Canonical Classics ← 第二十六回
第二十六回
sūnkōngsāndǎoqiúfāng
guānshìyīngānquánhuóshù

Sun Wukong Seeks a Cure Among the Three Isles · Guanyin's Sweet Spring Revives the Tree

叮囑大仙
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

叮囑大仙 Parting Instructions

kànzhěngqúnchūménláiduìxiāndào:「xiānshēngfàngxīnjiùjiùláiquèyàohǎoshēngshìshīzhújiāsāncháliùfànqiànquēruòshǎolexiēerlǎosūnhuíláisuànzhàngxiāndǎodeguōrángle漿jiāng漿jiāngliǎnerhuánglexiēeryàoruòshòulexiēerchūmén。」xiāndào:「dìngjiàorěnè。」kànzhěngqúnchūménláiduìxiāndào:「xiānshēngfàngxīnjiùjiùláiquèyàohǎoshēngshìshīzhújiāsāncháliùfànqiànquēruòshǎolexiēerlǎosūnhuíláisuànzhàngxiāndǎodeguōránglejiāngjiāngliǎnerhuánglexiēeryàoruòshòulexiēerchūmén。」xiāndào:「dìngjiàorěn饿è。」


逐句解 Line by line

kànzhěngqúnchūménláiduìxiāndào:「xiānshēngfàngxīnjiùjiùlái kànzhěngqúnchūménláiduìxiāndào:「xiānshēngfàngxīnjiùjiùlái

Watch him now: he hastily straightened his tiger-skin kilt, came out at the gate, and said to the Great Immortal, "Set your mind at rest, sir — I go, and I return.

你看他, watch him now, is the storyteller talking over the action to his listeners -- a reminder that this novel began life as something performed aloud. 虎皮裙 is the tiger-skin kilt Wukong has worn since his mountain days. 就去就來 is I'll go and be straight back.

quèyàohǎoshēngshìshīzhújiāsāncháliùfànqiànquēruòshǎolexiēerlǎosūnhuíláisuànzhàngxiāndǎodeguō quèyàohǎoshēngshìshīzhújiāsāncháliùfànqiànquēruòshǎolexiēerlǎosūnhuíláisuànzhàngxiāndǎodeguō

But you must serve my master well — three teas and six meals a day, every day, with nothing wanting; and if the least bit is short, old Monkey will settle accounts with you when he returns, and stave in the bottom of your cauldron first of all.

好生伏侍 is to wait on somebody properly. 三茶六飯, three teas and six meals, is a set phrase for hospitality laid on without stint -- full board with extras. 算帳, settle the account, is still exactly what a Chinese speaker says when threatening to get even. Wukong uses it in mock menace and then ruins the effect by adding a threat about the cooking pot.

rángle漿jiāng漿jiāng ránglejiāngjiāng

When his clothes are soiled, starch and wash them for him.

(ráng) normally belongs to exorcism, but here it is doing colloquial duty for grimy or soiled, standing in for . 漿洗 is to starch and wash; doubling it conveys doing the job thoroughly.

liǎnerhuánglexiēeryàoruòshòulexiēerchūmén。」 liǎnerhuánglexiēeryàoruòshòulexiēerchūmén。」

Let his face grow the least bit sallow, and I'll not have it; let him lose the least bit of flesh, and you shall not stir from your gate."

The line is built out of 些兒 (xiē er), the least little bit, repeated until the fussing itself becomes the joke -- not an ounce off him, not a shade of colour. 不出門, you shall not leave the house, is Wukong sentencing an immortal patriarch to be grounded. The is the toneless er.

xiāndào:「dìngjiàorěnè。」 xiāndào:「dìngjiàorěn饿è。」

The Great Immortal said, "Go, go — I will surely not let him go hungry."

定不教他忍餓, I certainly will not let him go hungry. is jiào here, the reading that means to let or make someone do a thing. Zhenyuan is humouring him, in the tone of a host who has worked out that the shortest road to peace is agreement.


總評 Commentary

This short scene is pure comedy of character. Wukong, having just got the pilgrims released, cannot resist a parting torrent of household instructions -- three teas and six meals, the laundry starched, his master's face on no account to be allowed to go sallow -- punctuated by threats to settle accounts and stave in the cooking pot. The bluster is affectionate as much as fierce. For all his combativeness, Monkey's care for Tripitaka is real, and here it comes out as nagging.

The storyteller's aside, watch him now, breaks the frame in the manner of the marketplace reciters the novel descends from, inviting the audience to enjoy the spectacle. The Immortal's weary, doubled Go, go is the perfect answer -- a host resigned to an impossible guest, and a small sign that the enmity between them is already softening into something like domestic comedy.