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shè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shè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着zháo的de米mǐ谷gǔ，十shí来lái年nián穿chuān不bú着zháo的de绫líng罗luó，一yì生shēng有yǒu使shǐ不bú着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."

The inventory is the point: wealth measured not in what it buys but in how much of it can never be used. Three parallel potentials — 用不著, 穿不著, 使不著, no need to use, to wear, to spend — all take 著 as zháo. 錦帳藏春, spring stored behind brocade curtains, takes 藏 as the verb cáng, to store or hide. And in 金釵兩行, two rows of gold hairpins, 行 is háng, a row — one of only two places in the chapter with that reading, the other being the rows of geese in the autumn poem. 甚麼 is shén me. Both of those last images are stock furniture of the seduction scene in vernacular fiction; she name-drops them only to wave them away as beneath her.

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, turn the heart and change the mind, is still the ordinary Chinese for coming round to something. 招贅 is to take a husband into your own house; 自自在在 is utterly free and easy; 強如, better than. The pitch is comfort against hardship, and she puts it as a question so that only one answer sounds sane.

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.

如痴如蠢, as though besotted, as though stupid. Tripitaka is still doing the only thing he can think of, which is nothing at all.

總評 Commentary

The wealth catalogue is one of the chapter's set-pieces, and its whole rhetoric is piling-on: fields by the hundred qǐng, buffalo by the thousand, farmsteads by the score, granaries and wardrobes and treasuries stocked past any possible use. Notice how the boast is constructed — grain that will not be eaten in nine years, silk unworn in ten, silver unspent in a lifetime. Wealth is being measured by its surplus, by the part of it that can never be touched.

The two closing images are knowing ones. A brocade-curtained spring and two rows of golden hairpins are the standard properties of seduction in vernacular fiction, and she brings them up only to wave them aside as beneath her means. The boast is therefore doubled: not merely riches, but riches that make the usual currency of temptation look small.

And Tripitaka still gives her nothing — 如痴如蠢, playing the witless fool. The passage sharpens the chapter's central opposition into its clearest form: unlimited worldly plenty on one side, a deliberate, almost catatonic refusal on the other, with the widow's torrent breaking against a wall of studied silence.