第三十四回 · 棒打狐狸 The Fox Struck Down — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

棒打狐狸 The Fox Struck Down

被bèi行xíng者zhě掣chè出chū棒bàng，著zháo頭tóu一yì磨mó：一yí個gè搪táng著zháo的de，打dǎ得de稀xī爛làn；一yí個gè擦cā著zháo的de，不bù死sǐ還hái哼hēng。那nà老lǎo怪guài聽tīng得de人rén哼hēng，轎jiào子zi裡lǐ伸shēn出chū頭tóu來lái看kàn時shí，被bèi行xíng者zhě跳tiào到dào轎jiào前qián，劈pī頭tóu一yí棍gùn，打dǎ了le個gè窟kū窿lóng，腦nǎo漿jiāng迸bèng流liú，鮮xiān血xuè直zhí冒mào。拖tuō出chū轎jiào來lái看kàn處chù，原yuán是shì個gè九jiǔ尾wěi狐hú狸lí。行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「造zào孽niè畜chù，叫jiào甚shén麼me老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi。你nǐ叫jiào老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi，就jiù該gāi稱chēng老lǎo孫sūn做zuò上shàng太tài祖zǔ公gōng公gōng是shì。」被bèi行xíng者zhě掣chè出chū棒bàng，著zháo头tóu一yì磨mó：一yí个gè搪táng著zháo的de，打dǎ得de稀xī烂làn；一yí个gè擦cā著zháo的de，不bù死sǐ还hái哼hēng。那nà老lǎo怪guài听tīng得de人rén哼hēng，轿jiào子zi里lǐ伸shēn出chū头tóu来lái看kàn时shí，被bèi行xíng者zhě跳tiào到dào轿jiào前qián，劈pī头tóu一yí棍gùn，打dǎ了le个gè窟kū窿lóng，脑nǎo浆jiāng迸bèng流liú，鲜xiān血xuè直zhí冒mào。拖tuō出chū轿jiào来lái看kàn处chù，原yuán是shì个gè九jiǔ尾wěi狐hú狸lí。行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「造zào孽niè畜chù，叫jiào甚shén么me老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi。你nǐ叫jiào老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi，就jiù该gāi称chēng老lǎo孙sūn做zuò上shàng太tài祖zǔ公gōng公gōng是shì。」

逐句解 Line by line

Pilgrim whipped out his cudgel and ground it once against their heads: the one it struck was beaten to a pulp; the other, only grazed, did not die but lay groaning. When that old fiend heard the groaning and thrust her head out of the sedan to look, Pilgrim leapt to the sedan-front and, with a blow full on the crown, smashed a hole in her skull, so that the brains gushed out and the fresh blood spurted straight up. He dragged her from the sedan to look, and she proved to be a nine-tailed fox.

著頭一磨 (zháo tóu yì mó), "ground once against the head" — contact-verb zháo; 搪著／擦著 (táng zháo / cā zháo), "struck / grazed," resultative zháo. 不死還哼 (bù sǐ hái hēng), "not dead, still groaning" — 還 read hái. 九尾狐狸 (jiǔ wěi hú li), a nine-tailed fox.

拖tuō出chū轎jiào來lái看kàn處chù，原yuán是shì個gè九jiǔ尾wěi狐hú狸lí。行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「造zào孽niè畜chù，叫jiào甚shén麼me老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi。你nǐ叫jiào老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi，就jiù該gāi稱chēng老lǎo孫sūn做zuò上shàng太tài祖zǔ公gōng公gōng是shì。」拖tuō出chū轿jiào来lái看kàn处chù，原yuán是shì个gè九jiǔ尾wěi狐hú狸lí。行xíng者zhě笑xiào道dào：「造zào孽niè畜chù，叫jiào甚shén么me老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi。你nǐ叫jiào老lǎo奶nǎi奶nǎi，就jiù该gāi称chēng老lǎo孙sūn做zuò上shàng太tài祖zǔ公gōng公gōng是shì。」

Pilgrim laughed: “Sinful beast, calling yourself Old Grandma! Since you're styled Old Grandma, you ought by rights to style Old Monkey your Great-Grandsire.”

造孽畜 (zào niè chù), "sinful beast," a curse on the demon. 上太祖公公 (shàng tài zǔ gōng gong), "senior great-grandsire" — Wukong's mocking claim of a generation's precedence over the crone he has just killed.

總評 Commentary

The murders are dispatched with brutal economy and grim wit — a single grinding blow for the bearers, a skull-smashing stroke for the matriarch who makes the fatal mistake of looking out at a groan. The narrator's relish for gore, the gushing brains and spurting blood, is characteristic of the novel's demon-slayings, where violence against the monstrous is neither softened nor moralized but rendered with a kind of exuberant precision.

The revelation of the nine-tailed fox beneath the matron's finery closes the disguise the portrait opened: the venerable lady was a beast all along, and Wukong's jeer restores the true order of precedence. His taunt — that one who claims to be Grandma should call Old Monkey Great-Grandsire — is pure Monkey bravado, converting a killing into a joke about seniority. The demon-family's summoned elder is dead on the road, and her murderer now holds every card: her cord, her face, and her place at the feast.