第三十二回 · 擒進洞 Borne into the Cave — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

擒進洞 Borne into the Cave

原yuán來lái是shì道dào路lù不bù平píng，未wèi曾céng細xì看kàn，忽hū被bèi蓏luǒ蘿luó藤téng絆bàn了le個gè踉liàng蹌qiàng。掙zhēng起qǐ來lái正zhèng走zǒu，又yòu被bèi一yí個gè小xiǎo妖yāo睡shuì倒dǎo在zài地dì，扳bān著zhe他tā腳jiǎo跟gēn，撲pū的de又yòu跌diē了le個gè狗gǒu吃chī屎shǐ。被bèi一yì群qún趕gǎn上shàng按àn住zhù，抓zhuā鬃zōng毛máo，揪jiū耳ěr朵duo，扯chě著zhe腳jiǎo，拉lā著zhe尾wěi，扛káng扛káng擡tái擡tái，擒qín進jìn洞dòng去qù。咦yí！正zhèng是shì：原yuán来lái是shì道dào路lù不bù平píng，未wèi曾céng细xì看kàn，忽hū被bèi蓏luǒ萝luó藤téng绊bàn了le个gè踉liàng跄qiàng。挣zhēng起qǐ来lái正zhèng走zǒu，又yòu被bèi一yí个gè小xiǎo妖yāo睡shuì倒dǎo在zài地dì，扳bān着zhe他tā脚jiǎo跟gēn，扑pū的de又yòu跌diē了le个gè狗gǒu吃chī屎shǐ。被bèi一yì群qún赶gǎn上shàng按àn住zhù，抓zhuā鬃zōng毛máo，揪jiū耳ěr朵duo，扯chě着zhe脚jiǎo，拉lā着zhe尾wěi，扛káng扛káng抬tái抬tái，擒qín进jìn洞dòng去qù。咦yí！正zhèng是shì：

一yì身shēn魔mó發fā難nán消xiāo滅miè，萬wàn種zhǒng災zāi生shēng不bú易yì除chú。一yì身shēn魔mó发fā难nán消xiāo灭miè，万wàn种zhǒng灾zāi生shēng不bú易yì除chú。

逐句解 Line by line

原yuán來lái是shì道dào路lù不bù平píng，未wèi曾céng細xì看kàn，忽hū被bèi蓏luǒ蘿luó藤téng絆bàn了le個gè踉liàng蹌qiàng。原yuán来lái是shì道dào路lù不bù平píng，未wèi曾céng细xì看kàn，忽hū被bèi蓏luǒ萝luó藤téng绊bàn了le个gè踉liàng跄qiàng。

Now the ground was uneven, and, not having looked carefully, he was of a sudden tripped by a trailing vine into a stagger.

The retreat turns into slapstick immediately. 蓏蘿藤, luǒ luó téng, a trailing creeper; 絆了個踉蹌, "tripped into a stagger," with 踉蹌 read liàng qiàng — the word is still exactly what you say of someone lurching about.

掙zhēng起qǐ來lái正zhèng走zǒu，又yòu被bèi一yí個gè小xiǎo妖yāo睡shuì倒dǎo在zài地dì，扳bān著zhe他tā腳jiǎo跟gēn，撲pū的de又yòu跌diē了le個gè狗gǒu吃chī屎shǐ。挣zhēng起qǐ来lái正zhèng走zǒu，又yòu被bèi一yí个gè小xiǎo妖yāo睡shuì倒dǎo在zài地dì，扳bān着zhe他tā脚jiǎo跟gēn，扑pū的de又yòu跌diē了le个gè狗gǒu吃chī屎shǐ。

Struggling up and setting off again, he was brought down by a little fiend lying flat on the ground, who caught him by the heel, so that he pitched forward — flop! — into a dog's-dinner sprawl.

And again. 睡倒在地, shuì dǎo zài dì, "lying flat on the ground," 倒 read dǎo — a little fiend has simply lain down and grabbed his heel. 狗吃屎, "a dog eating dung," is the standard and very unlovely Chinese phrase for going down flat on your face; English would say sprawling headlong, but the Chinese is ruder and funnier and everyone still uses it. 扳著 takes 著 as zhe.

被bèi一yì群qún趕gǎn上shàng按àn住zhù，抓zhuā鬃zōng毛máo，揪jiū耳ěr朵duo，扯chě著zhe腳jiǎo，拉lā著zhe尾wěi，扛káng扛káng擡tái擡tái，擒qín進jìn洞dòng去qù。被bèi一yì群qún赶gǎn上shàng按àn住zhù，抓zhuā鬃zōng毛máo，揪jiū耳ěr朵duo，扯chě着zhe脚jiǎo，拉lā着zhe尾wěi，扛káng扛káng抬tái抬tái，擒qín进jìn洞dòng去qù。

A whole troop caught up and pinned him — clutching his bristles, yanking his ears, hauling his feet, dragging his tail — and, heaving and lugging, bore him captive into the cave.

The capture, in six verbs. 扛扛擡擡, káng káng tái tái, "heaving and hoisting" — the doubling makes it a scramble rather than a procession. 擒進洞, "carried captive into the cave." 扯著 and 拉著 both take 著 as zhe. Bristles, ears, feet and tail: they have taken hold of every part of him at once.

咦yí！正zhèng是shì：咦yí！正zhèng是shì：

Ah! Truly it was a case of:

咦, yí, is the storyteller clearing his throat — a small exclamation of "well now," not of grief. 正是, "and so it was a case of," is the standard cue for a closing couplet, and one follows.

A body's worth of demon-troubles, hard to be undone; ten thousand kinds of calamity arising, not easily removed.

Two lines of seven to shut the chapter. 一身魔發, yì shēn mó fā, "demon-trouble breaking out over a whole body"; 萬種災生, "ten thousand kinds of calamity arising." The couplet lifts a pig being dragged into a hole up into the general language of the pilgrimage — the obstacles that the rake, one passage ago, was supposed to clear away.

總評 Commentary

The capture is pure physical comedy, delivered in two falls. First a creeper catches him and he lurches; then a little fiend lying flat on the ground grabs his heel and he goes down face-first in what Chinese bluntly calls a dog eating dung. The indignities escalate in exactly the register that has governed his entire episode — the woodpecker on the lip, the snout in the robe, and now this.

Then the swarm: bristles clutched, ears yanked, feet hauled, tail dragged, and the whole heaving mass of them carries him into the cave. And the chapter's closing couplet lifts the scene up out of farce into the pilgrimage's own language — demon-trouble breaking out over a whole body, ten thousand calamities not easily got rid of. These are the very obstructions the rake-poem boasted of clearing away, one passage earlier. The Wood-Mother of the chapter title has met his disaster.