第二十三回 · 田產富饒 Her Lands and Herds — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

田產富饒 Her Lands and Herds

那nà婦fù人rén道dào：「舍shě下xià有yǒu水shuǐ田tián三sān百bǎi餘yú頃qǐng，旱hàn田tián三sān百bǎi餘yú頃qǐng，山shān場chǎng果guǒ木mù三sān百bǎi餘yú頃qǐng；黃huáng水shuǐ牛niú有yǒu一yì千qiān餘yú隻zhī，騾luó馬mǎ成chéng群qún，豬zhū羊yáng無wú數shù；東dōng南nán西xī北běi，莊zhuāng堡bǎo草cǎo場chǎng，共gòng有yǒu六liù七qī十shí處chù；家jiā下xià有yǒu八bā九jiǔ年nián用yòng不bú著zháo的de米mǐ穀gǔ，十shí來lái年nián穿chuān不bú著zháo的de綾líng羅luó，一yì生shēng有yǒu使shǐ不bú著zháo的de金jīn銀yín：勝shèng強qiáng似sì那nà錦jǐn帳zhàng藏cáng春chūn，說shuō甚shén麼me金jīn釵chāi兩liǎng行háng。你nǐ師shī徒tú們men若ruò肯kěn回huí心xīn轉zhuǎn意yì，招zhāo贅zhuì在zài寒hán家jiā，自zì自zì在zài在zài，享xiǎng用yòng榮róng華huá，卻què不bù強qiáng如rú往wǎng西xī勞láo碌lù？」那nà三sān藏zàng也yě只zhǐ是shì如rú痴chī如rú蠢chǔn，默mò默mò無wú言yán。那nà妇fù人rén道dào：「舍shě下xià有yǒu水shuǐ田tián三sān百bǎi余yú顷qǐng，旱hàn田tián三sān百bǎi余yú顷qǐng，山shān场chǎng果guǒ木mù三sān百bǎi余yú顷qǐng；黄huáng水shuǐ牛niú有yǒu一yì千qiān余yú只zhī，骡luó马mǎ成chéng群qún，猪zhū羊yáng无wú数shù；东dōng南nán西xī北běi，庄zhuāng堡bǎo草cǎo场chǎng，共gòng有yǒu六liù七qī十shí处chù；家jiā下xià有yǒu八bā九jiǔ年nián用yòng不bú著zháo的de米mǐ谷gǔ，十shí来lái年nián穿chuān不bú著zháo的de绫líng罗luó，一yì生shēng有yǒu使shǐ不bú著zháo的de金jīn银yín：胜shèng强qiáng似sì那nà锦jǐn帐zhàng藏cáng春chūn，说shuō甚shén么me金jīn钗chāi两liǎng行háng。你nǐ师shī徒tú们men若ruò肯kěn回huí心xīn转zhuǎn意yì，招zhāo赘zhuì在zài寒hán家jiā，自zì自zì在zài在zài，享xiǎng用yòng荣róng华huá，却què不bù强qiáng如rú往wǎng西xī劳láo碌lù？」那nà三sān藏zàng也yě只zhǐ是shì如rú痴chī如rú蠢chǔn，默mò默mò无wú言yán。

逐句解 Line by line

The woman said, “In my house there are over three hundred qǐng of paddy-field, over three hundred of dry-field, over three hundred of hill-orchard; more than a thousand head of yellow water-buffalo, mules and horses in droves, pigs and sheep past counting; to the four quarters, farmsteads, walled granges, and pasture, sixty or seventy holdings in all. In the house there is grain enough for eight or nine years' unused eating, silk and damask for ten years' unworn wearing, gold and silver for a lifetime's unspent using — better by far than a brocade-curtained hoard of springtime; and as for two mere rows of golden hairpins, they are not worth the mention.”

A crescendo catalogue of wealth. Note three parallel V-不-著 potentials — 用不著 / 穿不著 / 使不著 (“no need to use / wear / spend”) — where 著 reads zháo. 錦帳藏春 “spring stored behind brocade curtains,” 藏 here the verb cáng (“to store, hide”). In 金釵兩行 (“two rows of gold hairpins”) 行 reads háng (a row) — one of only two such nominal háng in the chapter. 甚麼, shénme.

你nǐ師shī徒tú們men若ruò肯kěn回huí心xīn轉zhuǎn意yì，招zhāo贅zhuì在zài寒hán家jiā，自zì自zì在zài在zài，享xiǎng用yòng榮róng華huá，卻què不bù強qiáng如rú往wǎng西xī勞láo碌lù？」你nǐ师shī徒tú们men若ruò肯kěn回huí心xīn转zhuǎn意yì，招zhāo赘zhuì在zài寒hán家jiā，自zì自zì在zài在zài，享xiǎng用yòng荣róng华huá，却què不bù强qiáng如rú往wǎng西xī劳láo碌lù？」

“If you, master and disciples, would but turn your hearts and change your minds, and be taken as husbands into my humble house — free and at ease, enjoying wealth and honor — would that not be far better than toiling westward?”

回心轉意 “to change one's heart and mind.” 招贅 “to take in a husband (uxorilocally).” 自自在在 “utterly free and easy”; 強如 “better than.” The widow's pitch pits comfort against the hardship of the quest.

那nà三sān藏zàng也yě只zhǐ是shì如rú痴chī如rú蠢chǔn，默mò默mò無wú言yán。那nà三sān藏zàng也yě只zhǐ是shì如rú痴chī如rú蠢chǔn，默mò默mò无wú言yán。

But Tripitaka only sat as if witless, as if dull, silent and saying not a word.

那三藏 — 藏 zàng. 如痴如蠢 “as though besotted, as though stupid.” Tripitaka's affected stupor continues his defense of not answering.

總評 Commentary

The wealth-catalogue is one of the chapter's set-pieces, and its rhetoric is sheer accumulation: fields by the hundred qǐng, buffalo by the thousand, farmsteads by the score, granaries and wardrobes and treasuries stocked past any possible use. The hyperbole — grain that will not be eaten in nine years, silk unworn in ten, silver unspent in a lifetime — measures wealth precisely by its surplus, its sheer excess over need.

The two closing images are knowing. A “brocade-curtained spring” and “two rows of golden hairpins” are the stock furniture of romantic seduction in the vernacular tale; the widow name-drops them only to wave them aside as beneath her means. The boast is thus doubled — she offers not merely riches but riches that dwarf the usual currency of temptation.

And still Tripitaka gives nothing: 如痴如蠢, he plays the witless fool. The passage sharpens the chapter's central opposition — limitless worldly plenty on the one side, the pilgrim's deliberate, almost catatonic refusal on the other — and leaves the widow's torrent of inducement breaking against a wall of studied silence.