原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
含詞賦 With rhapsody
斧棒交加
Axe Against Staff
棒名如意，棒名如意，
斧號宣花。斧号宣花。
他兩個乍相逢，不知深淺，斧和棒，左右交加。他两个乍相逢，不知深浅，斧和棒，左右交加。
一個暗藏神妙，一个暗藏神妙，
一個大口稱誇。一个大口称夸。
使動法，噴雲曖霧；使动法，喷云暧雾；
展開手，播土揚沙。展开手，播土扬沙。
天將神通就有道，天将神通就有道，
猴王變化實無涯。猴王变化实无涯。
棒舉卻如龍戲水，棒举却如龙戏水，
斧來猶似鳳穿花。斧来犹似凤穿花。
巨靈名望傳天下，巨灵名望传天下，
原來本事不如他：原来本事不如他：
大聖輕輕掄鐵棒，大圣轻轻抡铁棒，
著頭一下滿身麻。著头一下满身麻。
逐句解 Line by line
棒名如意，
棒名如意，
The cudgel named As-You-Will,
The two weapons named in apposition — 如意 (the cudgel) and 宣花 (the axe); the 賦 opens by squaring the instruments.
斧號宣花。
斧号宣花。
the axe styled Blossom-Boss.
他兩個乍相逢，不知深淺，斧和棒，左右交加。
他两个乍相逢，不知深浅，斧和棒，左右交加。
The two of them, meeting for the first time, knew nothing of each other's depth; axe and cudgel crossed and clashed, left and right.
乍相逢, “meeting for the first time” (乍 = zhà, “suddenly, just now”); the run carries whole as a single member. 不知 takes bù before first-tone 知.
一個暗藏神妙，
一个暗藏神妙，
The one hid marvels of divine craft,
暗藏神妙 against 大口稱誇 — concealed power versus loud boast; 一個 takes yí before fourth-tone 個.
一個大口稱誇。
一个大口称夸。
the other boasted with a great loud mouth.
使動法，噴雲曖霧；
使动法，喷云暧雾；
When the magic was loosed — clouds spat, mist dimmed;
Parallel members split at the semicolon: 噴雲曖霧 / 播土揚沙, the cosmic dust of a magic duel.
展開手，播土揚沙。
展开手，播土扬沙。
when the hands were opened — earth flung, sand scattered.
天將神通就有道，
天将神通就有道，
The heavenly general's powers had their method indeed,
天將 takes 將 as jiàng. The couplet weighs method (the general) against limitlessness (the monkey): 就有道 against 實無涯.
猴王變化實無涯。
猴王变化实无涯。
but the Monkey King's transformations were truly without bound.
棒舉卻如龍戲水，
棒举却如龙戏水，
The cudgel raised was like a dragon at play in water,
The matched similes: cudgel as 龍戲水 (a dragon at play in water), axe as 鳳穿花 (a phoenix threading flowers); 似 is sì.
斧來猶似鳳穿花。
斧来犹似凤穿花。
the axe coming on like a phoenix threading flowers.
巨靈名望傳天下，
巨灵名望传天下，
Mighty-Spirit's fame was renowned across the world,
傳天下, “renowned across the world”; the couplet turns to deflate that fame — 不如他, “no match for him.” 不如 takes bù before second-tone 如.
原來本事不如他：
原来本事不如他：
but his skill, it turned out, was no match for the other's:
大聖輕輕掄鐵棒，
大圣轻轻抡铁棒，
the Great Sage lightly swung his iron cudgel,
輕輕掄鐵棒, “lightly swung the iron cudgel” — the ease is the point.
著頭一下滿身麻。
著头一下满身麻。
and one touch to the head left him numb from head to foot.
著頭一下: 著 here is zháo (“to land on, make contact”); 一下 takes yí before fourth-tone 下. The 賦 ends on the single, almost casual blow that decides everything — 滿身麻, “numb from head to foot.”
總評 Commentary
The combat rhapsody is built as a sustained antithesis between the two fighters, weapon by weapon and clause by clause. 如意 against 宣花, concealed marvel (暗藏神妙) against loud boast (大口稱誇), method (就有道) against the boundless (實無涯): the parallel couplets do not merely decorate the fight, they adjudicate it. Each pairing tilts the same way, so the verse announces its verdict before the last lines deliver it.
And the ending is deliberately anticlimactic. After the cosmic show of spat clouds and flung sand, the duel is settled not by a greater spectacle but by a single, almost negligent stroke — 輕輕掄鐵棒，著頭一下滿身麻, the cudgel swung “lightly,” one touch to the head and the famous general numb. The deflation of 巨靈, whose fame “was renowned across the world,” is the point: Heaven's vanguard is overmatched at the first real test. For the allegorical reader the 賦 measures the sheer kinetic force of the unbound 心猿 — power without method can still overwhelm method, which is exactly why it must in the end be bound rather than beaten.