重返水簾 The Homecoming
忽聽得鶴唳猿啼：鶴唳聲衝霄漢外，猿啼悲切甚傷情。即開口叫道：「孩兒們，我來了也！」那崖下石坎邊，花草中，樹木裡，若大若小之猴，跳出千千萬萬，把個美猴王圍在當中，叩頭叫道：「大王，你好寬心，怎麼一去許久？把我們俱閃在這裡，望你誠如饑渴。近來被一妖魔在此欺虐，強要佔我們水簾洞府，是我等捨死忘生，與他爭鬥。這些時，被那廝搶了我們家火，捉了許多子侄，教我們晝夜無眠，看守家業。幸得大王來了，大王若再年載不來，我等連山洞盡屬他人矣。」悟空聞說，心中大怒，道：「是甚麼妖魔，輒敢無狀？你且細細說來，待我尋他報仇。」眾猴叩頭：「告上大王：那廝自稱混世魔王，住居在直北下。」悟空道：「此間到他那裡，有多少路程？」眾猴道：「他來時雲，去時霧，或風或雨，或電或雷，我等不知有多少路。」悟空道：「既如此，你們休怕，且自頑耍，等我尋他去來。」忽听得鹤唳猿啼：鹤唳声冲霄汉外，猿啼悲切甚伤情。即开口叫道：「孩儿们，我来了也！」那崖下石坎边，花草中，树木里，若大若小之猴，跳出千千万万，把个美猴王围在当中，叩头叫道：「大王，你好宽心，怎么一去许久？把我们俱闪在这里，望你诚如饥渴。近来被一妖魔在此欺虐，强要占我们水帘洞府，是我等舍死忘生，与他争斗。这些时，被那厮抢了我们家火，捉了许多子侄，教我们昼夜无眠，看守家业。幸得大王来了，大王若再年载不来，我等连山洞尽属他人矣。」悟空闻说，心中大怒，道：「是甚么妖魔，辄敢无状？你且细细说来，待我寻他报仇。」众猴叩头：「告上大王：那厮自称混世魔王，住居在直北下。」悟空道：「此间到他那里，有多少路程？」众猴道：「他来时云，去时雾，或风或雨，或电或雷，我等不知有多少路。」悟空道：「既如此，你们休怕，且自顽耍，等我寻他去来。」
逐句解 Line by line
Suddenly he heard cranes crying and gibbons wailing: the cranes' cries piercing beyond the empyrean, the gibbons' wails mournful and deeply heart-rending.
鶴唳 (hè lì): "cranes' cries"; 鶴 = hè, 唳 = lì. 猿啼 (yuán tí): "gibbons' wailing"; 啼 = tí. An inline antithetical couplet (對句). 衝霄漢 (chōng xiāo hàn): "piercing the empyrean"; 霄漢 = "the heavens." 悲切 (bēi qiè): "mournful." 傷情 (shāng qíng): "heart-rending."
He opened his mouth at once and called: “Children, I have come!”
孩兒們 (hái er men): "children"; 兒 er, the 兒化 suffix.
From below the cliff, by the stone ledges, among the flowers and grasses, in the trees, monkeys big and small alike came leaping out by the thousands upon thousands, surrounded the Handsome Monkey King, kowtowed, and cried:
那崖下 (nà yá xià): "below that cliff"; 那 = nà. 石坎 (shí kǎn): "stone ledges"; 坎 = kǎn. 若大若小 (ruò dà ruò xiǎo): "big and small alike." 千千萬萬 (qiān qiān wàn wàn): "thousands upon thousands." 圍在當中 (wéi zài dāng zhōng): "surrounded him."
“Great King, how carefree you are! Why have you been away so long? You left us all stranded here, longing for you as for food and drink.
你好寬心 (nǐ hǎo kuān xīn): "how easy in mind you are!" 一去許久 (yí qù xǔ jiǔ): "gone so long"; sandhi 一 → yí before 4th-tone 去. 閃在這裡 (shǎn zài zhè lǐ): "left stranded here"; 閃 = shǎn "to leave in the lurch." 誠如饑渴 (chéng rú jī kě): "truly as if hungering and thirsting."
Lately a demon has been oppressing us here, insisting on seizing our Water-Curtain Cave; we risked death and forgot our lives fighting him.
