高老求絕根 行者論女婿 Squire Gao Demands a Clean Riddance; The Pilgrim Argues for the Son-in-Law
說罷，那老高上前跪下道：「長老，沒及奈何，你雖趕得去了，他等你去後復來，卻怎區處？索性累你與我拿住，除了根，才無後患。我老夫不敢怠慢，自有重謝：將這家財田地，憑眾親友寫立文書，與長老平分。只是要剪草除根，莫教壞了我高門清德。」行者笑道：「你這老兒不知分限。那怪也曾對我說，他雖是食腸大，吃了你家些茶飯，也與你幹了許多好事，這幾年掙了許多家貲，皆是他之力量。他不曾白吃了你東西，問你祛他怎的？據他說，他是一個天神下界，替你巴家做活，又未曾害了你家女兒。想這等一個女婿，也門當戶對，不怎麼壞了家聲，辱了行止，當真的留他也罷。」老高道：「長老，雖是不傷風化，但名聲不甚好聽，動不動著人就說：『高家招了一個妖怪女婿。』這句話兒教人怎當？」三藏道：「悟空，你既是與他做了一場，一發與他做個結局，才見始終。」行者道：「我才試他一試耍子。此去一定拿來與你們看，且莫憂愁。」叫：「老高，你還好生管待我師父，我去也。」说罢，那老高上前跪下道：「长老，没及奈何，你虽赶得去了，他等你去后复来，却怎区处？索性累你与我拿住，除了根，才无后患。我老夫不敢怠慢，自有重谢：将这家财田地，凭众亲友写立文书，与长老平分。只是要剪草除根，莫教坏了我高门清德。」行者笑道：「你这老儿不知分限。那怪也曾对我说，他虽是食肠大，吃了你家些茶饭，也与你干了许多好事，这几年挣了许多家赀，皆是他之力量。他不曾白吃了你东西，问你祛他怎的？据他说，他是一个天神下界，替你巴家做活，又未曾害了你家女儿。想这等一个女婿，也门当户对，不怎么坏了家声，辱了行止，当真的留他也罢。」老高道：「长老，虽是不伤风化，但名声不甚好听，动不动著人就说：『高家招了一个妖怪女婿。』这句话儿教人怎当？」三藏道：「悟空，你既是与他做了一场，一发与他做个结局，才见始终。」行者道：「我才试他一试耍子。此去一定拿来与你们看，且莫忧愁。」叫：「老高，你还好生管待我师父，我去也。」
逐句解 Line by line
When he had finished, old Gao came forward and knelt down. "Elder, there is no help for it.
沒及奈何, "there is no help for it": the phrase with which every petitioner in this novel opens. 長老, Elder, takes 長 as zhǎng.
You may have driven him off, but he will come back once you are gone, and what is to be done then?
趕得去 is a potential complement — 得 as dé, "able to drive off." 卻怎區處: 區處 is "to dispose of, to manage," 處 read chǔ.
Trouble yourself, I beg, to take him for me and pull him up by the root, and then there will be no aftermath.
索性, "go the whole way." 除了根 anticipates the 剪草除根 of two sentences later — Squire Gao has one metaphor and he uses it twice.
This old man will not be slow to thank you; I shall reward you handsomely.
Note that the offer of payment arrives before the sum. 重謝 takes 重 as zhòng.
This house and its lands — I will have all our kin and friends draw up a deed, and split them with you, Elder, share and share alike.
The bribe is startlingly large and startlingly legalistic: half the estate, with a deed witnessed by the clan. 將 is the disposal marker, jiāng.
Only cut the grass and dig out the root, and do not let my house's good name be spoiled."
剪草除根 — to cut the grass and dig out the root — is proverbial for extermination. 高門清德: the pure reputation of a great house. It is his real concern, and he names it last.
The Pilgrim laughed. "Old man, you do not know your own measure.
不知分限, not to know one's proper bounds. 老兒 takes the diminutive suffix 兒 as er — faintly disrespectful, from a monkey to a squire.
That fiend told me himself that although his belly is large, and he has eaten some of your family's tea and rice,
食腸大, a large gullet: the standing joke about Bajie, made here for the first time by his adversary in his defence. 那怪 — Wukong still calls him a fiend while arguing his case.
he has also done a great deal of good work for you; the wealth you have made these several years is all by his strength.
家貲, household wealth. 掙 is zhèng, to earn by labour. 力量 takes 量 as liàng.
He has not eaten your food for nothing. Why do you ask me to drive him away?
白吃, to eat for nothing. 祛他, to exorcise him — Wukong uses the squire's own word and makes it sound ungrateful.
By his own account he is a god from Heaven come down, who does the farm-work in your stead, and he has never harmed your daughter.
巴家做活: to labour to build up a household. 未曾害了你家女兒 is the decisive fact, and the novel will never contradict it.
Such a son-in-law is a fair match for your house.
門當戶對 — matched gate and matched door — is the standard formula for social parity in marriage. Applied to a hog-demon it is outrageous, and Wukong says it with a straight face.
He has not spoiled your reputation, nor disgraced your conduct; truly, you might as well keep him."
當真的: "in earnest," 當 read dàng. The Pilgrim's whole speech is an argument that the monster is a better son-in-law than the squire deserves — and it is not wholly a joke.
Old Gao said: "Elder, though he does no harm to public morals, the name of the thing is ugly to hear.
傷風化, to injure public morals: a phrase from the magistrate's vocabulary. Old Gao concedes the substance and holds out on the reputation. 不甚好聽 takes 甚 as shèn.
At the least occasion people will say, 'The Gao family has taken in a monster for a son-in-law.' How is one to bear such talk?"
動不動, at the least provocation. 著人就說: 著 is the lexical causative zhuó, "to get people to say." The quoted gossip inside 『』 is a quoted artifact and stays prose.
Sanzang said: "Wukong, since you have had one bout with him, have done and make an end, so that the thing is finished as it was begun."
做了一場, to have had a bout. 一發, "all the more, go on and —." 才見始終: only so is a thing seen through from beginning to end. Sanzang, characteristically, decides the matter on grounds of form.
The Pilgrim said: "I was only trying him, for sport. This time I shall fetch him back for you to see. Do not fret."
試他一試耍子: "gave him a try, for fun." 耍子 takes the suffix 子 as zi. Wukong retroactively reclassifies a seven-hour battle as a game.
And he called: "Old Gao, look well after my master, and I am off."
好生管待, look after him properly. 還 is the adverbial hái. The Pilgrim leaves an instruction, not a request.
This is one of the strangest and best scenes in the early chapters, and its strangeness is that the Monkey King argues the monster's case. Squire Gao wants extermination — 剪草除根 — and offers half his estate for it, with a deed. Wukong answers with an accounting: the creature eats a great deal, but he has done the work of many men, the family fortune is his doing, he has never touched the daughter, and by the measure of 門當戶對 he is a perfectly respectable match. Every clause of the defence is true.
What defeats it is not morality but gossip. Old Gao concedes that no harm has been done to 風化, public decency; his objection is that 名聲不甚好聽 — the name of the thing sounds bad — and that people will talk. The novel lets that stand as the operative reason, and Sanzang settles the matter on the still slighter ground that a thing begun should be finished. Bajie is thus removed from his marriage not because he is a demon but because he is an embarrassment, which is, in the end, the injury he will spend the next eighty chapters resenting.