原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
含詞賦 With rhapsody
石床妖魔
The Sleeping Fiend
那長老舉步進前，才來到塔門之下，只見一個斑竹簾兒掛在裡面。他破步入門，揭起來，往裡就進猛擡頭，見那石床上，側睡著一個妖魔。你道他怎生模樣：那长老举步进前，才来到塔门之下，只见一个斑竹帘儿挂在里面。他破步入门，揭起来，往里就进猛擡头，见那石床上，侧睡著一个妖魔。你道他怎生模样：
青靛臉，白獠牙，一張大口呀呀。青靛脸，白獠牙，一张大口呀呀。
兩邊亂蓬蓬的鬢毛，卻都是些胭脂染色；三四紫巍巍的髭髯，恍疑是那荔枝排芽。两边乱蓬蓬的鬓毛，却都是些胭脂染色；三四紫巍巍的髭髯，恍疑是那荔枝排芽。
鸚嘴般的鼻兒拱拱，曙星樣的眼兒巴巴。鹦嘴般的鼻儿拱拱，曙星样的眼儿巴巴。
兩個拳頭，和尚缽盂模樣；二隻藍腳，懸崖榾柮枒槎。两个拳头，和尚钵盂模样；二只蓝脚，悬崖榾柮枒槎。
斜披著淡黃袍帳，賽過那織錦袈裟。斜披著淡黄袍帐，赛过那织锦袈裟。
拿的一口刀，精光耀映；眠的一塊石，細潤無瑕。拿的一口刀，精光耀映；眠的一块石，细润无瑕。
他也曾小妖排蟻陣，他也曾老怪坐蜂衙。他也曾小妖排蚁阵，他也曾老怪坐蜂衙。
你看他威風凜凜，大家吆喝，叫一聲爺。你看他威风凛凛，大家吆喝，叫一声爷。
他也曾月作三人壺酌酒，他也曾風生兩腋盞傾茶。他也曾月作三人壶酌酒，他也曾风生两腋盏倾茶。
你看他神通浩浩，霎著下眼，遊遍天涯。你看他神通浩浩，霎著下眼，游遍天涯。
荒林喧鳥雀，深莽宿龍蛇。荒林喧鸟雀，深莽宿龙蛇。
仙子種田生白玉，道人伏火養丹砂。仙子种田生白玉，道人伏火养丹砂。
小小洞門，雖到不得那阿鼻地獄；楞楞妖怪，卻就是一個牛頭夜叉。小小洞门，虽到不得那阿鼻地狱；楞楞妖怪，却就是一个牛头夜叉。
逐句解 Line by line
那長老舉步進前，才來到塔門之下，只見一個斑竹簾兒掛在裡面。他破步入門，揭起來，往裡就進猛擡頭，見那石床上，側睡著一個妖魔。你道他怎生模樣：
那长老举步进前，才来到塔门之下，只见一个斑竹帘儿挂在里面。他破步入门，揭起来，往里就进猛擡头，见那石床上，侧睡著一个妖魔。你道他怎生模样：
The elder stepped forward, and had just reached the foot of the pagoda gate when he saw a speckled-bamboo curtain hung within. He strode through the door, lifted it, and pressed on inside — then suddenly raised his head and saw, upon a stone couch, a fiend lying asleep on its side. And how did it look? Behold:
那長老 nà / zhǎng; 簾兒 er; 那石床 nà; 側睡著 zhe (durative, “lying asleep”). The descriptive fu of the demon follows.
青靛臉，白獠牙，一張大口呀呀。
青靛脸，白獠牙，一张大口呀呀。
An indigo face, white tusks, a great gaping maw agape.
The portrait opens in short staccato cola, unlike the flowing landscape-fu before it.
兩邊亂蓬蓬的鬢毛，卻都是些胭脂染色；三四紫巍巍的髭髯，恍疑是那荔枝排芽。
两边乱蓬蓬的鬓毛，却都是些胭脂染色；三四紫巍巍的髭髯，恍疑是那荔枝排芽。
On either side the tangled, matted temple-hair, all as if dyed with rouge; three or four tufts of towering purple beard, so it seemed the sprouting shoots of the litchi.
都 dōu; 那 nà. 胭脂/荔枝 — the grotesque rendered through incongruously delicate images.
鸚嘴般的鼻兒拱拱，曙星樣的眼兒巴巴。
鹦嘴般的鼻儿拱拱，曙星样的眼儿巴巴。
A nose humped like a parrot's beak; eyes staring like the star of dawn.
鼻兒 / 眼兒 er (retroflex suffix on both).
