原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
罵陣交鋒
Threats Before the Cave
巨靈神厲聲高叫道：「那潑猴！你認得我麼？」大聖聽言，急問道：「你是那路毛神？老孫不曾會你，你快報名來。」巨靈神道：「我把你那欺心的猢猻！你是認不得我。我乃高上神霄托塔李天王部下先鋒巨靈天將，今奉玉帝聖旨，到此收降你。你快卸了裝束，歸順天恩，免得這滿山諸畜遭誅；若道半個不字，教你頃刻化為齏粉。」猴王聽說，心中大怒道：「潑毛神！休誇大口，少弄長舌。我本待一棒打死你，恐無人去報信。且留你性命，快早回天，對玉皇說：他甚不用賢。老孫有無窮的本事，為何教我替他養馬？你看我這旌旗上字號，若依此字號陞官，我就不動刀兵，自然的天地清泰；如若不依，時間就打上靈霄寶殿，教他龍床定坐不成。」這巨靈神聞此言，急睜睛迎風觀看，果見門外豎一高竿，竿上有旌旗一面，上寫著「齊天大聖」四大字。巨靈神冷笑三聲道：「這潑猴，這等不知人事，輒敢無狀，你就要做齊天大聖。好好的吃吾一斧。」劈頭就砍將去。那猴王正是會家不忙，將金箍棒應手相迎。這一場好殺：巨灵神厉声高叫道：「那泼猴！你认得我么？」大圣听言，急问道：「你是那路毛神？老孙不曾会你，你快报名来。」巨灵神道：「我把你那欺心的猢狲！你是认不得我。我乃高上神霄托塔李天王部下先锋巨灵天将，今奉玉帝圣旨，到此收降你。你快卸了装束，归顺天恩，免得这满山诸畜遭诛；若道半个不字，教你顷刻化为齑粉。」猴王听说，心中大怒道：「泼毛神！休夸大口，少弄长舌。我本待一棒打死你，恐无人去报信。且留你性命，快早回天，对玉皇说：他甚不用贤。老孙有无穷的本事，为何教我替他养马？你看我这旌旗上字号，若依此字号升官，我就不动刀兵，自然的天地清泰；如若不依，时间就打上灵霄宝殿，教他龙床定坐不成。」这巨灵神闻此言，急睁睛迎风观看，果见门外竖一高竿，竿上有旌旗一面，上写着「齐天大圣」四大字。巨灵神冷笑三声道：「这泼猴，这等不知人事，辄敢无状，你就要做齐天大圣。好好的吃吾一斧。」劈头就砍将去。那猴王正是会家不忙，将金箍棒应手相迎。这一场好杀：
逐句解 Line by line
巨靈神厲聲高叫道：「那潑猴！你認得我麼？」
巨灵神厉声高叫道：「那泼猴！你认得我么？」
The Mighty-Spirit God shouted in a ringing voice, "You reckless ape! Do you know me?"
The vanguard opens with the standard challenge of the war-romance: do you know who I am? In 那潑猴 the 那 is the pointing nà, "that."
大聖聽言，急問道：「你是那路毛神？老孫不曾會你，你快報名來。」
大圣听言，急问道：「你是那路毛神？老孙不曾会你，你快报名来。」
The Great Sage, hearing this, asked at once, "What sort of nobody-spirit are you? Old Wukong has never met you — be quick and tell me your name."
那路毛神, "what sort of nobody-spirit are you" — here 那 is the question word nǎ, "which, what kind," not the nà of the line above. 毛神 is literally a "hair-spirit," a minor divinity not worth the name: Wukong answers a boast with a shrug. 不曾 takes bù.
巨靈神道：「我把你那欺心的猢猻！你是認不得我。我乃高上神霄托塔李天王部下先鋒巨靈天將，今奉玉帝聖旨，到此收降你。你快卸了裝束，歸順天恩，免得這滿山諸畜遭誅；若道半個不字，教你頃刻化為齏粉。」
巨灵神道：「我把你那欺心的猢狲！你是认不得我。我乃高上神霄托塔李天王部下先锋巨灵天将，今奉玉帝圣旨，到此收降你。你快卸了装束，归顺天恩，免得这满山诸畜遭诛；若道半个不字，教你顷刻化为齑粉。」
The Mighty-Spirit God said, "I'll get you, you deceitful baboon! So you don't know me. I am the vanguard general Mighty-Spirit, under Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Lǐ of the High Empyrean, come this day by the Jade Emperor's holy command to subdue you. Strip off your trappings at once and submit to Heaven's grace, and spare the beasts of this whole mountain from slaughter; but say half a 'no,' and in an instant I'll grind you to powder."
高上神霄 is the High Empyrean, the loftiest tier of Daoist heaven — he is quoting his own address as a credential. In 收降 the 降 is xiáng, "to subdue." 化為齏粉, "ground to powder" (為 as wéi), is still the phrase Chinese reaches for when something is utterly destroyed. 諸畜 takes 畜 as chù, and 教 is causative jiào.
