Canonical Classics ← 第三十四回
第三十四回
wángqiǎosuànkùnxīnyuán
shèngténgnuópiànbǎobèi

The Demon King, by artful reckoning, confounds the Mind-Monkey; the Great Sage, by shifting sleight, filches away the treasures.

走漏猴風
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

走漏猴風 The Monkey's Cover Blown

zhǐwèidāizitōngqínghuàzǒulehóuwángbiànhuàdefēngyǒuxúnshāndexiǎoguàiméndezhòngyāodōuzhuàngjiāngjìnláibàodào:「wánghuòshìlesūnxíngzhěshānǎinǎizhuānglái。」tóuwényánróngfēnshuōchèxīngbǎojiànwàngxíngzhěmiànkǎnláihǎoshèngjiāngshēnhuǎngzhǐjiàn滿mǎndònghóngguāngxiānzǒulezhèbānshǒuduànzhuóshíhǎoshuǎzizhèngshìchéngxíngsànchéngzhǐwèidāizitōngqínghuàzǒulehóuwángbiànhuàdefēngyǒuxúnshāndexiǎoguàiméndezhòngyāodōuzhuàngjiāngjìnláibàodào:「wánghuòshìlesūnxíngzhěshānǎinǎizhuānglái。」tóuwényánróngfēnshuōchèxīngbǎojiànwàngxíngzhěmiànkǎnláihǎoshèngjiāngshēnhuǎngzhǐjiànmǎndònghóngguāngxiānzǒulezhèbānshǒuduànzhuóshíhǎoshuǎzizhèngshìchéngxíngsànchéng


逐句解 Line by line

zhǐwèidāizitōngqínghuàzǒulehóuwángbiànhuàdefēngyǒuxúnshāndexiǎoguàiméndezhòngyāodōuzhuàngjiāngjìnláibàodào:「wánghuòshìlesūnxíngzhěshānǎinǎizhuānglái。」 zhǐwèidāizitōngqínghuàzǒulehóuwángbiànhuàdefēngyǒuxúnshāndexiǎoguàiméndezhòngyāodōuzhuàngjiāngjìnláibàodào:「wánghuòshìlesūnxíngzhěshānǎinǎizhuānglái。」

Alas! All for one knowing word from that idiot, the wind of the Monkey King's transformation leaked out. Just then several patrol imps and gate-keeping fiends came crowding in to report: “Great Kings, disaster! Sun the Pilgrim has killed Grandma and come disguised as her!”

噫 (yī), "alas!" — the narrator's exclamatory sigh at the turn. 只為獃子一句通情話 (zhǐ wèi dāi zi yí jù tōng qíng huà), "all for one knowing word from the idiot" — read wèi, causal. 走了…風 (zǒu le … fēng), "the wind leaked out," the secret escaping.

tóuwényánróngfēnshuōchèxīngbǎojiànwàngxíngzhěmiànkǎnláihǎoshèngjiāngshēnhuǎngzhǐjiàn滿mǎndònghóngguāngxiānzǒulezhèbānshǒuduànzhuóshíhǎoshuǎzizhèngshìchéngxíngsànchéng tóuwényánróngfēnshuōchèxīngbǎojiànwàngxíngzhěmiànkǎnláihǎoshèngjiāngshēnhuǎngzhǐjiànmǎndònghóngguāngxiānzǒulezhèbānshǒuduànzhuóshíhǎoshuǎzizhèngshìchéngxíngsànchéng

Hearing these words, the demon lord brooked no explanation: he drew the seven-star sword and slashed full at Pilgrim's face. Good Great Sage! With a flick of his body he was gone — and in the same instant the cave was filled with red light — for he had slipped away beforehand. Skill like this is truly a fine bit of sport. Just so it is: gathered, it takes form; scattered, it becomes vapor.

那容分說 (nǎ róng fēn shuō), "brooked no explanation" — rhetorical , "how would he allow?"; read fēn, to argue out. 著實好耍子 (zhuó shí hǎo shuǎ zi), "truly fine sport" — 著實, the adverbial zhuó; but 正是那 (zhèng shì nà), "just so it is," deictic .


總評 Commentary

The narrator's 噫 tolls the turn like a bell: the whole elaborate imposture, which survived the gatekeeper, the sedan, and the four bows, is undone by one indiscreet word from Bajie. The construction 只為…走了風 pins the collapse precisely on the idiot's slip, and the timing is exquisite — the cover holds through every danger the enemy poses and fails only to the folly of a friend.

Yet the reversal costs Wukong nothing but the disguise. The demon's furious sword-stroke meets empty air; the Great Sage is gone before the blade falls, leaving only a cave full of red light. The closing maxim — 聚則成形,散則成氣, gathered it takes form, scattered it becomes vapor — lifts the escape into metaphysics, defining Wukong's protean freedom against the demons' fixed rage. The imposture is over, but the contest merely shifts to open ground, and the narrator's own verdict is that all of it is 好耍子 — fine sport.