原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
歸山訴屈
Back to the Mountain
須臾，按落雲頭，回至花果山上。只見那四健將與各洞妖王，在那裡操演兵卒。這猴王厲聲高叫道：「小的們，老孫來了。」一群猴都來叩頭，迎接進洞天深處，請猴王高登寶位，一壁廂辦酒接風。都道：「恭喜大王，上界去十數年，想必得意榮歸也？」猴王道：「我才半月有餘，那裡有十數年？」眾猴道：「大王，你在天上不覺時辰。天上一日，就是下界一年哩。請問大王，官居何職？」猴王搖手道：「不好說，不好說，活活的羞殺人。那玉帝不會用人，他見老孫這般模樣，封我做個甚麼『弼馬溫』，原來是與他養馬，未入流品之類。我初到任時不知，只在御馬監中頑耍。及今日問我同寮，始知是這等卑賤。老孫心中大惱，推倒席面，不受官銜，因此走下來了。」眾猴道：「來得好，來得好。大王在這福地洞天之處為王，多少尊重快樂，怎麼肯去與他做馬夫？」教小的們快辦酒來，與大王釋悶。须臾，按落云头，回至花果山上。只见那四健将与各洞妖王，在那里操演兵卒。这猴王厉声高叫道：「小的们，老孙来了。」一群猴都来叩头，迎接进洞天深处，请猴王高登宝位，一壁厢办酒接风。都道：「恭喜大王，上界去十数年，想必得意荣归也？」猴王道：「我才半月有余，那里有十数年？」众猴道：「大王，你在天上不觉时辰。天上一日，就是下界一年哩。请问大王，官居何职？」猴王摇手道：「不好说，不好说，活活的羞杀人。那玉帝不会用人，他见老孙这般模样，封我做个甚么『弼马温』，原来是与他养马，未入流品之类。我初到任时不知，只在御马监中顽耍。及今日问我同寮，始知是这等卑贱。老孙心中大恼，推倒席面，不受官衔，因此走下来了。」众猴道：「来得好，来得好。大王在这福地洞天之处为王，多少尊重快乐，怎么肯去与他做马夫？」教小的们快办酒来，与大王释闷。
逐句解 Line by line
須臾，按落雲頭，回至花果山上。
须臾，按落云头，回至花果山上。
In a moment he brought his cloud down and returned to Flower-Fruit Mountain.
按落雲頭, "pressed his cloud down to land." Home again, after one look at how Heaven does employment.
只見那四健將與各洞妖王，在那裡操演兵卒。
只见那四健将与各洞妖王，在那里操演兵卒。
There he saw the Four Mighty Generals and the demon-kings of the various caves drilling their troops on the field.
四健將, the Four Mighty Generals, are Wukong's chief lieutenants on the mountain; 將 is jiàng, "general." 在那裡 is zài nà lǐ, "there," with 那 pointing — worth marking, because the same two characters turn into a question four lines below.
這猴王厲聲高叫道：「小的們，老孫來了。」
这猴王厉声高叫道：「小的们，老孙来了。」
The Monkey King called out in a ringing voice, "Little ones, old Wukong is back!"
小的們, "little ones," is how he addresses his monkeys — bossy and fond at once.
一群猴都來叩頭，迎接進洞天深處，請猴王高登寶位，一壁廂辦酒接風。
一群猴都来叩头，迎接进洞天深处，请猴王高登宝位，一壁厢办酒接风。
The whole troop of monkeys came to kowtow, ushered him into the depths of the grotto-heaven, begged him to take his high seat, and on one side laid out wine to welcome him.
Two tone shifts in one line: 一群 takes yì before the rising tone of 群, and 一壁廂, "on one side," takes yí before the falling tone of 壁.
都道：「恭喜大王，上界去十數年，想必得意榮歸也？」
都道：「恭喜大王，上界去十数年，想必得意荣归也？」
They all said, "Congratulations, Great King! You went up to the heavenly realm for a dozen years and more — you must have come home in triumph?"
十數年, "a dozen years and more." The monkeys have been counting, and their count is about to produce the chapter's best joke.
猴王道：「我才半月有餘，那裡有十數年？」
猴王道：「我才半月有余，那里有十数年？」
The Monkey King said, "It's been but a fortnight and a little more — where do you get a dozen years?"
