第二十七回 · 願退金箍 He Would Give Back the Band — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

願退金箍 He Would Give Back the Band

師shī父fù果guǒ若ruò不bú要yào我wǒ，把bǎ那nà個gè鬆sōng箍gū兒er咒zhòu念niàn一yí念niàn，退tuì下xià這zhè個gè箍gū子zi，交jiāo付fù與yǔ你nǐ，套tào在zài別bié人rén頭tóu上shàng，我wǒ就jiù快kuài活huó相xiāng應yìng了le，也yě是shì跟gēn你nǐ一yì場chǎng。莫mò不bù成chéng這zhè些xiē人rén意yì兒er也yě沒méi有yǒu了le？」师shī父fù果guǒ若ruò不bú要yào我wǒ，把bǎ那nà个gè松sōng箍gū儿er咒zhòu念niàn一yí念niàn，退tuì下xià这zhè个gè箍gū子zi，交jiāo付fù与yǔ你nǐ，套tào在zài别bié人rén头tóu上shàng，我wǒ就jiù快kuài活huó相xiāng应yìng了le，也yě是shì跟gēn你nǐ一yì场chǎng。莫mò不bù成chéng这zhè些xiē人rén意yì儿er也yě没méi有yǒu了le？」

逐句解 Line by line

師shī父fù果guǒ若ruò不bú要yào我wǒ，把bǎ那nà個gè鬆sōng箍gū兒er咒zhòu念niàn一yí念niàn，退tuì下xià這zhè個gè箍gū子zi，交jiāo付fù與yǔ你nǐ，套tào在zài別bié人rén頭tóu上shàng，我wǒ就jiù快kuài活huó相xiāng應yìng了le，也yě是shì跟gēn你nǐ一yì場chǎng。师shī父fù果guǒ若ruò不bú要yào我wǒ，把bǎ那nà个gè松sōng箍gū儿er咒zhòu念niàn一yí念niàn，退tuì下xià这zhè个gè箍gū子zi，交jiāo付fù与yǔ你nǐ，套tào在zài别bié人rén头tóu上shàng，我wǒ就jiù快kuài活huó相xiāng应yìng了le，也yě是shì跟gēn你nǐ一yì场chǎng。

"If you truly will not have me, Master, then recite the Band-Loosening Spell just once and take this band off, hand it back to you to clap on somebody else's head — and I'll go off content; it will still have been a spell of service to you.

那個鬆箍兒咒 (nà ge sōng gū er zhòu) "that Band-Loosening Spell," 那 (nà), the suffix 兒 (er). 退下這個箍子 (tuì xià zhè ge gū zi) "take off this band," 子 (zi). 快活相應了 (kuài huo xiāng yìng le) "[I'd] be content and it would be fitting," 相 (xiāng), 應 (yìng). Wukong's request is heartbreaking in its reasonableness — if cast out, let him at least be freed of the band, so his going does him no lasting harm.

莫mò不bù成chéng這zhè些xiē人rén意yì兒er也yě沒méi有yǒu了le？」莫mò不bù成chéng这zhè些xiē人rén意yì儿er也yě没méi有yǒu了le？」

"Surely these people haven't so little human feeling as that?"

這些人意兒 (zhè xiē rén yì er) "this much human sentiment/regard," the suffix 兒 (er). 也沒有了 (yě méi yǒu le) "is even that lacking?" The appeal to common decency — that surely his companions cannot be so heartless — is the last note of the plea before the elder's crushing revelation.

總評 Commentary

Wukong's request is the plea's devastating turn. Resigned, if he must be, to expulsion, he asks only that the master recite a Band-Loosening Spell and free him of the golden fillet — so that his going, however unjust, leaves him whole. The reasonableness is the pathos: he does not rage against the injustice, but tries to negotiate a departure that will do him no permanent hurt.

The appeal to 人意, "human feeling" — surely his companions are not so heartless as to deny him this — measures how far the bond has been strained. The Great Sage, who needed no one, now pleads for common decency from the very party casting him out. It is a moment of real vulnerability, and it is about to be met not with cruelty but with something worse: the revelation that what he asks is impossible.

The passage sets up the chapter's quietest tragedy. Wukong assumes the band can be removed as it was put on; the next passage will disclose that there is no loosening-spell at all — that the fillet, and thus his bondage to the pilgrimage, is permanent. His reasonable request turns out to have no possible answer.