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Reader's edition
夢斬顯驗
The Dragon's Head Falls from the Clouds
魏徵謝了恩，卻才撚子在手，忽聽得朝門外大呼小叫。原來是秦叔寶、徐茂公等，將著一個血淋的龍頭，擲在帝前，啟奏道：「陛下，海淺河枯曾有見，這般異事卻無聞。」太宗與魏徵起身道：「此物何來？」叔寶、茂公道：「千步廊南，十字街上，雲端裡落下這顆龍頭，微臣不敢不奏。」唐王驚問魏徵：「此是何說？」魏徵轉身叩頭道：「是臣才一夢斬的。」唐王聞言，大驚道：「賢卿盹睡之時，又不曾見動身動手，又無刀劍，如何卻斬此龍？」魏徵奏道：「主公，臣的身在君前，夢離陛下。身在君前對殘局，合眼朦朧；夢離陛下乘瑞雲，出神抖擻。那條龍在剮龍臺上，被天兵將綁縛其中。是臣道：『你犯天條，合當死罪。我奉天命，斬汝殘生。』龍聞哀苦，臣抖精神。龍聞哀苦，伏爪收鱗甘受死；臣抖精神，撩衣進步舉霜鋒。扢扠一聲刀過處，龍頭因此落虛空。」魏征谢了恩，却才撚子在手，忽听得朝门外大呼小叫。原来是秦叔宝、徐茂公等，将著一个血淋的龙头，掷在帝前，启奏道：「陛下，海浅河枯曾有见，这般异事却无闻。」太宗与魏征起身道：「此物何来？」叔宝、茂公道：「千步廊南，十字街上，云端里落下这颗龙头，微臣不敢不奏。」唐王惊问魏征：「此是何说？」魏征转身叩头道：「是臣才一梦斩的。」唐王闻言，大惊道：「贤卿盹睡之时，又不曾见动身动手，又无刀剑，如何却斩此龙？」魏征奏道：「主公，臣的身在君前，梦离陛下。身在君前对残局，合眼朦胧；梦离陛下乘瑞云，出神抖擞。那条龙在剐龙台上，被天兵将绑缚其中。是臣道：『你犯天条，合当死罪。我奉天命，斩汝残生。』龙闻哀苦，臣抖精神。龙闻哀苦，伏爪收鳞甘受死；臣抖精神，撩衣进步举霜锋。扢扠一声刀过处，龙头因此落虚空。」
逐句解 Line by line
魏徵謝了恩，卻才撚子在手，忽聽得朝門外大呼小叫。原來是秦叔寶、徐茂公等，將著一個血淋的龍頭，擲在帝前，啟奏道：「陛下，海淺河枯曾有見，這般異事卻無聞。」
魏征谢了恩，却才撚子在手，忽听得朝门外大呼小叫。原来是秦叔宝、徐茂公等，将著一个血淋的龙头，掷在帝前，启奏道：「陛下，海浅河枯曾有见，这般异事却无闻。」
Wei Zheng had just given thanks for the favor and taken a stone in his fingers, when suddenly there arose a great shouting outside the court gate. It was Qin Shubao, Xu Maogong, and the others, who cast down before the throne a blood-dripping dragon's head and reported: 'Your Majesty — shallow seas and dried-up rivers have been seen before, but a wonder like this has never been heard of.'
撚子 ('to twirl a stone') takes 子 as zǐ, a go stone; 將著 ('carrying') has 著 as the durative zhe. 海淺河枯 ('seas grown shallow, rivers gone dry') pairs proverbial portents. The dream-severed head has fallen into the waking world.
太宗與魏徵起身道：「此物何來？」
太宗与魏征起身道：「此物何来？」
Taizong and Wei Zheng rose and asked: 'Where has this thing come from?'
A plain question — but 魏徵, of course, already knows.
叔寶、茂公道：「千步廊南，十字街上，雲端裡落下這顆龍頭，微臣不敢不奏。」
叔宝、茂公道：「千步廊南，十字街上，云端里落下这颗龙头，微臣不敢不奏。」
Shubao and Maogong said: 'South of the Thousand-Pace Gallery, at the crossroads, this dragon's head fell out of the clouds; your servants dared not fail to report it.'
千步廊 ('the Thousand-Pace Gallery') and 十字街 ('the crossroads') locate the marvel in the heart of Chang'an; 不敢不奏 ('dared not not report') is the doubled negative of dutiful alarm.
唐王驚問魏徵：「此是何說？」
唐王惊问魏征：「此是何说？」
The Tang king asked Wei Zheng in astonishment: 'What is the meaning of this?'
The emperor turns to his minister for an explanation he cannot yet imagine.
