Canonical Classics ← 第二十五回
第二十五回
zhènyuánxiāngǎnzhuōjīngsēng
sūnxíngzhěnàozhuāngguàn

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

鏡腿無傷
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

鏡腿無傷 Legs Bright as Mirrors

zhèděnghái。」xiǎoxiānyòulesānshíxíngzhětóukànkànliǎngzhītuǐmíngjìngbāntōngliànglegèngzhīxiēténgyǎngshítiānjiāngwǎnxiāndào:「qiěbiānzijìnzàishuǐdàimíngzhāozàikǎo。」xiǎoxiānqiěshōubiānjìnguīfángwǎnzhāijìnjiēānqǐnzhèděnghái。」xiǎoxiānyòulesānshíxíngzhětóukànkànliǎngzhītuǐmíngjìngbāntōngliànglegèngzhīxiēténgyǎngshítiānjiāngwǎnxiāndào:「qiěbiānzijìnzàishuǐdàimíngzhāozàikǎo。」xiǎoxiānqiěshōubiānjìnguīfángwǎnzhāijìnjiēānqǐn


逐句解 Line by line

zhèděnghái。」 zhèděnghái。」

"In that case, beat him again."

既這等, "in that case, then" — permission given as casually as it was asked for. is hái, "again, still."

xiǎoxiānyòulesānshí xiǎoxiānyòulesānshí

The little immortal laid on another thirty.

Another thirty. Sixty in all, and the narrator does not comment.

xíngzhětóukànkànliǎngzhītuǐmíngjìngbāntōngliànglegèngzhīxiēténgyǎng xíngzhětóukànkànliǎngzhītuǐmíngjìngbāntōngliànglegèngzhīxiēténgyǎng

The Pilgrim bent his head and looked: his two legs were like bright mirrors, beaten to a shine all over, and he felt not the least ache or itch.

The punchline, and it is a visual one: sixty strokes of a soaked dragon-hide whip have polished his legs. 似明鏡一般, "like bright mirrors," 通打亮了, beaten to a shine all over. 更不知些疼癢, gèng bù zhī xiē téng yǎng, "did not feel the least ache or itch" — and 疼癢, pain-and-itch, is the smallest unit of sensation Chinese offers, so this is as thorough a denial as the language can make.

shítiānjiāngwǎnxiāndào:「qiěbiānzijìnzàishuǐdàimíngzhāozàikǎo。」 shítiānjiāngwǎnxiāndào:「qiěbiānzijìnzàishuǐdàimíngzhāozàikǎo。」

By this time the sky was growing dark, and the Great Immortal said, "Steep the whip in water, and tomorrow morning we shall flog him again."

The whip goes back in the water for the morning, which is the most chilling housekeeping in the chapter: the punishment is not finished, merely adjourned. 明朝 takes as zhāo, "morning." 鞭子 takes the toneless suffix , zi.

xiǎoxiānqiěshōubiānjìnguīfáng xiǎoxiānqiěshōubiānjìnguīfáng

The little immortal put the whip away to steep, and each went off to his room.

各各歸房, each to his own room.

wǎnzhāijìnjiēānqǐn wǎnzhāijìnjiēānqǐn

The evening meal over, all lay down to sleep—of that no more.

不題, no more of this — the storyteller putting the abbey to bed so he can turn to the four still tied to the pillars.


總評 Commentary

Sixty lashes of a soaked dragon-hide whip, and Wukong looks down to find his legs polished like mirrors. It is one of the novel's best comic images because it is entirely physical: not "he felt nothing" but "they had been buffed to a shine." The instrument of an immortal's justice has been reduced to a cleaning implement.

Nobody in the abbey notices. The Great Immortal, satisfied that a day's work has been done, has the whip put back to soak and adjourns until morning. That decision — punishment postponed rather than finished — is what gives the pilgrims their second night, and it is the only mistake he makes in the entire chapter.