Canonical Classics ← 第五十一回
第五十一回
xīnyuánkōngyòngqiānbān
shuǐhuǒgōngnánliàn

The Mind-Monkey Spends a Thousand Devices in Vain · Water and Fire Avail Nothing, and the Fiend Is Hard to Refine

六般兵器,一圈套去
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

六般兵器,一圈套去 Six Weapons, and the Ring Takes Them All

zhètài使shǐzhǎnyāojiànshǒuxiāngyíngliǎngshàngshǒuquècáidòushèngzhuǎnshānjiào:「léigōngzàikuàizǎozhuóyāoxiàléixiēzhùtàixiánglái。」dèngzhāngèrgōngyúnguāngzhèngxiàshǒuzhǐjiàntài使shǐchūláijiāngshēnbiànbiànzuòsāntóuliùshǒuchíliùbānbīngwàngyāokǎnláiwángbiànzuòsāntóuliùsānbǐngchángqiāngzhùzhètàiyòunòngchūxiángyāojiāngliùbānbīngpāojiāngshìliùbānbīngquèshìkǎnyāojiànzhǎnyāodāoyāosuǒxiángchǔxiùqiúhuǒlúnerjiàoshēng:「biàn!」biànshíshíbiànbǎibǎibiànqiānqiānbiànwàndōushìbānbīngzhòubīngbáofēnfēnwàngyāojiāngwánggōngránzhīshǒuchūbáisēnsēndequānziláiwàngkōngpāojiàoshēng:「zháo!」dexiàliùbānbīngtàojiāngxiàláihuāngdezhātàichìshǒutáoshēngwángshèngérhuízhètài使shǐzhǎnyāojiànshǒuxiāngyíngliǎngshàngshǒuquècáidòushèngzhuǎnshānjiào:「léigōngzàikuàizǎozhuóyāoxiàléixiēzhùtàixiánglái。」dèngzhāngèrgōngyúnguāngzhèngxiàshǒuzhǐjiàntài使shǐchūláijiāngshēnbiànbiànzuòsāntóuliùshǒuchíliùbānbīngwàngyāokǎnláiwángbiànzuòsāntóuliùsānbǐngchángqiāngzhùzhètàiyòunòngchūxiángyāojiāngliùbānbīngpāojiāngshìliùbānbīngquèshìkǎnyāojiànzhǎnyāodāoyāosuǒxiángchǔxiùqiúhuǒlúnerjiàoshēng:「biàn!」biànshíshíbiànbǎibǎibiànqiānqiānbiànwàndōushìbānbīngzhòubīngbáofēnfēnwàngyāojiāngwánggōngránzhīshǒuchūbáisēnsēndequānziláiwàngkōngpāojiàoshēng:「zháo!」dexiàliùbānbīngtàojiāngxiàláihuāngdezhātàichìshǒutáoshēngwángshèngérhuí


逐句解 Line by line

zhètài使shǐzhǎnyāojiànshǒuxiāngyíng zhètài使shǐzhǎnyāojiànshǒuxiāngyíng

The prince drew his fiend-cleaving sword and met him hand to hand.

相迎 takes xiāng, the "each other" reading — they met one another — against the xiàng of 相貌, looks, one passage back. 太子 takes .

liǎngshàngshǒuquècáidòushèngzhuǎnshānjiào:「léigōngzàikuàizǎozhuóyāoxiàléixiēzhùtàixiánglái。」 liǎngshàngshǒuquècáidòushèngzhuǎnshānjiào:「léigōngzàikuàizǎozhuóyāoxiàléixiēzhùtàixiánglái。」

The two of them had barely joined hands and begun their contest when the Great Sage darted round the mountain slope and called, "Where are the thunder lords? Go quick and drop a thunder-wedge at the fiend, to help the prince subdue him!"

著妖魔下個雷㨝 takes as zhuó, and the case is worth setting out. The frame is a dispatching one — have somebody do something — and Ch.5 carries the identical shape in 快著糾察靈官緝訪這廝蹤跡. Every zhe on this project's list leans back on a verb standing in front of it (望著, 照著, 執著), whereas 著妖魔 has no verb in front of it at all, so is heading its own phrase — and a bare in that position takes the formal reading zhuó, which the 廣韻 rhyme book records under 張略切. 降伏 takes xiáng, to subdue, not the jiàng of descending. 雷㨝 reads léi xiē. And note who is calling for the thunder-wedge: Wukong, on the prince's behalf, having brushed the same plan aside two passages ago. 那大聖 takes , 太子 takes .

dèngzhāngèrgōngyúnguāngzhèngxiàshǒuzhǐjiàntài使shǐchūláijiāngshēnbiànbiànzuòsāntóuliùshǒuchíliùbānbīngwàngyāokǎnláiwángbiànzuòsāntóuliùsānbǐngchángqiāngzhù dèngzhāngèrgōngyúnguāngzhèngxiàshǒuzhǐjiàntài使shǐchūláijiāngshēnbiànbiànzuòsāntóuliùshǒuchíliùbānbīngwàngyāokǎnláiwángbiànzuòsāntóuliùsānbǐngchángqiāngzhù

Deng and Zhang stepped onto their cloud-light and were on the point of striking when they saw the prince put forth his art: he shook his body into a change, became three-headed and six-armed, took six weapons in his hands and hewed at the fiend; and the demon king also became three-headed and six-armed, and held him off with three long spears.

