第三十回 · 現相食人 The Devouring — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

現相食人 The Devouring

那nà怪guài物wù獨dú坐zuò上shàng席xí，左zuǒ右yòu排pái列liè的de都dōu是shì那nà艷yàn質zhì嬌jiāo姿zī。你nǐ看kàn他tā受shòu用yòng飲yǐn酒jiǔ，至zhì二èr更gēng時shí分fēn，醉zuì將jiāng上shàng來lái，忍rěn不bú住zhù胡hú為wéi：跳tiào起qǐ身shēn，大dà笑xiào一yì聲shēng，現xiàn了le本běn相xiàng，陡dǒu發fā兇xiōng心xīn，伸shēn開kāi簸bò箕jī大dà手shǒu，把bǎ一yí個gè彈dàn琵pí琶pá的de女nǚ子zǐ抓zhuā將jiāng過guò來lái，扢gǔ咋zǎ的de把bǎ頭tóu咬yǎo了le一yì口kǒu。嚇xià得de那nà十shí七qī個gè宮gōng娥é，沒méi命mìng的de前qián後hòu亂luàn跑pǎo亂luàn藏cáng。你nǐ看kàn那nà：那nà怪guài物wù独dú坐zuò上shàng席xí，左zuǒ右yòu排pái列liè的de都dōu是shì那nà艳yàn质zhì娇jiāo姿zī。你nǐ看kàn他tā受shòu用yòng饮yǐn酒jiǔ，至zhì二èr更gēng时shí分fēn，醉zuì将jiāng上shàng来lái，忍rěn不bú住zhù胡hú为wéi：跳tiào起qǐ身shēn，大dà笑xiào一yì声shēng，现xiàn了le本běn相xiàng，陡dǒu发fā凶xiōng心xīn，伸shēn开kāi簸bò箕jī大dà手shǒu，把bǎ一yí个gè弹dàn琵pí琶pá的de女nǚ子zǐ抓zhuā将jiāng过guò来lái，扢gǔ咋zǎ的de把bǎ头tóu咬yǎo了le一yì口kǒu。吓xià得de那nà十shí七qī个gè宫gōng娥é，没méi命mìng的de前qián后hòu乱luàn跑pǎo乱luàn藏cáng。你nǐ看kàn那nà：

宮gōng娥é悚sǒng懼jù，綵cǎi女nǚ忙máng驚jīng。宫gōng娥é悚sǒng惧jù，彩cǎi女nǚ忙máng惊jīng。

宮gōng娥é悚sǒng懼jù，一yí似sì雨yǔ打dǎ芙fú蓉róng籠lóng夜yè雨yǔ；宫gōng娥é悚sǒng惧jù，一yí似sì雨yǔ打dǎ芙fú蓉róng笼lóng夜yè雨yǔ；

綵cǎi女nǚ忙máng驚jīng，就jiù如rú風fēng吹chuī芍sháo藥yào舞wǔ春chūn風fēng。彩cǎi女nǚ忙máng惊jīng，就jiù如rú风fēng吹chuī芍sháo药yào舞wǔ春chūn风fēng。

捽zuó碎suì琵pí琶pá顧gù命mìng，跌diē傷shāng琴qín瑟sè逃táo生shēng。捽zuó碎suì琵pí琶pá顾gù命mìng，跌diē伤shāng琴qín瑟sè逃táo生shēng。

出chū門mén那nǎ分fēn南nán北běi，離lí殿diàn不bù管guǎn西xī東dōng。出chū门mén那nǎ分fēn南nán北běi，离lí殿diàn不bù管guǎn西xī东dōng。

磕kē損sǔn玉yù面miàn，撞zhuàng破pò嬌jiāo容róng。磕kē损sǔn玉yù面miàn，撞zhuàng破pò娇jiāo容róng。

人rén人rén逃táo命mìng走zǒu，各gè各gè奔bēn殘cán生shēng。人rén人rén逃táo命mìng走zǒu，各gè各gè奔bēn残cán生shēng。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà怪guài物wù獨dú坐zuò上shàng席xí，左zuǒ右yòu排pái列liè的de都dōu是shì那nà艷yàn質zhì嬌jiāo姿zī。那nà怪guài物wù独dú坐zuò上shàng席xí，左zuǒ右yòu排pái列liè的de都dōu是shì那nà艳yàn质zhì娇jiāo姿zī。

The monster sat alone at the head of the feast, ranged to left and right by none but figures of lovely form and tender grace.

Both 那 are deictic nà; 都 ("all, none but") is dōu. 艷質嬌姿 ("lovely substance, tender bearing") sets the delicacy of the maids against the beast at their center.

你nǐ看kàn他tā受shòu用yòng飲yǐn酒jiǔ，至zhì二èr更gēng時shí分fēn，醉zuì將jiāng上shàng來lái，忍rěn不bú住zhù胡hú為wéi：你nǐ看kàn他tā受shòu用yòng饮yǐn酒jiǔ，至zhì二èr更gēng时shí分fēn，醉zuì将jiāng上shàng来lái，忍rěn不bú住zhù胡hú为wéi：

See how he took his ease and drank; and when the second watch came on and the drunkenness rose in him, he could no longer hold back his wildness:

二更時分 is the second night-watch (更 read gèng, 分 read fēn); in 醉將上來 the aspectual 將 is jiāng; 胡為 ("to act wildly, run riot") takes 為 as wéi.

