第三十回 · 認親之議 What Kin Would You Claim — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

認親之議 What Kin Would You Claim

公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ認rèn甚shén親qīn？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「認rèn你nǐ父fù王wáng。我wǒ是shì他tā駙fù馬mǎ，他tā是shì我wǒ丈zhàng人rén，怎zěn麼me不bú去qù認rèn認rèn？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ去qù不bù得dé。』老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「怎zěn麼me去qù不bù得dé？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ认rèn甚shén亲qīn？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「认rèn你nǐ父fù王wáng。我wǒ是shì他tā驸fù马mǎ，他tā是shì我wǒ丈zhàng人rén，怎zěn么me不bú去qù认rèn认rèn？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ去qù不bù得dé。』老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「怎zěn么me去qù不bù得dé？」

逐句解 Line by line

公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ認rèn甚shén親qīn？」公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ认rèn甚shén亲qīn？」

The princess said: "What kin would you claim?"

認親 is to acknowledge or claim a kinship tie; 甚親 takes 甚 as shén ("what").

老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「認rèn你nǐ父fù王wáng。我wǒ是shì他tā駙fù馬mǎ，他tā是shì我wǒ丈zhàng人rén，怎zěn麼me不bú去qù認rèn認rèn？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「认rèn你nǐ父fù王wáng。我wǒ是shì他tā驸fù马mǎ，他tā是shì我wǒ丈zhàng人rén，怎zěn么me不bú去qù认rèn认rèn？」

The old fiend said: "Your royal father, to be sure. I am his son-in-law and he my father-in-law — how should I not go and own the kinship?"

駙馬 is the consort of a princess, an "imperial son-in-law"; 丈人 is one’s father-in-law. The demon invokes the formal bonds of affinity with perfect propriety.

公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ去qù不bù得dé。』公gōng主zhǔ道dào：「你nǐ去qù不bù得dé。』

The princess said: "You cannot go."

A blunt refusal. 去不得 takes 得 as dé ("cannot manage to, may not"). (The source’s closing bracket here is the irregular 』 of the woodblock edition, preserved as printed.)

老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「怎zěn麼me去qù不bù得dé？」老lǎo妖yāo道dào：「怎zěn么me去qù不bù得dé？」

The old fiend said: "Why can I not go?"

Again 去不得, with 得 as dé.

總評 Commentary

The exchange turns the demon’s imposture into a small comedy of manners: he proposes to claim kinship at court as the king’s son-in-law, invoking the bonds of 駙馬 and 丈人 with impeccable decorum — the same courtly reasonableness that masks his monstrousness throughout the chapter.

The princess’s flat "you cannot go" is the hinge that will produce the transformation to come. Her objection, as the next passage makes clear, is not moral but practical: it is his true face, not his intent, that would betray him.