第三十三回 · 兩山不住 Two Mountains Will Not Hold Him — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

兩山不住 Two Mountains Will Not Hold Him

這zhè個gè倒dào也yě不bú怕pà，只zhǐ是shì正zhèng擔dàn好hǎo挑tiāo，偏piān擔dàn兒er難nán挨āi。」那nà魔mó道dào：「一yí座zuò山shān壓yā他tā不bú住zhù。」卻què又yòu念niàn咒zhòu語yǔ，把bǎ一yí座zuò峨é嵋méi山shān遣qiǎn在zài空kōng中zhōng來lái壓yā。行xíng者zhě又yòu把bǎ頭tóu偏piān一yì偏piān，壓yā在zài右yòu肩jiān臂bì上shàng。这zhè个gè倒dào也yě不bú怕pà，只zhǐ是shì正zhèng担dàn好hǎo挑tiāo，偏piān担dàn儿er难nán挨āi。」那nà魔mó道dào：「一yí座zuò山shān压yā他tā不bú住zhù。」却què又yòu念niàn咒zhòu语yǔ，把bǎ一yí座zuò峨é嵋méi山shān遣qiǎn在zài空kōng中zhōng来lái压yā。行xíng者zhě又yòu把bǎ头tóu偏piān一yì偏piān，压yā在zài右yòu肩jiān臂bì上shàng。

逐句解 Line by line

這zhè個gè倒dào也yě不bú怕pà，只zhǐ是shì正zhèng擔dàn好hǎo挑tiāo，偏piān擔dàn兒er難nán挨āi。」这zhè个gè倒dào也yě不bú怕pà，只zhǐ是shì正zhèng担dàn好hǎo挑tiāo，偏piān担dàn儿er难nán挨āi。」

"This one, though, I don't fear — only a balanced load is easy to shoulder, while a lopsided load is hard to bear."

Twenty passages ago Sha Monk shouldered the luggage on a pole, and now the same vocabulary comes back with a world-mountain on it. 正擔 against 偏擔 (zhèng dàn / piān dàn) is a level load against a lopsided one, 擔 the noun dàn, "burden"; 挨 (āi) is to bear up under something. The 倒 that opens the line is dào, "though, mind you." Pilgrim has reclassified Mount Sumeru as a freight problem.

那nà魔mó道dào：「一yí座zuò山shān壓yā他tā不bú住zhù。」那nà魔mó道dào：「一yí座zuò山shān压yā他tā不bú住zhù。」

The fiend said: "One mountain won't hold him down."

壓他不住 (yā tā bú zhù), "cannot press him down and keep him there." The demon watches one sacred peak fail and reaches, with plodding logic, for a second.

卻què又yòu念niàn咒zhòu語yǔ，把bǎ一yí座zuò峨é嵋méi山shān遣qiǎn在zài空kōng中zhōng來lái壓yā。却què又yòu念niàn咒zhòu语yǔ，把bǎ一yí座zuò峨é嵋méi山shān遣qiǎn在zài空kōng中zhōng来lái压yā。

So again he chanted his spell and sent a Mount Emei through the air to crush him.

咒語 (zhòu yǔ), "an incantation." 峨嵋山 is Mount Emei in Sichuan, one of the great holy mountains of Chinese Buddhism -- the second peak, and the second real place, to be thrown at a monkey.

行xíng者zhě又yòu把bǎ頭tóu偏piān一yì偏piān，壓yā在zài右yòu肩jiān臂bì上shàng。行xíng者zhě又yòu把bǎ头tóu偏piān一yì偏piān，压yā在zài右yòu肩jiān臂bì上shàng。

Pilgrim again tilted his head to one side, and it came down on his right shoulder.

偏一偏 (piān yì piān), "gave it the slightest cant." One peak on each shoulder now, and the reader who knows how folk tales count can feel the third coming.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim shrugs off the first mountain with a carter's complaint -- a balanced load is easy, a lopsided one is not -- and the demon, unmoved, simply adds Mount Emei to the other shoulder. The scene stays in the register of comedy: the Great Sage treating holy peaks as freight to be evened up, the fiend piling them on with the literal-mindedness of a man following instructions.

Underneath, the escalation is exact and ominous. One peak left, one peak right; the tally is being kept, and anyone who has heard a folk tale knows what comes next. Each mountain is heavier than the last by more than arithmetic allows, and the pressure builds toward the moment when Monkey's strength has to fail -- and with it his power to protect the master who has ridden on ahead.