Canonical Classics ← 第三十二回
第三十二回
píngdǐngshāngōngcáochuánxìn
liánhuādòngféngzāi

On Level-Top Mountain the Merit-Officer Brings Word · In the Lotus-Flower Cave the Wood-Mother Meets Disaster

分行李
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

分行李 Dividing the Baggage

hǎoshèngkànnòngtóuyǎnróuleróuróuchūxiēlèiláiyíngzheshīwǎngqiánjìngzǒujièkànjiànliánmángjiào:「shāshàngxiēxiàdànzichūxíngláiliǎngfēnle。」shāsēngdào:「èrfēnzěnde?」jièdào:「fēnlewǎngliúshāháizuòyāoguàilǎozhūwǎnggāolǎozhuāngshàngpànpànhúnjiābáimàilemǎikǒuguānshīsònglǎojiāsànhuǒháiwǎng西tiān?」hǎoshèngkànnòngtóuyǎnróuleróuróuchūxiēlèiláiyíngzheshīwǎngqiánjìngzǒujièkànjiànliánmángjiào:「shāshàngxiēxiàdànzichūxíngláiliǎngfēnle。」shāsēngdào:「èrfēnzěnde?」jièdào:「fēnlewǎngliúshāháizuòyāoguàilǎozhūwǎnggāolǎozhuāngshàngpànpànhúnjiābáimàilemǎikǒuguānshīsònglǎojiāsànhuǒháiwǎng西tiān?」


逐句解 Line by line

hǎoshèngkànnòngtóuyǎnróuleróuróuchūxiēlèilái hǎoshèngkànnòngtóuyǎnróuleróuróuchūxiēlèilái

The great Sage — watch him now work up a sham: rubbing his eyes with a rub, he squeezed out a few tears.

弄個虛頭 (nòng gè xū tóu), "to put on a sham, feign." , "to rub."

yíngzheshīwǎngqiánjìngzǒu yíngzheshīwǎngqiánjìngzǒu

Facing the Master, he walked straight forward.

迎著 (yíng zhe), "facing toward" — durative zhe.

jièkànjiànliánmángjiào:「shāshàngxiēxiàdànzichūxíngláiliǎngfēnle。」 jièkànjiànliánmángjiào:「shāshàngxiēxiàdànzichūxíngláiliǎngfēnle。」

Eight Rules, seeing this, hastily called out: “Sha Monk, set down the load and get out the baggage — let the two of us divide it and be done.”

擔子 (dàn zi), "a carrying-load" — read dàn (noun). 行李, "baggage." fēn.

shāsēngdào:「èrfēnzěnde?」 shāsēngdào:「èrfēnzěnde?」

Said Sha Monk: “Second Brother, divide it — whatever for?”

二哥 (èr gē), "Second Brother," i.e. Eight Rules.

jièdào:「fēnlewǎngliúshāháizuòyāoguàilǎozhūwǎnggāolǎozhuāngshàngpànpànhúnjiābáimàilemǎikǒuguānshīsònglǎojiāsànhuǒháiwǎng西tiān?」 jièdào:「fēnlewǎngliúshāháizuòyāoguàilǎozhūwǎnggāolǎozhuāngshàngpànpànhúnjiābáimàilemǎikǒuguānshīsònglǎojiāsànhuǒháiwǎng西tiān?」

Said Eight Rules: “Let us divide it. You go back to the Flowing-Sands River and be a monster again; Old Hog will go to the Gao Village to see how his wife fares. We’ll sell the white horse, buy a coffin, and see the Master off in his old age. Let everyone break up the fire — still go on to the Western Heaven, would we?”

渾家 (hún jiā), "wife." 送老 (sòng lǎo), "to see [someone] through to death." 散火, "to disband." hái ("again / still," twice).


總評 Commentary

Pilgrim executes his plan by working up false tears — a “sham” (虛頭) the narrator invites us to watch him perform. The device works instantly on Eight Rules, who, seeing the fearless monkey weep, leaps to the conclusion that all is lost and loudly proposes dividing the baggage and disbanding.

Eight Rules’s division-speech is one of the novel’s recurring comic set-pieces: he parcels out the retreat with cheerful practicality — Sha Monk back to his river, himself back to his wife at the Gao Village, the horse sold for a coffin to bury the master. The readiness with which he abandons the quest is his standing comic flaw, and Pilgrim’s tears have deliberately triggered it.