Canonical Classics ← 第四回
第四回
guānfēngxīn
míngzhùtiānwèiníng

Appointed Bìmǎwēn, His Heart Finds It Not Enough · His Name Listed Equal to Heaven, His Will Is Still Unstilled

哪吒出陣
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原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

哪吒出陣 Nezha Takes the Field

língshénzhùbèihóuwángtóubànghuāngmángjiāngjiàchādeshēngbǐngzuòliǎngjiéchèshēnbàizhèntáoshēnghóuwángxiàodào:「nóngbāonóngbāoráolekuàibàoxìnkuàibàoxìn。」língshénhuízhìyíngménjìngjiàntuōtiānwángmángguìxiàdào:「wēnguǒshìshéntōngguǎngjiàngzhàndebàizhènhuíláiqǐngzuì。」tiānwángdào:「zhècuòruìtuīchūzhǎnzhī!」pángbiānshǎnchūzhātàibàigào:「wángqiěshùlíngzhīzuìdàiháiérchūshīzāo便biànzhīshēnqiǎn。」tiānwángtīngjiànqiějiàohuíyíngdàizuìguǎnshìzhèzhātàijiǎzhòuzhěngtiàochūyíngpánzhuàngzhìshuǐliándòngwàikōngzhèngláishōubīngjiànzhāláideyǒngměnghǎotàilíngshénzhùbèihóuwángtóubànghuāngmángjiāngjiàchādeshēngbǐngzuòliǎngjiéchèshēnbàizhèntáoshēnghóuwángxiàodào:「nóngbāonóngbāoráolekuàibàoxìnkuàibàoxìn。」língshénhuízhìyíngménjìngjiàntuōtiānwángmángguìxiàdào:「wēnguǒshìshéntōng广guǎngjiàngzhàndebàizhènhuíláiqǐngzuì。」tiānwángdào:「zhècuòruìtuīchūzhǎnzhī!」pángbiānshǎnchūzhātàibàigào:「wángqiěshùlíngzhīzuìdàiháiérchūshīzāo便biànzhīshēnqiǎn。」tiānwángtīngjiànqiějiàohuíyíngdàizuìguǎnshìzhèzhātàijiǎzhòuzhěngtiàochūyíngpánzhuàngzhìshuǐliándòngwàikōngzhèngláishōubīngjiànzhāláideyǒngměnghǎotài


逐句解 Line by line

língshénzhùbèihóuwángtóubànghuāngmángjiāngjiàchādeshēngbǐngzuòliǎngjiéchèshēnbàizhèntáoshēng língshénzhùbèihóuwángtóubànghuāngmángjiāngjiàchādeshēngbǐngzuòliǎngjiéchèshēnbàizhèntáoshēng

The Mighty-Spirit God could not withstand him: struck by the Monkey King's cudgel full at the head, he hurriedly raised his axe to parry — and with a crack the axe-handle was broken clean in two; he wheeled in haste and fled the field for his life.

The duel ends on a sound effect. 扢扠的一聲 is the text simply writing down the noise — roughly gē chā, a splintering crack — as the axe-handle goes in two. 不住 takes , 一棒 , 一聲 ; in 將斧 the is the object-marker jiāng.

hóuwángxiàodào:「nóngbāonóngbāoráolekuàibàoxìnkuàibàoxìn。」 hóuwángxiàodào:「nóngbāonóngbāoráolekuàibàoxìnkuàibàoxìn。」

The Monkey King laughed, "Milksop! Milksop! I've spared you already — be quick and carry the word, be quick and carry the word."

膿包 is literally a "pus-sac" and idiomatically a milksop — still a serviceable Chinese insult for somebody with no backbone. Wukong lets the beaten general go, and jeers him off the field.

língshénhuízhìyíngménjìngjiàntuōtiānwángmángguìxiàdào:「wēnguǒshìshéntōngguǎngjiàngzhàndebàizhènhuíláiqǐngzuì。」 língshénhuízhìyíngménjìngjiàntuōtiānwángmángguìxiàdào:「wēnguǒshìshéntōng广guǎngjiàngzhàndebàizhènhuíláiqǐngzuì。」

The Mighty-Spirit God returned to the camp gate, went straight to the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and hastily knelt with a nervous laugh: "Bìmǎwēn's powers are indeed vast and far-reaching; this lowly general could not best him, and has come back beaten to beg for punishment."

