第三十一回 · 公主還國 The Princess Restored — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

公主還國 The Princess Restored

那nà公gōng主zhǔ只zhǐ聞wén得de耳ěr內nèi風fēng響xiǎng，霎shà時shí間jiān徑jìng回huí城chéng裡lǐ，他tā三sān人rén將jiāng公gōng主zhǔ帶dài上shàng金jīn鑾luán殿diàn上shàng。那nà公gōng主zhǔ恭gōng拜bài了le父fù王wáng、母mǔ后hòu，會huì了le姊zǐ妹mèi。各gè官guān俱jù來lái拜bài見jiàn。那nà公gōng主zhǔ才cái啟qǐ奏zòu道dào：「多duō虧kuī孫sūn長zhǎng老lǎo法fǎ力lì無wú邊biān，降xiáng了le黃huáng袍páo怪guài，救jiù奴nú回huí國guó。」那nà國guó王wáng問wèn曰yuē：「黃huáng袍páo是shì個gè甚shén怪guài？」那nà公gōng主zhǔ只zhǐ闻wén得de耳ěr内nèi风fēng响xiǎng，霎shà时shí间jiān径jìng回huí城chéng里lǐ，他tā三sān人rén将jiāng公gōng主zhǔ带dài上shàng金jīn銮luán殿diàn上shàng。那nà公gōng主zhǔ恭gōng拜bài了le父fù王wáng、母mǔ后hòu，会huì了le姊zǐ妹mèi。各gè官guān俱jù来lái拜bài见jiàn。那nà公gōng主zhǔ才cái启qǐ奏zòu道dào：「多duō亏kuī孙sūn长zhǎng老lǎo法fǎ力lì无wú边biān，降xiáng了le黄huáng袍páo怪guài，救jiù奴nú回huí国guó。」那nà国guó王wáng问wèn曰yuē：「黄huáng袍páo是shì个gè甚shén怪guài？」

逐句解 Line by line

那nà公gōng主zhǔ只zhǐ聞wén得de耳ěr內nèi風fēng響xiǎng，霎shà時shí間jiān徑jìng回huí城chéng裡lǐ，他tā三sān人rén將jiāng公gōng主zhǔ帶dài上shàng金jīn鑾luán殿diàn上shàng。那nà公gōng主zhǔ只zhǐ闻wén得de耳ěr内nèi风fēng响xiǎng，霎shà时shí间jiān径jìng回huí城chéng里lǐ，他tā三sān人rén将jiāng公gōng主zhǔ带dài上shàng金jīn銮luán殿diàn上shàng。

The princess heard only a rushing of wind in her ears, and in an instant was back within the city; the three of them brought her up to the Hall of Golden Chimes.

霎時間, shà shí jiān, in the blink of an eye. She hears wind in her ears and she is home — thirteen years out, and the return takes a sentence. 金鑾殿, Jīnluán Diàn, the Hall of Golden Chimes.

那nà公gōng主zhǔ恭gōng拜bài了le父fù王wáng、母mǔ后hòu，會huì了le姊zǐ妹mèi。那nà公gōng主zhǔ恭gōng拜bài了le父fù王wáng、母mǔ后hòu，会huì了le姊zǐ妹mèi。

The princess reverently made her bows to the king her father and the queen her mother, and was reunited with her sisters.

恭拜, gōng bài, to make obeisance reverently; 姊妹, zǐ mèi, sisters. She is the third princess, so the sisters are waiting.

各gè官guān俱jù來lái拜bài見jiàn。各gè官guān俱jù来lái拜bài见jiàn。

The officers all came to pay their respects.

拜見, bài jiàn: to call upon respectfully.

那nà公gōng主zhǔ才cái啟qǐ奏zòu道dào：「多duō虧kuī孫sūn長zhǎng老lǎo法fǎ力lì無wú邊biān，降xiáng了le黃huáng袍páo怪guài，救jiù奴nú回huí國guó。」那nà公gōng主zhǔ才cái启qǐ奏zòu道dào：「多duō亏kuī孙sūn长zhǎng老lǎo法fǎ力lì无wú边biān，降xiáng了le黄huáng袍páo怪guài，救jiù奴nú回huí国guó。」

Then the princess submitted, "It is thanks to the Reverend Sun's boundless powers that the Yellow-Robe fiend was subdued and your handmaid brought home to her kingdom."

孫長老, Sūn zhǎng lǎo, "the Reverend Sun" — a startling title for a monkey, and she gives it to him in open court. 降了, xiáng le, subdued. 奴, nú, "your handmaid," is a woman's humble self-reference before the throne; she has slipped straight back into the register of the palace she left as a girl.

那nà國guó王wáng問wèn曰yuē：「黃huáng袍páo是shì個gè甚shén怪guài？」那nà国guó王wáng问wèn曰yuē：「黄huáng袍páo是shì个gè甚shén怪guài？」

The king asked, "And what manner of fiend was this Yellow Robe?"

The king asks the obvious question, and it opens the way for the explanation the court still needs. (甚怪 takes shén.)

總評 Commentary

The return to court is rendered with fairy-tale swiftness — a rush of wind, and she is home — and the reunion, her obeisance to her parents and greeting of her sisters, supplies the domestic warmth the whole rescue has been moving toward. Her generous attribution of the deliverance to the Reverend Sun's power both honours her rescuer and passes gracefully over the deeper truth about her own origin, which she has just been told and which nobody in the hall yet knows.

The king's question — what manner of fiend was Yellow Robe — opens the way for the public account that follows. The narrative here does its customary work of retelling: the reader, who has followed the celestial disclosures, now watches them relayed to the mortal court, so that the earthly and heavenly halves of the story are at last brought into one shared understanding.