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請將不如激將
Better to Goad than to Beg
行者道：「你這個獃子，我臨別之時，曾叮嚀又叮嚀，說道：『若有妖魔捉住師父，你就說老孫是他大徒弟。』怎麼卻不說我？」八戒又思量道：「請將不如激將，等我激他一激。」道：「哥啊，不說你還好哩，只為說你，他一發無狀。」行者道：「怎麼說？」八戒道：「我說：『妖精，你不要無禮，莫害我師父。我還有個大師兄，叫做孫行者，他神通廣大，善能降妖，他來時教你死無葬身之地。』那怪聞言，越加忿怒，罵道：『是個甚麼孫行者，我可怕他？他若來，我剝了他皮，抽了他觔，啃了他骨，吃了他心。饒他猴子瘦，我也把他剁鮓著油烹。』」行者道：「你这个呆子，我临别之时，曾叮咛又叮咛，说道：『若有妖魔捉住师父，你就说老孙是他大徒弟。』怎么却不说我？」八戒又思量道：「请将不如激将，等我激他一激。」道：「哥啊，不说你还好哩，只为说你，他一发无状。」行者道：「怎么说？」八戒道：「我说：『妖精，你不要无礼，莫害我师父。我还有个大师兄，叫做孙行者，他神通广大，善能降妖，他来时教你死无葬身之地。』那怪闻言，越加忿怒，骂道：『是个甚么孙行者，我可怕他？他若来，我剥了他皮，抽了他觔，啃了他骨，吃了他心。饶他猴子瘦，我也把他剁鲊著油烹。』」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「你這個獃子，我臨別之時，曾叮嚀又叮嚀，說道：『若有妖魔捉住師父，你就說老孫是他大徒弟。』
行者道：「你这个呆子，我临别之时，曾叮咛又叮咛，说道：『若有妖魔捉住师父，你就说老孙是他大徒弟。』
Pilgrim said, “You blockhead — when we parted I charged you again and yet again: should any fiend seize the master, you were to say that I, old Sun, am his chief disciple.
獃子 (dāizi), “blockhead,” Wukong’s habitual epithet for Bajie. 叮嚀 (dīngníng), to enjoin repeatedly.
怎麼卻不說我？」
怎么却不说我？」
Why then did you not speak of me?”
卻 (què), “yet, after all” — the reproach that his name went unspoken.
八戒又思量道：「請將不如激將，等我激他一激。」
八戒又思量道：「请将不如激将，等我激他一激。」
Bajie thought again to himself: “To invite a general serves less well than to provoke one — let me stir him up a little.”
請將不如激將 (qǐng jiàng bùrú jī jiàng), a proverb of stratagem: “better to goad a champion into action than to beg him.” 將 “general, champion,” read jiàng.
道：「哥啊，不說你還好哩，只為說你，他一發無狀。」
道：「哥啊，不说你还好哩，只为说你，他一发无状。」
Aloud he said, “Brother, had I not spoken of you it would have gone better; it was just because I named you that he grew the more outrageous.”
還 (hái), “still, the more.” 只為 (zhǐ wèi), only because; 為 read wèi. 無狀 (wúzhuàng), insolent, past all propriety.
行者道：「怎麼說？」
行者道：「怎么说？」
Pilgrim said, “How so?”
怎麼說 (zěnme shuō), “how so? what do you mean?”
八戒道：「我說：『妖精，你不要無禮，莫害我師父。
八戒道：「我说：『妖精，你不要无礼，莫害我师父。
Bajie said, “I told him: ‘Fiend, be not insolent, and do no harm to my master.
無禮 (wúlǐ), insolent, without manners. 莫害 (mò hài), do no harm to.
我還有個大師兄，叫做孫行者，他神通廣大，善能降妖，他來時教你死無葬身之地。』
我还有个大师兄，叫做孙行者，他神通广大，善能降妖，他来时教你死无葬身之地。』
I have besides an elder brother, Sun the Pilgrim by name, of vast magic arts and mighty at subduing fiends; when he comes he will leave you no ground to be buried in.’
善能降妖 (shàn néng xiáng yāo), skilled at subduing fiends; 降 read xiáng. 死無葬身之地 (sǐ wú zàng shēn zhī dì), to die with nowhere to be buried — an utter ruin.
那怪聞言，越加忿怒，罵道：『是個甚麼孫行者，我可怕他？
那怪闻言，越加忿怒，骂道：『是个甚么孙行者，我可怕他？
Hearing this, the fiend waxed the wrathfuller, and railed: ‘And what manner of thing is this Sun the Pilgrim, that I should fear him?
甚麼 (shénme), what; 甚 read shén. 忿怒 (fènnù), indignant fury.
他若來，我剝了他皮，抽了他觔，啃了他骨，吃了他心。
他若来，我剥了他皮，抽了他觔，啃了他骨，吃了他心。
If he comes, I will flay off his hide, draw out his sinews, gnaw his bones, and eat his heart.
觔 (jīn), a variant of 筋, sinew.
饒他猴子瘦，我也把他剁鮓著油烹。』」
饶他猴子瘦，我也把他剁鲊著油烹。』」
Lean though the monkey be, yet will I mince him to a paste and fry him in oil.’”
剁鮓 (duò zhǎ), to chop into a minced paste. 著油烹 (zhuó yóu pēng), to fry with oil applied; 著 here the lexical verb “to apply, to set to,” read zhuó.
總評 Commentary
Wukong’s opening rebuke exposes the gap in Bajie’s account — the very instruction he had left, that his name be invoked against any captor, had gone unspoken — and Bajie’s answering aside lets the reader in on the ruse before its target: better to provoke a champion than to beg him. What follows is therefore double-voiced, a fabricated insult framed as reported speech, and the novel’s comedy turns on our knowing it to be invented while Wukong does not.
The escalating catalogue of threatened atrocities — the flaying, the drawing of sinews, the gnawing of bones, the mincing and frying — is calculated by Bajie precisely for its effect, each clause a further turn of the screw upon the Great Sage’s pride. The passage is a small study in rhetorical manipulation: Bajie, so often the butt of Wukong’s scorn, here proves the abler tactician, wielding his companion’s vanity as surely as Wukong wields the iron staff.