跳tiào起qǐ身shēn，大dà笑xiào一yì聲shēng，現xiàn了le本běn相xiàng，陡dǒu發fā兇xiōng心xīn，伸shēn開kāi簸bò箕jī大dà手shǒu，把bǎ一yí個gè彈dàn琵pí琶pá的de女nǚ子zǐ抓zhuā將jiāng過guò來lái，扢gǔ咋zǎ的de把bǎ頭tóu咬yǎo了le一yì口kǒu。跳tiào起qǐ身shēn，大dà笑xiào一yì声shēng，现xiàn了le本běn相xiàng，陡dǒu发fā凶xiōng心xīn，伸shēn开kāi簸bò箕jī大dà手shǒu，把bǎ一yí个gè弹dàn琵pí琶pá的de女nǚ子zǐ抓zhuā将jiāng过guò来lái，扢gǔ咋zǎ的de把bǎ头tóu咬yǎo了le一yì口kǒu。

He sprang up, gave one great roar of laughter, showed his true form, and — his savagery bursting out — spread a hand broad as a winnowing-basket, snatched over one of the girls who played the pipa, and with a crunch bit her head clean off at a bite.

本相 ("true form") takes 相 as xiàng; in 抓將過來 the directional 將 is jiāng. 扢咋 renders the sound of the crunch; 彈琵琶 is "to play the pipa (lute)." The homely winnowing-basket hand recurs from the demon’s earlier violence, now at its most monstrous.

嚇xià得de那nà十shí七qī個gè宮gōng娥é，沒méi命mìng的de前qián後hòu亂luàn跑pǎo亂luàn藏cáng。你nǐ看kàn那nà：吓xià得de那nà十shí七qī个gè宫gōng娥é，没méi命mìng的de前qián后hòu乱luàn跑pǎo乱luàn藏cáng。你nǐ看kàn那nà：

The other seventeen palace maids, frightened for their very lives, fled and hid in wild disorder, this way and that. See them now:

嚇得 takes 得 as de; 亂藏 ("hide in confusion") takes 藏 as cáng. Both instances of 那 are deictic nà. The lead-in 你看那 introduces the descriptive 賦 of their flight.

宮gōng娥é悚sǒng懼jù，綵cǎi女nǚ忙máng驚jīng。宫gōng娥é悚sǒng惧jù，彩cǎi女nǚ忙máng惊jīng。

The palace maids in dread, the serving-girls in sudden fright;

The 賦 opens with a balanced statement of the two groups’ terror, to be elaborated in the couplets that follow.

宮gōng娥é悚sǒng懼jù，一yí似sì雨yǔ打dǎ芙fú蓉róng籠lóng夜yè雨yǔ；宫gōng娥é悚sǒng惧jù，一yí似sì雨yǔ打dǎ芙fú蓉róng笼lóng夜yè雨yǔ；

the palace maids in dread, like lotus blossoms lashed by rain and veiled in the rain of night;

The first simile: the trembling maids are 芙蓉 (lotus) beaten by rain. 似 is read sì ("like"). The aestheticizing image sits in pointed counterpoint to the brutality that provoked it.

the serving-girls in fright, like peonies tossed by the wind, dancing in the spring wind.

The matching simile: the fleeing girls are 芍藥 (peonies) shaken by wind. The parallel couplet turns panic into a scene of blossoms in a storm.

捽zuó碎suì琵pí琶pá顧gù命mìng，跌diē傷shāng琴qín瑟sè逃táo生shēng。捽zuó碎suì琵pí琶pá顾gù命mìng，跌diē伤shāng琴qín瑟sè逃táo生shēng。

Smashing their lutes to save their lives, bruised and stumbling over zither and lyre as they flee;

琴瑟 are the zither (琴) and the many-stringed 瑟. Their abandoned instruments — the emblems of the courtly entertainment — are trampled in the rout.

出chū門mén那nǎ分fēn南nán北běi，離lí殿diàn不bù管guǎn西xī東dōng。出chū门mén那nǎ分fēn南nán北běi，离lí殿diàn不bù管guǎn西xī东dōng。

Out the doors, what heed for north or south; away from the hall, no minding west from east.

Here 那分南北 means "what discerning of north from south," so 那 is the rhetorical nǎ — the first such use in the chapter — parallel to 不管西東, "not minding west from east."

磕kē損sǔn玉yù面miàn，撞zhuàng破pò嬌jiāo容róng。磕kē损sǔn玉yù面miàn，撞zhuàng破pò娇jiāo容róng。

Their jade faces knocked and marred, their tender features bruised and torn;

玉面 and 嬌容 ("jade face," "tender features") return us to the beauty catalogued at the feast’s opening, now battered in flight.

人rén人rén逃táo命mìng走zǒu，各gè各gè奔bēn殘cán生shēng。人rén人rén逃táo命mìng走zǒu，各gè各gè奔bēn残cán生shēng。

each one fleeing for her life, every one running to save what remained of it.

The closing couplet reduces the scene to bare survival — 殘生, "the remnant of life" — completing the turn from adornment to terror.

總評 Commentary

This is the chapter’s climactic horror, and its placement is deliberate: the demon’s monstrousness, kept in check through all his courtly performance, at last erupts among the very maids sent to please him. The domestic figure who fussed over his wife’s hair and minded his two children is revealed, drunk, as a devourer of human beings — the novel’s recurring lesson that the monstrous hides within the familiar.

The 賦 that follows aestheticizes the terror with striking, even beautiful, similes — the maids as rain-beaten lotus and wind-tossed peony. The effect is a calculated dissonance: the ornamental verse continues its blossoms-in-a-storm conceit even as it describes women fleeing a cannibal. This ironic counterpoint, beauty of form against horror of matter, is characteristic of the vernacular novel’s set-pieces.

The trampled 琴瑟 — zither and lyre — are the emblem of the courtly revel the demon has shattered; their ruin, and the battered 玉面 that echoes the feast’s opening beauty, measure how completely the entertainment has collapsed into carnage.