原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
動問妖怪
How Many Monsters?
坐定，高老問道：「適間小价說，二位長老是東土來的？」三藏道：「便是。貧僧奉朝命往西天拜佛求經，因過寶莊，特借一宿，明日早行。」高老道：「二位原是借宿的，怎麼說會拿怪？」行者道：「因是借宿，順便拿幾個妖怪兒耍耍的。動問府上有多少妖怪？」高老道：「天哪！還吃得有多少哩，只這一個妖怪女婿，已被他磨慌了。」行者道：「你把那妖怪的始末，有多大手段，從頭兒說說我聽，我好替你拿他。」坐定，高老问道：「适间小价说，二位长老是东土来的？」三藏道：「便是。贫僧奉朝命往西天拜佛求经，因过宝庄，特借一宿，明日早行。」高老道：「二位原是借宿的，怎么说会拿怪？」行者道：「因是借宿，顺便拿几个妖怪儿耍耍的。动问府上有多少妖怪？」高老道：「天哪！还吃得有多少哩，只这一个妖怪女婿，已被他磨慌了。」行者道：「你把那妖怪的始末，有多大手段，从头儿说说我听，我好替你拿他。」
逐句解 Line by line
坐定，高老問道：「適間小价說，二位長老是東土來的？」
坐定，高老问道：「适间小价说，二位长老是东土来的？」
When they were seated, Old Gao asked, "My man said just now that your two reverences come from the Land of the East?"
小价: a self-deprecating word for one's own servant, 价 read jiè (the graph writes 介, not 價). pypinyin gives jià. 適間, just now.
三藏道：「便是。貧僧奉朝命往西天拜佛求經，因過寶莊，特借一宿，明日早行。」
三藏道：「便是。贫僧奉朝命往西天拜佛求经，因过宝庄，特借一宿，明日早行。」
Sanzang said, "It is so. This poor monk goes at the command of the court to worship the Buddha in the West and seek the scriptures. Passing your worthy village, I beg a single night's lodging, and shall take the road early tomorrow."
奉朝命: 朝 is cháo, the court. 寶莊, "your precious village," is the polite form. Sanzang says nothing of monsters; his whole speech is a request for a bed.
高老道：「二位原是借宿的，怎麼說會拿怪？」
高老道：「二位原是借宿的，怎么说会拿怪？」
Old Gao said, "You came only to lodge, then. How is it you speak of catching monsters?"
The old man is quick. He has heard two claims that do not agree, and puts the discrepancy plainly. 會拿怪 — the boast came from Gao Cai, and Gao Cai had it from the Pilgrim.
行者道：「因是借宿，順便拿幾個妖怪兒耍耍的。動問府上有多少妖怪？」
行者道：「因是借宿，顺便拿几个妖怪儿耍耍的。动问府上有多少妖怪？」
The Pilgrim said, "We came to lodge, and while we are about it we shall catch a monster or two, for the sport of it. May I ask how many monsters your house has?"
順便, "as it happens to suit"; 妖怪兒 takes the diminutive 兒, er, and it is contemptuous. 耍耍, for amusement. 動問 is a courteous "may I ask" — the courtesy is comic here.
高老道：「天哪！還吃得有多少哩，只這一個妖怪女婿，已被他磨慌了。」
高老道：「天哪！还吃得有多少哩，只这一个妖怪女婿，已被他磨慌了。」
Old Gao said, "Heaven above! How many more do you suppose we could stomach? This one monster of a son-in-law has worn us to death already."
天哪: the exclamatory particle, 哪 read na, as 天那 elsewhere in the novel. 還吃得有多少哩 — "how many more could we swallow?" 磨慌, ground down and frightened out of one's wits.
行者道：「你把那妖怪的始末，有多大手段，從頭兒說說我聽，我好替你拿他。」
行者道：「你把那妖怪的始末，有多大手段，从头儿说说我听，我好替你拿他。」
The Pilgrim said, "Tell me the whole story of that monster from the beginning — what powers he has — and I shall be better able to take him for you."
始末, from first to last. 從頭兒 keeps the diminutive er. 我好替你拿他: 好 is hǎo, "so that I may" — a purposive, not an evaluation.
總評 Commentary
Two registers collide across the tea table. Sanzang speaks the formal language of an imperial commission — 奉朝命, 寶莊, 特借一宿 — and asks for nothing but a bed. The Pilgrim answers in the idiom of a man offering to kill rats: monsters caught 順便, in passing, 耍耍的, for the fun of it, and the diminutive 妖怪兒 reduces the household's three-year terror to vermin.
Squire Gao's 天哪 is the first honest note in the exchange. He has been asked how many monsters he keeps, as one might be asked how many horses, and the absurdity breaks his composure. 磨慌了 — worn down and frightened — is a wonderfully domestic verb for what has been done to this family, and it is the last thing he says before he begins the long confession of the next passage.