第三十八回 · 白玉為證 The White-Jade Token — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

白玉為證 The White-Jade Token

那nà娘niáng娘niang道dào：「兒ér啊a，外wài人rén之zhī言yán，你nǐ怎zěn麼me就jiù信xìn為wéi實shí？」太tài子zǐ道dào：「兒ér還hái不bù敢gǎn認rèn實shí，父fù王wáng遺yí下xià表biǎo記jì與yǔ他tā了le。」娘niáng娘niang問wèn是shì何hé物wù，太tài子zǐ袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū那nà金jīn廂xiāng白bái玉yù珪guī，遞dì與yǔ娘niáng娘niang。那nà娘niáng娘niang認rèn得dé是shì當dāng時shí國guó王wáng之zhī寶bǎo，止zhǐ不bú住zhù淚lèi如rú泉quán湧yǒng。叫jiào聲shēng：「主zhǔ公gōng，你nǐ怎zěn麼me死sǐ去qù三sān年nián，不bù來lái見jiàn我wǒ，卻què先xiān見jiàn聖shèng僧sēng，後hòu見jiàn太tài子zǐ？」太tài子zǐ道dào：「母mǔ親qīn，這zhè話huà是shì怎zěn的de說shuō？」那nà娘niáng娘niang道dào：「儿ér啊a，外wài人rén之zhī言yán，你nǐ怎zěn么me就jiù信xìn为wéi实shí？」太tài子zǐ道dào：「儿ér还hái不bù敢gǎn认rèn实shí，父fù王wáng遗yí下xià表biǎo记jì与yǔ他tā了le。」娘niáng娘niang问wèn是shì何hé物wù，太tài子zǐ袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū那nà金jīn厢xiāng白bái玉yù珪guī，递dì与yǔ娘niáng娘niang。那nà娘niáng娘niang认rèn得dé是shì当dāng时shí国guó王wáng之zhī宝bǎo，止zhǐ不bú住zhù泪lèi如rú泉quán涌yǒng。叫jiào声shēng：「主zhǔ公gōng，你nǐ怎zěn么me死sǐ去qù三sān年nián，不bù来lái见jiàn我wǒ，却què先xiān见jiàn圣shèng僧sēng，后hòu见jiàn太tài子zǐ？」太tài子zǐ道dào：「母mǔ亲qīn，这zhè话huà是shì怎zěn的de说shuō？」

逐句解 Line by line

那nà娘niáng娘niang道dào：「兒ér啊a，外wài人rén之zhī言yán，你nǐ怎zěn麼me就jiù信xìn為wéi實shí？」那nà娘niáng娘niang道dào：「儿ér啊a，外wài人rén之zhī言yán，你nǐ怎zěn么me就jiù信xìn为wéi实shí？」

The lady said: 'My child — the word of an outsider — how can you simply take it for the truth?'

Her first instinct is a good one: why take a stranger's word for anything? 外人之言 is exactly that, 'the word of an outsider.' 那 = nà; 兒啊 is 兒 used to call out to him, ér; 信為實 takes 為 as wéi, 'to take as.'

太tài子zǐ道dào：「兒ér還hái不bù敢gǎn認rèn實shí，父fù王wáng遺yí下xià表biǎo記jì與yǔ他tā了le。」太tài子zǐ道dào：「儿ér还hái不bù敢gǎn认rèn实shí，父fù王wáng遗yí下xià表biǎo记jì与yǔ他tā了le。」

The prince said: 'Your son still dared not confirm it, but my royal father left behind a token and gave it to him.'

So he produces evidence. 遺下表記 is to leave behind a token of proof (遺 = yí) — the white-jade tablet the king's ghost pressed on Wukong in the previous chapter. The prince calls himself 兒, ér, 'your son,' throughout. 還 = hái.

娘niáng娘niang問wèn是shì何hé物wù，太tài子zǐ袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū那nà金jīn廂xiāng白bái玉yù珪guī，遞dì與yǔ娘niáng娘niang。娘niáng娘niang问wèn是shì何hé物wù，太tài子zǐ袖xiù中zhōng取qǔ出chū那nà金jīn厢xiāng白bái玉yù珪guī，递dì与yǔ娘niáng娘niang。

The lady asked what the thing was, and the prince drew from his sleeve that gold-rimmed white-jade gui and handed it to her.

金廂白玉珪: a white-jade 珪 (guī) set in a gold rim. A gui is the long ceremonial tablet a ruler held at audience — the object that says, wordlessly, that its holder is the sovereign. Both characters here are variant spellings: 廂 stands for 鑲, 'to inlay,' and 珪 for 圭. 袖中: 中 = zhōng; 那 = nà; 太子: 子 = zǐ.

那nà娘niáng娘niang認rèn得dé是shì當dāng時shí國guó王wáng之zhī寶bǎo，止zhǐ不bú住zhù淚lèi如rú泉quán湧yǒng。那nà娘niáng娘niang认rèn得dé是shì当dāng时shí国guó王wáng之zhī宝bǎo，止zhǐ不bú住zhù泪lèi如rú泉quán涌yǒng。

The lady recognized it as the treasure of the king of that former time, and could not stop her tears from welling up like a spring.

認得, to recognize, with 得 as dé. No argument was needed; the object did it. 當時國王之寶 is the treasure of the king of that earlier time — the phrasing already concedes that the man on the throne is somebody else. 那 = nà.

叫jiào聲shēng：「主zhǔ公gōng，你nǐ怎zěn麼me死sǐ去qù三sān年nián，不bù來lái見jiàn我wǒ，卻què先xiān見jiàn聖shèng僧sēng，後hòu見jiàn太tài子zǐ？」叫jiào声shēng：「主zhǔ公gōng，你nǐ怎zěn么me死sǐ去qù三sān年nián，不bù来lái见jiàn我wǒ，却què先xiān见jiàn圣shèng僧sēng，后hòu见jiàn太tài子zǐ？」

She cried aloud: 'My lord — how is it that, dead these three years, you have not come to see me, but appeared first to the holy monk and then to the prince?'

主公, 'my lord,' is how she addresses her dead husband. What follows is not statecraft but a wife's complaint: you went to a monk, and then to our son, and never came to me. The supernatural machinery of the plot suddenly has a marriage inside it. 太子: 子 = zǐ.

太tài子zǐ道dào：「母mǔ親qīn，這zhè話huà是shì怎zěn的de說shuō？」太tài子zǐ道dào：「母mǔ亲qīn，这zhè话huà是shì怎zěn的de说shuō？」

The prince said: 'Mother, what do you mean by these words?'

He does not yet know she has dreamed too. The question hands her the floor. 太子: 子 = zǐ.

總評 Commentary

The queen's first instinct is prudent skepticism — why should an outsider's word be believed? — and the prince answers not with argument but with an object: the king's own jade tablet, pressed on Wukong by the ghost in the chapter before. The proof passes from sleeve to hand, and her recognition needs no words at all. She simply starts crying.

Her cry to her dead husband turns the scene from politics to grief. The reproach — that he showed himself to a monk and to their son before coming to her — is a wife's complaint, not a queen's, and it deepens the chapter's insistence that the truest knowledge of a king lives inside his marriage.

The prince's puzzled question at the end marks a gap in what he knows: he has no idea his mother has been dreaming too. The novel has parcelled the truth out among three witnesses — monk, son, wife — each holding a fragment, and here the fragments start to be laid side by side.