原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
小妖訴情
The Imps' Confession
問之再三，小妖俯伏在地：「赦小的萬千死罪，赦小的萬千死罪。我等執著寶貝，走到半山之中，忽遇著蓬萊山一個神仙。他問我們那裡去，我們答道：『拿孫行者去。』那神仙聽見說孫行者，他也惱他，要與我們幫工。是我們不曾叫他幫工，卻將拿寶貝裝人的情由，與他說了。那神仙也有個葫蘆，善能裝天。我們也是妄想之心，養家之意：他的裝天，我的裝人，與他換了罷。原說葫蘆換葫蘆，伶俐蟲又貼他個淨瓶。誰想他仙家之物，近不得凡人之手。正試演處，就連人都不見了。萬望饒小的們死罪。」问之再三，小妖俯伏在地：「赦小的万千死罪，赦小的万千死罪。我等执着宝贝，走到半山之中，忽遇着蓬莱山一个神仙。他问我们那里去，我们答道：『拿孙行者去。』那神仙听见说孙行者，他也恼他，要与我们帮工。是我们不曾叫他帮工，却将拿宝贝装人的情由，与他说了。那神仙也有个葫芦，善能装天。我们也是妄想之心，养家之意：他的装天，我的装人，与他换了罢。原说葫芦换葫芦，伶俐虫又贴他个净瓶。谁想他仙家之物，近不得凡人之手。正试演处，就连人都不见了。万望饶小的们死罪。」
逐句解 Line by line
問之再三，小妖俯伏在地：「赦小的萬千死罪，赦小的萬千死罪。我等執著寶貝，走到半山之中，忽遇著蓬萊山一個神仙。他問我們那裡去，我們答道：『拿孫行者去。』那神仙聽見說孫行者，他也惱他，要與我們幫工。是我們不曾叫他幫工，卻將拿寶貝裝人的情由，與他說了。
问之再三，小妖俯伏在地：「赦小的万千死罪，赦小的万千死罪。我等执着宝贝，走到半山之中，忽遇着蓬莱山一个神仙。他问我们那里去，我们答道：『拿孙行者去。』那神仙听见说孙行者，他也恼他，要与我们帮工。是我们不曾叫他帮工，却将拿宝贝装人的情由，与他说了。
Questioned again and again, the imps prostrated themselves on the ground: “Spare your servants a myriad-fold death, spare your servants a myriad-fold death! We were carrying the treasures and had come to the middle of the mountain when suddenly we met an immortal from Mount Penglai. He asked us where we were going, and we answered, ‘To capture Sun the Pilgrim.’ When the immortal heard the name of Sun the Pilgrim, he too bore him a grudge and offered to lend a hand. It was we who did not let him help; instead we told him all about capturing treasures and bottling men.”
Two readings of 著 sit in one sentence and mean different things: 執著寶貝 zhí zhe bǎo bèi, holding the treasures, is the ongoing zhe; 忽遇著 hū yù zháo, suddenly ran into, is the zháo of a thing that actually happened. The two 那 split the same way: 那裡去 nǎ lǐ qù, where were you going, is the question, while 那神仙 nà shén xiān, that immortal, points. And 卻將 què jiāng once more pushes the object forward for handling.
那神仙也有個葫蘆，善能裝天。我們也是妄想之心，養家之意：他的裝天，我的裝人，與他換了罷。原說葫蘆換葫蘆，伶俐蟲又貼他個淨瓶。
那神仙也有个葫芦，善能装天。我们也是妄想之心，养家之意：他的装天，我的装人，与他换了罢。原说葫芦换葫芦，伶俐虫又贴他个净瓶。
“That immortal also had a gourd, able to bottle up Heaven. Out of a covetous heart and a wish to provide for our households, we thought: his bottles Heaven, ours bottles men — let us trade with him. It was first agreed, gourd for gourd; then Clever-Bug threw in the jade vase as well.”
The imps plead ordinary human greed and do it in two neat phrases: 妄想之心 wàng xiǎng zhī xīn, a covetous heart, and 養家之意 yǎng jiā zhī yì, wanting to provide for the household. Coming from creatures who serve a man-eating court, it is a small and oddly sympathetic defence. 換了罷 huàn le ba is the coaxing ba again: let's just trade.
誰想他仙家之物，近不得凡人之手。正試演處，就連人都不見了。萬望饒小的們死罪。」
谁想他仙家之物，近不得凡人之手。正试演处，就连人都不见了。万望饶小的们死罪。」
“Who would have thought that a thing of the immortals' making cannot come near a mortal's hand? Just as we were trying it out, both man and treasure vanished together. We beg you a thousand times, spare your servants' capital crime!”
近不得 jìn bù de — cannot get near — puts 得 in its negative-possibility slot, de: not that they are forbidden but that it cannot be done. 人都不見了 rén dōu bù jiàn le, the man too was gone, with 都 read dōu, all, even. The confession ends on a theory of their defeat that is precisely wrong, which is the point.
總評 Commentary
The confession is a masterpiece of self-incrimination dressed as mitigation. The imps narrate their own gulling in exact order — the meeting on the mountain, the rival gourd, the fatal boast about bottling men — and the more faithfully they report, the plainer their folly becomes.
Their closing line, 近不得凡人之手, a thing of the immortals cannot come near a mortal's hand, is the theology they have built out of their own humiliation, and it is exactly backwards: the immortal was a mortal, or rather a monkey, and the failure was not metaphysical but a matter of some hairs being called home. Their earnest misdiagnosis is the joke, and the reader holds a truth the confessors cannot reach.