第二十五回 · 行者請打 The Pilgrim Offers Himself — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

行者請打 The Pilgrim Offers Himself

行xíng者zhě聞wén言yán，心xīn中zhōng暗àn道dào：「我wǒ那nà老lǎo和hé尚shàng不bù禁jīn打dǎ，假jiǎ若ruò一yí頓dùn鞭biān打dǎ壞huài了le啊a，卻què不bú是shì我wǒ造zào的de孽niè？」他tā忍rěn不bú住zhù，開kāi言yán道dào：「先xiān生shēng差chà了le。偷tōu果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，吃chī果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，推tuī倒dǎo樹shù也yě是shì我wǒ，怎zěn麼me不bù先xiān打dǎ我wǒ，打dǎ他tā做zuò甚shèn？」行xíng者zhě闻wén言yán，心xīn中zhōng暗àn道dào：「我wǒ那nà老lǎo和hé尚shàng不bù禁jīn打dǎ，假jiǎ若ruò一yí顿dùn鞭biān打dǎ坏huài了le啊a，却què不bú是shì我wǒ造zào的de孽niè？」他tā忍rěn不bú住zhù，开kāi言yán道dào：「先xiān生shēng差chà了le。偷tōu果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，吃chī果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，推tuī倒dǎo树shù也yě是shì我wǒ，怎zěn么me不bù先xiān打dǎ我wǒ，打dǎ他tā做zuò甚shèn？」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě聞wén言yán，心xīn中zhōng暗àn道dào：「我wǒ那nà老lǎo和hé尚shàng不bù禁jīn打dǎ，假jiǎ若ruò一yí頓dùn鞭biān打dǎ壞huài了le啊a，卻què不bú是shì我wǒ造zào的de孽niè？」行xíng者zhě闻wén言yán，心xīn中zhōng暗àn道dào：「我wǒ那nà老lǎo和hé尚shàng不bù禁jīn打dǎ，假jiǎ若ruò一yí顿dùn鞭biān打dǎ坏huài了le啊a，却què不bú是shì我wǒ造zào的de孽niè？」

The Pilgrim, hearing this, thought to himself: "My old monk cannot stand a beating. If a round of the whip should injure him, would it not be a sin of my own making?"

The thought is practical before it is noble: the old man will not survive this. 不禁打, bù jīn dǎ, is "cannot take a beating," where 禁 is the sense of withstanding. 造的孽, zào de niè, is a sin brought about by your own doing — 孽 is specifically the karmic kind, the wrong that comes back to you.

他tā忍rěn不bú住zhù，開kāi言yán道dào：「先xiān生shēng差chà了le。他tā忍rěn不bú住zhù，开kāi言yán道dào：「先xiān生shēng差chà了le。

Unable to hold back, he spoke up: "Sir, you have got it wrong.

忍不住, unable to hold it in. 先生, xiān shēng, "sir," is what he calls the Daoist throughout — polite, and just distant enough to be cheeky. 差了 takes 差 as chà, "mistaken," not the chāi of "to dispatch" a few passages back.

偷tōu果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，吃chī果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，推tuī倒dǎo樹shù也yě是shì我wǒ，怎zěn麼me不bù先xiān打dǎ我wǒ，打dǎ他tā做zuò甚shèn？」偷tōu果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，吃chī果guǒ子zi是shì我wǒ，推tuī倒dǎo树shù也yě是shì我wǒ，怎zěn么me不bù先xiān打dǎ我wǒ，打dǎ他tā做zuò甚shèn？」

"It was I who stole the fruit, I who ate it, I too who toppled the tree—why not beat me first? What is the good of beating him?"

Three clauses, each ending in 是我: I stole them, I ate them, I knocked the tree down. Strictly it is not even true — Bajie put him up to it and all three ate — but he is not making a statement of fact, he is taking the whole thing on himself. 打他做甚 has 甚 alone as shèn, "what."

總評 Commentary

This is the moment the chapter has been building toward, and it arrives without any announcement. Wukong, who caused every part of this disaster out of wounded pride, looks at the whip and does the arithmetic: his master cannot survive it, and it would be his doing.

So he claims the lot. 偷果子是我，吃果子是我，推倒樹也是我 — I stole them, I ate them, I felled the tree — which is generous with the facts, since Bajie began it and all three ate. He is not confessing accurately; he is confessing totally, which is a different thing.

The novel does not underline it. He simply asks why they are beating the wrong man, and the demand to be whipped first is phrased as an objection to bad procedure. But it is the first clear sign in this chapter of what the pilgrimage is for: not to make the monkey powerful, which he already is, but to make him answerable.