哭將來了 Coming Yonder in Tears
長老在馬上聽見,道:「這個夯貨,正走路,怎麼又胡說了?」八戒道:「你兒子便胡說。你不看見孫行者那裡哭將來了?他是個鑽天入地,斧砍火燒,下油鍋都不怕的好漢;如今戴了個愁帽,淚汪汪的哭來,必是那山險峻,妖怪兇狠。似我們這樣軟弱的人兒,怎麼去得?」長老道:「你且休胡談,待我問他一聲,看是怎麼說話。」問道:「悟空,有甚話當面計較,你怎麼自家煩惱?這般樣個哭包臉,是虎諕我也?」长老在马上听见,道:「这个夯货,正走路,怎么又胡说了?」八戒道:「你儿子便胡说。你不看见孙行者那里哭将来了?他是个钻天入地,斧砍火烧,下油锅都不怕的好汉;如今戴了个愁帽,泪汪汪的哭来,必是那山险峻,妖怪凶狠。似我们这样软弱的人儿,怎么去得?」长老道:「你且休胡谈,待我问他一声,看是怎么说话。」问道:「悟空,有甚话当面计较,你怎么自家烦恼?这般样个哭包脸,是虎諕我也?」
逐句解 Line by line
The Elder, hearing this from horseback, said: "You blockhead — here we are walking along, and how is it you talk nonsense again?"
夯貨, hāng huò, "lump of goods" — 夯 is the heavy tamper used to pound earth, so the insult is "you great blunt instrument." The Elder's standing name for Eight Rules.
Said Eight Rules: "It's your own son who talks nonsense. Do you not see Sun the Pilgrim coming yonder in tears? He is a fellow who bores into the sky and burrows through the earth, who fears neither the axe's blow nor the fire's burning nor the cauldron of oil; and now he has put on a cap of woe and comes weeping, eyes streaming — it must be that the mountain is steep and the fiends fierce. How are weak folk like us to get through?"
Eight Rules argues his case, and it is a good one. 兒子, ér zi, "son," takes 兒 as the full syllable ér, while 人兒, "folk," takes the light ending er — the same character in two jobs, one line apart. 將 in 哭將來 is the directional jiāng; 那 is nà; 都 is dōu; 去得 takes 得 as de. Note his logic: this is a creature who has been through axe, fire and the cauldron of oil without blinking, and he is crying — so how bad must it be? The reasoning is sound. Only the premise is fake.
Said the Elder: "Stop your idle talk; let me put him a question, and see what he says."
胡談, hú tán, "wild talk." 長 is zhǎng.
He asked: "Wukong, whatever there is to say, let us reckon it out face to face — why do you fret to yourself? With such a woebegone, crumpled face, are you trying to frighten me with talk of tigers?"
The master's question, and there is suspicion in it. 哭包臉, kū bāo liǎn, "a face all screwed up for crying" — a crumpled, blubbering face. 虎諕, hǔ xià, "to frighten someone with tigers," where 諕 is an older written form of 嚇, "to scare," read xià. 甚 is shén. For one moment the Elder wonders whether he is being played.
The Elder calls Eight Rules a blockhead for talking nonsense, and gets "it is your own son who talks nonsense" straight back — a piece of Ming rudeness that works by implying the insulter is the insulted party's parent. Then Eight Rules makes his case, and it is genuinely well argued: Pilgrim fears neither axe nor fire nor boiling oil, Pilgrim is crying, therefore the danger is beyond anything they have met. The inference is valid. The premise is a lie.
What lifts the scene is the flicker of doubt in the master's reply. Asking whether that crumpled, blubbering face is meant "to frighten me with tigers" is the closest the Elder comes all chapter to catching on. He does not follow the thought, and Pilgrim is about to make full use of that, but the novel has taken care to show that the man is not quite as gullible as he behaves.