街衢扯人 The Young Man in the Street
行者看罷道：「師父請行，定是一村好人家，正可借宿。」那長老催動白馬，早到街衢之口。又見一個少年，頭裹綿布，身穿藍襖，持傘背包，斂褌劄褲，腳踏著一雙三耳草鞋，雄糾糾的，出街忙走。行者順手一把扯住道：「那裡去？我問你一個信兒：此間是甚麼地方？」那個人只管苦掙，口裡嚷道：「我莊上沒人，只是我好問信？」行者陪著笑道：「施主莫惱。『與人方便，自己方便。』你就與我說說地名何害？我也可解得你的煩惱。」那人掙不脫手，氣得亂跳道：「蹭蹬，蹭蹬。家長的屈氣受不了，又撞著這個光頭，受他的清氣。」行者道：「你有本事，劈開我的手，你便就去了也罷。」那人左扭右扭，那裡扭得動，卻似一把鐵鈐拑住一般。行者看罢道：「师父请行，定是一村好人家，正可借宿。」那长老催动白马，早到街衢之口。又见一个少年，头裹绵布，身穿蓝袄，持伞背包，敛裈劄裤，脚踏著一双三耳草鞋，雄纠纠的，出街忙走。行者顺手一把扯住道：「那里去？我问你一个信儿：此间是甚么地方？」那个人只管苦挣，口里嚷道：「我庄上没人，只是我好问信？」行者陪著笑道：「施主莫恼。『与人方便，自己方便。』你就与我说说地名何害？我也可解得你的烦恼。」那人挣不脱手，气得乱跳道：「蹭蹬，蹭蹬。家长的屈气受不了，又撞著这个光头，受他的清气。」行者道：「你有本事，劈开我的手，你便就去了也罢。」那人左扭右扭，那里扭得动，却似一把铁钤拑住一般。
逐句解 Line by line
When the Pilgrim had done looking he said, "Go forward, Master. It is certainly a village of decent folk, and a fit place to beg a lodging."
看罷 answers the 定睛觀看 that opened the rhapsody. 借宿 is the polite counterpart of 告宿 — one begs the lodging, one borrows the night.
The elder urged the white horse on, and they came shortly to the mouth of the street.
街衢 (jiē qú) is a crossing of ways; the compound is faintly literary for so plain a village. 那長老 takes the demonstrative nà.
There they saw a young fellow, a cotton cloth wound about his head, a blue jacket on his back, an umbrella in his hand and a pack on his shoulder, his breeches gathered and bound,
A costume inventory of the kind the novel reserves for figures about to matter. 斂褌劄褲 — the drawers gathered up, the trouser-legs bound — is the dress of a man on a journey; 劄 is zhā, "to bind fast" (so ruled at ch15).
straw sandals of the three-eared sort upon his feet, striding along in a great hurry out of the street.
三耳草鞋: straw sandals with three loops at the heel. 踏著 takes 著 as zhe, a state maintained. 雄糾糾 writes 赳赳; the man is swaggering, and about to be stopped dead.
The Pilgrim reached out and caught him fast. "Where away?" he said. "I have a question for you. What place is this?"
Both interrogatives are here: 那裡去 — 那 as nǎ — and 甚麼, 甚 as shén. 信兒 takes the diminutive 兒, er. The Pilgrim asks for news; he seizes first and asks after.
The man only struggled the harder, shouting, "Is there nobody else in my village? Am I the only man fit to be asked the road?"
苦掙: 掙 is zhèng, "to strain, to wrench," a standing ruling. The rejoinder is pure exasperation — 只是我好問信？, "am I the only one worth asking?" — and it will turn out that he is.
The Pilgrim said, smiling upon him, "Do not be vexed, patron. 'A kindness done another is a kindness done yourself.'
陪著笑 — the smile is put on, and 著 is again zhe. The proverb 與人方便，自己方便 is a commonplace of popular morality; it stands as prose, not verse, by the house rule for quoted sayings.
What harm is there in telling me the name of the place? I may even be able to dissolve your troubles for you."
解得: 得 is the potential dé, "am able to." The Pilgrim's offer is not idle — he will indeed dissolve this man's trouble, though at the cost of a great deal more trouble to the household.
The man could not wrench his hand free, and hopped about in a rage. "Ill luck!" he cried. "Ill luck!
蹭蹬 (cèng dèng) is a rhyming binome of the vernacular meaning "hard luck, a run of misfortune." 氣得亂跳 takes 得 as the resultative de.
The master's temper I cannot bear, and now I run into this bald-head besides, and take his insolence too!"
屈氣 and 清氣 are paired: the swallowed anger owed to a master, and the gratuitous insolence of a stranger. 撞著 is zháo — a goal attained, not a state maintained. 受不了 keeps 了 as liǎo.
The Pilgrim said, "If you have the strength, prise open my hand, and you may go for all of me."
你便就去了也罷: "then off you go, and welcome." The Pilgrim's challenge is a boast disguised as a concession; the reader knows the hand cannot be prised.
The man twisted left and twisted right, but where could he twist himself loose? It was as though an iron pincer had gripped him.
那裡扭得動: the first 那 of the segment is demonstrative nà, the second interrogative nǎ, and 得 is the potential dé. 鐵鈐拑 — an iron clamp and a pincer. 似 is sì, not shì; pypinyin defaults wrongly.
The comedy of the passage rests on a mismatch of scale. Sun Wukong has just come from burning a mountain and bargaining with a bodhisattva; he now applies the same irresistible grip to a village servant on an errand, and the servant's only recourse is to hop and swear. The narrator is careful to record what the man is wearing before he is caught — the pack, the umbrella, the bound trousers — because these details establish that he is going somewhere, and being stopped is precisely his grievance.
Note that the Pilgrim quotes a proverb about kindness while holding a man immobile. 與人方便，自己方便 is the currency of ordinary neighbourliness, and it is deployed here as a threat with a smile. The 世德堂本 narrator does not moralise; he simply lets the iron pincer and the proverb occupy the same breath.