第五十八回 · 徑上花果 Eight Rules Sets Off Alone — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

徑上花果 Eight Rules Sets Off Alone

沙shā僧sēng說shuō：「二èr哥gē，他tā那nà洞dòng前qián有yǒu千qiān數shù小xiǎo猴hóu，你nǐ一yì人rén恐kǒng弄nòng他tā不bú過guò，反fǎn為wéi不bù美měi。」八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「不bú怕pà，不bú怕pà。」急jí出chū門mén，縱zòng著zhe雲yún霧wù，徑jìng上shàng花huā果guǒ山shān尋xún取qǔ行xíng李lǐ不bù題tí。沙shā僧sēng说shuō：「二èr哥gē，他tā那nà洞dòng前qián有yǒu千qiān数shù小xiǎo猴hóu，你nǐ一yì人rén恐kǒng弄nòng他tā不bú过guò，反fǎn为wéi不bù美měi。」八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「不bú怕pà，不bú怕pà。」急jí出chū门mén，纵zòng着zhe云yún雾wù，径jìng上shàng花huā果guǒ山shān寻xún取qǔ行xíng李lǐ不bù题tí。

逐句解 Line by line

沙shā僧sēng說shuō：「二èr哥gē，他tā那nà洞dòng前qián有yǒu千qiān數shù小xiǎo猴hóu，你nǐ一yì人rén恐kǒng弄nòng他tā不bú過guò，反fǎn為wéi不bù美měi。」沙shā僧sēng说shuō：「二èr哥gē，他tā那nà洞dòng前qián有yǒu千qiān数shù小xiǎo猴hóu，你nǐ一yì人rén恐kǒng弄nòng他tā不bú过guò，反fǎn为wéi不bù美měi。」

Sha Monk said: "Second brother, there are a thousand-odd little monkeys before that cave. I fear that you alone could not handle them, and it would turn out badly instead."

千數 takes shù, a number, not the shǔ of counting things off. 反為 takes wéi, to turn out to be, rather than the wèi of doing something for a purpose.

八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「不bú怕pà，不bú怕pà。」八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「不bú怕pà，不bú怕pà。」

Eight Rules said with a laugh: "No fear, no fear."

Doubled for emphasis this time, by one speaker — unlike the doubled lines earlier in the chapter, where two mouths were talking at once.

急jí出chū門mén，縱zòng著zhe雲yún霧wù，徑jìng上shàng花huā果guǒ山shān尋xún取qǔ行xíng李lǐ不bù題tí。急jí出chū门mén，纵zòng着zhe云yún雾wù，径jìng上shàng花huā果guǒ山shān寻xún取qǔ行xíng李lǐ不bù题tí。

He hurried out of the door, mounted the cloud-mist, and went straight up to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to fetch the luggage — of which no more here.

縱著 takes zhe, keeping the ride going. 不題, no more of this here, is the storyteller parking a thread on a hook; he will not come back for Eight Rules for a long while.

總評 Commentary

Sha Monk's caution is well founded and Eight Rules waves it away in four characters. The exchange is a small character study: Sha Monk counts the odds, Eight Rules does not, and the novel lets both of them be right in their own way. The odds really are bad, and Eight Rules really will manage it.

不題 is the storyteller's device for hanging a thread on a hook, and its placement here is deliberate. The narrative drops Eight Rules in the middle of his errand and swings away to the underworld, so that the reader spends the next several passages knowing that a raid is going on somewhere off-stage. The chapter has been running two plots since Sha Monk turned back, and this is the moment it lets them come cleanly apart.