魏徵轉身叩頭道：「是臣才一夢斬的。」
魏征转身叩头道：「是臣才一梦斩的。」
Wei Zheng turned and, knocking his head to the ground, said: 'It was I who beheaded it just now, in a dream.'
才一夢斬 ('just beheaded in a single dream') — 一 is yí before the falling tone of 夢. The confession is as flat as it is astonishing.
唐王聞言，大驚道：「賢卿盹睡之時，又不曾見動身動手，又無刀劍，如何卻斬此龍？」
唐王闻言，大惊道：「贤卿盹睡之时，又不曾见动身动手，又无刀剑，如何却斩此龙？」
At these words the Tang king was greatly startled: 'While you were dozing, my worthy minister, I saw you neither stir nor lift a hand, and you had no blade — how then did you behead this dragon?'
盹睡 is 'to nod off'; the emperor's bafflement sets up 魏徵's account of how a motionless sleeper can wield a sword in the other world.
魏徵奏道：「主公，臣的身在君前，夢離陛下。身在君前對殘局，合眼朦朧；夢離陛下乘瑞雲，出神抖擻。
魏征奏道：「主公，臣的身在君前，梦离陛下。身在君前对残局，合眼朦胧；梦离陛下乘瑞云，出神抖擞。
Wei Zheng replied: 'My lord, my body was here before my sovereign, but my dream departed from Your Majesty. My body, before my sovereign, faced the unfinished game, eyes closed and drowsing; my dream, parting from Your Majesty, rode an auspicious cloud, my spirit roused and stirring.'
The account rises into balanced parallel prose: 身在君前 ('the body before the lord') against 夢離陛下 ('the dream apart from the sovereign'). 乘 in 乘瑞雲 ('riding the auspicious cloud') is chéng; 出神 is the spirit going forth from the sleeping body.
那條龍在剮龍臺上，被天兵將綁縛其中。是臣道：『你犯天條，合當死罪。我奉天命，斬汝殘生。』
那条龙在剐龙台上，被天兵将绑缚其中。是臣道：『你犯天条，合当死罪。我奉天命，斩汝残生。』
'That dragon was upon the Dragon-Execution Terrace, bound fast there by the soldiers and generals of Heaven. And I said to him: "You have broken the law of Heaven and rightly incur the penalty of death. By Heaven's command, I cut short your remaining life."'
將 in 天兵將 ('heavenly soldiers and generals') is jiàng; 剮龍臺 is the terrace of a dragon's execution. 合當死罪 ('rightly deserving the death penalty') pronounces the sentence 袁守誠 had foretold.
龍聞哀苦，臣抖精神。龍聞哀苦，伏爪收鱗甘受死；臣抖精神，撩衣進步舉霜鋒。扢扠一聲刀過處，龍頭因此落虛空。」
龙闻哀苦，臣抖精神。龙闻哀苦，伏爪收鳞甘受死；臣抖精神，撩衣进步举霜锋。扢扠一声刀过处，龙头因此落虚空。」
'The dragon, hearing this, grieved in anguish; I braced my spirit. The dragon, hearing this, drew in his claws and folded his scales and willingly received death; I braced my spirit, hitched up my robe, stepped forward, and raised the frost-bright blade. With a single ringing stroke the sword passed through — and the dragon's head thereupon fell into the empty void.'
The passage doubles its lines — 龍聞哀苦 and 臣抖精神 each repeated — before the blow. 撩衣 is 'to hitch up the robe'; 扢扠 (gǔ chā) is the ringing sound of the sword. The dream-execution is complete, its result bleeding on the palace floor.
總評 Commentary
The chapter's central marvel is now disclosed. As 魏徵 takes up a go stone to resume the game, the generals burst in with a dragon's head fallen from the clouds into the Chang'an crossroads, and 魏徵 quietly confesses: he beheaded it just now, in his doze. To the emperor's astonishment — a motionless sleeper, no blade, no movement — he gives an account that rises into balanced parallel prose, the finest rhetorical set-piece of the chapter: 身在君前對殘局…夢離陛下乘瑞雲, 'my body before my lord faced the game… my dream, parting from him, rode a cloud.'
The doubling of the lines — 龍聞哀苦, 臣抖精神, each said twice before the stroke falls — gives the execution the cadence of ritual, and the willing submission of the dragon (伏爪收鱗甘受死, 'drawing in his claws and folding his scales, he willingly received death') lends it a strange dignity. What began as a petty deception over a fortune-teller's bet ends here, on the Dragon-Execution Terrace of the other world, with a sentence carried out by a sleeping minister — and a bleeding head in this one. The two realms the chapter has kept parallel meet in a single grisly object cast down before the throne.