結拜弟兄 結拜弟兄 | Seven Sworn Brothers
行者道：「剛才這夥人都是本境土地、山神，我問他妖怪的原因，他道是牛魔王的兒子，羅剎女養的，名字喚做紅孩兒，號聖嬰大王。想我老孫五百年前大鬧天宮時，遍遊天下名山，尋訪大地豪傑，那牛魔王曾與老孫結七弟兄。一般五六個魔王，止有老孫生得小巧，故此把牛魔王稱為大哥。這妖精是牛魔王的兒子，我與他父親相識，若論將起來，還是他老叔哩，他怎敢害我師父？我們趁早去來。」行者道：「刚才这伙人都是本境土地、山神，我问他妖怪的原因，他道是牛魔王的儿子，罗刹女养的，名字唤做红孩儿，号圣婴大王。想我老孙五百年前大闹天宫时，遍游天下名山，寻访大地豪杰，那牛魔王曾与老孙结七弟兄。一般五六个魔王，止有老孙生得小巧，故此把牛魔王称为大哥。这妖精是牛魔王的儿子，我与他父亲相识，若论将起来，还是他老叔哩，他怎敢害我师父？我们趁早去来。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said: "That crowd just now were all the earth-spirits and mountain-gods of this district. I asked them where the monster came from, and they said he is the son of the Bull Demon King, born of the Rākṣasī, that his name is Red Boy, and his title the Sage-Boy Great King.
He repeats the spirits' testimony back, which is how the novel makes sure the reader has it. 都 is dōu, "the whole crowd of them." In 兒子 and 紅孩兒 the 兒 is a word in its own right, "child," and keeps its full ér — quite unlike the weightless 兒 tacked onto 小名兒 and 話兒 earlier in the chapter. 羅剎 transcribes the Sanskrit rākṣasa, a flesh-eating spirit, and its second character is read chà in that name, not the shā of an ordinary temple. 號 is hào, a formal style as opposed to a milk-name.
Recall that five hundred years ago, when old Sun made his great uproar in Heaven, I roamed all the famous mountains under the sky seeking out the stout fellows of the earth, and that Bull Demon King once bound himself to old Sun as one of seven sworn brothers.
And there it is. Sworn brotherhood — 結七弟兄 — was a real and binding institution, not a figure of speech: men who were no relation swore an oath before Heaven and thereafter ranked each other as elder and younger brothers, with all the claims that implies. Wukong is arguing that the demon owes him the deference due to a family elder. 那牛魔王 takes the pointing nà.
There were five or six demon kings of the same sort, and only old Sun had been born small and neat — so we styled the Bull Demon King eldest brother.
A lovely piece of self-deprecation with a boast folded inside it. The text says only that he was the smallest of them, and that this is why the bull got the eldest's title — the rank that follows is left for the reader to work out. In 生得小巧 the 得 is the light hinge de, joining the verb to how it turned out — "born in such a way as to be small and neat." And 稱為 has 為 as wéi, "to be, to serve as," not the wèi that means "on behalf of."
This demon is the Bull Demon King's son; I am acquainted with his father. Reckon it up, and I stand as his old uncle — how would he dare harm my Master?
The whole argument in one line, and it hangs on a word for an uncle. 老叔 is a father's younger sworn brother, which is precisely what Wukong is: a generation above the Red Boy by oath, entitled to respect he has done nothing to earn. 相識 has the mutual 相, xiāng — they know each other. In 若論將起來, "if you reckon it up," the 將 is the one that carries a verb along into a direction, jiāng, as in 跳將起去 earlier. 還是 takes hái, "actually, when it comes to it."
Let us go at once."
Six characters, and the confidence in them is the problem. Wukong has talked himself out of caution entirely.
Here the novel cashes a debt it has been carrying since its opening chapters. The Bull Demon King is not a new name: he was the eldest of seven sworn brothers, of whom Wukong — the smallest of them, by his own account — was one, in the years before Heaven was overturned and a mountain dropped on him. Sworn brotherhood was a real institution and not a turn of phrase. Men of no blood relation swore before Heaven and thereafter owed each other everything a brother owes. So Wukong's claim is precise and, in its own terms, sound: he stands to the Red Boy as 老叔, the father's younger sworn brother, a generation up.
What makes the passage more than a genealogy is the tone. Wukong is enjoying himself, and the boast is folded into the modesty — five or six demon kings, and only he was 生得小巧, born small and neat, which is why the bull got the eldest's place. It is the voice of the Monkey King before the pilgrimage, and it has been a long time since we heard it. The reader, who has watched this demon calmly torture the party for a whole chapter and who knows what kind of fire is waiting in the cave, is likely to find the confidence alarming rather than reassuring — which is exactly the effect the chapter wants as it hands over to the next.