第二十一回 · 紫芝翳翳，白石蒼蒼 Purple Fungus, White Stone — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

紫芝翳翳，白石蒼蒼 Purple Fungus, White Stone

他tā卻què牽qiān了le馬mǎ，挑tiāo了le擔dàn，出chū山shān凹āo，行xíng上shàng路lù口kǒu。此cǐ時shí漸jiàn漸jiàn黃huáng昏hūn，只zhǐ聽tīng得de路lù南nán山shān坡pō下xià有yǒu犬quǎn吠fèi之zhī聲shēng。二èr人rén停tíng身shēn觀guān看kàn，乃nǎi是shì一yì家jiā莊zhuāng院yuàn，影yǐng影yǐng的de有yǒu燈dēng火huǒ光guāng明míng。他tā兩liǎng個gè也yě不bù管guǎn有yǒu路lù無wú路lù，漫màn草cǎo而ér行xíng，直zhí至zhì那nà家jiā門mén首shǒu。但dàn見jiàn：他tā却què牵qiān了le马mǎ，挑tiāo了le担dàn，出chū山shān凹āo，行xíng上shàng路lù口kǒu。此cǐ时shí渐jiàn渐jiàn黄huáng昏hūn，只zhǐ听tīng得de路lù南nán山shān坡pō下xià有yǒu犬quǎn吠fèi之zhī声shēng。二èr人rén停tíng身shēn观guān看kàn，乃nǎi是shì一yì家jiā庄zhuāng院yuàn，影yǐng影yǐng的de有yǒu灯dēng火huǒ光guāng明míng。他tā两liǎng个gè也yě不bù管guǎn有yǒu路lù无wú路lù，漫màn草cǎo而ér行xíng，直zhí至zhì那nà家jiā门mén首shǒu。但dàn见jiàn：

紫zǐ芝zhī翳yì翳yì，白bái石shí蒼cāng蒼cāng。紫zǐ芝zhī翳yì翳yì，白bái石shí苍cāng苍cāng。

紫zǐ芝zhī翳yì翳yì多duō青qīng草cǎo，白bái石shí蒼cāng蒼cāng半bàn綠lǜ苔tái。紫zǐ芝zhī翳yì翳yì多duō青qīng草cǎo，白bái石shí苍cāng苍cāng半bàn绿lǜ苔tái。

數shù點diǎn小xiǎo螢yíng光guāng灼zhuó灼zhuó，一yì林lín野yě樹shù密mì排pái排pái。数shù点diǎn小xiǎo萤yíng光guāng灼zhuó灼zhuó，一yì林lín野yě树shù密mì排pái排pái。

香xiāng蘭lán馥fù郁yù，嫩nèn竹zhú新xīn栽zāi。香xiāng兰lán馥fù郁yù，嫩nèn竹zhú新xīn栽zāi。

清qīng泉quán流liú曲qū澗jiàn，古gǔ柏bǎi倚yǐ深shēn崖yá。清qīng泉quán流liú曲qū涧jiàn，古gǔ柏bǎi倚yǐ深shēn崖yá。

地dì僻pì更gèng無wú遊yóu客kè到dào，門mén前qián惟wéi有yǒu野yě花huā開kāi。地dì僻pì更gèng无wú游yóu客kè到dào，门mén前qián惟wéi有yǒu野yě花huā开kāi。

逐句解 Line by line

他tā卻què牽qiān了le馬mǎ，挑tiāo了le擔dàn，出chū山shān凹āo，行xíng上shàng路lù口kǒu。他tā却què牵qiān了le马mǎ，挑tiāo了le担dàn，出chū山shān凹āo，行xíng上shàng路lù口kǒu。

So he led out the horse, took up the luggage-pole, came out of the hollow and up onto the road.

擔 again dàn, the load. 山凹, the hollow between hills, where Bajie has been lying since the wind began.

此cǐ時shí漸jiàn漸jiàn黃huáng昏hūn，只zhǐ聽tīng得de路lù南nán山shān坡pō下xià有yǒu犬quǎn吠fèi之zhī聲shēng。此cǐ时shí渐jiàn渐jiàn黄huáng昏hūn，只zhǐ听tīng得de路lù南nán山shān坡pō下xià有yǒu犬quǎn吠fèi之zhī声shēng。

It was growing dusk by now, and they heard, from the southern slope below the road, the barking of a dog.

