第三十四回 · 假妝痛哭 The Feigned Weeping — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

假妝痛哭 The Feigned Weeping

孫sūn大dà聖shèng見jiàn了le，不bù敢gǎn進jìn去qù，只zhǐ在zài二èr門mén外wài仵wǔ著zhe臉liǎn，脫tuō脫tuō的de哭kū起qǐ來lái，你nǐ道dào他tā哭kū怎zěn的de，莫mò成chéng是shì怕pà他tā？就jiù怕pà也yě便biàn不bù哭kū，況kuàng先xiān哄hǒng了le他tā的de寶bǎo貝bèi，又yòu打dǎ死sǐ他tā的de小xiǎo妖yāo，卻què為wèi何hé而ér哭kū？他tā當dāng時shí曾céng下xià九jiǔ鼎dǐng油yóu鍋guō，就jiù煠zhá了le七qī八bā日rì，也yě不bù曾céng有yǒu一yì點diǎn淚lèi兒er。只zhǐ為wèi想xiǎng起qǐ唐táng僧sēng取qǔ經jīng的de苦kǔ惱nǎo，他tā就jiù淚lèi出chū痛tòng腸cháng，放fàng眼yǎn便biàn哭kū。孙sūn大dà圣shèng见jiàn了le，不bù敢gǎn进jìn去qù，只zhǐ在zài二èr门mén外wài仵wǔ着zhe脸liǎn，脱tuō脱tuō的de哭kū起qǐ来lái，你nǐ道dào他tā哭kū怎zěn的de，莫mò成chéng是shì怕pà他tā？就jiù怕pà也yě便biàn不bù哭kū，况kuàng先xiān哄hǒng了le他tā的de宝bǎo贝bèi，又yòu打dǎ死sǐ他tā的de小xiǎo妖yāo，却què为wèi何hé而ér哭kū？他tā当dāng时shí曾céng下xià九jiǔ鼎dǐng油yóu锅guō，就jiù煠zhá了le七qī八bā日rì，也yě不bù曾céng有yǒu一yì点diǎn泪lèi儿er。只zhǐ为wèi想xiǎng起qǐ唐táng僧sēng取qǔ经jīng的de苦kǔ恼nǎo，他tā就jiù泪lèi出chū痛tòng肠cháng，放fàng眼yǎn便biàn哭kū。

逐句解 Line by line

The Great Sage, at the sight, dared not go in; he lingered outside the second gate, covered his face, and fell to sobbing piteously. Now you ask what he wept for — could it be he feared her? Had he feared her, he'd not have wept; and having first swindled her of her treasures and killed her imps besides, why then should he weep?

仵著臉 wǔ zhe liǎn, covering the face, with the ongoing zhe; 脫脫的哭 tuō tuō de kū, sobbing outright. Then the storyteller stops the scene dead to interrogate it: 卻為何而哭 què wèi hé ér kū, why then weep — 為 read wèi, for what reason. He rules out fear, rules out guilt, and leaves the reader holding the question.

他tā當dāng時shí曾céng下xià九jiǔ鼎dǐng油yóu鍋guō，就jiù煠zhá了le七qī八bā日rì，也yě不bù曾céng有yǒu一yì點diǎn淚lèi兒er。只zhǐ為wèi想xiǎng起qǐ唐táng僧sēng取qǔ經jīng的de苦kǔ惱nǎo，他tā就jiù淚lèi出chū痛tòng腸cháng，放fàng眼yǎn便biàn哭kū。他tā当dāng时shí曾céng下xià九jiǔ鼎dǐng油yóu锅guō，就jiù煠zhá了le七qī八bā日rì，也yě不bù曾céng有yǒu一yì点diǎn泪lèi儿er。只zhǐ为wèi想xiǎng起qǐ唐táng僧sēng取qǔ经jīng的de苦kǔ恼nǎo，他tā就jiù泪lèi出chū痛tòng肠cháng，放fàng眼yǎn便biàn哭kū。

In his day he had gone down into the nine-caldron oil-vats and been fried seven or eight days without a single tear. It was only that, calling to mind the bitter toils of the Tang Monk's scripture-quest, his grief welled up from an aching heart, and he opened his eyes and wept.

當時 dāng shí, back in that time. 一點淚兒 yì diǎn lèi er, a single tear, with the diminutive er making it smaller still. And the answer arrives: 只為想起 zhǐ wèi xiǎng qǐ, only because he remembered — 為 read wèi again, this time causal. Seven or eight days of being deep-fried produced nothing; one thought of his master's hardships opens the floodgates.

總評 Commentary

This is one of the novel's finest strokes of characterisation by rhetorical question. Having shown Wukong weeping at a demon-mother's gate, the storyteller halts to interrogate the tears — surely not fear, from the man who swindled and killed her people? — and by ruling out every base motive, isolates the true one. The device makes the reader complicit in the reasoning, and the answer, when it comes, deepens the trickster rather than diminishing him.

The contrast is exactly weighted. Seven or eight days in the oil-cauldrons of Heaven drew no tear from the invulnerable Monkey; the mere thought of Tripitaka's sufferings on the scripture-road brings him to open weeping. Wukong's tears are not for himself and never have been. They are the overflow of a loyalty that pain could not touch but love could. The sobbing at the gate is a performance; the grief underneath it is real, and the passage lets us see both at once.