第十五回 · 鬥罷潛淵 The Dragon Retreats to the Deep — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

鬥罷潛淵 The Dragon Retreats to the Deep

來lái來lái往wǎng往wǎng，戰zhàn夠gòu多duō時shí，盤pán旋xuán良liáng久jiǔ，那nà條tiáo龍lóng力lì軟ruǎn筋jīn麻má，不bù能néng抵dǐ敵dí，打dǎ一yí個gè轉zhuǎn身shēn，又yòu攛cuān於yú水shuǐ內nèi，深shēn潛qián澗jiàn底dǐ，再zài不bù出chū頭tóu。被bèi猴hóu王wáng罵mà詈lì不bù絕jué，他tā也yě只zhǐ推tuī耳ěr聾lóng。来lái来lái往wǎng往wǎng，战zhàn够gòu多duō时shí，盘pán旋xuán良liáng久jiǔ，那nà条tiáo龙lóng力lì软ruǎn筋jīn麻má，不bù能néng抵dǐ敌dí，打dǎ一yí个gè转zhuǎn身shēn，又yòu撺cuān于yú水shuǐ内nèi，深shēn潜qián涧jiàn底dǐ，再zài不bù出chū头tóu。被bèi猴hóu王wáng骂mà詈lì不bù绝jué，他tā也yě只zhǐ推tuī耳ěr聋lóng。

逐句解 Line by line

來lái來lái往wǎng往wǎng，戰zhàn夠gòu多duō時shí，盤pán旋xuán良liáng久jiǔ，来lái来lái往wǎng往wǎng，战zhàn够gòu多duō时shí，盘pán旋xuán良liáng久jiǔ，

Back and forth they went, fighting a good long while, wheeling and circling a great space of time,

來來往往, "coming and going," and 盤旋, "to wheel, to circle," keep the balanced motion of the rhapsody just ended. 戰夠多時 — literally to have fought one's fill of time.

那nà條tiáo龍lóng力lì軟ruǎn筋jīn麻má，不bù能néng抵dǐ敵dí，打dǎ一yí個gè轉zhuǎn身shēn，又yòu攛cuān於yú水shuǐ內nèi，深shēn潛qián澗jiàn底dǐ，再zài不bù出chū頭tóu。那nà条tiáo龙lóng力lì软ruǎn筋jīn麻má，不bù能néng抵dǐ敌dí，打dǎ一yí个gè转zhuǎn身shēn，又yòu撺cuān于yú水shuǐ内nèi，深shēn潜qián涧jiàn底dǐ，再zài不bù出chū头tóu。

until that dragon's strength went slack and its sinews numb, so that it could hold out no longer. It spun about, flung itself into the water once more, sank deep to the floor of the gorge, and would not put up its head again.

力軟筋麻, "strength gone soft, sinews gone numb," is a formulaic pair for exhaustion. 抵敵 is "to withstand an opponent"; 攛 (cuān), "to fling oneself," is the same verb that carried the dragon out of the water at the ambush. 那條 is demonstrative, nà.

被bèi猴hóu王wáng罵mà詈lì不bù絕jué，他tā也yě只zhǐ推tuī耳ěr聾lóng。被bèi猴hóu王wáng骂mà詈lì不bù绝jué，他tā也yě只zhǐ推tuī耳ěr聋lóng。

Though the Monkey King railed at it without ceasing, it merely pleaded deafness.

罵詈 (mà lì) is "to revile, to rail at." 推 here means "to plead, to put forward as excuse": 推耳聾, "to plead deafness." It is this stubborn silence, not the fight, that will drive the Pilgrim to churn the whole gorge.

總評 Commentary

The duel ends not in defeat but in withdrawal, and the distinction matters. The dragon is worsted — 力軟筋麻, "strength gone soft, sinews gone numb" — yet it is not taken; it simply drops back into water too deep for a cudgel to reach. What follows is one of the novel's recurring comic predicaments: Wukong's power is absolute in the open field and useless against anything that will not stand and face him.

The last stroke of the passage is 推耳聾, "he pleaded deafness." The dragon's refusal to answer abuse is a small masterpiece of characterisation, and it is also the hinge of the plot. Wukong can be resisted by force only briefly; he is defeated, for a time, by silence. Everything that follows in this chapter — the churning of the water, the summoning of the local gods, the appeal to Guanyin — flows from a monster's decision to say nothing.