Canonical Classics ← 第三十八回
第三十八回
嬰yīng兒ér問wèn母mǔ知zhī邪xié正zhèng
金jīn木mù參cān玄xuán見jiàn假jiǎ真zhēn

The Infant Questions His Mother and Learns the Crooked from the Upright · Metal and Wood, Probing the Mystery, Perceive the False and the True

母夢相符
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

母夢相符 The Mother's Dream Confirms It

娘niáng娘niang道dào:「兒ér啊a,我wǒ四sì更gēng時shí分fēn,也yě做zuò了le一yí夢mèng,夢mèng見jiàn你nǐ父fù王wáng水shuǐ淋lín淋lín的de站zhàn在zài我wǒ跟gēn前qián,親qīn說shuō他tā死sǐ了le,鬼guǐ魂hún兒er拜bài請qǐng了le唐táng僧sēng,降xiáng假jiǎ皇huáng帝dì,救jiù他tā前qián身shēn。記jì便biàn記jì得dé是shì這zhè等děng言yán語yǔ,只zhǐ是shì一yí半bàn兒er不bù得dé分fēn明míng。正zhèng在zài這zhè裡lǐ狐hú疑yí,怎zěn知zhī今jīn日rì你nǐ又yòu來lái說shuō這zhè話huà,又yòu將jiāng寶bǎo貝bèi拿ná出chū。我wǒ且qiě收shōu下xià,你nǐ且qiě去qù請qǐng那nà聖shèng僧sēng急jí急jí為wéi之zhī。果guǒ然rán掃sǎo蕩dàng妖yāo氛fēn,辨biàn明míng邪xié正zhèng,庶shù報bào你nǐ父fù王wáng養yǎng育yù之zhī恩ēn也yě。」娘niáng娘niang道dào:「儿ér啊a,我wǒ四sì更gēng时shí分fēn,也yě做zuò了le一yí梦mèng,梦mèng见jiàn你nǐ父fù王wáng水shuǐ淋lín淋lín的de站zhàn在zài我wǒ跟gēn前qián,亲qīn说shuō他tā死sǐ了le,鬼guǐ魂hún儿er拜bài请qǐng了le唐táng僧sēng,降xiáng假jiǎ皇huáng帝dì,救jiù他tā前qián身shēn。记jì便biàn记jì得dé是shì这zhè等děng言yán语yǔ,只zhǐ是shì一yí半bàn儿er不bù得dé分fēn明míng。正zhèng在zài这zhè里lǐ狐hú疑yí,怎zěn知zhī今jīn日rì你nǐ又yòu来lái说shuō这zhè话huà,又yòu将jiāng宝bǎo贝bèi拿ná出chū。我wǒ且qiě收shōu下xià,你nǐ且qiě去qù请qǐng那nà圣shèng僧sēng急jí急jí为wéi之zhī。果guǒ然rán扫sǎo荡dàng妖yāo氛fēn,辨biàn明míng邪xié正zhèng,庶shù报bào你nǐ父fù王wáng养yǎng育yù之zhī恩ēn也yě。」


逐句解 Line by line

娘niáng娘niang道dào:「兒ér啊a,我wǒ四sì更gēng時shí分fēn,也yě做zuò了le一yí夢mèng,夢mèng見jiàn你nǐ父fù王wáng水shuǐ淋lín淋lín的de站zhàn在zài我wǒ跟gēn前qián,親qīn說shuō他tā死sǐ了le,鬼guǐ魂hún兒er拜bài請qǐng了le唐táng僧sēng,降xiáng假jiǎ皇huáng帝dì,救jiù他tā前qián身shēn。 娘niáng娘niang道dào:「儿ér啊a,我wǒ四sì更gēng时shí分fēn,也yě做zuò了le一yí梦mèng,梦mèng见jiàn你nǐ父fù王wáng水shuǐ淋lín淋lín的de站zhàn在zài我wǒ跟gēn前qián,亲qīn说shuō他tā死sǐ了le,鬼guǐ魂hún儿er拜bài请qǐng了le唐táng僧sēng,降xiáng假jiǎ皇huáng帝dì,救jiù他tā前qián身shēn。

The lady said: 'My child — at about the fourth watch I too dreamed a dream: I saw your father-king standing before me, dripping wet, telling me with his own lips that he had died, and that his ghost had gone to beg the Tang Monk to subdue the false emperor and save his former body.'

