原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
二將守門
The Two Generals Guard the Gate
當日天晚，各取披掛，他兩個介冑整齊，執金瓜、鉞斧，在宮門外把守。好將軍！你看他怎生打扮：当日天晚，各取披挂，他两个介胄整齐，执金瓜、钺斧，在宫门外把守。好将军！你看他怎生打扮：
頭戴金盔光爍爍，身披鎧甲龍鱗。头戴金盔光烁烁，身披铠甲龙鳞。
護心寶鏡幌祥雲，獅蠻收緊扣，繡帶彩霞新。护心宝镜幌祥云，狮蛮收紧扣，绣带彩霞新。
這一個鳳眼朝天星斗怕，那一個環睛映電月光浮。这一个凤眼朝天星斗怕，那一个环睛映电月光浮。
他本是英雄豪傑舊勳臣，只落得千年稱戶尉，萬古作門神。他本是英雄豪杰旧勋臣，只落得千年称户尉，万古作门神。
逐句解 Line by line
當日天晚，各取披掛，他兩個介冑整齊，執金瓜、鉞斧，在宮門外把守。好將軍！你看他怎生打扮：
当日天晚，各取披挂，他两个介胄整齐，执金瓜、钺斧，在宫门外把守。好将军！你看他怎生打扮：
That day, as evening came, each took up his armor; the two of them, mailed and helmeted, grasped their golden maces and battle-axes and stood guard outside the palace gate. Fine generals! See how they were arrayed:
介冑 ('mail and helmet') is full armor; 金瓜 ('golden melon,' a melon-headed mace) and 鉞斧 (a broad battle-axe) are ceremonial weapons of the guard. 將 in 將軍 ('general') is jiàng. The 賦 describing the two follows.
頭戴金盔光爍爍，身披鎧甲龍鱗。
头戴金盔光烁烁，身披铠甲龙鳞。
On their heads golden helmets gleaming bright; on their bodies mail like dragon-scales.
金盔 is the golden helmet, 鎧甲龍鱗 armor of overlapping plates 'like dragon-scales.' The 賦 opens on the martial splendor of the pair.
護心寶鏡幌祥雲，獅蠻收緊扣，繡帶彩霞新。
护心宝镜幌祥云，狮蛮收紧扣，绣带彩霞新。
The heart-guarding mirror-plates flash with auspicious cloud; the lion-and-barbarian clasps drawn tight, the embroidered sashes fresh as rosy dawn.
護心寶鏡 is the round mirror-plate protecting the chest; 獅蠻 is a belt-clasp worked with a lion motif. The details pile up the armored magnificence.
這一個鳳眼朝天星斗怕，那一個環睛映電月光浮。
这一个凤眼朝天星斗怕，那一个环睛映电月光浮。
This one, phoenix eyes turned heavenward, makes the very stars afraid; that one, ring-round eyes flashing like lightning, sets the moonlight afloat.
朝 in 朝天 ('toward heaven') is cháo; 那 is nà. 鳳眼 ('phoenix eyes') and 環睛 ('ring eyes') distinguish the two warriors — Qin Shubao and Yuchi Jingde — by their fierce gazes.
他本是英雄豪傑舊勳臣，只落得千年稱戶尉，萬古作門神。
他本是英雄豪杰旧勋臣，只落得千年称户尉，万古作门神。
They were in truth heroes and stalwarts, meritorious ministers of old — who came at last to be called, for a thousand years, the Guardians of the Gate, and to serve, through all the ages, as the gods of the door.
得 in 落得 ('to end up as') is de; 戶尉 ('door-warden') and 門神 ('door-god') are the offices they attain in folk religion. The 賦 states outright the chapter's most famous legacy.
總評 Commentary
The chapter arrives at the scene folk memory has made its most famous. The two generals — 秦叔寶 and 尉遲敬德 — take up full armor and their ceremonial maces and stand the night watch at the emperor's gate, and the 賦 renders them in a blaze of martial splendor: golden helmets, dragon-scale mail, mirror-plates flashing with cloud, eyes that frighten the stars and flash like lightning.
The rhapsody's closing couplet steps outside the story to name what these warriors will become: 千年稱戶尉，萬古作門神 — 'for a thousand years the Guardians of the Gate, through all the ages the gods of the door.' Historical generals of the Tang founding, they pass here into the enduring iconography of Chinese folk religion, their armored portraits pasted on gateways to ward off evil down to the present day. The novel pauses, in the middle of its imperial ghost-story, to supply the origin-myth of an image every reader would have known from their own front door.