Canonical Classics ← 第四十五回
第四十五回
sānqīngguànshèngliúmíng
chēchíguóhóuwángxiǎn

At the Abbey of the Three Pure Ones the Great Sage leaves his name; in the Kingdom of Cart-Slow the Monkey King displays his magic.

恐滅苗裔
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

恐滅苗裔 A Show of Reluctance

dàoshìchuīxíngzhěkāiyándào:「wǎnbèixiǎoxiānbàiliúxiēshèngshuǐmenkǒngmièlemiáoruòyàoyòuróngle。」dàoshìchuīxíngzhěkāiyándào:「wǎnbèixiǎoxiānbàiliúxiēshèngshuǐmenkǒngmièlemiáoruòyàoyòuróngle。」


逐句解 Line by line

dàoshìchuīxíngzhěkāiyándào:「wǎnbèixiǎoxiānbài dàoshìchuīxíngzhěkāiyándào:「wǎnbèixiǎoxiānbài

When the Daoists had finished their piping and drumming, Pilgrim spoke up: “You juniors of the immortal ranks, you need not prostrate yourselves.

那道士 and 那晚輩: = both times, pointing at people who are there. 吹打 "piping and drumming," the ritual band. 不須: = .

liúxiēshèngshuǐmenkǒngmièlemiáo liúxiēshèngshuǐmenkǒngmièlemiáo

I was of a mind not to leave you any holy water, fearing it might cut off your line;

我欲 "I was inclined to." 不留: the rising tone of keeps at . 苗裔 "offspring, posterity, a line of descent" -- Wukong is gravely warning them that the gift might sterilise them, which is the sort of detail a real god would never think to invent.

ruòyàoyòuróngle。」 ruòyàoyòuróngle。」

but were I to give it you, it would come too easily.”

忒容易: () "too, excessively." The whole show of hesitation is Wukong stretching the joke out because he can.


總評 Commentary

Wukong plays the reluctant donor: first a solemn reason to withhold the gift, then a solemn reason to grant it. It is pure delay, and it works on the audience the way it works on the Daoists, by making them want the thing more.

"It would come too easily" is a small parody of how scarcity makes a favour precious. He is inventing divine reluctance from first principles and getting it about right. The audience, of course, knows what the boon actually is, and every pious word in the passage is sharpened by that knowledge.