第十八回 · 火燒黑風洞 The Burning of Black Wind Cave — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

火燒黑風洞 The Burning of Black Wind Cave

行xíng者zhě辭cí了le菩pú薩sà，按àn落luò雲yún頭tóu，將jiāng袈jiā裟shā掛guà在zài香xiāng柟nán樹shù上shàng，掣chè出chū棒bàng來lái，打dǎ入rù黑hēi風fēng洞dòng裡lǐ，那nà洞dòng裡lǐ那nǎ得dé一yí個gè小xiǎo妖yāo。原yuán來lái是shì他tā見jiàn菩pú薩sà出chū現xiàn，降xiáng得de那nà老lǎo怪guài就jiù地dì打dǎ滾gǔn，急jí急jí都dōu散sàn走zǒu了le。行xíng者zhě一yì發fā行xíng兇xiōng，將jiāng他tā那nà幾jǐ層céng門mén上shàng都dōu積jī了le乾gān柴chái，前qián前qián後hòu後hòu，一yì齊qí發fā火huǒ，把bǎ個gè黑hēi風fēng洞dòng燒shāo做zuò個gè紅hóng風fēng洞dòng，卻què拿ná了le袈jiā裟shā，駕jià祥xiáng光guāng，轉zhuǎn回huí直zhí北běi。行xíng者zhě辞cí了le菩pú萨sà，按àn落luò云yún头tóu，将jiāng袈jiā裟shā挂guà在zài香xiāng柟nán树shù上shàng，掣chè出chū棒bàng来lái，打dǎ入rù黑hēi风fēng洞dòng里lǐ，那nà洞dòng里lǐ那nǎ得dé一yí个gè小xiǎo妖yāo。原yuán来lái是shì他tā见jiàn菩pú萨sà出chū现xiàn，降xiáng得de那nà老lǎo怪guài就jiù地dì打dǎ滚gǔn，急jí急jí都dōu散sàn走zǒu了le。行xíng者zhě一yì发fā行xíng凶xiōng，将jiāng他tā那nà几jǐ层céng门mén上shàng都dōu积jī了le干gān柴chái，前qián前qián后hòu后hòu，一yì齐qí发fā火huǒ，把bǎ个gè黑hēi风fēng洞dòng烧shāo做zuò个gè红hóng风fēng洞dòng，却què拿ná了le袈jiā裟shā，驾jià祥xiáng光guāng，转zhuǎn回huí直zhí北běi。

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě辭cí了le菩pú薩sà，按àn落luò雲yún頭tóu，將jiāng袈jiā裟shā掛guà在zài香xiāng柟nán樹shù上shàng，掣chè出chū棒bàng來lái，行xíng者zhě辞cí了le菩pú萨sà，按àn落luò云yún头tóu，将jiāng袈jiā裟shā挂guà在zài香xiāng柟nán树shù上shàng，掣chè出chū棒bàng来lái，

The Pilgrim took his leave of the Bodhisattva, pressed down his cloud-head, hung the cassock on a fragrant nan tree, and whipped out his rod.

The chapter opens on mopping-up. 按落雲頭 — to press one's cloud-head down — is the standard formula for a descent from flight. 香柟: 柟 (U+67DF, read nán) is a variant of 楠, the fragrant nanmu much prized for coffins and temple pillars; that the Pilgrim should hang the Buddha's own robe on such a tree while he goes to butcher is a small, deliberate incongruity.

打dǎ入rù黑hēi風fēng洞dòng裡lǐ，那nà洞dòng裡lǐ那nǎ得dé一yí個gè小xiǎo妖yāo。打dǎ入rù黑hēi风fēng洞dòng里lǐ，那nà洞dòng里lǐ那nǎ得dé一yí个gè小xiǎo妖yāo。

He battered his way into the Black Wind Cave — and in that cave there was not one small fiend to be had.

The 那 of 那洞裡 is the demonstrative nà; the 那 of 那得 is the interrogative nǎ — 那得一個小妖, "where was there to be found a single imp?" The rhetorical question does the work of a flat negative, and the two graphs stand three characters apart, requiring positional rulings.

原yuán來lái是shì他tā見jiàn菩pú薩sà出chū現xiàn，降xiáng得de那nà老lǎo怪guài就jiù地dì打dǎ滾gǔn，急jí急jí都dōu散sàn走zǒu了le。原yuán来lái是shì他tā见jiàn菩pú萨sà出chū现xiàn，降xiáng得de那nà老lǎo怪guài就jiù地dì打dǎ滚gǔn，急jí急jí都dōu散sàn走zǒu了le。

The truth was that, having seen the Bodhisattva reveal herself and subdue the old monster till he rolled about on the ground, they had all scattered and fled in haste.

降得: 降 is xiáng, "to subdue," not jiàng, "to descend"; 得 is the resultative marker de, introducing the consequence 就地打滾. The narrator supplies the explanation the Pilgrim never troubles to seek — the cave is empty because its garrison saw what he did not stay to see.

行xíng者zhě一yì發fā行xíng兇xiōng，將jiāng他tā那nà幾jǐ層céng門mén上shàng都dōu積jī了le乾gān柴chái，前qián前qián後hòu後hòu，一yì齊qí發fā火huǒ，行xíng者zhě一yì发fā行xíng凶xiōng，将jiāng他tā那nà几jǐ层céng门mén上shàng都dōu积jī了le干gān柴chái，前qián前qián后hòu后hòu，一yì齐qí发fā火huǒ，

Now the Pilgrim let his violence run its full course: against the several tiers of gates he heaped dry brushwood, before and behind, and set the whole alight at once,

一發 here is adverbial, "all the more, to the full," rather than "at one stroke." 乾柴 takes 乾 as gān (dry), not qián (the trigram); pypinyin defaults wrongly. The detail of firewood already stacked at the gates is quietly damning: the bear-fiend kept house.

把bǎ個gè黑hēi風fēng洞dòng燒shāo做zuò個gè紅hóng風fēng洞dòng，卻què拿ná了le袈jiā裟shā，駕jià祥xiáng光guāng，轉zhuǎn回huí直zhí北běi。把bǎ个gè黑hēi风fēng洞dòng烧shāo做zuò个gè红hóng风fēng洞dòng，却què拿ná了le袈jiā裟shā，驾jià祥xiáng光guāng，转zhuǎn回huí直zhí北běi。

so that he burned the Black Wind Cave into a Red Wind Cave. Then he took up the cassock, mounted the auspicious light, and turned back due north.

The wordplay is the point: 黑風洞 is burned into a 紅風洞, black wind made red. 直北, "due north," is a plain compass bearing and not the "straight north" of any doctrinal geography. The Pilgrim leaves nothing behind him but a changed colour.

總評 Commentary

Chapter seventeen closed on the Bodhisattva leading the bear-fiend away to keep the back gate of Potalaka; chapter eighteen opens four lines later with a cave full of nobody. The novel is fond of this deflation. Having built an elaborate contest of transformations, it disposes of the aftermath in a single sentence — the small fiends have already run — and lets the Pilgrim expend his prepared violence on empty rooms and stacked firewood.

The burning is gratuitous and the narrator knows it: 一發行兇 concedes as much. Nothing requires the cave to be destroyed. But Sun Wukong is not yet the pilgrim of the later chapters, and the fire is of a piece with the monkey who scorched the Region Below in chapter three. The joke — black wind cave, red wind cave — is exactly the kind of verbal turn the 世德堂本 narrator reserves for moments when a moral judgement might otherwise be expected.