Canonical Classics ← 第二十五回
第二十五回
鎮zhèn元yuán仙xiān趕gǎn捉zhuō取qǔ經jīng僧sēng
孫sūn行xíng者zhě大dà鬧nào五wǔ莊zhuāng觀guàn

The Immortal Zhenyuan Pursues and Seizes the Scripture-Seeking Monk · Sun the Pilgrim Makes Great Havoc at the Five-Villages Abbey

鞭打柳樹
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

鞭打柳樹 Flogging the Willows

不bù說shuō他tā師shī徒tú在zài路lù暫zàn住zhù。且qiě說shuō那nà大dà仙xiān天tiān明míng起qǐ來lái,吃chī了le早zǎo齋zhāi,出chū在zài殿diàn上shàng,教jiào:「拿ná鞭biān來lái,今jīn日rì卻què該gāi打dǎ唐táng三sān藏zàng了le。」那nà小xiǎo仙xiān掄lūn著zhe鞭biān,望wàng唐táng僧sēng道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」那nà柳liǔ樹shù也yě應yìng道dào:「打dǎ麼me。」乒pīng乓pāng打dǎ了le三sān十shí。掄lūn過guò鞭biān來lái,對duì八bā戒jiè道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」那nà柳liǔ樹shù也yě應yìng道dào:「打dǎ麼me。」及jí打dǎ沙shā僧sēng,也yě應yìng道dào教jiào打dǎ。不bù说shuō他tā师shī徒tú在zài路lù暂zàn住zhù。且qiě说shuō那nà大dà仙xiān天tiān明míng起qǐ来lái,吃chī了le早zǎo斋zhāi,出chū在zài殿diàn上shàng,教jiào:「拿ná鞭biān来lái,今jīn日rì却què该gāi打dǎ唐táng三sān藏zàng了le。」那nà小xiǎo仙xiān抡lūn着zhe鞭biān,望wàng唐táng僧sēng道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」那nà柳liǔ树shù也yě应yìng道dào:「打dǎ么me。」乒pīng乓pāng打dǎ了le三sān十shí。抡lūn过guò鞭biān来lái,对duì八bā戒jiè道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」那nà柳liǔ树shù也yě应yìng道dào:「打dǎ么me。」及jí打dǎ沙shā僧sēng,也yě应yìng道dào教jiào打dǎ。


逐句解 Line by line

不bù說shuō他tā師shī徒tú在zài路lù暫zàn住zhù。 不bù说shuō他tā师shī徒tú在zài路lù暂zàn住zhù。

No more of the master and disciples resting on the road.

不說…且說 is the storyteller changing camera: leave them there, and turn to the abbey. Both halves of the formula appear here and in the next line.

且qiě說shuō那nà大dà仙xiān天tiān明míng起qǐ來lái,吃chī了le早zǎo齋zhāi,出chū在zài殿diàn上shàng,教jiào:「拿ná鞭biān來lái,今jīn日rì卻què該gāi打dǎ唐táng三sān藏zàng了le。」 且qiě说shuō那nà大dà仙xiān天tiān明míng起qǐ来lái,吃chī了le早zǎo斋zhāi,出chū在zài殿diàn上shàng,教jiào:「拿ná鞭biān来lái,今jīn日rì却què该gāi打dǎ唐táng三sān藏zàng了le。」

Now that Great Immortal rose at daybreak, ate his morning meal, came out on the hall, and ordered: "Fetch the whip—today it falls to Tang Sanzang to be beaten."

Morning at the abbey, and the routine is horribly ordinary: get up, eat breakfast, come out to the hall, call for the whip. 早齋, zǎo zhāi, is the morning meal in a religious house, meat-free by rule. 卻該打唐三藏了, "today it falls to Tang Sanzang" — a rota. 藏 is zàng.

那nà小xiǎo仙xiān掄lūn著zhe鞭biān,望wàng唐táng僧sēng道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」 那nà小xiǎo仙xiān抡lūn着zhe鞭biān,望wàng唐táng僧sēng道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」

That little immortal swung the whip and said to the Tang Monk, "I'm going to beat you."

掄著鞭, swinging the whip, takes 著 as zhe, marking the action in progress. 打你哩, "I'm going to beat you now" — announced first, which turns out to be a mistake.

那nà柳liǔ樹shù也yě應yìng道dào:「打dǎ麼me。」 那nà柳liǔ树shù也yě应yìng道dào:「打dǎ么me。」

And that willow tree answered too: "Beat away."

And the tree answers. 打麼, "beat away, then" — two syllables, and the funniest line in the chapter. 應 is yìng, "to answer."

乒pīng乓pāng打dǎ了le三sān十shí。 乒pīng乓pāng打dǎ了le三sān十shí。

Thwack and whack, thirty strokes were laid on.

乒乓, pīng pāng, is the same sound-word the cudgel made against the manfruit tree forty passages back, and it is doing the same job: something wooden is being hit hard.

掄lūn過guò鞭biān來lái,對duì八bā戒jiè道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」 抡lūn过guò鞭biān来lái,对duì八bā戒jiè道dào:「打dǎ你nǐ哩li。」

He swung the whip round and said to Bajie, "I'm going to beat you."

掄過鞭來, swinging the whip round to the next one along.

那nà柳liǔ樹shù也yě應yìng道dào:「打dǎ麼me。」 那nà柳liǔ树shù也yě应yìng道dào:「打dǎ么me。」

And that willow tree answered too: "Beat away."

The same two syllables again. Repetition is the whole technique of this passage.

及jí打dǎ沙shā僧sēng,也yě應yìng道dào教jiào打dǎ。 及jí打dǎ沙shā僧sēng,也yě应yìng道dào教jiào打dǎ。

And when he came to beat Wujing, it too answered, telling him to beat on.

And a third time, with the narrator now too bored to quote it in full. 教打 takes 教 as jiào, "let, tell to."


總評 Commentary

The morning's comedy is built out of pure repetition. Beat you now. Beat away, then. Thwack, thirty. Beat you now. Beat away, then. The Patriarch of the Earthly Immortals stands in his own main hall solemnly flogging four willow logs that answer him politely each time, and the narrator plays it perfectly straight.

What makes it work is that the reader is the only one in on it. Nobody in the abbey suspects a thing; the executioner counts his strokes; the sound-word 乒乓 is the same one used when the cudgel first struck the manfruit tree, so even the noise is a hint nobody hears. All that is left is to wait for someone to look closely.