第二十五回 · 二童叩告 The Lads Kneel and Tell — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

二童叩告 The Lads Kneel and Tell

二èr人rén方fāng醒xǐng，忽hū睜zhēng睛jīng，抹mǒ抹mǒ臉liǎn，擡tái頭tóu觀guān看kàn，認rèn得dé是shì仙xiān師shī與yǔ世shì同tóng君jūn和hé仙xiān兄xiōng等děng眾zhòng。慌huāng得de那nà清qīng風fēng頓dùn首shǒu，明míng月yuè叩kòu頭tóu道dào：「師shī父fù啊a，你nǐ的de故gù人rén原yuán是shì東dōng來lái的de和hé尚shàng，一yì夥huǒ強qiáng盜dào，十shí分fēn兇xiōng狠hěn。」大dà仙xiān笑xiào道dào：「莫mò驚jīng恐kǒng，慢màn慢màn的de說shuō來lái。」二èr人rén方fāng醒xǐng，忽hū睁zhēng睛jīng，抹mǒ抹mǒ脸liǎn，抬tái头tóu观guān看kàn，认rèn得dé是shì仙xiān师shī与yǔ世shì同tóng君jūn和hé仙xiān兄xiōng等děng众zhòng。慌huāng得de那nà清qīng风fēng顿dùn首shǒu，明míng月yuè叩kòu头tóu道dào：「师shī父fù啊a，你nǐ的de故gù人rén原yuán是shì东dōng来lái的de和hé尚shàng，一yì伙huǒ强qiáng盗dào，十shí分fēn凶xiōng狠hěn。」大dà仙xiān笑xiào道dào：「莫mò惊jīng恐kǒng，慢màn慢màn的de说shuō来lái。」

逐句解 Line by line

二èr人rén方fāng醒xǐng，忽hū睜zhēng睛jīng，抹mǒ抹mǒ臉liǎn，擡tái頭tóu觀guān看kàn，認rèn得dé是shì仙xiān師shī與yǔ世shì同tóng君jūn和hé仙xiān兄xiōng等děng眾zhòng。二èr人rén方fāng醒xǐng，忽hū睁zhēng睛jīng，抹mǒ抹mǒ脸liǎn，抬tái头tóu观guān看kàn，认rèn得dé是shì仙xiān师shī与yǔ世shì同tóng君jūn和hé仙xiān兄xiōng等děng众zhòng。

The two woke at last, opened their eyes with a start, wiped their faces, and, raising their heads to look, knew them for the immortal master, the Lord Coeval-with-the-World, and the immortal brethren.

Waking up is given four small physical actions in a row — eyes open, faces rubbed, heads lifted, recognition — which is how you write somebody surfacing from a drugged sleep. 擡頭觀看 takes 觀 as guān, "to look at," not the guàn of the abbey. 與世同君, Yǔshì-Tóngjūn, "the Lord Coeval with the World," is the master's formal title, and it is a serious claim: he is as old as the age itself. 認得 takes the toneless 得, de.

慌huāng得de那nà清qīng風fēng頓dùn首shǒu，明míng月yuè叩kòu頭tóu道dào：「師shī父fù啊a，你nǐ的de故gù人rén原yuán是shì東dōng來lái的de和hé尚shàng，一yì夥huǒ強qiáng盜dào，十shí分fēn兇xiōng狠hěn。」慌huāng得de那nà清qīng风fēng顿dùn首shǒu，明míng月yuè叩kòu头tóu道dào：「师shī父fù啊a，你nǐ的de故gù人rén原yuán是shì东dōng来lái的de和hé尚shàng，一yì伙huǒ强qiáng盗dào，十shí分fēn凶xiōng狠hěn。」

In a fright, Clear Wind bowed his head and Bright Moon knocked his brow to the ground: "Master! Your old friend, that monk from the East, is in truth a pack of robbers—utterly ferocious!"

What comes out first is not a report but a wail, and it is wildly overstated. 頓首, dùn shǒu, and 叩頭, kòu tóu, are both prostrations with the forehead to the ground — the second is the ancestor of the English word kowtow. 十分兇狠, shí fēn xiōng hěn, "utterly ferocious," with 分 as fēn inside 十分, which simply means "completely."

大dà仙xiān笑xiào道dào：「莫mò驚jīng恐kǒng，慢màn慢màn的de說shuō來lái。」大dà仙xiān笑xiào道dào：「莫mò惊jīng恐kǒng，慢màn慢màn的de说shuō来lái。」

The Great Immortal laughed: "Do not be so alarmed—tell it to me slowly."

And the answer is a laugh and an instruction to slow down. Set beside two boys knocking their heads on the floor about a gang of desperadoes, 慢慢的說來 — "tell it to me slowly" — establishes the whole difference between them.

總評 Commentary

The boys wake and immediately oversell. The polite scripture-pilgrims of the previous chapter have become 一夥強盜, a pack of robbers, ferocious to a man — which is what fright does to a witness statement, and what a servant does when explaining a disaster upward.

The master's reply is three words of amusement and an instruction to slow down. He is not angry, not alarmed, and in no hurry. After a chapter of shrieking children and a bickering monkey, the sudden change of tempo is the reader's first real signal about the kind of adversary the pilgrims have made — not a shouter, but someone who listens to the whole story before deciding anything.