末將, "this lowly general," is the self-lowering term an officer uses to a superior; is jiàng. 戰他不得 is "could not beat him" — the potential construction, which is harder to admit than simply losing.

tiānwángdào:「zhècuòruìtuīchūzhǎnzhī!」 tiānwángdào:「zhècuòruìtuīchūzhǎnzhī!」

Heavenly King Lǐ flew into a rage: "This wretch has blunted my army's spirit — drag him out and behead him!"

剉吾銳氣, "blunted my army's edge" — (cuò) is to file something down. The Heavenly King's reflex on hearing the report is to execute the officer who brought it.

pángbiānshǎnchūzhātàibàigào:「wángqiěshùlíngzhīzuìdàiháiérchūshīzāo便biànzhīshēnqiǎn。」 pángbiānshǎnchūzhātàibàigào:「wángqiěshùlíngzhīzuìdàiháiérchūshīzāo便biànzhīshēnqiǎn。」

From the side stepped Prince Nezha, who bowed and pleaded, "Father, calm your anger and pardon Mighty-Spirit's fault for now. Wait till your child goes out to battle once, and we'll know the measure of him."

哪吒太子, Prince Nezha, steps in to spare Mighty-Spirit and volunteer himself — filial deference and ambition in the same bow. 一遭 takes before the level tone of ; 傍邊 is a variant writing of 旁邊.

tiānwángtīngjiànqiějiàohuíyíngdàizuìguǎnshì tiānwángtīngjiànqiějiàohuíyíngdàizuìguǎnshì

The Heavenly King heeded the remonstrance and ordered Mighty-Spirit back to camp, on probation, to make himself useful.

且教回營待罪管事: Mighty-Spirit is put on probation and told to make himself useful rather than beheaded. is causative jiào.

zhèzhātàijiǎzhòuzhěngtiàochūyíngpánzhuàngzhìshuǐliándòngwài zhèzhātàijiǎzhòuzhěngtiàochūyíngpánzhuàngzhìshuǐliándòngwài

Prince Nezha, his armor and helm trim and complete, leapt out of the camp and charged up to the Water-Curtain Cave.

甲冑齊整, "armour and helmet trim and complete" — (zhòu) is a helmet. The boy-general is dressed to the last strap.

kōngzhèngláishōubīngjiànzhāláideyǒngměng kōngzhèngláishōubīngjiànzhāláideyǒngměng

Wukong, just then coming to call in his troops, saw Nezha approaching, bold and fierce —

Nezha seen through his enemy's eyes, "bold and fierce." The novel keeps doing this.

hǎotài hǎotài

a fine prince:

好太子, "a fine prince" — the same cue phrase that opened Wukong's own portrait, now pointed at the other side.


總評 Commentary

The duel finishes exactly as the poem promised: abruptly. 巨靈's axe-handle snaps with a written-out crack, 扢扠, and Heaven's famous vanguard runs for his life with nothing chasing him but the word "milksop." Wukong's restraint is worth noticing. He spares the general precisely so that word gets back — he is treating the fight as a message, not a slaughter. His quarrel is still about recognition, not blood.

Heaven's own response is harsher than Wukong's. 李天王's first instinct on hearing the report is to behead his beaten officer for having blunted the army's edge — a flash of how brittle the celestial bureaucracy turns under failure, and how fast it punishes its own. Nezha's intervention, sparing 巨靈 and volunteering in his place, is both proper filial conduct and the standard move of the dynastic war-romance, where the young prince steps forward as the veteran falls.

The passage closes by framing Nezha through Wukong's eyes, "bold and fierce," and handing off to a portrait poem. The echo of the Mighty-Spirit episode is deliberate: another challenger, another approach to the cave, another … cue phrase. The novel is building a ladder of opponents, each more legitimate than the last, against an antagonist whose only credential is being strong enough to break them. The 心猿 cannot be talked down or outranked. It can only be met — and so far nobody in Heaven's array has met it and stayed standing.