第五十八回 · 南天門外 At The South Heaven Gate — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

南天門外 At The South Heaven Gate

二èr人rén扯chě扯chě拉lā拉lā，口kǒu裡lǐ不bú住zhù的de嚷rǎng鬥dòu，徑jìng至zhì南nán天tiān門mén外wài。慌huāng得de那nà廣guǎng目mù天tiān王wáng帥shuài馬mǎ、趙zhào、溫wēn、關guān四sì大dà天tiān將jiàng，及jí把bǎ門mén大dà小xiǎo眾zhòng神shén，各gè使shǐ兵bīng器qì擋dǎng住zhù道dào：「那nǎ裡lǐ走zǒu？此cǐ間jiān可kě是shì爭zhēng鬥dòu之zhī處chù？」二èr人rén扯chě扯chě拉lā拉lā，口kǒu里lǐ不bú住zhù的de嚷rǎng斗dòu，径jìng至zhì南nán天tiān门mén外wài。慌huāng得de那nà广guǎng目mù天tiān王wáng帅shuài马mǎ、赵zhào、温wēn、关guān四sì大dà天tiān将jiàng，及jí把bǎ门mén大dà小xiǎo众zhòng神shén，各gè使shǐ兵bīng器qì挡dǎng住zhù道dào：「那nǎ里lǐ走zǒu？此cǐ间jiān可kě是shì争zhēng斗dòu之zhī处chù？」

逐句解 Line by line

二èr人rén扯chě扯chě拉lā拉lā，口kǒu裡lǐ不bú住zhù的de嚷rǎng鬥dòu，徑jìng至zhì南nán天tiān門mén外wài。二èr人rén扯chě扯chě拉lā拉lā，口kǒu里lǐ不bú住zhù的de嚷rǎng斗dòu，径jìng至zhì南nán天tiān门mén外wài。

The two of them, tugging and hauling at each other, brawling ceaselessly out of their mouths, went directly to the outside of the South Heaven Gate.

扯扯拉拉 — tugging and hauling — is one of those doubled-up sound words the novel scatters through its fight scenes. There is no dictionary reading peculiar to it, so it keeps the ordinary one.

慌huāng得de那nà廣guǎng目mù天tiān王wáng帥shuài馬mǎ、趙zhào、溫wēn、關guān四sì大dà天tiān將jiàng，及jí把bǎ門mén大dà小xiǎo眾zhòng神shén，各gè使shǐ兵bīng器qì擋dǎng住zhù道dào：「那nǎ裡lǐ走zǒu？慌huāng得de那nà广guǎng目mù天tiān王wáng帅shuài马mǎ、赵zhào、温wēn、关guān四sì大dà天tiān将jiàng，及jí把bǎ门mén大dà小xiǎo众zhòng神shén，各gè使shǐ兵bīng器qì挡dǎng住zhù道dào：「那nǎ里lǐ走zǒu？

This so alarmed Virūpākṣa the Broad-Eyed Deva King that he led the four great heavenly generals Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan, together with the gate-keeping spirits great and small, and each plying his weapon they barred the way: "Where are you going?

The gate-guards turn out by name and rank: the Broad-Eyed Deva King, four named generals, and everyone else on duty. 四大天將 takes jiàng. 慌得 takes the light de. And 那裡走 asks where — nǎ — against the pointing nà of 那廣目天王 earlier in the very same sentence.

此cǐ間jiān可kě是shì爭zhēng鬥dòu之zhī處chù？」此cǐ间jiān可kě是shì争zhēng斗dòu之zhī处chù？」

Is this a place for quarrelling?"

Eight characters, and both of the chapter's two words for "place" fall inside them: 此間 takes jiān, 之處 takes chù.

總評 Commentary

The gate-guards object to none of the substance. 此間可是爭鬥之處 — is this a place for fighting? — is the reaction of officials to a breach of decorum rather than of judges to a case, and it captures how the problem looks from outside. Two identical monkeys brawling at the gate of Heaven is, first of all, a nuisance.

The passage is also a small roll-call of the celestial bureaucracy: the Deva King, four generals by surname, and the anonymous gatekeepers under them. The novel is assembling the machinery that is about to be defeated. The more carefully the hierarchy is enumerated, the more pointed its coming failure.