Canonical Classics ← 第十四回
第十四回
xīnyuánguīzhèng
liùzéizōng

The Mind-Monkey Returns to the Right · The Six Robbers Vanish Without a Trace

剝皮為裙
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

剝皮為裙 The Tiger-Skin Kilt

xíngzhětuōjiāngláidào:「shīlüèzuòzuòděngtuōxiàdelái穿chuānlezǒu。」sānzàngdào:「yǒushén?」xíngzhědào:「shīguǎnyǒuchùzhì。」hǎohóuwángháomáoxiàgēnchuīkǒuxiānjiào:「biàn!」biànzuòniúěrjiāndāocóngshàngtiāokāiwǎngxiàxiàlúnláiduòlezhǎojiǎxiàtóuláifāngfāngkuàiláiliángleliángdào:「kuòlexiēérzuòliǎng。」guòdāoláiyòucáiwéiliǎngshōuwéizàiyāojiānpángjiūletiáoténgjǐnjǐnshùdìngzhēlexiàdào:「shīqiěqiědàolerénjiājièxiēzhēnxiànzàifèngchí。」tiáotiěbàngniǎnniǎnjiùxiàngzhēnérshōuzàiěrbèizhexíngqǐngshīshàngxíngzhětuōjiāngláidào:「shīlüèzuòzuòděngtuōxiàdelái穿chuānlezǒu。」sānzàngdào:「yǒushén?」xíngzhědào:「shīguǎnyǒuchùzhì。」hǎohóuwángháomáoxiàgēnchuīkǒuxiānjiào:「biàn!」biànzuòniúěrjiāndāocóngshàngtiāokāiwǎngxiàxiàlúnláiduòlezhǎojiǎxiàtóuláifāngfāngkuàiláiliángleliángdào:「kuòlexiēérzuòliǎng。」guòdāoláiyòucáiwéiliǎngshōuwéizàiyāojiānpángjiūletiáoténgjǐnjǐnshùdìngzhēlexiàdào:「shīqiěqiědàolerénjiājièxiēzhēn线xiànzàifèngchí。」tiáotiěbàngniǎnniǎnjiùxiàngzhēnérshōuzàiěrbèizhexíngqǐngshīshàng


逐句解 Line by line

xíngzhětuōjiāngláidào:「shīlüèzuòzuòděngtuōxiàdelái穿chuānlezǒu。」 xíngzhětuōjiāngláidào:「shīlüèzuòzuòděngtuōxiàdelái穿chuānlezǒu。」

The Pilgrim dragged the tiger over and said, "Sit a moment, Master, and wait while I strip off his clothes to wear on the road."

He was not joking about the clothes. 拖將, to drag over, uses to point the verb at its object, read jiāng.

sānzàngdào:「yǒushén?」 sānzàngdào:「yǒushén?」

Sanzang said, "Where would he have any clothes?"

A perfectly reasonable question from a man who has not caught up yet. 他那裡有甚衣服 reads as the asking-word and as shén, 'what'.

xíngzhědào:「shīguǎnyǒuchùzhì。」 xíngzhědào:「shīguǎnyǒuchùzhì。」

The Pilgrim said, "Never mind about me, Master; I have my own way of managing."

Never mind about me, master, I have my own way of managing — which is more or less his motto for the whole journey.

hǎohóuwángháomáoxiàgēnchuīkǒuxiānjiào:「biàn!」 hǎohóuwángháomáoxiàgēnchuīkǒuxiānjiào:「biàn!」

Good Monkey King! He plucked out a single hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, and cried, "Change!"

The first of his transformations in a disciple's service, and the trick that will get him out of more trouble than any other. One hair pulled from his own body, a breath of 仙氣, immortal air, and the command — Change!

biànzuòniúěrjiāndāocóngshàngtiāokāiwǎngxiàxiàlúnlái biànzuòniúěrjiāndāocóngshàngtiāokāiwǎngxiàxiàlúnlái

It became an ox-ear pointed knife. From the tiger's belly he cut the skin open, peeled it downward, and stripped off the whole hide entire.

A 牛耳尖刀, an ox-ear pointed knife, is a broad curved blade. He opens the belly, peels downward, and takes the whole hide off in one piece — 囫圇皮, the skin entire.

duòlezhǎojiǎxiàtóuláifāngfāngkuài duòlezhǎojiǎxiàtóuláifāngfāngkuài

He chopped away the claws and cut off the head, and pared the skin into a neat four-square piece of tiger-hide.

Claws off, head off, and the hide pared down to a workable square.

láiliángleliángdào:「kuòlexiēérzuòliǎng。」 láiliángleliángdào:「kuòlexiēérzuòliǎng。」

Lifting it, he measured it and said, "A little too wide — one width will make two."

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, holding a tiger skin up and squinting at it like a man in a fabric shop. 量了一量, measured it, takes as a verb, read liáng, 'to measure' — not the noun-ish liàng. () is a width of cloth.

guòdāoláiyòucáiwéiliǎng guòdāoláiyòucáiwéiliǎng

He took up the knife again and cut it into two widths;

Too broad, so he halves it.

shōuwéizàiyāojiān shōuwéizàiyāojiān

he put one width away and wrapped the other about his waist.

One half put by for later, the other round his waist.

pángjiūletiáoténgjǐnjǐnshùdìngzhēlexiàdào:「shīqiěqiě pángjiūletiáoténgjǐnjǐnshùdìngzhēlexiàdào:「shīqiěqiě

From the roadside he pulled up a length of creeper, bound it tight, and covered his lower body, saying, "Let us go, Master, let us go;

A creeper (葛籐) for a belt, and the kilt is on. 且去且去 — let's go, let's go — is a monkey who has been sitting still for five centuries and does not intend to sit still again.

dàolerénjiājièxiēzhēnxiànzàifèngchí。」 dàolerénjiājièxiēzhēn线xiànzàifèngchí。」

when we reach a house, I will borrow needle and thread and sew it up — no matter for now."

The proper sewing can wait for the first house they come to. Amid immortal breath and exploding mountains, a note about borrowing a needle and thread.

tiáotiěbàngniǎnniǎnjiùxiàngzhēnérshōuzàiěr tiáotiěbàngniǎnniǎnjiùxiàngzhēnérshōuzàiěr

He gave the iron rod a twist, and it was again like a needle, which he tucked away in his ear.

The rod shrinks back to needle size and goes behind the ear again. The 如意, 'as-you-will', half of its name is being demonstrated rather than explained.

bèizhexíngqǐngshīshàng bèizhexíngqǐngshīshàng

Then, the baggage on his back, he asked his master to mount.

Kilt on, baggage up, master mounted, and the road resumes. That rough tiger-skin will stay with him for the rest of the book — it is the reason every later illustrator draws him in it.


總評 Commentary

Having killed the tiger for its coat, Wukong now makes the coat: a small vivid set-piece of practical magic. One hair plucked from his body, a breath of immortal air, the cry 'Change!' and there is the knife; the rest is brisk butchery and tailoring, the Great Sage skinning, trimming and measuring like an artisan with a job on.

The scene does quiet work. It shows his transformation-magic doing something unglamorous, and it puts him at last into the rough tiger-skin kilt that becomes part of his permanent image. His impatience — let's go, let's go — and his casual deferral of the proper stitching keep the tone light and domestic straight after the violence of the kill.

By the end of the passage the shape of the pilgrimage is fully set: monk in the saddle, disciple on foot with the load on his back and a needle-thin cudgel behind his ear, the two of them moving on into the dusk the next verses will paint.