第二十九回 · 翰林讀書 The Letter Presented and Read — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

翰林讀書 The Letter Presented and Read

三sān藏zàng袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū書shū來lái獻xiàn上shàng。國guó王wáng接jiē了le，見jiàn有yǒu「平píng安ān」二èr字zì，一yì發fā手shǒu軟ruǎn，拆chāi不bù開kāi書shū。傳chuán旨zhǐ宣xuān翰hàn林lín院yuàn大dà學xué士shì上shàng殿diàn讀dú書shū。學xué士shì隨suí即jí上shàng殿diàn。殿diàn前qián有yǒu文wén武wǔ多duō官guān，殿diàn後hòu有yǒu后hòu妃fēi宮gōng女nǚ，俱jù側cè耳ěr聽tīng書shū。學xué士shì拆chāi開kāi朗lǎng誦sòng。上shàng寫xiě著zhe：三sān藏zàng袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū书shū来lái献xiàn上shàng。国guó王wáng接jiē了le，见jiàn有yǒu「平píng安ān」二èr字zì，一yì发fā手shǒu软ruǎn，拆chāi不bù开kāi书shū。传chuán旨zhǐ宣xuān翰hàn林lín院yuàn大dà学xué士shì上shàng殿diàn读dú书shū。学xué士shì随suí即jí上shàng殿diàn。殿diàn前qián有yǒu文wén武wǔ多duō官guān，殿diàn后hòu有yǒu后hòu妃fēi宫gōng女nǚ，俱jù侧cè耳ěr听tīng书shū。学xué士shì拆chāi开kāi朗lǎng诵sòng。上shàng写xiě著zhe：

逐句解 Line by line

三sān藏zàng袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū書shū來lái獻xiàn上shàng。國guó王wáng接jiē了le，見jiàn有yǒu「平píng安ān」二èr字zì，一yì發fā手shǒu軟ruǎn，拆chāi不bù開kāi書shū。三sān藏zàng袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū书shū来lái献xiàn上shàng。国guó王wáng接jiē了le，见jiàn有yǒu「平píng安ān」二èr字zì，一yì发fā手shǒu软ruǎn，拆chāi不bù开kāi书shū。

Tripitaka drew the letter from his sleeve and presented it up. The king received it, and when he saw the two characters 'All is well,' his hands went the weaker for it, and he could not bring himself to open the letter.

袖中 (中 = zhōng) = "from within [his] sleeve." 平安 ("peace, all well") is the reassurance conventionally written on the outer fold of a family letter. 一發手軟 = "his hands grew all the more limp" — the sight of his daughter's hand unmans him, and he cannot break the seal.

傳chuán旨zhǐ宣xuān翰hàn林lín院yuàn大dà學xué士shì上shàng殿diàn讀dú書shū。學xué士shì隨suí即jí上shàng殿diàn。殿diàn前qián有yǒu文wén武wǔ多duō官guān，殿diàn後hòu有yǒu后hòu妃fēi宮gōng女nǚ，俱jù側cè耳ěr聽tīng書shū。學xué士shì拆chāi開kāi朗lǎng誦sòng。上shàng寫xiě著zhe：传chuán旨zhǐ宣xuān翰hàn林lín院yuàn大dà学xué士shì上shàng殿diàn读dú书shū。学xué士shì随suí即jí上shàng殿diàn。殿diàn前qián有yǒu文wén武wǔ多duō官guān，殿diàn后hòu有yǒu后hòu妃fēi宫gōng女nǚ，俱jù侧cè耳ěr听tīng书shū。学xué士shì拆chāi开kāi朗lǎng诵sòng。上shàng写xiě著zhe：

He sent down an order summoning a Grand Academician of the Hanlin Academy to the hall to read the letter. The academician came up at once. Before the hall stood the many officials, civil and military; behind it stood the consorts and palace ladies, all with ears inclined to hear the letter. The academician broke the seal and read aloud. What was written was this:

翰林院大學士 = "a Grand Academician of the Hanlin Academy," the court's most learned literary official. 側耳聽書 = "to incline the ear to hear the letter." 上寫著 (著 = zhe) = "written thereon was" — the narrator's lead-in to the letter that follows.

總評 Commentary

The passage is built almost entirely of small, telling gestures. The reassurance 平安 ("all is well"), written by custom on the fold of a family letter, is precisely what disarms the king — the sight of his lost daughter's hand leaves him too unmanned to break the seal himself. The novel lingers on this weakness of the hands, a physical sign of a grief that has become unbearable at the very moment it is answered.

The reading is then given the full apparatus of a court occasion: a Grand Academician of the Hanlin summoned to read aloud, the officials ranged before the hall and the consorts and palace-women behind, every ear inclined. The staging heightens the letter to a public event, so that when the princess's own words are at last unfolded — on the narrator's lead-in 上寫著 — they fall not upon the king alone but upon the assembled court, and the grief of the next scene is made collective from the start.