豬剛鬣自道 Bristles the Boar Names Himself
今日我的父母隔著牆，丟磚料瓦的，甚是打我罵我哩。」那怪道：「他打罵你怎的？」行者道：「他說我和你做了夫妻，你是他門下一個女婿，全沒些兒禮體。這樣個醜嘴臉的人，又會不得姨夫，又見不得親戚，又不知你雲來霧去，端的是那裡人家，姓甚名誰，敗壞他清德，玷辱他門風，故此這般打罵，所以煩惱。」那怪道：「我雖是有些兒醜陋，若要俊，卻也不難。我一來時，曾與他講過，他願意方才招我。今日怎麼又說起這話？我家住在福陵山雲棧洞。我以相貌為姓，故姓豬，官名叫做豬剛鬣。他若再來問你，你就以此話與他說便了。」今日我的父母隔着墙，丢砖料瓦的，甚是打我骂我哩。」那怪道：「他打骂你怎的？」行者道：「他说我和你做了夫妻，你是他门下一个女婿，全没些儿礼体。这样个丑嘴脸的人，又会不得姨夫，又见不得亲戚，又不知你云来雾去，端的是那里人家，姓甚名谁，败坏他清德，玷辱他门风，故此这般打骂，所以烦恼。」那怪道：「我虽是有些儿丑陋，若要俊，却也不难。我一来时，曾与他讲过，他愿意方才招我。今日怎么又说起这话？我家住在福陵山云栈洞。我以相貌为姓，故姓猪，官名叫做猪刚鬣。他若再来问你，你就以此话与他说便了。」
逐句解 Line by line
Today my parents were on the other side of the wall, flinging bricks and pitching tiles, and abusing me and cursing me shamefully."
隔著牆 has 著 as zhe, a state kept up: with a wall between them. 丟磚料瓦, flinging brick and pitching tile, is invented on the spot by a monkey who has just heard the monster list the brick and tile he carried. 甚是 takes 甚 as the intensifier, shèn.
The monster said, "What do they beat and curse you for?" The Pilgrim said, "They say that you and I are man and wife,
The Pilgrim baits the hook with the one grievance a son-in-law of this house would actually feel. 做了夫妻, made man and wife — the fiction is now complete, and the monster has not blinked once.
that you are a son-in-law under their roof, and that you have no manners at all.
禮體 is propriety of bearing, knowing how to behave. 全沒些兒 keeps the little 兒, er. And every charge in this speech is one Squire Gao really did make earlier in the chapter — the ugly face, the relatives who cannot be introduced, the coming and going on cloud and mist. One of them the Pilgrim gives back word for word: 雲來霧去 is the squire's own phrase, and it occurs exactly twice in the chapter, once in each mouth. The Pilgrim was listening.
A man with a face as ugly as that, they say, can meet no brother-in-law and be seen by no relation;
姨夫 is the husband of your wife's sister. Both 得 here are the dé of possibility, negated: he cannot be met, cannot be seen. The complaint is social right down to the bone — and remember that the two elder Orchids married men of this same village, so those brothers-in-law live a few doors away.
and they do not know where you come and go in your cloud and mist, nor what house you are truly of, nor your surname or your name;
端的 keeps 的 as dì. 那裡人家 has the question word nǎ. 姓甚名誰, what surname and what given name, takes 甚 as shén. This is the sentence the entire disguise was mounted to provoke, and it is delivered as a wife's complaint.
and that you ruin their good name and defile the honour of their gate. So they beat and curse me, and I am wretched."
清德 and 門風 — clean virtue, and the wind of the gate, meaning a family's standing in the neighbourhood — are the two nouns Squire Gao reached for when he wanted to explain what a monster had cost him. The Pilgrim hands them straight back.
The monster said, "Ugly I may be, but if you would have me handsome, that is no hard thing.
有些兒醜陋 takes the little 兒 again, er: a bit on the ugly side. 若要俊，卻也不難 — if you want me handsome, that is no hard thing — is the most touching line the creature speaks. He offers to be beautiful the way another man might offer to shave.
When first I came I told them everything, and it was with their consent that they took me in. Why do they raise this talk now?
And here the ground shifts under the reader. He told them at the outset — 曾與他講過 — and they agreed to the match anyway. Whether that contradicts Squire Gao's account or merely completes it, the novel declines to say.
My house is on Fuling Mountain, in the Cloud-Ladder Cave. I take my surname from my looks, and so I am surnamed Zhu; and my formal name is Zhu Ganglie, Bristles the Boar.
相貌 takes 相 as xiàng, and 以相貌為姓 takes 為 as wéi — to make your surname out of your looks, which is a startling thing to admit. 豬剛鬣 is Zhu Ganglie, Pig Stiff-Bristles. In three sentences he has handed over his address, his surname and his formal name, and nobody asked him for any of it.
If they ask you again, tell them this, and there is an end of it."
便了 closes the sentence and is read le, not liǎo; the default takes the wrong one. Having handed over everything an exorcist could possibly want, he tells his wife to pass it all on.
The interrogation runs without a single question. The Pilgrim complains that his in-laws have been beating him, and the monster, trying to comfort his wife, supplies mountain, cave, surname and formal name in three sentences. 對眾取供, a deposition taken before the assembled company, was what he promised Squire Gao. This is the deposition — tricked out of a creature who thinks he is consoling somebody.
Two of the monster's claims deserve weighing. He says he offered to be handsome — 若要俊，卻也不難 — and that nobody, apparently, took him up on it. And he says he told the household exactly who he was before they took him in, and that they consented. Squire Gao's version was that a passable dark fellow turned into a pig some time after the wedding. One of them is lying, or one of them is remembering what he would rather remember. The 世德堂本 leaves the reader to choose, and gives the monster the last word.