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

閉門下鎖
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

閉門下鎖 The Doors Are Bolted

jiè便biànchéngfànshāsēngānfàngzhuōèrtóngmángxiǎocàiquèshìxiējiàngguājiàngqiézāoluóbodòujiǎoyānchāojiècàigòngpáilediéérshīmenchīfànyòuhǎocháliǎngcházhōnghòuzuǒyòushīzhòngquècáiwǎnláizhètóngérbiāndeménguānshàngchāshàngliǎngtóngsuǒjièxiàodào:「zhètóngchàlezhèfēnghǎoquèzěndeguānleménchīfàn?」míngyuèdào:「zhèngshìzhèngshìhǎodǎichīlefànérkāimén。」jiè便biànchéngfànshāsēngānfàngzhuōèrtóngmángxiǎocàiquèshìxiējiàngguājiàngqiézāoluóbodòujiǎoyānchāojiècàigòngpáilediéérshīmenchīfànyòuhǎocháliǎngcházhōnghòuzuǒyòushīzhòngquècáiwǎnláizhètóngérbiāndeménguānshàngchāshàngliǎngtóngsuǒjièxiàodào:「zhètóngchàlezhèfēnghǎoquèzěndeguānleménchīfàn?」míngyuèdào:「zhèngshìzhèngshìhǎodǎichīlefànérkāimén。」


逐句解 Line by line

jiè便biànchéngfànshāsēngānfàngzhuō jiè便biànchéngfànshāsēngānfàngzhuō

Bajie went straightway to dish up the rice, and Wujing set out the table and chairs.

盛飯, chéng fàn, is dishing up rice. 棹椅, zhuō yǐ, "table and chairs," writes the table with , standing in for ; read zhuō, not the zhào that means "an oar."

èrtóngmángxiǎocàiquèshìxiējiàngguājiàngqiézāoluóbodòujiǎoyānchāojiècàigòngpáilediéérshīmenchīfànyòuhǎocháliǎngcházhōnghòuzuǒyòu èrtóngmángxiǎocàiquèshìxiējiàngguājiàngqiézāoluóbodòujiǎoyānchāojiècàigòngpáilediéérshīmenchīfànyòuhǎocháliǎngcházhōnghòuzuǒyòu

The two lads busily fetched the side-dishes—which were such things as pickled melon and pickled eggplant, radish cured in lees, beans steeped in vinegar, salted lotus-root, and blanched mustard greens—setting out seven or eight little saucers in all for the pilgrims' meal; and they brought besides a pot of good tea and two tea-cups, to wait upon them left and right.

A whole Ming pickle-shelf in one line, and every item is a real dish: 醬瓜 and 醬茄, melon and aubergine in soy paste; 糟蘿蔔, zāo luó bo, radish cured in the lees left over from brewing; 醋豆角, beans in vinegar; 醃窩蕖, salted lotus root; 綽芥菜, chāo jiè cài, mustard greens given a quick scald, where stands in for and reads chāo. is the vegetable, qié, not jiā. 茶鍾, chá zhōng, are tea-cups. Seven or eight little saucers, a pot of good tea: the bait is laid with real care.

shīzhòngquècáiwǎnláizhètóngérbiāndeménguānshàngchāshàngliǎngtóngsuǒ shīzhòngquècáiwǎnláizhètóngérbiāndeménguānshàngchāshàngliǎngtóngsuǒ

No sooner had the four pilgrims, master and disciples, taken up their bowls than the two lads—one to each side—with a bang pulled the door shut and clapped on a double-hasped brass lock.

The trap shuts on the sound of a bowl being picked up. 卻才, què cái, is "had only just, no sooner than." 一邊一個, one boy to each side of the door. 兩錤銅鎖, liǎng jī tóng suǒ, is a brass lock with a double hasp; is a rare character for the lock's fittings.

jièxiàodào:「zhètóngchàlezhèfēnghǎoquèzěndeguānleménchīfàn?」 jièxiàodào:「zhètóngchàlezhèfēnghǎoquèzěndeguānleménchīfàn?」

Bajie laughed and said, "This lad is mistaken! The custom hereabouts is a poor one—why ever eat with the door shut?"

Bajie, whose whole attention is on the food, takes a bolted door for a quaint local habit. 這童子差了, zhè tóng zǐ chà le, "this lad has got it wrong," with as chà, "mistaken"; 童子 takes the full noun , . 風俗不好, "the local custom is a poor one."

míngyuèdào:「zhèngshìzhèngshìhǎodǎichīlefànérkāimén。」 míngyuèdào:「zhèngshìzhèngshìhǎodǎichīlefànérkāimén。」

Bright Moon said, "Just so, just so—when you have eaten your fill of rice, we'll open the door."

好歹, hǎo dǎi — literally "good or bad" — means "one way or another, at any rate." 飯兒 takes the diminutive suffix , ér. Bright Moon is stalling, and doing it well.


總評 Commentary

The trap is sprung as domestic comedy. The instrument is a tray of pickles — soy-cured melon and aubergine, radish in wine lees, vinegared beans, salted lotus root, scalded mustard greens — and the catalogue does real work, grounding a story about immortals and magic fruit in the smells of an ordinary kitchen.

Then the timing. The narrator waits until all four have a bowl in their hands and both hands occupied, and only then puts a boy on each side of the door and the double-hasped brass lock on the outside. It is the neatest piece of staging in the chapter.

The dramatic irony is complete, and Bajie carries it: he complains about the local custom of eating with the door shut while the gates are being chained behind him. Bright Moon plays along — eat your fill and we'll open up — and the pilgrims go on calmly with their rice.