第三十一回 · 肉𦚐之慮 Bajie’s Grisly Misgiving — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

肉𦚐之慮 Bajie’s Grisly Misgiving

八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「哥gē哥ge，你nǐ但dàn幹gàn事shì，就jiù左zuǒ我wǒ們men。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「如rú何hé為wéi左zuǒ你nǐ？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「這zhè兩liǎng個gè孩hái子zi被bèi你nǐ抓zhuā來lái，已yǐ此cǐ諕xià破pò膽dǎn了le，這zhè一yí會huì聲shēng都dōu哭kū啞yǎ，再zài一yí會huì必bì死sǐ無wú疑yí。我wǒ們men拿ná他tā往wǎng下xià一yí摜guàn，摜guàn做zuò個gè肉ròu𦚐tuó子zi，那nà怪guài趕gǎn上shàng肯kěn放fàng？定dìng要yào我wǒ兩liǎng個gè償cháng命mìng。你nǐ卻què還hái不bú是shì個gè乾gān淨jìng人rén？連lián見jiàn證zhèng也yě沒méi你nǐ，你nǐ卻què不bú是shì左zuǒ我wǒ們men？」八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「哥gē哥ge，你nǐ但dàn干gàn事shì，就jiù左zuǒ我wǒ们men。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「如rú何hé为wéi左zuǒ你nǐ？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「这zhè两liǎng个gè孩hái子zi被bèi你nǐ抓zhuā来lái，已yǐ此cǐ諕xià破pò胆dǎn了le，这zhè一yí会huì声shēng都dōu哭kū哑yǎ，再zài一yí会huì必bì死sǐ无wú疑yí。我wǒ们men拿ná他tā往wǎng下xià一yí掼guàn，掼guàn做zuò个gè肉ròu𦚐tuó子zi，那nà怪guài赶gǎn上shàng肯kěn放fàng？定dìng要yào我wǒ两liǎng个gè偿cháng命mìng。你nǐ却què还hái不bú是shì个gè干gān净jìng人rén？连lián见jiàn证zhèng也yě没méi你nǐ，你nǐ却què不bú是shì左zuǒ我wǒ们men？」

逐句解 Line by line

八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「哥gē哥ge，你nǐ但dàn幹gàn事shì，就jiù左zuǒ我wǒ們men。」八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「哥gē哥ge，你nǐ但dàn干gàn事shì，就jiù左zuǒ我wǒ们men。」

Bajie said with a laugh, "Brother, whenever you set a thing afoot, you leave us in the lurch."

但幹事, dàn gàn shì, "the moment you set anything afoot." 左, zuǒ, is doing unusual work here: not "left" but to put somebody in the wrong, to leave them holding the blame. It runs through this passage like a refrain.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「如rú何hé為wéi左zuǒ你nǐ？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「如rú何hé为wéi左zuǒ你nǐ？」

Pilgrim said, "How do I set you in the wrong?"

為左, wéi zuǒ, to work somebody's undoing — 為 read wéi, "to do, to act."

八bā戒jiè道dào：「這zhè兩liǎng個gè孩hái子zi被bèi你nǐ抓zhuā來lái，已yǐ此cǐ諕xià破pò膽dǎn了le，這zhè一yí會huì聲shēng都dōu哭kū啞yǎ，再zài一yí會huì必bì死sǐ無wú疑yí。八bā戒jiè道dào：「这zhè两liǎng个gè孩hái子zi被bèi你nǐ抓zhuā来lái，已yǐ此cǐ諕xià破pò胆dǎn了le，这zhè一yí会huì声shēng都dōu哭kū哑yǎ，再zài一yí会huì必bì死sǐ无wú疑yí。

Bajie said, "These two children, seized by you, are already frightened out of their wits; a while now and their voices are cried hoarse, a while more and they will surely die.

諕破膽, xià pò dǎn, frightened out of one's wits — literally "the gall bladder burst with fear," the organ Chinese assigns courage to, so that bursting it is exactly our "scared witless." 哭啞, kū yǎ, cried hoarse.

我wǒ們men拿ná他tā往wǎng下xià一yí摜guàn，摜guàn做zuò個gè肉ròu𦚐tuó子zi，那nà怪guài趕gǎn上shàng肯kěn放fàng？我wǒ们men拿ná他tā往wǎng下xià一yí掼guàn，掼guàn做zuò个gè肉ròu𦚐tuó子zi，那nà怪guài赶gǎn上shàng肯kěn放fàng？

When we dash them down and they burst into a lump of minced flesh, will the fiend, coming up behind, ever let it pass?

And here is the word that makes the objection unforgettable. 摜, guàn, to dash down, to fling; 肉𦚐子, ròu tuó zi, a shapeless lump of flesh, a mangled mass — 𦚐 being a rare character, read tuó, that the novel appears to have reached for precisely because nothing commoner would do. Bajie has pictured the result in full.

定dìng要yào我wǒ兩liǎng個gè償cháng命mìng。定dìng要yào我wǒ两liǎng个gè偿cháng命mìng。

He will surely have the two of us pay with our lives.

償命, cháng mìng, to pay for a life with your own — the standard term of Chinese law, and Bajie is thinking like a defendant.

你nǐ卻què還hái不bú是shì個gè乾gān淨jìng人rén？你nǐ却què还hái不bú是shì个gè干gān净jìng人rén？

And are you not, after all, left with clean hands?

乾淨人, gān jìng rén, a man with clean hands, free of the blame. The same 乾淨 that meant "fond of cleanliness" of Tripitaka back at the sea-washing, turned into a legal complaint.

連lián見jiàn證zhèng也yě沒méi你nǐ，你nǐ卻què不bú是shì左zuǒ我wǒ們men？」连lián见jiàn证zhèng也yě没méi你nǐ，你nǐ却què不bú是shì左zuǒ我wǒ们men？」

There is not so much as a witness against you — is that not to leave us in the lurch?"

見證, jiàn zhèng, a witness. 左我們, zuǒ wǒ men: set us up, leave us carrying it. Third use of the word in seven lines — he is enjoying it.

總評 Commentary

Bajie's objection is comic and shrewdly self-interested at once, and it comes out in his inimitable ghoulish idiom: the children cried hoarse, dashed to a mangled lump, the two brothers left to answer with their lives while Wukong keeps his hands clean and no witness survives. Under the buffoonery is a real complaint about how risk is shared in this band — the recurring grievance that the Great Sage devises the schemes and the others carry them.

The passage also opens a window on the novel's dark comic texture, which does not flinch from the atrocity implicit in the plan even while playing the exchange for laughs. His word for being set up, 左, recurs like a refrain, and the rare character 𦚐, glossing the lump the children would become, gives the protest its lurid particularity.