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.

冒充外班
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

冒充外班 Posing as an Outer-Ranks Imp

hǎilónghuítóuwèndào:「shìláide?」xíngzhědào:「hǎoaliánjiārénrènde?」xiǎoyāodào:「jiāméiyǒu。」xíngzhědào:「zěnmeméizàirènrèn。」xiǎoyāodào:「miànshēngmiànshēngcéngxiānghuì。」xíngzhědào:「zhèngshìmencénghuìzháoshìwàibānde。」xiǎoyāodào:「wàibānzhǎngguānshìcénghuìwǎng?」xíngzhědào:「wángshuōchāièrwèiqǐnglǎonǎinailáichītángsēngròujiàojiùdàihuǎngjīnshéngláisūnxíngzhěkǒngèrwèizǒudehuǎnyǒuxiētānwánlezhèngshìyòuchāiláicuīmenkuài。」hǎilónghuítóuwèndào:「shìláide?」xíngzhědào:「hǎoaliánjiārénrènde?」xiǎoyāodào:「jiāméiyǒu。」xíngzhědào:「zěnmeméizàirènrèn。」xiǎoyāodào:「miànshēngmiànshēngcéngxiānghuì。」xíngzhědào:「zhèngshìmencénghuìzháoshìwàibānde。」xiǎoyāodào:「wàibānzhǎngguānshìcénghuìwǎng?」xíngzhědào:「wángshuōchāièrwèiqǐnglǎonǎinailáichītángsēngròujiàojiùdàihuǎngjīnshéngláisūnxíngzhěkǒngèrwèizǒudehuǎnyǒuxiētānwánlezhèngshìyòuchāiláicuīmenkuài。」


逐句解 Line by line

hǎilónghuítóuwèndào:「shìláide?」xíngzhědào:「hǎoaliánjiārénrènde?」xiǎoyāodào:「jiāméiyǒu。」xíngzhědào:「zěnmeméizàirènrèn。」xiǎoyāodào:「miànshēngmiànshēngcéngxiānghuì。」 hǎilónghuítóuwèndào:「shìláide?」xíngzhědào:「hǎoaliánjiārénrènde?」xiǎoyāodào:「jiāméiyǒu。」xíngzhědào:「zěnmeméizàirènrèn。」xiǎoyāodào:「miànshēngmiànshēngcéngxiānghuì。」

Sea-Reclining Dragon turned his head and asked: “Where are you from?” Pilgrim said: “Come now, brother — you don't even know your own household folk?” The imp said: “There's no you in our house.” Pilgrim said: “How no me? Look at me again.” The imp said: “A strange face, a strange face — we've never met.”

那倚海龍 nà yǐ hǎi lóng, that Sea-Reclining Dragon, points; 是那裡來的 shì nǎ lǐ lái de, where are you from, asks. 認不得 rèn bù de, cannot place you — the negative-possibility de again, and the imp is being honest. 不曾相會 bù céng xiāng huì, never met, with as xiāng, the mutual one: never met each other.

xíngzhědào:「zhèngshìmencénghuìzháoshìwàibānde。」xiǎoyāodào:「wàibānzhǎngguānshìcénghuìwǎng?」 xíngzhědào:「zhèngshìmencénghuìzháoshìwàibānde。」xiǎoyāodào:「wàibānzhǎngguānshìcénghuìwǎng?」

Pilgrim said: “Just so. You've never met me — I'm of the outer ranks.” The imp said: “If you're an outer-ranks officer, then we've not met. Where are you headed?”

會著我 huì zháo wǒ, met me — as zháo, a meeting that actually took place. Then the invented rank lands: 外班長官 wài bān zhǎng guān, outer-ranks officer, with read zhǎng, senior. The imp accepts it instantly, because in any bureaucracy an unfamiliar superior is far more plausible than a stranger — and asks only 你往那裡去 nǐ wǎng nǎ lǐ qù, where are you headed, the questioning .

xíngzhědào:「wángshuōchāièrwèiqǐnglǎonǎinailáichītángsēngròujiàojiùdàihuǎngjīnshéngláisūnxíngzhěkǒngèrwèizǒudehuǎnyǒuxiētānwánlezhèngshìyòuchāiláicuīmenkuài。」 xíngzhědào:「wángshuōchāièrwèiqǐnglǎonǎinailáichītángsēngròujiàojiùdàihuǎngjīnshéngláisūnxíngzhěkǒngèrwèizǒudehuǎnyǒuxiētānwánlezhèngshìyòuchāiláicuīmenkuài。」

Pilgrim said: “The Great King says he's sending you two to invite Old Grandma to eat the Tang Monk's flesh, and to have her bring the gold-glinting cord along to catch Sun the Pilgrim. Fearing you two might dawdle, dally, and spoil the business, he's sent me on to urge you to make haste.”

教他就帶 jiào tā jiù dài, have her bring along — read jiào, causative, to make someone do a thing. Compare the 就著帶 of the original order: Wukong is reciting from memory and has smoothed the phrasing, which is exactly what a man repeating an overheard instruction would do. 走得緩 zǒu de huǎn, walk slowly, is the how-well de; 誤了正事 wù le zhèng shì, spoil the business.


總評 Commentary

The imposture works by effrontery rather than stealth. Wukong does not sneak the information out of the couriers; he browbeats them into it, playing injured familiarity — you don't know your own household? — until the honest imp, baffled but deferential, accepts "outer ranks" as an explanation for a face he has never seen.

Having established false standing, Wukong closes the trap by reciting the mission back to its own messengers as proof of rank: the invitation, the feast, the cord, the quarry. The claim that he has been sent to hurry them along is the perfect cover, since it explains his presence, flatters his seniority, and licenses him to steer their errand. The couriers now carry, without knowing it, the very enemy their summons was meant to catch.