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?"

差怪 is to blame someone mistakenly (差 in the sense "amiss, in error"). 何嘗 is the rhetorical "when ever?"; and 甚書 stands for 甚麼書 ("what letter"), with 甚 read shén in its interrogative 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 stubbornly, to be obstinate of tongue (強 read qiáng); 還 is again hái ("still"). 對頭 is the "opposing party, adversary," and 證見 the "witness" or "proof."

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 — Sha Wujing (沙悟淨), the third to join the pilgrimage but here reckoned "second disciple" after Wukong, Bajie having his own standing. He is the "adversary" now to be produced as living evidence against the princess.

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.

A narratorial aside offering a worldly maxim: 認死 is to own to a death-deserving offence; 放賴 is to brazen it out, to stall with bald denial. 只得 takes 得 as dé ("could only, had no choice but"). The narrator excuses her lie as the reflex of the condemned.

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 wrath. Her proposal is a shrewd gamble — to confront the witness directly, staking everything on the guess that the monk will not betray 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 self-reference, "this slave, this handmaid of yours" — a rhetorical retreat from the earlier warm 郎君 into pure supplication. The gambit is calculated: she frames her life as the stake, trusting the monk’s silence to save her.

總評 Commentary

The narrator intervenes with a proverbial generalization — that no one at the point of death will confess to a capital charge — which reframes the princess’s deceit not as villainy but as the universal instinct of the doomed. It is a characteristic move of the vernacular narrator, who moralizes and sympathizes in the same stroke.

Her proposal to have Sha Wujing questioned is the hinge of the whole sequence. She stakes her life on the monk’s discretion, and in doing so hands the decision to him — setting up the passage to come, in which Sha chooses to shield her at the apparent cost of his own life.

The shift in her self-naming, from 郎君 (addressing him) to 奴奴 (naming herself), charts her rhetorical descent from a wife’s standing to a suppliant’s, measuring how completely the ground has given way beneath her.