Her dream is the third witness, and it matches. 四更時分 is about the fourth watch (更 = gēng). 水淋淋 — dripping wet — is the detail that gives it away: a drowned man does not dry off in the afterlife. 鬼魂兒, his ghost-soul, takes 兒 as the light ending er, against the 兒啊 earlier in the same line, where he is called to directly, and which is ér. And 降 in 降假皇帝 is xiáng, to subdue.

記jì便biàn記jì得dé是shì這zhè等děng言yán語yǔ,只zhǐ是shì一yí半bàn兒er不bù得dé分fēn明míng。 记jì便biàn记jì得dé是shì这zhè等děng言yán语yǔ,只zhǐ是shì一yí半bàn儿er不bù得dé分fēn明míng。

'Remember them I do, words such as these, only that half of it would not come clear.'

記便記得 is a nice vernacular shrug — 'remember it I do,' with 得 as dé. 一半兒不得分明: half of it would not come clear, 兒 the light ending on 半 and 得 again dé. Her half-dream and her son's half-dream are halves of the same message.

正zhèng在zài這zhè裡lǐ狐hú疑yí,怎zěn知zhī今jīn日rì你nǐ又yòu來lái說shuō這zhè話huà,又yòu將jiāng寶bǎo貝bèi拿ná出chū。 正zhèng在zài这zhè里lǐ狐hú疑yí,怎zěn知zhī今jīn日rì你nǐ又yòu来lái说shuō这zhè话huà,又yòu将jiāng宝bǎo贝bèi拿ná出chū。

'Just as I was here in doubt, who would have thought that today you too would come and speak these very words, and moreover bring out this treasure.'

狐疑 is 'fox-doubt' — the fox being the traditional emblem of suspicion and second-guessing, so the word means to be caught in nagging uncertainty. 又將寶貝拿出: and then he brings out the treasure on top of it, 將 = jiāng.

我wǒ且qiě收shōu下xià,你nǐ且qiě去qù請qǐng那nà聖shèng僧sēng急jí急jí為wéi之zhī。 我wǒ且qiě收shōu下xià,你nǐ且qiě去qù请qǐng那nà圣shèng僧sēng急jí急jí为wéi之zhī。

'For now I will keep it; you go at once and invite that holy monk to see to the matter with all speed.'

She keeps the tablet and sends him back out. 那 = nà; 急急為之 is to see to it at speed, 為 read wéi, 'to act on.'

果guǒ然rán掃sǎo蕩dàng妖yāo氛fēn,辨biàn明míng邪xié正zhèng,庶shù報bào你nǐ父fù王wáng養yǎng育yù之zhī恩ēn也yě。」 果guǒ然rán扫sǎo荡dàng妖yāo氛fēn,辨biàn明míng邪xié正zhèng,庶shù报bào你nǐ父fù王wáng养yǎng育yù之zhī恩ēn也yě。」

'If he truly sweeps away this demon-miasma and makes plain the false from the true, it may in some part repay the debt of your father-king's rearing.'

掃蕩妖氛 is to sweep away the demon-miasma, the bad air a monster leaves over a place. 辨明邪正 — to sort out the crooked from the upright — is the chapter's governing phrase, and it is the queen who says it. 養育之恩 is the debt a child owes for having been raised, one of the load-bearing obligations of the whole moral system.


總評 Commentary

The queen's dream completes the pattern. The prince held half his father's message, the monks another portion, and she received her own share at the fourth watch: the drowned king, dripping wet, naming his death and his appeal to the Tang Monk. Three dreams and one tablet now converge, and doubt gives way to certainty.

That her dream, like her son's, came only half clear (一半兒不得分明) is quietly realistic and structurally clever. The novel withholds the full picture from every witness so that certainty can only be built by putting them together. It is the agreement of independent testimony, not any single vision, that authorizes action — which is exactly the standard Wukong will start worrying about a few scenes from now.

The queen's charge closes the palace episode and turns the plot back outward. She keeps the tablet and sends the prince off to fetch Wukong at speed, and her operative phrase — 辨明邪正 — restates the chapter title and hands the work of discernment to the pilgrims. A private grief has become a public mandate.