只聽得: 得 the resultative de of perception. A dog barking below the road is the standing sign, in this novel, that a house of some kind is near — and never a wholly ordinary one.

二èr人rén停tíng身shēn觀guān看kàn，乃nǎi是shì一yì家jiā莊zhuāng院yuàn，影yǐng影yǐng的de有yǒu燈dēng火huǒ光guāng明míng。二èr人rén停tíng身shēn观guān看kàn，乃nǎi是shì一yì家jiā庄zhuāng院yuàn，影yǐng影yǐng的de有yǒu灯dēng火huǒ光guāng明míng。

The two of them stopped and looked. It was a farmstead, and there was the faint shining of a lamp in it.

影影的, "faintly, dimly," a reduplicated adverb of the vernacular. The lamp is seen before the house.

他tā兩liǎng個gè也yě不bù管guǎn有yǒu路lù無wú路lù，漫màn草cǎo而ér行xíng，直zhí至zhì那nà家jiā門mén首shǒu。但dàn見jiàn：他tā两liǎng个gè也yě不bù管guǎn有yǒu路lù无wú路lù，漫màn草cǎo而ér行xíng，直zhí至zhì那nà家jiā门mén首shǒu。但dàn见jiàn：

Caring nothing whether there was a path or none, they went through the grass and came straight to the gate of the house. And this was the sight:

漫草而行 — to walk across the grass without a path. 但見： is the lead-in to the descriptive verse and stays in the prose segment.

紫zǐ芝zhī翳yì翳yì，白bái石shí蒼cāng蒼cāng。紫zǐ芝zhī翳yì翳yì，白bái石shí苍cāng苍cāng。

Purple fungus in shadowed masses; white stone pale and bare.

紫芝 is the purple lingzhi, the fungus of immortality; 白石 the white stone of the recluse's hermitage. Both are borrowed straight from the Daoist eremitic vocabulary, and both are lies: this farmstead does not exist.

Purple fungus in shadowed masses, and green grass thick between; / white stone pale and bare, half of it under green moss.

The rhapsody unfolds its own opening line, four graphs becoming seven, exactly as the armour-rhapsody of P1 did. 綠苔: moss on the stone, the sign of a place long undisturbed.

A few points of firefly-light, glimmering; / a stand of wild trees, ranked close together.

數點小螢 — 數 is shù, "several." Fireflies and the dog's bark are the only living things in the description.

香xiāng蘭lán馥fù郁yù，嫩nèn竹zhú新xīn栽zāi。香xiāng兰lán馥fù郁yù，嫩nèn竹zhú新xīn栽zāi。

Fragrant orchid, richly scented; tender bamboo, newly set.

馥郁 and 新栽: the orchid is old and the bamboo new, which is what one would say of a place kept by someone.

清qīng泉quán流liú曲qū澗jiàn，古gǔ柏bǎi倚yǐ深shēn崖yá。清qīng泉quán流liú曲qū涧jiàn，古gǔ柏bǎi倚yǐ深shēn崖yá。

A clear spring runs in a winding gully; an ancient cypress leans on the deep cliff.

曲 reads qū, "winding." Spring, gully, cypress, cliff — the standard furniture of the hermit's dwelling in landscape poetry.

The place is remote, and no traveller comes to it; / before the gate there is only the wild flower, opening.

更 is the adverb gèng. The closing couplet says, in the politest possible way, that nobody lives here; the pilgrims are about to knock at the gate and be let in.

總評 Commentary

The house-rhapsody is composed entirely of hermitage furniture — lingzhi, white stone, moss, orchid, bamboo, spring, cypress, cliff — and closes on the flat statement that no visitor comes there. Every element of it is a signal to the reader, and none of it is a signal to Bajie, who is hungry.

The pilgrims will discover in the morning that they slept on the bare grass, and that the farmstead was raised for a night by the dharma-protecting spirits who attend them. The poem, read again afterwards, is a joke of some subtlety: it describes not a farm but a picture of a farm, assembled out of the most conventional materials available, which is precisely what the spirits had to work with.