Whatever Nezha does, the fiend does straight back — that mirroring is the whole design of the sentence, and the semicolon holds the two halves in one breath. 將身一變 uses as a grammatical helper introducing what gets acted on, read jiāng; 一變 gives . 長槍 takes cháng, long, not the zhǎng of growing up. Both instances of are the pointing .

zhètàiyòunòngchūxiángyāojiāngliùbānbīngpāojiāng zhètàiyòunòngchūxiángyāojiāngliùbānbīngpāojiāng

Then the prince brought out his fiend-subduing power and flung the six weapons up into the air.

降妖 takes xiáng. Then turns up twice in one sentence doing two different jobs, both read jiāng: in 將六般兵器 it introduces the things being flung, and in 拋將起去 it sits wedged inside the verb, carrying no meaning of its own and simply keeping the motion going. 太子 takes .

shìliùbānbīng shìliùbānbīng

And what were the six weapons?

takes . The narrator turns to the reader for one line and asks a question — this is where the storyteller's voice surfaces through the written book.

quèshìkǎnyāojiànzhǎnyāodāoyāosuǒxiángchǔxiùqiúhuǒlúner quèshìkǎnyāojiànzhǎnyāodāoyāosuǒxiángchǔxiùqiúhuǒlúner

They were the fiend-hewing sword, the fiend-cleaving blade, the fiend-binding rope, the demon-quelling pestle, the embroidered ball and the fire-wheel.

Count them, because in four segments they will all be gone: the fiend-hewing sword, the fiend-cleaving blade, the fiend-binding rope, the demon-quelling pestle, the embroidered ball and the fire-wheel. It is Nezha's standing kit, the full set. 降魔杵 takes xiáng, subduing. 火輪兒 ends in the light er that forms a name, against the ér of 孩兒, a child, in the previous passage.

jiàoshēng:「biàn!」 jiàoshēng:「biàn!」

He gave a great shout: "Change!"

一聲 gives .

biànshíshíbiànbǎibǎibiànqiānqiānbiànwàndōushìbānbīngzhòubīngbáofēnfēnwàngyāojiāng biànshíshíbiànbǎibǎibiànqiānqiānbiànwàndōushìbānbīngzhòubīngbáofēnfēnwàngyāojiāng

One became ten, ten became a hundred, a hundred a thousand, a thousand ten thousand, all of them weapons of the same kind, and like a driving rain of hail they came thick and close, beating down at the fiend.

One to ten, ten to a hundred, a hundred to a thousand, a thousand to ten thousand — thirty-three characters of pure escalation, and the largest display of force in the whole chapter. It gets exactly one sentence before the ring answers it. 都是 takes dōu; 打將去 has wedged inside the verb, read jiāng; 一變十 gives and 一般 gives .

wánggōngránzhīshǒuchūbáisēnsēndequānziláiwàngkōngpāojiàoshēng:「zháo!」 wánggōngránzhīshǒuchūbáisēnsēndequānziláiwàngkōngpāojiàoshēng:「zháo!」

The demon king was not in the least afraid. With one hand he took out that white and glistening ring, threw it up into the empty air and cried, "Hit!"

叫聲!」 takes zháo — the shout that means a blow has landed, exactly as at the end of Ch.50. Both instances of are the pointing ; 圈子 ends in the light zi; 不懼 gives and 一隻 gives . 白森森 is the particular white of bone.

dexiàliùbānbīngtàojiāngxiàlái dexiàliùbānbīngtàojiāngxiàlái

With a whoosh it brought the whole six weapons down and gathered them in.

套將下來 wedges inside the verb once more; 一下 gives . 唿喇 is a sound-word for one sudden sweep. Fourteen characters to undo the thirty-three that came before them.

huāngdezhātàichìshǒutáoshēng huāngdezhātàichìshǒutáoshēng

Prince Nezha was thrown into confusion and fled bare-handed for his life.

慌得 takes , takes , 太子 takes . And 赤手, bare-handed, picks up the 赤腳 of Wukong's opening lament: that is the chapter's second disarming, and it shares its word for "bare" with the first.

wángshèngérhuí wángshèngérhuí

The demon king went back victorious.

得勝 takes . Six characters close the first of the chapter's four defeats.


總評 Commentary

The engagement is built as a ladder and then kicked over. Nezha doubles himself, doubles his weapons, then multiplies them ten-thousandfold — thirty-three characters of escalation — and the ring answers with one throw and one word. The proportion is the argument.

does three separate jobs in this passage, all read jiāng: in 將身一變 it introduces what is acted on, in 將六般兵器 it marks what gets thrown, and in 拋將起去, 打將去 and 套將下來 it sits inside the verb with no meaning at all, simply carrying the motion along. Two of the three fall inside a single sentence.

赤手逃生 puts Nezha exactly where Wukong was in the chapter's opening lament, 空拳赤腳. The book is keeping a running tally of what the ring has taken, and it will be four sets of weapons before the chapter closes.