妖精入房 The Monster Comes Home
那陣狂風過處,只見半空裡來了一個妖精,果然生得醜陋:黑臉短毛,長喙大耳;穿一領青不青、藍不藍的梭布直裰,繫一條花布手巾。行者暗笑道:「原來是這個買賣。」好行者,卻不迎他,也不問他,且睡在床上推病,口裡哼哼嘖嘖的不絕。那怪不識真假,走進房,一把摟住,就要親嘴。行者暗笑道:「真個要來弄老孫哩。」即使個拿法,托著那怪的長嘴,叫做個小跌。漫頭一抖,撲的摜下床來。那怪爬起來,扶著床邊道:「姐姐,你怎麼今日有些怪我?那阵狂风过处,只见半空里来了一个妖精,果然生得丑陋:黑脸短毛,长喙大耳;穿一领青不青、蓝不蓝的梭布直裰,系一条花布手巾。行者暗笑道:「原来是这个买卖。」好行者,却不迎他,也不问他,且睡在床上推病,口里哼哼啧啧的不绝。那怪不识真假,走进房,一把搂住,就要亲嘴。行者暗笑道:「真个要来弄老孙哩。」即使个拿法,托着那怪的长嘴,叫做个小跌。漫头一抖,扑的掼下床来。那怪爬起来,扶着床边道:「姐姐,你怎么今日有些怪我?
逐句解 Line by line
When that gust of wild wind had passed, there in mid-air came a monster, and hideous indeed he was to look upon:
生得醜陋: 得 is the unstressed de, made ugly to look on. And count the space each gets. The wind was given ten couplets. The monster gets six characters — 果然生得醜陋 — before the description of his face begins.
a black face with short bristles, a long snout and great ears; on his back a coarse cloth gown neither green nor blue, and at his waist a girdle of flowered cotton.
長 is one of those characters that leads two lives: read zhǎng it means to grow, or to be the elder; read cháng it means long. Here it is cháng — we are being told about the snout, not about seniority. 直裰, with 裰 read duō, is the long straight-cut robe worn by monks and poor scholars. And it is 青不青、藍不藍, not quite green and not quite blue — the exact opposite of the Sichuan brocade Squire Gao put on to receive strangers at his gate.
The Pilgrim laughed to himself. "So this is the article," he said.
買賣 here means the piece of goods, the article of trade. The Pilgrim has been talking commerce all chapter — 才有買賣, 湊四合六的勾當 — and now he applies the word to a person standing in front of him.
Good Pilgrim! He neither went to meet him nor asked him a word, but lay on the bed feigning sickness, moaning and grumbling without a pause.
好行者 is the storyteller's admiring shout: good old Pilgrim. 推病 is to plead illness. 哼哼嘖嘖 doubles two sound-words, one for moaning and one for tutting, and you can hear both.
The monster could not tell true from false. He came into the room, threw his arms about her, and would have kissed her.
不識真假 — he cannot tell the true from the counterfeit, which is the theme of the whole second half of the chapter. 親嘴 is to kiss on the mouth. The novel is not coy about it, and neither is the monster.
The Pilgrim laughed inwardly. "He is really coming to try it on with old Sun," he thought. He applied a grip, took hold of the monster's long snout, and gave him what is called a little throw:
托著 keeps 著 as zhe. 拿法 is a hold, as in wrestling — the same word Gao Cai used in the street for the grip he could not break. 小跌, a little throw, is a wrestler's term of art, and the little in it is contempt.
one twist over the head, and down he went with a smack beside the bed. The monster picked himself up, steadied himself against the bedside, and said, "Sister, why are you so cross with me today?
漫頭一抖 is a twist that carries a man clean over his own head. 撲的 is the sound of the landing. 扶著床邊 has 著 as zhe again. And note the monster's first word after being thrown on the floor by his wife: 姐姐, sister.
After ten couplets of cosmic wind the creature arrives and is immediately cut down to size: a shabby gown of no particular colour, a cotton girdle, and a face. The rhapsody promised a demon of the four seas; the prose delivers a farm labourer in his working clothes, coming home at nightfall to his wife.
And the wife throws him on the floor. 小跌 — a little throw, a wrestling move — applied to a bridegroom by a monkey wearing his bride's shape. Everything that will happen to Zhu Bajie for the next eighty chapters is folded into the first four sentences he speaks. He is affectionate. He is credulous. He apologises for being late. And he never once suspects the person in front of him.