今日喜兆 The Queen's Auspicious Dream
且說那驛丞整了衣冠，徑入城中五鳳樓前，對黃門官道：「我是迎陽館驛丞，有事見駕。」黃門即時啟奏。降旨傳宣至殿，問曰：「驛丞有何事來奏？」驛丞道：「微臣在驛，接得東土大唐王御弟唐三藏，有三個徒弟，名喚孫悟空、豬悟能、沙悟淨，連馬五口，欲上西天拜佛取經。特來啟奏主公，可許他倒換關文放行？」女王聞奏，滿心歡喜，對眾文武道：「寡人夜來夢見金屏生彩艷，玉鏡展光明，乃是今日之喜兆也。」眾女官擁拜丹墀道：「主公，怎見得是今日之喜兆？」女王道：「東土男人，乃唐朝御弟。我國中自混沌開闢之時，累代帝王，更不曾見個男人至此。幸今唐王御弟下降，想是天賜來的。寡人以一國之富，願招御弟為王，我願為后，與他陰陽配合，生子生孫，永傳帝業，卻不是今日之喜兆也？」眾女官拜舞稱揚，無不歡悅。且说那驿丞整了衣冠，径入城中五凤楼前，对黄门官道：「我是迎阳馆驿丞，有事见驾。」黄门即时启奏。降旨传宣至殿，问曰：「驿丞有何事来奏？」驿丞道：「微臣在驿，接得东土大唐王御弟唐三藏，有三个徒弟，名唤孙悟空、猪悟能、沙悟净，连马五口，欲上西天拜佛取经。特来启奏主公，可许他倒换关文放行？」女王闻奏，满心欢喜，对众文武道：「寡人夜来梦见金屏生彩艳，玉镜展光明，乃是今日之喜兆也。」众女官拥拜丹墀道：「主公，怎见得是今日之喜兆？」女王道：「东土男人，乃唐朝御弟。我国中自混沌开辟之时，累代帝王，更不曾见个男人至此。幸今唐王御弟下降，想是天赐来的。寡人以一国之富，愿招御弟为王，我愿为后，与他阴阳配合，生子生孙，永传帝业，却不是今日之喜兆也？」众女官拜舞称扬，无不欢悦。
逐句解 Line by line
We tell now how the warden set her cap and robes in order and went straight into the city to the front of the Five-Phoenix Tower, where she said to the officer of the Yellow Gate, 「I am warden of the Posthouse of Welcomed Yang, and have business for the throne.」
且說 is the storyteller's formula for taking up a second thread. 五鳳樓 is the gate-tower standing before the palace. 黃門官 is the eunuch usher of the inner gate, borrowed with the rest of the Han bureaucratic vocabulary the novel likes — and kept here although this court has no eunuchs and by definition can have none. 整了 marks the action completed; 城中 takes 中 as zhōng.
The Yellow Gate reported it at once.
Six characters, and the machine has already started turning. 啟奏 is the set verb for a subordinate laying a matter before the throne — the difference between telling someone something and filing it.
An edict came down summoning her to the hall, and the question was put: 「What business does the warden come to report?」
降旨 takes 降 as jiàng, to send down: the direction is throne to subject. It is the same character read xiáng when Wukong subdues a demon, which is worth holding on to — it comes back both ways later in the chapter. The question is asked without naming a speaker, which is the convention for words issuing from behind the screen.
The warden said, 「Your humble servant received at the posthouse the Tang emperor's own brother from the Land of the East, Tripitaka Tang, who has three disciples named Sun Wukong, Zhu Wuneng and Sha Wujing — five mouths counting the horse — and who wishes to go west to worship Buddha and fetch the scriptures.
The warden's report reproduces Pilgrim's declaration almost word for word, 連馬五口 and all, and the effect is of a form being copied up the chain. 接得 takes 得 as dé, attainment: she received them, and the receiving is accomplished.
I come expressly to lay it before Your Majesty: may they be permitted to have their passport countersigned and be let through?」
主公 is how these officials address their sovereign all through the chapter — a word for a lord that carries no gender at all. 倒換 again takes 倒 as dǎo.
