夤夜賺豬 Rousing the Pig by Night
行者離了師父,徑到八戒床邊,叫:「八戒,八戒。」那獃子是走路辛苦的人,丟倒頭,只情打呼,那裡叫得醒。行者揪著耳朵,抓著鬃,把他一拉,拉起來,叫聲:「八戒。」那獃子還打棱掙。行者又叫一聲,獃子道:「睡了罷,莫頑,明日要走路哩。」行者道:「不是頑,有一樁買賣,我和你做去。」八戒道:「甚麼買賣?」行者道:「你可曾聽得那太子說麼?」八戒道:「我不曾見面,不曾聽見說甚麼。」行者說:「那太子告訴我說,那妖精有件寶貝,萬夫不當之勇。我們明日進城,不免與他爭敵,倘那怪執了寶貝,降倒我們,卻不反成不美?我想著打人不過,不如先下手。我和你去偷他的來,卻不是好?」行者离了师父,径到八戒床边,叫:「八戒,八戒。」那呆子是走路辛苦的人,丢倒头,只情打呼,那里叫得醒。行者揪着耳朵,抓着鬃,把他一拉,拉起来,叫声:「八戒。」那呆子还打棱挣。行者又叫一声,呆子道:「睡了罢,莫顽,明日要走路哩。」行者道:「不是顽,有一桩买卖,我和你做去。」八戒道:「甚么买卖?」行者道:「你可曾听得那太子说么?」八戒道:「我不曾见面,不曾听见说甚么。」行者说:「那太子告诉我说,那妖精有件宝贝,万夫不当之勇。我们明日进城,不免与他争敌,倘那怪执了宝贝,降倒我们,却不反成不美?我想着打人不过,不如先下手。我和你去偷他的来,却不是好?」
逐句解 Line by line
The Pilgrim left his master, went straight to Bajie's bedside, and called: 'Bajie! Bajie!'
He leaves his master and goes straight to the next mark. 行 = xíng; 了 = le.
That blockhead, being a fellow worn out from the road, had flung himself down headlong and was snoring away with a will — how could he be roused by calling?
丟倒頭: flung himself down head-first (倒 = dǎo, to topple). 只情打呼: snoring away with a will. 那裡叫得醒 — 'however could he be called awake?' — uses the questioning nǎ, while the 那 of 那獃子 at the head of the line is the pointing nà: two readings of the character in a single sentence. 得 = de.
The Pilgrim grabbed him by the ear, seized him by the bristles, gave him a heave, hauled him upright, and called: 'Bajie!'
揪著耳朵,抓著鬃: by the ear and by the mane-bristles (著 twice = zhe). The novel never lets you forget that Bajie is a pig, and it reaches for his ears and bristles whenever a scene needs livening up.
The blockhead was still groggily struggling.
打棱掙: thrashing about half-awake, the way anyone does when hauled upright out of deep sleep. 那 = nà; 還 = hái.
The Pilgrim called once more, and the blockhead said: 'Let's sleep — no fooling; tomorrow we've the road to walk.'
睡了罷: 'let's just sleep' (罷 = ba). 莫頑: stop messing about (頑 = wán). Tomorrow, he points out reasonably, there is walking to do.
The Pilgrim said: 'It's no fooling — there's a piece of business you and I are going to do.'
一樁買賣 — a piece of business, a deal. Calling it a 'venture' rather than an errand is the first move of the con, and it is aimed precisely where Bajie lives. 和 = hé.
Bajie said: 'What business?'
One word, and he is awake. 甚麼 = shén me.
The Pilgrim said: 'Did you happen to hear what that prince said?'
The question is bait, since Wukong knows perfectly well he was asleep for all of it. 聽得: to have heard (得 = de). 那 = nà; 太子: 子 = zǐ.
Bajie said: 'I never saw his face, and never heard him say anything.'
He never met the prince, which is exactly why the story about to be told him cannot be checked. 甚麼 = shén me.
The Pilgrim said: 'That prince told me the fiend has a treasure whose might ten thousand men could not withstand.'
萬夫不當之勇: a might that ten thousand men could not stand against (當 = dāng, 'to withstand'). It is a standard heroic formula, deployed here for a treasure that does not exist. 那, twice, = nà; 太子: 子 = zǐ.
'Tomorrow when we enter the city we can hardly avoid a fight with him; and should that fiend wield the treasure and beat us down, would that not turn out badly indeed?'
不免: we can hardly avoid it. 降倒我們: subdue us and knock us flat (降 = xiáng, to subdue; 倒 = dǎo). 那 = nà. Fear is the second hook, and it goes in after greed.
'I've been thinking: if we can't out-fight a man, better to strike first.'
打人不過: can't out-fight him (不過 = bú). 先下手, strike first — the front half of the proverb 先下手為強, which everyone hearing it would finish silently. 著 = zhe.
'You and I will go and steal it away from him — wouldn't that be the thing?'
偷他的來: steal it off him. 卻不是好: wouldn't that be the thing? (不 = bú). 和 = hé. The pitch is complete, and every word of it is false except the danger.
The recruitment of Bajie is one of the chapter's comic centerpieces, and it opens with pure slapstick. The exhausted pig snores with a will, impervious to shouting, and has to be hauled upright by the ear and the bristles. The physical comedy establishes the pair's dynamic — the tireless schemer and the immovable sleeper — before a word of the con is spoken.
Wukong's manipulation is a small masterclass. He frames the grave-robbing not as unpleasant duty but as a piece of business, then baits the hook with treasure: the demon has an invincible weapon, and they had better steal it before it is used on them. Every step is calibrated to Bajie's two great motives, greed and self-preservation, and taken in that order.
The lie works because it is half true. There really is danger in facing the demon, and there really is a treasure of a sort — but the errand Wukong is recruiting for is the recovery of a corpse, not the theft of a weapon. That gap between the venture as pitched and the venture as it will actually unfold is the engine of everything comic still to come.