第二十九回 · 心生巧計 The Princess Calls the Ogre Down — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

心生巧計 The Princess Calls the Ogre Down

卻què說shuō公gōng主zhǔ娘niáng娘niang心xīn生shēng巧qiǎo計jì，急jí往wǎng前qián來lái，出chū門mén外wài，分fēn開kāi了le大dà小xiǎo群qún妖yāo。只zhǐ聽tīng得dé叮dīng叮dīng噹dāng噹dāng，兵bīng刃rèn亂luàn響xiǎng。原yuán來lái是shì八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng與yǔ那nà怪guài在zài半bàn空kōng裡lǐ廝sī殺shā哩li。這zhè公gōng主zhǔ厲lì聲shēng高gāo叫jiào道dào：「黃huáng袍páo郎láng！」那nà妖yāo王wáng聽tīng得dé公gōng主zhǔ叫jiào喚huàn，即jí丟diū了le八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，按àn落luò雲yún頭tóu，揪jiū了le鋼gāng刀dāo，攙chān著zhe公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「渾hún家jiā，有yǒu甚shén話huà說shuō？」却què说shuō公gōng主zhǔ娘niáng娘niang心xīn生shēng巧qiǎo计jì，急jí往wǎng前qián来lái，出chū门mén外wài，分fēn开kāi了le大dà小xiǎo群qún妖yāo。只zhǐ听tīng得dé叮dīng叮dīng当dāng当dāng，兵bīng刃rèn乱luàn响xiǎng。原yuán来lái是shì八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng与yǔ那nà怪guài在zài半bàn空kōng里lǐ厮sī杀shā哩li。这zhè公gōng主zhǔ厉lì声shēng高gāo叫jiào道dào：「黄huáng袍páo郎láng！」那nà妖yāo王wáng听tīng得dé公gōng主zhǔ叫jiào唤huàn，即jí丢diū了le八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，按àn落luò云yún头tóu，揪jiū了le钢gāng刀dāo，搀chān着zhe公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「浑hún家jiā，有yǒu甚shén话huà说shuō？」

逐句解 Line by line

Now the princess, a clever scheme forming in her heart, hurried forward, passed out at the gate, and pushed through the throng of demons great and small. She heard only a clang and clatter, a wild ringing of blades: it was Eight Rules and Sha Monk, locked in combat with the fiend high in the air.

The narrator names her plan before she executes it: 心生巧計, "a clever scheme rising in her heart." 卻說 is the storyteller's cut back to the outdoor scene. What she walks into is a wall of noise — 叮叮噹噹 is straight sound-painting for blades hitting each other, and 廝殺 is to fight it out. 只聽得 takes 得 as the plain structural de.

這zhè公gōng主zhǔ厲lì聲shēng高gāo叫jiào道dào：「黃huáng袍páo郎láng！」那nà妖yāo王wáng聽tīng得dé公gōng主zhǔ叫jiào喚huàn，即jí丟diū了le八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，按àn落luò雲yún頭tóu，揪jiū了le鋼gāng刀dāo，攙chān著zhe公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「渾hún家jiā，有yǒu甚shén話huà說shuō？」这zhè公gōng主zhǔ厉lì声shēng高gāo叫jiào道dào：「黄huáng袍páo郎láng！」那nà妖yāo王wáng听tīng得dé公gōng主zhǔ叫jiào唤huàn，即jí丢diū了le八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，按àn落luò云yún头tóu，揪jiū了le钢gāng刀dāo，搀chān着zhe公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「浑hún家jiā，有yǒu甚shén话huà说shuō？」

The princess called out in a shrill, loud voice: 'Yellow-Robe, my lord!' Hearing her call, the ogre-king at once let Eight Rules and Sha Monk be, brought his cloud down to earth, gripped his steel blade, and, steadying the princess, said, 'Wife, what have you to tell me?'

One word stops a battle that swords could not settle. 黃袍郎 is her pet name for him — 郎, "my man, my lord," the way a wife addresses a husband — and the moment he hears it he drops two armed opponents in mid-air and comes down. He answers with 渾家, the ordinary vernacular word for "the wife," about as domestic as Chinese gets. 按落雲頭 is to press the cloud down and land. 有甚話說 takes 甚 as shén, "what," and 聽得 is the structural de again.

總評 Commentary

The princess's intervention is staged with a real sense of theatre. She parts a horde of demons like a curtain, and one shrill cry — 黃袍郎! — halts a fight that force could not decide. The ogre drops his two airborne opponents and lands at the sound of his wife's voice. Nothing supernatural is involved: this is the leverage of intimacy, and the narrator marks it by switching into the domestic vocabulary of the demon marriage.

That he calls her 渾家, "the wife," and she calls him 郎, "my lord," is the whole basis of the manipulation about to follow. The Yellow-Robe Ogre, for all his menace, is a husband — and it is through the husband, not the monster, that he can be moved. The novel returns again and again to these domesticated demons whose ferocity has been qualified by married habit; here that habit is exactly the seam she works.