When the queen heard the report her heart was filled with delight, and she said to the assembled civil and military officers, 「Last night We dreamed that a golden screen put forth brilliant colours and a jade mirror opened out its light. This was the auspicious omen of today.」
寡人 is a ruler's word for herself, rendered here with the royal We. Both objects in the dream are bridal-chamber furniture, and both receive an image or a colour and give it back: 金屏, a golden screen, and 玉鏡, a jade mirror. The dream is announcing a match, and she reads it correctly.
The women officials pressed forward and bowed at the vermilion steps, saying, 「Your Majesty, how is it seen to be the auspicious omen of today?」
怎見得 takes 得 as the de that asks whether a thing can be done — how is it to be seen? 丹墀 are the red-painted steps below the throne, where officials stand in audience. The court asks her to explain an omen everyone present can already see the drift of, which is itself a courtesy.
The queen said, 「The man from the Land of the East is the Tang dynasty's imperial brother.
Her answer begins not with the dream but with the man's rank, which is the part of the omen that actually interests her. 唐朝 takes 朝 as cháo, dynasty.
In this realm of ours, from the time chaos was first cleft open, through generation upon generation of sovereigns, never yet has a man been seen to come here.
混沌開闢 places the claim at the beginning of the world: this is not a recent condition but the country's original constitution. 累代 is lěi, one generation after another — not the lèi that means weary. 國中 takes 中 as zhōng, and 更 is gèng.
By good fortune the Tang emperor's brother has now come down to us; it must be that Heaven has bestowed him.
下降 takes 降 as jiàng, to descend — the verb used of a god or an imperial personage arriving, and she chooses it deliberately. 天賜來的 closes on de.
With the wealth of a whole kingdom We would take the imperial brother to be our king, and We would be his queen; We would join with him as yin joins with yang, bear sons and grandsons, and hand down the imperial estate for ever. Is that not the auspicious omen of today?」
陰陽配合 is the hinge of the passage: the queen names the deficiency the poem diagnosed and proposes the remedy in the same breath. Note that her reasoning is dynastic rather than amorous all the way through — sons, grandsons, a line of succession. 為 occurs twice and is wéi both times, the verb "to be, to act as"; 生子 takes 子 as zǐ, the noun "son."
The women officials bowed and danced in acclamation, and there was not one of them who was not delighted.
拜舞 is the formal court obeisance with dance movement, performed on receiving a gracious pronouncement — the ceremonial equivalent of a standing ovation. 稱揚 takes 稱 as chēng.
The court scene is a chain of correct procedure, and it is worth counting the links: the warden dresses, goes to the gate-tower, addresses the usher; the usher reports; an order comes down summoning her; she is questioned; she answers; she asks for a ruling. Only at the end of all this does anything unexpected happen, and what happens is that the sovereign has already decided, on entirely other grounds, before the petition is finished.
The dream is the mechanism. A golden screen putting forth colour and a jade mirror opening its light are both images of a surface that receives and gives back, and both are furniture of the bridal chamber. The queen does not have to interpret this for her court; she has to be asked, and the asking is a courtesy, since everyone present can hear where the reading is going. What the omen does is license a decision she is plainly delighted to make.
Her argument, when she gives it, is entirely about the succession. She does not say Tripitaka is handsome, or that she wants him; she says no man has entered this realm since the cleaving of chaos, that Heaven must therefore have sent this one, and that the wealth of a kingdom is a fair price for sons, grandsons and a dynasty. 陰陽配合 is a term about how the world is put together before it is a term about the bedroom, and she is proposing to repair a defect in the constitution of her world.
That is what makes the episode hard to laugh off, and the novel knows it. The queen of Western Liang is the most reasonable antagonist Tripitaka has faced. She holds legitimate office, follows her own law, consults her ministers, and wants something her country genuinely lacks. Nothing in this passage is demonic. The trap closing around the pilgrims is being built out of good governance and a lucky dream.