Here is the pair to watch. In 那裡有十數年 the 那裡 is the question word nǎ lǐ, "where — how could there be?", where a few lines above the identical characters were the pointing nà lǐ, "there." The novel relies on the reader hearing the difference.
眾猴道：「大王，你在天上不覺時辰。天上一日，就是下界一年哩。請問大王，官居何職？」
众猴道：「大王，你在天上不觉时辰。天上一日，就是下界一年哩。请问大王，官居何职？」
The monkeys said, "Great King, up in Heaven you don't feel the passing hours. One day in Heaven is a whole year in the world below. May we ask, Great King — what office did you hold?"
And out comes the proverb: 天上一日，就是下界一年, "one day in Heaven is a year in the world below." Chinese folklore is full of this gap — the woodcutter who watches an immortals' chess game and comes home to find his grandchildren old. Wukong's fortnight of stable duty has cost his kingdom more than a decade. 一日 takes yí and 一年 takes yì; 不覺 is bù jué.
猴王搖手道：「不好說，不好說，活活的羞殺人。那玉帝不會用人，他見老孫這般模樣，封我做個甚麼『弼馬溫』，原來是與他養馬，未入流品之類。我初到任時不知，只在御馬監中頑耍。及今日問我同寮，始知是這等卑賤。老孫心中大惱，推倒席面，不受官銜，因此走下來了。」
猴王摇手道：「不好说，不好说，活活的羞杀人。那玉帝不会用人，他见老孙这般模样，封我做个甚么『弼马温』，原来是与他养马，未入流品之类。我初到任时不知，只在御马监中顽耍。及今日问我同寮，始知是这等卑贱。老孙心中大恼，推倒席面，不受官衔，因此走下来了。」
The Monkey King waved his hand and said, "Don't ask, don't ask — it shames a man to death. That Jade Emperor doesn't know how to use people. Seeing old Wukong's look, he made me some kind of 'Bìmǎwēn' — which turned out to be tending his horses, a thing below the very ranks. At first I didn't know, and just larked about in the Imperial Stable; only when I asked my colleagues today did I learn how base it was. In a fury I overturned the table, refused the office, and so came back down."
His account of it all, sour with wounded pride. 羞殺人 is "it shames a man to death" — 殺 as the intensifier shā, the same one still heard in 笑殺人, "kills me laughing." The tones: 不會 and 不受 both take bú before a falling tone, and 推倒 is tuī dǎo. 同寮 is a variant writing of 同僚, "fellow officials."
眾猴道：「來得好，來得好。大王在這福地洞天之處為王，多少尊重快樂，怎麼肯去與他做馬夫？」
众猴道：「来得好，来得好。大王在这福地洞天之处为王，多少尊重快乐，怎么肯去与他做马夫？」
The monkeys said, "Well come home, well come home! Here in this blessed grotto-heaven the Great King reigns — what honor and ease! Why would you go and be a groom for him?"
為王 takes 為 as wéi, "to be king." The monkeys' answer turns the demotion into Heaven's loss: up there he was a groom, down here he is sovereign. Loyal, and exactly the wrong medicine.
教小的們快辦酒來，與大王釋悶。
教小的们快办酒来，与大王释闷。
He bade the little ones quickly fetch wine to dispel the Great King's gloom.
教 is causative jiào, "bid them"; 釋悶 is "to dispel gloom." The cure for a wounded ego is more wine.
總評 Commentary
The homecoming does quiet but necessary work. After the cold hierarchy of Heaven — where he was unregistered, barred at the door and finally filed as a stable-hand — Wukong returns to a world arranged entirely around him: generals drilling, monkeys kowtowing, the high seat empty and waiting, wine already being poured. The contrast is the point. On Flower-Fruit Mountain his worth is simply assumed. In Heaven it had to be assigned, and it was assigned at the bottom. This scene is what lets the reader feel why the slight cut so deep.
The exchange about time — 天上一日，就是下界一年 — is more than folklore colour. It marks that Wukong is moving between two orders that do not convert into each other, and that his impatience is partly a mistake of measurement: he is pricing a celestial office in mortal pride. The monkeys' verdict, why be a groom when you are a king, is loyal and on its own terms unanswerable — and it flatters precisely the appetite that is driving him. Their wine to "dispel his gloom" soothes the wound without looking at it. The chapter is about to show how easily that wound reopens, and how cheaply it can be bought off.