Canonical Classics ← 第二十回
第二十回
黃huáng風fēng嶺lǐng唐táng僧sēng有yǒu難nàn
半bàn山shān中zhōng八bā戒jiè爭zhēng先xiān

On Yellow Wind Ridge the Tang Monk Meets Adversity · Halfway Up the Mountain Bajie Strives for the Lead

夏景炎天
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

夏景炎天 The Blaze of Summer

且qiě說shuō他tā三sān眾zhòng在zài路lù餐cān風fēng宿sù水shuǐ，帶dài月yuè披pī星xīng，早zǎo又yòu至zhì夏xià景jǐng炎yán天tiān。但dàn見jiàn那nà：且qiě说shuō他tā三sān众zhòng在zài路lù餐cān风fēng宿sù水shuǐ，带dài月yuè披pī星xīng，早zǎo又yòu至zhì夏xià景jǐng炎yán天tiān。但dàn见jiàn那nà：

花huā盡jìn蝶dié無wú情qíng敘xù，樹shù高gāo蟬chán有yǒu聲shēng喧xuān。花huā尽jìn蝶dié无wú情qíng叙xù，树shù高gāo蝉chán有yǒu声shēng喧xuān。
野yě蠶cán成chéng繭jiǎn火huǒ榴liú妍yán，沼zhǎo內nèi新xīn荷hé出chū現xiàn。野yě蚕cán成chéng茧jiǎn火huǒ榴liú妍yán，沼zhǎo内nèi新xīn荷hé出chū现xiàn。

逐句解 Line by line

且qiě說shuō他tā三sān眾zhòng在zài路lù餐cān風fēng宿sù水shuǐ，帶dài月yuè披pī星xīng，早zǎo又yòu至zhì夏xià景jǐng炎yán天tiān。但dàn見jiàn那nà： 且qiě说shuō他tā三sān众zhòng在zài路lù餐cān风fēng宿sù水shuǐ，带dài月yuè披pī星xīng，早zǎo又yòu至zhì夏xià景jǐng炎yán天tiān。但dàn见jiàn那nà：

Now the three of them, on the road, supped on wind and lodged upon water, went girt with the moon and cloaked in the stars; and soon enough the burning season of summer was upon them. Behold:

Time to move the party a long way in very few words. 餐風宿水 and 帶月披星 — supping on wind and lodging on water, wearing the moon and the stars — are stock travelling formulas of the vernacular novel, four characters each and neatly matched. 三眾, read sān zhòng, uses the Buddhist counting-word for a party of religious. The cue 但見那： stays with the prose, as always.

花huā盡jìn蝶dié無wú情qíng敘xù，樹shù高gāo蟬chán有yǒu聲shēng喧xuān。 花huā尽jìn蝶dié无wú情qíng叙xù，树shù高gāo蝉chán有yǒu声shēng喧xuān。

The flowers are spent, and the butterfly has no more courtship to relate; the trees stand high, and the cicada has voice enough to clamor.

A short seasonal set-piece. The lines run 6–6–7–6, so this is a 詞 fragment rather than strict regulated verse. 花盡 takes 盡 as jìn, "spent, used up": the butterflies have missed their moment, the cicadas have found theirs.

野yě蠶cán成chéng繭jiǎn火huǒ榴liú妍yán，沼zhǎo內nèi新xīn荷hé出chū現xiàn。 野yě蚕cán成chéng茧jiǎn火huǒ榴liú妍yán，沼zhǎo内nèi新xīn荷hé出chū现xiàn。

Wild silkworms wind their cocoons; the fiery pomegranate is fair; and over the pool the new lotus shows its face.

火榴 is the flowering pomegranate, whose blossom gives the fifth lunar month one of its names. 妍, "fair," is high poetic register; 新荷, the young lotus, is the fixed badge of early summer. In 新荷 the character 荷 is hé, the plant, not hè, "to bear a load."

總評 Commentary

Four lines of seasonal verse do the work of a transition. Between the close of the Heart Sutra episode and the first sight of Yellow Wind Ridge the novel has to move its travellers a few hundred lǐ and a few months down the calendar, and it does so by the oldest trick in Chinese narrative: name the season. Spring's flowers are finished; summer's cicadas have started up.

The lines are also quietly ominous. Every image is of something that has reached its term — flowers spent, cocoons wound shut, the lotus only now pushing up. Heat and closure are the note, and what follows is a chapter of enclosures: a farmhouse door, a cave mouth, a monk tied to a post in a demon's hall.