第三十回 · 沙僧為證 Sha Wujing Named as Witness — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

沙僧為證 Sha Wujing Named as Witness

公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn，你nǐ差chà怪guài我wǒ了le，我wǒ何hé嘗cháng有yǒu甚shén書shū去qù？」老lǎo怪guài道dào：「你nǐ還hái強qiáng嘴zuǐ哩li，現xiàn拿ná住zhù一yí個gè對duì頭tóu在zài此cǐ，卻què不bú是shì證zhèng見jiàn？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「是shì誰shuí？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「是shì唐táng僧sēng第dì二èr個gè徒tú弟dì沙shā和hé尚shàng。」原yuán來lái人rén到dào了le死sǐ處chù，誰shuí肯kěn認rèn死sǐ，只zhǐ得dé與yǔ他tā放fàng賴lài。公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn且qiě息xī怒nù，我wǒ和hé你nǐ去qù問wèn他tā一yì聲shēng。果guǒ然rán有yǒu書shū，就jiù打dǎ死sǐ了le，我wǒ也yě甘gān心xīn；假jiǎ若ruò無wú書shū，卻què不bù枉wǎng殺shā了le奴nú奴nú也yě？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn，你nǐ差chà怪guài我wǒ了le，我wǒ何hé尝cháng有yǒu甚shén书shū去qù？」老lǎo怪guài道dào：「你nǐ还hái强qiáng嘴zuǐ哩li，现xiàn拿ná住zhù一yí个gè对duì头tóu在zài此cǐ，却què不bú是shì证zhèng见jiàn？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「是shì谁shuí？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「是shì唐táng僧sēng第dì二èr个gè徒tú弟dì沙shā和hé尚shàng。」原yuán来lái人rén到dào了le死sǐ处chù，谁shuí肯kěn认rèn死sǐ，只zhǐ得dé与yǔ他tā放fàng赖lài。公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn且qiě息xī怒nù，我wǒ和hé你nǐ去qù问wèn他tā一yì声shēng。果guǒ然rán有yǒu书shū，就jiù打dǎ死sǐ了le，我wǒ也yě甘gān心xīn；假jiǎ若ruò无wú书shū，却què不bù枉wǎng杀shā了le奴nú奴nú也yě？」

逐句解 Line by line

公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn，你nǐ差chà怪guài我wǒ了le，我wǒ何hé嘗cháng有yǒu甚shén書shū去qù？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn，你nǐ差chà怪guài我wǒ了le，我wǒ何hé尝cháng有yǒu甚shén书shū去qù？」

The princess said: "My lord, you wrong me with your blame — when did I ever send any such letter?"

She lies, and she lies well. 差怪 is to blame someone by mistake — 差 in the sense "amiss, in error." 何嘗 is the rhetorical "when did I ever?"; and 甚書 stands for 甚麼書, "what letter," with 甚 read shén in its question-word sense.

老lǎo怪guài道dào：「你nǐ還hái強qiáng嘴zuǐ哩li，現xiàn拿ná住zhù一yí個gè對duì頭tóu在zài此cǐ，卻què不bú是shì證zhèng見jiàn？」老lǎo怪guài道dào：「你nǐ还hái强qiáng嘴zuǐ哩li，现xiàn拿ná住zhù一yí个gè对duì头tóu在zài此cǐ，却què不bú是shì证zhèng见jiàn？」

The old demon said: "Still you talk back! I have one of the very adversaries seized and held right here — is that not proof enough?"

強嘴 is to answer back, to be stubborn of tongue, with 強 read qiáng; 還 is again hái, "still." Then the trap: 對頭 is the opposing party, the adversary, and 證見 is the witness, the proof. He has a living exhibit chained up in the next room.

公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「是shì誰shuí？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「是shì唐táng僧sēng第dì二èr個gè徒tú弟dì沙shā和hé尚shàng。」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「是shì谁shuí？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「是shì唐táng僧sēng第dì二èr个gè徒tú弟dì沙shā和hé尚shàng。」

"Who?" asked the princess. "It is Sha the Monk," said the old fiend, "Tripitaka's second disciple."

沙和尚 is Sha Wujing, whose full religious name is 沙悟淨. The demon calls him Tripitaka's 第二個徒弟, second disciple; the pilgrimage's usual reckoning makes Wukong first, Bajie second and Sha third, so the count here is the demon's own and loose. What interests him is not the rank but the use — a captured enemy who can be produced as evidence.

原yuán來lái人rén到dào了le死sǐ處chù，誰shuí肯kěn認rèn死sǐ，只zhǐ得dé與yǔ他tā放fàng賴lài。原yuán来lái人rén到dào了le死sǐ处chù，谁shuí肯kěn认rèn死sǐ，只zhǐ得dé与yǔ他tā放fàng赖lài。

Now when a person is brought to the very brink of death, who will confess to a capital crime? She could only stall him with flat denial.

The narrator steps in to excuse her. 認死 is to own up to a capital offence; 放賴 is to brazen it out, to stall with flat denial. 只得 takes 得 as dé, "had no choice but." Nobody standing at the edge of the grave, says the storyteller, confesses to what would push them in.

公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn且qiě息xī怒nù，我wǒ和hé你nǐ去qù問wèn他tā一yì聲shēng。公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「郎láng君jūn且qiě息xī怒nù，我wǒ和hé你nǐ去qù问wèn他tā一yì声shēng。

The princess said: "My lord, quell your anger a moment; you and I will go and put the question to him."

息怒: to still one's anger. Her counter-proposal is a gamble of some nerve — go and ask the witness — and it stakes everything on a guess about a man she has met once, in a cell, and who has no reason on earth to protect her.

果guǒ然rán有yǒu書shū，就jiù打dǎ死sǐ了le，我wǒ也yě甘gān心xīn；假jiǎ若ruò無wú書shū，卻què不bù枉wǎng殺shā了le奴nú奴nú也yě？」果guǒ然rán有yǒu书shū，就jiù打dǎ死sǐ了le，我wǒ也yě甘gān心xīn；假jiǎ若ruò无wú书shū，却què不bù枉wǎng杀shā了le奴nú奴nú也yě？」

"If there truly was a letter, then beat me to death and I shall die content; but if there was none — would you not have slain your own handmaid for nothing?"

奴奴 is a woman's abject way of naming herself: "this slave, this handmaid of yours." Four lines ago she was calling him 郎君, my lord and husband. She has gone from wife to servant in the space of one argument, and she has done it on purpose.

總評 Commentary

The narrator breaks in with a proverb — that nobody at the point of death confesses to a capital charge — and in doing so reframes the princess's lie as the ordinary instinct of the condemned rather than as villainy. Moralising and sympathising in a single stroke is very much this storyteller's habit.

Her proposal to have Sha Wujing questioned is the hinge of the whole opening sequence. She stakes her life on a monk's discretion, and by doing so hands him the decision — which sets up the passage to come, where Sha chooses to shield her at what looks like the cost of his own life.

Track how she names herself. She begins by calling him 郎君, husband, and ends by calling herself 奴奴, slave. That slide from a wife's standing to a suppliant's measures exactly how far the ground has given way beneath her.