第三十四回
魔王巧算困心猿
大聖騰挪騙寶貝
The Demon King, by artful reckoning, confounds the Mind-Monkey; the Great Sage, by shifting sleight, filches away the treasures.
原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
刮殺小妖
The Couriers Struck Down
小妖見說著海底眼,更不疑惑,把行者果認做一家人。急急忙忙,往前飛跑,一氣又跑有八九里。行者道:「忒走快了些。我們離家有多少路了?」小怪道:「有十五六里了。」行者道:「還有多遠?」倚海龍用手指道:「烏林子裡就是。」行者擡頭見一帶黑林不遠,料得那老怪只在林子裡外。卻立定步,讓那小怪前走。即取出鐵棒,走上前,著腳後一刮。可憐忒不禁打,就把兩個小妖刮做一團肉餅。卻拖著腳,藏在路傍深草科裡。小妖见说著海底眼,更不疑惑,把行者果认做一家人。急急忙忙,往前飞跑,一气又跑有八九里。行者道:「忒走快了些。我们离家有多少路了?」小怪道:「有十五六里了。」行者道:「还有多远?」倚海龙用手指道:「乌林子里就是。」行者抬头见一带黑林不远,料得那老怪只在林子里外。却立定步,让那小怪前走。即取出铁棒,走上前,著脚后一刮。可怜忒不禁打,就把两个小妖刮做一团肉饼。却拖著脚,藏在路傍深草科里。
逐句解 Line by line
小妖見說著海底眼,更不疑惑,把行者果認做一家人。急急忙忙,往前飛跑,一氣又跑有八九里。行者道:「忒走快了些。我們離家有多少路了?」小怪道:「有十五六里了。」行者道:「還有多遠?」倚海龍用手指道:「烏林子裡就是。」
小妖见说著海底眼,更不疑惑,把行者果认做一家人。急急忙忙,往前飞跑,一气又跑有八九里。行者道:「忒走快了些。我们离家有多少路了?」小怪道:「有十五六里了。」行者道:「还有多远?」倚海龙用手指道:「乌林子里就是。」
When the imp heard him speak of the “sea-bottom eye,” he doubted no further and took Pilgrim for one of their own. In great haste they sped on ahead, and in one breath had run eight or nine li more. Pilgrim said: “We've come too fast. How far are we from home now?” The little fiend said: “Some fifteen or sixteen li.” Pilgrim said: “How much farther?” Sea-Reclining Dragon pointed with his hand: “That dark grove yonder is the place.”
海底眼 (hǎi dǐ yǎn), "the sea-bottom eye" — an insider's byword whose casual use vouches for Pilgrim's belonging. 見說著 (jiàn shuō zhe), "hearing it spoken of" — durative zhe. 還有多遠 (hái yǒu duō yuǎn), "how much farther" — 還 read hái.
行者擡頭見一帶黑林不遠,料得那老怪只在林子裡外。卻立定步,讓那小怪前走。即取出鐵棒,走上前,著腳後一刮。可憐忒不禁打,就把兩個小妖刮做一團肉餅。卻拖著腳,藏在路傍深草科裡。
行者抬头见一带黑林不远,料得那老怪只在林子里外。却立定步,让那小怪前走。即取出铁棒,走上前,著脚后一刮。可怜忒不禁打,就把两个小妖刮做一团肉饼。却拖著脚,藏在路傍深草科里。
Pilgrim lifted his head and saw the belt of dark woods not far off, and reckoned the old fiend must be just about the grove. He halted his steps and let the little fiend walk ahead; then he drew out his iron cudgel, stepped up, and gave a scrape at the backs of their heels. Pitiably unable to bear a blow, the two little imps were scraped into a single lump of meat-cake. He dragged them off by the feet and hid them in the deep grass beside the road.
料得 (liào de), "reckoned that" — the cognition particle de. 著腳後一刮 (zháo jiǎo hòu yì guā), "a scrape reaching the back of the heels" — 著 the contact-verb zháo; but 拖著腳 (tuō zhe jiǎo), "dragging by the feet," durative zhe. 藏在 (cáng zài), "hid," 藏 read cáng.
總評 Commentary
Wukong completes the interrogation-then-execution he planned on the road. The password 海底眼 does its work — a single insider's phrase converts suspicion into fellowship, and the couriers lead their killer to their own mistress's door. The narrator's timing is exact: the location extracted, the pace slowed, the cudgel drawn, and the blow delivered only once the grove is in sight and the intelligence complete.
The killing is dispatched with the novel's characteristic blend of violence and comic diction: 刮做一團肉餅, scraped into a single lump of meat-cake, reduces two named retainers to a culinary flatness, and the tidy concealment in roadside grass has the efficiency of a workman clearing up. There is no cruelty dwelt upon and no remorse; the imps were an obstacle and an opportunity, and Wukong has used them for both.