行兇結果 The Reckoning
大聖按落雲頭,鼓掌大笑道:「造化,造化。自從歸順唐僧,做了和尚,他每每勸我話道:『千日行善,善猶不足;一日行惡,惡自有餘。』真有此話。我跟著他,打殺幾個妖精,他就怪我行兇。今日來家,卻結果了這許多獵戶。」叫:「小的們,出來!」那群猴狂風過去,聽得大聖呼喚,一個個跳將出來。大聖道:「你們去南山下,把那打死的獵戶衣服剝得來家,洗淨血跡,穿了遮寒;把死人的屍首都推在那萬丈深潭內;把死倒的馬拖將來,剝了皮,做靴穿,將肉醃著,慢慢的食用;把那些弓箭槍刀,與你們操演武藝;將那雜色旗號,收來我用。」群猴一個個領諾。大圣按落云头,鼓掌大笑道:「造化,造化。自从归顺唐僧,做了和尚,他每每劝我话道:『千日行善,善犹不足;一日行恶,恶自有余。』真有此话。我跟着他,打杀几个妖精,他就怪我行凶。今日来家,却结果了这许多猎户。」叫:「小的们,出来!」那群猴狂风过去,听得大圣呼唤,一个个跳将出来。大圣道:「你们去南山下,把那打死的猎户衣服剥得来家,洗净血迹,穿了遮寒;把死人的尸首都推在那万丈深潭内;把死倒的马拖将来,剥了皮,做靴穿,将肉腌着,慢慢的食用;把那些弓箭枪刀,与你们操演武艺;将那杂色旗号,收来我用。」群猴一个个领诺。
逐句解 Line by line
The Great Sage brought down his cloud, clapped his hands and laughed aloud: “What luck, what luck! Ever since I submitted to the Tang Monk and became a monk, he was forever admonishing me: ‘A thousand days of doing good, and the good is still not enough; a single day of doing evil, and the evil is already too much.’ How true those words are.
He comes down laughing, and then quotes his master at himself. A thousand days of good are never enough; one day of evil is already too much. He says how true those words are, and he has just killed a thousand men. 千日行善 and 一日行惡 take 行 as xíng, to do or practise. The novel does not need to comment; it simply lets him recite the standard he is breaking.
I followed him, killed a few demons, and at once he blamed me for doing violence. Yet today, come home, I have made an end of this whole crowd of hunters.”
The comparison is his own: a few demons killed on the road and he was called violent; a whole crowd of hunters killed here and he calls it luck. 跟著 ends in the unstressed zhe; 行兇 takes xíng; 結果了 ends in the unstressed le, marking a thing finished off — the phrase means made an end of, and it is as blunt in the Chinese as it is here.
He called, “Little ones, come out!” The wind having passed, the troop of monkeys heard the Great Sage's summons and came leaping out one and all.
那 is nà; 聽得 takes the unstressed de; 跳將 takes jiāng.
Said the Great Sage: “Go down to the southern slope, strip the slain hunters of their clothes and bring them home, wash out the bloodstains, and wear them against the cold;
Strip the dead, wash the blood out, wear the clothes against the cold. The order is practical and that is the horror of it. 那 is nà; 剝得 takes the unstressed de; 穿了 ends in the unstressed le.
push all the dead men's corpses into that fathomless pool ten thousand zhàng deep; drag home the fallen horses, flay off their hides to make boots, and salt down the flesh to eat at leisure;
The bodies go into the pool, the horses become boots and salted meat. 萬丈 is ten thousand zhàng — a zhàng being a Chinese measure of about ten feet, and ten thousand of them meaning bottomless rather than any real depth. 死倒的馬 takes 倒 as dǎo, fallen dead, not dào, reversed. 拖將 and 將肉 take jiāng; 醃著 ends in the unstressed zhe; 都 is dōu.
take those bows, arrows, spears, and blades to drill you in the martial arts; and gather up the parti-colored banners and standards, and bring them for my use.” The monkeys received his commands one and all.
The weapons become drill equipment and the banners become his flag. Nothing of the human world is wasted. 那些 is nà; 將那 takes jiāng and nà.
Wukong's self-awareness is the sharpest stroke in the passage. He remembers Tripitaka's maxim exactly — a thousand days of good are never enough, a single day of evil is already too much — recites it, agrees with it out loud, and in the same breath boasts of having just wiped out a crowd of men. The novel adds nothing. It lets him quote the standard he is breaking and leaves the reader holding both halves.
The disposal orders finish the regression. Corpses into the bottomless pool, horses into boots and salted meat, weapons and banners into the equipping of a monkey army. Everything human is absorbed into the restored bandit-kingdom of Flower-Fruit Mountain. This is the Wukong of the novel's opening chapters, the demon king from before the pilgrimage, and the chapter has now shown in full what Tripitaka's banishment let back out into the world.