兩個拳頭，和尚缽盂模樣；二隻藍腳，懸崖榾柮枒槎。
两个拳头，和尚钵盂模样；二只蓝脚，悬崖榾柮枒槎。
Two fists, the shape of a monk's alms-bowl; two blue feet, like gnarled stumps and splintered snags on a sheer cliff.
榾柮 (gǔ-duò, wood-stumps) / 枒槎 (yá-chá, jagged branches) — the feet figured as broken deadwood.
斜披著淡黃袍帳，賽過那織錦袈裟。
斜披著淡黄袍帐，赛过那织锦袈裟。
Slung aslant, a pale-yellow robe-mantle, outdoing a brocade-woven cassock.
披著 zhe; 那 nà. 淡黃袍 the “Yellow Robe” that names the demon, Huang-pao.
拿的一口刀，精光耀映；眠的一塊石，細潤無瑕。
拿的一口刀，精光耀映；眠的一块石，细润无瑕。
The blade he held, keen light flashing bright; the stone he slept on, fine and smooth and flawless.
Blade and couch juxtaposed — the instrument of killing and the ease of the killer.
他也曾小妖排蟻陣，他也曾老怪坐蜂衙。
他也曾小妖排蚁阵，他也曾老怪坐蜂衙。
He too has marshaled his imps in ant-array; he too has sat, an old fiend, in wasp-court state.
蟻陣 / 蜂衙 — his rank and retinue figured as the ordered swarms of ants and bees.
你看他威風凜凜，大家吆喝，叫一聲爺。
你看他威风凛凛，大家吆喝，叫一声爷。
See his awesome majesty, stern and cold; the whole host bellows, calling out “Sire!”
叫一聲爺 — the massed imps acclaiming their overlord.
他也曾月作三人壺酌酒，他也曾風生兩腋盞傾茶。
他也曾月作三人壶酌酒，他也曾风生两腋盏倾茶。
He too has made, with the moon, a party of three to ladle wine from the pot; he too has felt wind rise beneath both arms as he tipped the tea-cup.
月作三人 alludes to Li Bai drinking with moon and shadow; 風生兩腋 to Lu Tong's tea-song — the demon claimed in poet's dress.
你看他神通浩浩，霎著下眼，遊遍天涯。
你看他神通浩浩，霎著下眼，游遍天涯。
See how vast his magic powers: in the blink of a lowered eye he roams the world's far edge.
霎著 zhe.
荒林喧鳥雀，深莽宿龍蛇。
荒林喧鸟雀，深莽宿龙蛇。
In wild woods the birds cry loud; in deep thickets lodge the dragons and snakes.
宿 sù (“to lodge/harbor”). 龍蛇 the great and dangerous creatures the wilderness hides.
仙子種田生白玉，道人伏火養丹砂。
仙子种田生白玉，道人伏火养丹砂。
Immortal maidens till the fields and grow white jade; Daoist adepts subdue the fire and nurture cinnabar.
伏火養丹砂 the alchemical refining of cinnabar — the demon's domain given a spurious air of the transcendent.
小小洞門，雖到不得那阿鼻地獄；楞楞妖怪，卻就是一個牛頭夜叉。
小小洞门，虽到不得那阿鼻地狱；楞楞妖怪，却就是一个牛头夜叉。
This little cave-mouth, though it reaches not to the Avichi hell; yet this staring, glaring fiend is very like an ox-headed yaksha.
到不得 de; 那 nà. 阿鼻 the Avichi, deepest hell; 牛頭夜叉 the ox-headed demon-jailer — the fu's closing verdict.
總評 Commentary
The demon's portrait-fu is deliberately double-voiced. Its raw material is monstrous — indigo face, white tusks, a gaping maw, blue feet like splintered deadwood — but the images chosen to render it are drawn from the vocabulary of refinement: rouge, litchi-shoots, brocade cassocks. The effect is grotesque precisely because the beautiful and the hideous are forced together.
The middle of the fu makes an odd, telling claim: this fiend “too” has drunk wine with the moon like Li Bai and felt the wind rise at his arms like the tea-poet Lu Tong; “too” has held court and commanded imps. The repeated 他也曾 (“he too has once…”) dresses the demon in the trappings of a cultivated immortal — which is exactly the imposture the reader will later learn is literal: the Yellow-Robe demon is a fallen star-lord, the Kui-wood Wolf, playing at being a lord of the mountain.
The closing couplet drops the pose. For all the poet's finery, the thing on the stone couch is “an ox-headed yaksha,” a jailer-demon of the hells — and the little cave-mouth, though not the Avichi itself, is its near neighbor. The fu has flattered the demon at length only to file him, at the last, among the fiends.