一妖魔 (yì yāo mó): "a demon"; sandhi 一 → yì before 1st-tone 妖. 欺虐 (qī nüè): "to bully, oppress"; 虐 = nüè. 強要佔 (qiáng yào zhàn): "insisting on seizing"; 佔 = zhàn. 捨死忘生 (shě sǐ wàng shēng): "risking death, forgetting life." 爭鬥 (zhēng dòu): "to fight"; 鬥 = dòu.
All this while, that creature has snatched away our household goods and seized many of our children and nephews, forcing us to keep watch over the homestead day and night, sleepless.
那廝 (nà sī): "that fellow"; 廝 = sī. 家火 (jiā huǒ): "household goods, belongings" (= 家伙). 子侄 (zǐ zhí): "children and nephews"; 子 = zǐ (toned), 侄 = zhí. 教我們 (jiào wǒ men): "forcing us"; 教 = jiào, causative. 看守 (kān shǒu): "to guard"; 多音字 看 = kān "to watch over" (not kàn). 家業 (jiā yè): "the homestead."
Luckily the Great King has come — had you stayed away another year or so, even our mountain and cave would all have passed to another's hands.”
幸得 (xìng dé): "luckily." 年載 (nián zǎi): "a year or so"; 載 = zǎi. 不來: sandhi 不 → bù before 2nd-tone 來. 連…盡屬 (lián…jìn shǔ): "even… would all belong to"; 屬 = shǔ.
Hearing this, Wukong was filled with rage: “What demon is this, that dares be so outrageous? Tell me the whole of it in detail, and let me go and take revenge on him.”
輒敢無狀 (zhé gǎn wú zhuàng): "dares to be so outrageous"; 輒 = zhé, 狀 = zhuàng. 細細說來 (xì xì shuō lái): "tell it in detail." 報仇 (bào chóu): "to take revenge."
The monkeys kowtowed: “We report to the Great King: that creature calls himself the Monstrous King of Havoc, and dwells away to the due north.”
那廝 (nà sī): "that fellow"; 那 = nà. 混世魔王 (Hùn shì mó wáng): "the Monstrous King of Havoc, the World-Confounding Demon King." 直北下 (zhí běi xià): "away to the due north."
Wukong asked: “From here to where he is, how far is the way?”
此間 (cǐ jiān): "from here." 他那裡 (tā nà lǐ): "where he is"; 那 = nà. 多少路程 (duō shǎo lù chéng): "how far"; 少 = shǎo.
The monkeys said: “He comes on cloud and goes on mist, now wind, now rain, now lightning, now thunder — we do not know how far the way is.”
來時雲，去時霧: "comes on cloud, goes on mist"; 霧 = wù. 或…或…: "now… now…" Sandhi: 不知 → bù. 多少路: 少 = shǎo.
Wukong said: “In that case, do not be afraid — just amuse yourselves, and wait while I go and seek him out.”
休怕 (xiū pà): "do not fear"; 休 = xiū "do not." 且自頑耍 (qiě zì wán shuǎ): "just amuse yourselves"; 頑 = wán, 耍 = shuǎ. 去來 (qù lái): "go [and come back]."
The homecoming turns the chapter from cultivation to action, and its keynote is struck before a word is spoken: Wukong returns to the sound of 鶴唳猿啼, crying cranes and wailing gibbons, a plaintive antithetical couplet that shadows the joy of his arrival with the distress of those who waited. The welcome itself is rapturous — monkeys "big and small alike" pour out 千千萬萬, by the thousands upon thousands, and surround their king — and the bond is real: they have longed for him 誠如饑渴, "as for food and drink." After an apprenticeship spent alone, the monkey who sought immortality to escape death is reminded, at once, of what he has to lose and to protect.
And the protection is needed immediately, for the first antagonist of Wukong's career is already in his house. The 混世魔王 — the "Monstrous King of Havoc," his name built on 混世, "to throw the world into confusion" — has been seizing the cave, carrying off the young, and looting the stores in Wukong's absence. He is a creature of weather and motion who "comes on cloud and goes on mist, now wind, now rain, now lightning, now thunder," the standard signature of a minor demon, and exactly the sort of foe on whom Wukong's new powers can first be tried. The structural logic is clean: the contemplative half of the chapter forged the hero's abilities; the homecoming supplies, in a single stroke, both the motive — a violated home, abducted kin, a king's duty of revenge — and the first opponent worthy of them.