Canonical Classics ← 第四十一回
第四十一回
xīnyuánzāohuǒbài
bèiqín

The Mind-Ape Suffers Defeat by Fire · The Wood-Mother Is Seized by the Demon

賺入洞中
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

賺入洞中 Carried Inside

yāowángxiàodào:「bāoshénmezhíqiánzhīzuǒyòushìshàngdebiǎnshānjiùmàozibēijìnláichāizuòchèn。」xiǎoyāoguǒjiāngbāobēijìnzhīshìxíngzhěbiàndexíngzhědào:「hǎolezhèxiāojīnbāobēizhele。」yāojīngwéishìdiūzàiménnèiyāowángxiàodào:「bāoshénmezhíqiánzhīzuǒyòushìshàngdebiǎnshānjiùmàozibēijìnláichāizuòchèn。」xiǎoyāoguǒjiāngbāobēijìnzhīshìxíngzhěbiàndexíngzhědào:「hǎolezhèxiāojīnbāobēizhele。」yāojīngwéishìdiūzàiménnèi


逐句解 Line by line

yāowángxiàodào:「bāoshénmezhíqiánzhīzuǒyòushìshàngdebiǎnshānjiùmàozibēijìnláichāizuòchèn。」 yāowángxiàodào:「bāoshénmezhíqiánzhīzuǒyòushìshàngdebiǎnshānjiùmàozibēijìnláichāizuòchèn。」

The demon king laughed: ‘That bundle has nothing of value in it — no doubt it's some monk's tattered robe and old cap; carry it in, and unpick and wash it for patching-cloth.’

The demon inspects the prize and dismisses it: some monk's worn-out robe and old hat, fit for cutting up into patching-cloth. is read bēi here, to carry on the back, not the bèi that means the back itself. His contempt is what carries Wukong through the gate.

xiǎoyāoguǒjiāngbāobēijìnzhīshìxíngzhěbiànde xiǎoyāoguǒjiāngbāobēijìnzhīshìxíngzhěbiànde

One little imp did carry the bundle in on his back, not knowing it was the Pilgrim transformed.

An imp shoulders the bundle and walks it in, not knowing what he is carrying. The novel states the fact plainly rather than milking it, which is the right choice.

xíngzhědào:「hǎolezhèxiāojīnbāobēizhele。」 xíngzhědào:「hǎolezhèxiāojīnbāobēizhele。」

The Pilgrim said to himself: ‘Good — this gold-embroidered bundle has been carried in.’

Wukong, being a bundle, congratulates himself. It is a small line and it is the first time since the fire that anything has gone his way.

yāojīngwéishìdiūzàiménnèi yāojīngwéishìdiūzàiménnèi

The demon, thinking nothing of it, tossed it down inside the gate.

不以為事, thought nothing of it, and tosses him down inside the gate. The demon who out-thought the pilgrims at every turn for ten passages has just carried his enemy indoors and dropped him on the floor.


總評 Commentary

The ruse works completely, and it works through the demon's own contempt. He looks at the bundle, decides it is a poor monk's rags, and orders it brought in to be unpicked for patching-cloth. His imp then carries the Great Sage across the threshold that fire and smoke had twice defended.

This is the chapter's turn, and it is a quiet one. Everything Wukong tried by force failed -- the cudgel, the borrowed ocean, the charge into the flames. What gets him in is a shape-change and an enemy who could not be bothered to look properly.