高才訴苦 Gao Cai's Tale
這人無奈，只得以實情告訴道：「我是高太公的家人，名叫高才。我那太公有個老女兒，年方二十歲，更不曾配人。三年前被一個妖精占了，那妖整做了這三年女婿。我太公不悅，說道：『女兒招了妖精，不是長法：一則敗壞家門，二則沒個親家來往。』一向要退這妖精。那妖精那裡肯退，轉把女兒關在他後宅，將有半年，再不放出與家內人相見。我太公與了我幾兩銀子，教我尋訪法師，拿那妖怪。我這些時不曾住腳，前前後後，請了有三四個人，都是不濟的和尚，膿包的道士，降不得那妖精。剛才罵了我一場，說我不會幹事。又與了我五錢銀子做盤纏，教我再去請好法師降他。不期撞著你這個紇刺星扯住，誤了我走路，故此裡外受氣，我無奈，才與你叫喊。不想你又有些拿法，我掙不過你，所以說此實情。你放我走罷。」这人无奈，只得以实情告诉道：「我是高太公的家人，名叫高才。我那太公有个老女儿，年方二十岁，更不曾配人。三年前被一个妖精占了，那妖整做了这三年女婿。我太公不悦，说道：『女儿招了妖精，不是长法：一则败坏家门，二则没个亲家来往。』一向要退这妖精。那妖精那里肯退，转把女儿关在他后宅，将有半年，再不放出与家内人相见。我太公与了我几两银子，教我寻访法师，拿那妖怪。我这些时不曾住脚，前前后后，请了有三四个人，都是不济的和尚，脓包的道士，降不得那妖精。刚才骂了我一场，说我不会干事。又与了我五钱银子做盘缠，教我再去请好法师降他。不期撞著你这个纥刺星扯住，误了我走路，故此里外受气，我无奈，才与你叫喊。不想你又有些拿法，我挣不过你，所以说此实情。你放我走罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
Having no help for it, the man told him the truth. "I am a servant of Squire Gao, and my name is Gao Cai.
只得 takes 得 as dé. 家人 here is a household servant, not a family member. 高才, "Gao Cai," puns on "high talent," which the man conspicuously lacks.
My squire has a youngest daughter, just twenty years old, who has never yet been given in marriage.
老女兒 is the youngest, not the eldest — 老 in the sense of last-born, as with 老兒子. 兒 in 女兒 is the lexical ér. 更不曾配人: never yet matched to a husband.
Three years ago a monster took possession of her, and for these three whole years the monster has been his son-in-law.
占了 — took possession of, both sexually and territorially. 整做了這三年女婿: 整, "for a full three years," the servant's emphasis. The monster is described from the first not as a besieger but as a resident.
My squire was not pleased, and said, 'For a daughter to take a monster to husband is no lasting arrangement:
長法: 長 is cháng, "lasting," not zhǎng; pypinyin defaults wrongly. A 長法 is an arrangement that will hold — and the squire's objection is not to the monster's nature but to the arrangement's impermanence.
for one thing it ruins the good name of the house; for another, no proper in-laws come and go.' From the first he has wanted to be rid of the creature.
The two grievances are worth weighing: reputation, and the absence of 親家 — the reciprocal visiting of married kin. Squire Gao's complaint is entirely social. The monster works his fields and eats his rice; what he cannot do is be introduced.
But the monster would not be got rid of. Instead he shut the girl away in the back court,
那妖精那裡肯退: demonstrative nà then interrogative nǎ, three graphs apart. 轉, "instead, on the contrary."
and for near half a year now he has not let her out to see so much as one of the household.
將有半年: 將 is the adverbial jiāng, "nearly." 相見 takes 相 as xiāng.
My squire gave me a few taels of silver and bade me seek out an exorcist to take the fiend.
尋訪法師 — an exorcist, whether Buddhist or Daoist; the household does not much care which, as the next segment shows. 教 is jiào, causative.
In all this while I have not rested my feet. Back and forth I have gone, and I have fetched three or four men —
不曾住腳, never once halted. 前前後後 echoes the same phrase in the burning of Black Wind Cave, one passage of the same chapter, to quite different effect.
worthless monks, every one of them, and pox-ridden Daoists, who could not subdue the monster at all.
不濟, good for nothing; 膿包, a boil, hence a weakling. The pairing of 和尚 and 道士 in one dismissal is the villager's ecumenism. 降不得: 降 is xiáng, and 得 the potential dé.
Just now he railed at me for a good while, and said I could do nothing right.
剛才 refers to the scolding, not the hiring. Gao Cai is a man beaten from both directions, and the novel gives him a full page to say so.
Then he gave me another five mace of silver for my expenses, and told me to go again and find a better exorcist.
五錢銀子: five mace, half a tael, a derisory sum for a journey. 盤纏, travelling money. 降他 is again xiáng.
I never thought to run into you, you ill-starred creature, and be seized and hindered on my road,
紇刺星 is a vernacular abusive term — a jinx, a bringer of bad luck. Some editions write 紇剌星; the 世德堂本 has 刺 (U+523A), and the ruby follows the graph. 撞著 is zháo, the encounter attained.
so that I take abuse both indoors and out. I could not help it, and so I shouted at you.
裡外受氣: abused within doors and without. The phrase completes the pair 屈氣 / 清氣 from the preceding passage.
I did not think you would have some trick of holding, and that I could not wrench free of you; and so I have told you the whole truth. Now let me go."
拿法, a technique of seizing — the man reads the grip as a kind of magic, which it is. 掙不過 keeps 掙 as zhèng.
This is the first full account of Zhu Ganglie, and it is delivered by a man with a grudge, in a hurry, under duress. Everything the reader will learn about the monster for the next several pages comes filtered through such witnesses — a resentful servant, an embarrassed father-in-law, a frightened girl — and the novel takes evident pleasure in withholding the creature's own version until he can be got drunk on his own boasting in the dark.
Squire Gao's two stated objections are worth pausing over. Neither is that his daughter is unhappy, nor that a monster is dangerous. He complains of 敗壞家門 and of having no in-laws to visit. This is a household that would tolerate a son-in-law of any species provided he could be shown to the neighbours; the whole of Zhu Bajie's subsequent career — the appetite, the shame, the longing for a place at somebody's table — is prefigured in the sentence that shuts him out of one.