猴王聽說，心中大怒道：「潑毛神！休誇大口，少弄長舌。我本待一棒打死你，恐無人去報信。且留你性命，快早回天，對玉皇說：他甚不用賢。老孫有無窮的本事，為何教我替他養馬？你看我這旌旗上字號，若依此字號陞官，我就不動刀兵，自然的天地清泰；如若不依，時間就打上靈霄寶殿，教他龍床定坐不成。」
猴王听说，心中大怒道：「泼毛神！休夸大口，少弄长舌。我本待一棒打死你，恐无人去报信。且留你性命，快早回天，对玉皇说：他甚不用贤。老孙有无穷的本事，为何教我替他养马？你看我这旌旗上字号，若依此字号升官，我就不动刀兵，自然的天地清泰；如若不依，时间就打上灵霄宝殿，教他龙床定坐不成。」
Hearing this, the Monkey King was enraged and said, "You reckless nobody-spirit! Don't brag with that big mouth, don't wag that long tongue. I'd have killed you with one blow of my cudgel, but then there'd be no one to carry word back. So I'll spare your life: hurry back to Heaven and tell the Jade Emperor that he badly fails to use the worthy. Old Wukong has boundless powers — why have me tend his horses? Look at the title on this banner of mine: if he promotes me by it, I'll set down my weapons and Heaven and earth will be at peace of themselves; but if he won't, then in no time I'll fight my way up to the Hall of Miraculous Mist and leave him unable to keep his dragon-throne."
The reply escalates from grievance to treason in a single breath: promote me by the name on that flag, or I come and take the throne. 為何 takes 為 as wèi, "for what reason," and 你看 takes 看 as kàn. The tones shift five times: 一棒 yí, 不用 bú, 不動 bú, 不依 bù, 不成 bù. 靈霄寶殿 is the Hall of Miraculous Mist, the Jade Emperor's own throne room.
這巨靈神聞此言，急睜睛迎風觀看，果見門外豎一高竿，竿上有旌旗一面，上寫著「齊天大聖」
这巨灵神闻此言，急睁睛迎风观看，果见门外竖一高竿，竿上有旌旗一面，上写着「齐天大圣」
Hearing these words, the Mighty-Spirit God hurriedly opened his eyes and looked into the wind, and indeed saw outside the gate a tall pole raised, and on the pole a banner, on which was written "Great Sage Equal to Heaven,"
He looks — which is the first time anyone from Heaven actually reads the banner. 觀看 takes 看 as kàn; 一高竿 takes yì and 一面 takes yí; 上寫著 takes 著 as the running zhe.
四大字。
四大字。
four great characters.
The four characters, 齊天大聖, land at the start of their own line. The edition keeps the break exactly where the 世德堂本 has it, so the name arrives with a beat before it.
巨靈神冷笑三聲道：「這潑猴，這等不知人事，輒敢無狀，你就要做齊天大聖。好好的吃吾一斧。」
巨灵神冷笑三声道：「这泼猴，这等不知人事，辄敢无状，你就要做齐天大圣。好好的吃吾一斧。」
The Mighty-Spirit God gave three cold laughs and said, "This reckless ape! So ignorant of his place, so brazen and unruly — you would be a Great Sage Equal to Heaven? Be so good as to take my axe!"
輒敢無狀, "brazen and without form" — 無狀 is the failure to hold the shape decorum requires, and it is what generals say about upstarts. 不知人事 takes bù; 一斧 takes yì before the dipping tone of 斧.
劈頭就砍將去。
劈头就砍将去。
And he hacked straight at his head.
In 砍將去 the 將 is the little linking syllable jiāng that gives a verb its direction — "hacked over at him" — and not the jiàng, "general," it was a moment ago.
那猴王正是會家不忙，將金箍棒應手相迎。
那猴王正是会家不忙，将金箍棒应手相迎。
But the Monkey King, an old hand and unhurried, met it square with his gold-banded cudgel.
會家不忙, "an old hand is in no hurry," which is exactly the tone the whole fight will take. Here 將 is the object-marker jiāng, working like 把. In 不忙 the 不 stays bù before the rising tone of 忙.
這一場好殺：
这一场好杀：
What a fight this was:
這一場好殺, "what a fight this was" — the storyteller's cue for a combat poem. 一場 takes yì before 場, which is read cháng here as the measure word for an event.
總評 Commentary
The pre-combat exchange follows the conventions of the war-romance — the demand "do you know me?", the trading of names and pedigrees — but what the two of them argue about is status, which is the chapter's real subject. 巨靈 recites his full bureaucratic address (vanguard under Heavenly King Lǐ of the High Empyrean) and orders Wukong to strip off his trappings and submit. Wukong points at his flag. Neither is really talking about power yet. They are arguing about whose name outranks whose.
Wukong's speech is the hinge. It begins as self-justification — boundless ability wasted on a stable — and then escalates, for the first time in the novel, into an open threat against the throne: give me the rank on that banner or I fight my way to the 靈霄寶殿 and unseat the Jade Emperor. The logic is almost childlike, give me the name on my flag and there will be peace, but the thing being bargained for is now the sovereignty of Heaven. The 齊天 banner has stopped being a boast and become a reason for war.
巨靈's three cold laughs and his incredulous "you would be a Great Sage Equal to Heaven?" voice the orthodox reaction: outrage at presumption, 無狀, the breach of cosmic good manners. But the passage gives its last beat to Wukong's composure — 會家不忙, the old hand who meets a descending axe square without hurrying. The contrast the narrative has been assembling, celestial bluster against simian readiness, is now fully set, and the poem that follows turns it into a verdict.