第三十回 · 數說本末 The Horse's Reproach — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

數說本末 The Horse's Reproach

小xiǎo龍lóng道dào：「你nǐ知zhī師shī父fù有yǒu難nàn麼me？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ不bù知zhī。」小xiǎo龍lóng道dào：「你nǐ是shì不bù知zhī。你nǐ與yǔ沙shā僧sēng在zài皇huáng帝dì面miàn前qián弄nòng了le本běn事shì，思sī量liáng拿ná倒dǎo妖yāo魔mó，請qǐng功gōng求qiú賞shǎng。不bù想xiǎng妖yāo魔mó本běn領lǐng大dà，你nǐ們men手shǒu段duàn不bú濟jì，禁jīn他tā不bú過guò。小xiǎo龙lóng道dào：「你nǐ知zhī师shī父fù有yǒu难nàn么me？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ不bù知zhī。」小xiǎo龙lóng道dào：「你nǐ是shì不bù知zhī。你nǐ与yǔ沙shā僧sēng在zài皇huáng帝dì面miàn前qián弄nòng了le本běn事shì，思sī量liáng拿ná倒dǎo妖yāo魔mó，请qǐng功gōng求qiú赏shǎng。不bù想xiǎng妖yāo魔mó本běn领lǐng大dà，你nǐ们men手shǒu段duàn不bú济jì，禁jīn他tā不bú过guò。

逐句解 Line by line

小xiǎo龍lóng道dào：「你nǐ知zhī師shī父fù有yǒu難nàn麼me？」小xiǎo龙lóng道dào：「你nǐ知zhī师shī父fù有yǒu难nàn么me？」

The little dragon said: "Do you know the master is in peril?"

In 有難 ("to be in peril, to meet with calamity") the graph 難 is read nàn — the "ordeal" reading, distinct from nán ("difficult").

八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ不bù知zhī。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ不bù知zhī。」

Bajie said: "I don’t."

Bajie’s blunt ignorance sets up the horse’s full account.

小xiǎo龍lóng道dào：「你nǐ是shì不bù知zhī。你nǐ與yǔ沙shā僧sēng在zài皇huáng帝dì面miàn前qián弄nòng了le本běn事shì，思sī量liáng拿ná倒dǎo妖yāo魔mó，請qǐng功gōng求qiú賞shǎng。小xiǎo龙lóng道dào：「你nǐ是shì不bù知zhī。你nǐ与yǔ沙shā僧sēng在zài皇huáng帝dì面miàn前qián弄nòng了le本běn事shì，思sī量liáng拿ná倒dǎo妖yāo魔mó，请qǐng功gōng求qiú赏shǎng。

The little dragon said: "No, you don’t. You and Sha Wujing showed off your skills before the emperor, thinking to seize and subdue the demon, and to beg merit and reward for it.

In 拿倒妖魔 ("seize and topple the demon") the graph 倒 is read dǎo; 思量 ("to ponder") takes 量 as liáng. 請功求賞 ("to claim merit and seek reward") names the worldly motive the horse implicitly rebukes.

不bù想xiǎng妖yāo魔mó本běn領lǐng大dà，你nǐ們men手shǒu段duàn不bú濟jì，禁jīn他tā不bú過guò。不bù想xiǎng妖yāo魔mó本běn领lǐng大dà，你nǐ们men手shǒu段duàn不bú济jì，禁jīn他tā不bú过guò。

You never reckoned the demon’s powers were great, that your arts were no match, and that you could not withstand him.

本領大 ("great abilities"); 手段不濟 ("arts insufficient"); 禁他不過 ("could not hold out against him") takes 禁 as jīn (the "endure, withstand" reading, as in 弱不禁風, not the jìn of "prohibit"). The horse lays the failure squarely to their overreach.

總評 Commentary

The horse’s account carries an undertone of reproach. In its telling, Bajie and Sha assaulted the demon out of 請功求賞 — a hankering after merit and reward — and were undone by the gap between that worldly ambition and their actual powers. The rebuke is characteristic of the novel’s moral economy, in which self-seeking motives court disaster.

The passage also performs the vernacular device of recapitulation: the horse re-narrates, for Bajie’s benefit and the reader’s, the events of the preceding scenes, refocusing a diffuse sequence of calamities into a single urgent brief. What the reader watched unfold, the horse now compresses into a case for action.