第三十三回 · 度人成仙 Offering to Lead Them to Immortality — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

度人成仙 Offering to Lead Them to Immortality

行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ不bú怪guài你nǐ。常cháng言yán道dào：『仙xiān體tǐ不bú踏tà凡fán地dì。』你nǐ怎zěn知zhī之zhī？我wǒ今jīn日rì到dào你nǐ山shān上shàng，要yào度dù一yí個gè成chéng仙xiān了liǎo道dào的de好hǎo人rén。那nǎ個gè肯kěn跟gēn我wǒ去qù？」精jīng細xì鬼guǐ道dào：「師shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」伶líng俐lì蟲chóng道dào：「師shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ不bú怪guài你nǐ。常cháng言yán道dào：『仙xiān体tǐ不bú踏tà凡fán地dì。』你nǐ怎zěn知zhī之zhī？我wǒ今jīn日rì到dào你nǐ山shān上shàng，要yào度dù一yí个gè成chéng仙xiān了liǎo道dào的de好hǎo人rén。那nǎ个gè肯kěn跟gēn我wǒ去qù？」精jīng细xì鬼guǐ道dào：「师shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」伶líng俐lì虫chóng道dào：「师shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ不bú怪guài你nǐ。常cháng言yán道dào：『仙xiān體tǐ不bú踏tà凡fán地dì。』你nǐ怎zěn知zhī之zhī？行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ不bú怪guài你nǐ。常cháng言yán道dào：『仙xiān体tǐ不bú踏tà凡fán地dì。』你nǐ怎zěn知zhī之zhī？

Pilgrim said: "I don't blame you. As the saying goes, 'An immortal's body treads no common ground' — so how were you to know?

仙體不踏凡地 (xiān tǐ bù tà fán dì), "an immortal's body does not tread common ground," is quoted as a saying, which the edition marks by enclosing it. Pilgrim produces it to excuse their blindness, and in doing so polishes his own halo one more time.

我wǒ今jīn日rì到dào你nǐ山shān上shàng，要yào度dù一yí個gè成chéng仙xiān了liǎo道dào的de好hǎo人rén。那nǎ個gè肯kěn跟gēn我wǒ去qù？」我wǒ今jīn日rì到dào你nǐ山shān上shàng，要yào度dù一yí个gè成chéng仙xiān了liǎo道dào的de好hǎo人rén。那nǎ个gè肯kěn跟gēn我wǒ去qù？」

"Today I've come to your mountain to deliver some worthy soul to immortality and the completion of the Way. Which of you will come with me?"

度 (dù) is to carry someone across -- the standard Buddhist and Daoist word for delivering a soul, from the image of ferrying it over water. 成仙了道 (chéng xiān liǎo dào), "become an immortal and finish the Way," with 了 read liǎo, "to complete." 那個 is the question-word nǎ, "which of you."

精jīng細xì鬼guǐ道dào：「師shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」精jīng细xì鬼guǐ道dào：「师shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」

Fine-and-Keen said: "Master, I'll come with you."

師父 (shī fu), "master." The moment the imp uses that word he has changed sides without noticing, and the whole con is downhill from here.

伶líng俐lì蟲chóng道dào：「師shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」伶líng俐lì虫chóng道dào：「师shī父fù，我wǒ跟gēn你nǐ去qù。」

Clever-Bug said: "Master, I'll come with you."

Both volunteer, in identical words, instantly. Fine-and-Keen and Clever-Bug, whose names the storyteller chose eleven passages ago precisely so that he could do this to them.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim finishes the seduction by dangling a prize. Having excused their rudeness with a well-chosen proverb, he offers precisely what a demon's servant might covet -- delivery to immortality and completion of the Way. The pitch is shrewdly aimed, working on greed and on their brand-new reverence at the same time, and it costs him nothing to promise.

Both volunteer at once, in the same words, and the joke is at the expense of their names: Fine-and-Keen and Clever-Bug, neither fine enough nor clever enough to smell it. The scene completes their journey from armed emissaries to fawning students, and puts Pilgrim in position to draw out, in the next passage, the very information the demons meant to use to kill him.