháng, and 那 in 那賣卦 is nà.
龍王道：「有，有，有。但是一個掉嘴口討春的先生。我問他幾時下雨，他就說明日下雨。問他甚麼時辰，甚麼雨數，他就說辰時布雲，巳時發雷，午時下雨，未時雨足，得水三尺三寸零四十八點。
龙王道：「有，有，有。但是一个掉嘴口讨春的先生。我问他几时下雨，他就说明日下雨。问他甚么时辰，甚么雨数，他就说辰时布云，巳时发雷，午时下雨，未时雨足，得水三尺三寸零四十八点。
The Dragon King said: 'Oh yes, there is one — but only a glib-tongued fellow who patters for his supper. I asked him when it would rain, and he said it would rain tomorrow. I asked him at what hour and in what amount, and he said the clouds would spread at chen, the thunder break at si, the rain fall at wu, and be complete at wei — three chǐ, three cùn, and forty-eight drops in all.'
掉嘴口討春 — to wag your mouth and beg for spring — is a scornful phrase for a glib fortune-teller working for his supper. Notice that the dragon repeats the forecast in full, down to the last drop, and treats the very precision that ought to alarm him as evidence of the man's foolishness. Both 甚 in 甚麼, 'what,' are shén, and 得 in 得水 is dé.
我與他打了個賭賽：若果如他言，送他謝金五十兩；如略差些，就打破他門面，趕他起身，不許在長安惑眾。」
我与他打了个赌赛：若果如他言，送他谢金五十两；如略差些，就打破他门面，赶他起身，不许在长安惑众。」
'I laid a wager with him: if it turns out as he says, I send him fifty taels in thanks; but if it is even a little off, I smash his shopfront, drive him packing, and forbid him to delude the crowds in Chang'an.'
打了個賭賽 is to lay a bet, with 了 as the completive le; 差 in 略差些, 'a little off,' is chà, 'to differ, to fall short.' A little off is all it will take, and he has just said so himself. (長 in 長安 is cháng.)
眾水族笑曰：「大王是八河都總管，司雨大龍神，有雨無雨，惟大王知之。他怎敢這等胡言？那賣卦的定是輸了，定是輸了。」
众水族笑曰：「大王是八河都总管，司雨大龙神，有雨无雨，惟大王知之。他怎敢这等胡言？那卖卦的定是输了，定是输了。」
The water-tribe laughed and said: 'Your Majesty is Chief Superintendent of the Eight Rivers, the great Dragon-God who governs the rain; whether it rains or not, Your Majesty alone knows. How dare he talk such nonsense? That fortune-teller is surely going to lose — surely he will lose!'
The court says what courts say: you are Chief Superintendent of the Eight Rivers, whether it rains is yours alone to know, the man has already lost. Every word of it is flattery and every word is half true — the rain is his, right up until Heaven issues an order about it, and nobody in the room thinks to mention that. 都 in 八河都總管 is dū; 那 in 那賣卦 is nà; 了 in 輸了 is the completive le.
總評 Commentary
Back in his water-court, the Dragon King reports the encounter with contempt, dismissing Yuan Shoucheng as 掉嘴口討春, a glib patterer begging for his supper, and repeating the exact forecast as though its exactness proved its folly. His court agrees eagerly, flattering him as Chief Superintendent of the Eight Rivers and great god of rain: whether it rains or not, they tell him, is his to know and nobody else's.
The scene completes the trap by sealing the dragon inside his own pride. He and his court both reason from a half-truth — that a rain-dragon controls the rain — while forgetting the condition his ministers had raised only a page earlier: that once Heaven issues a decree, the dragon is its instrument and not its master. Their confident laughter that the diviner is surely going to lose is the cruelest irony in the chapter, because the decree that will bind him is at this moment already on its way down.