第五十八回 · 假變聲音 How The Fiend Took My Place — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

假變聲音 How The Fiend Took My Place

不bù期qī這zhè個gè妖yāo精jīng假jiǎ變biàn弟dì子zǐ聲shēng音yīn、相xiàng貌mào，將jiāng師shī父fù打dǎ倒dǎo，把bǎ行xíng李lǐ搶qiǎng去qù。師shī弟dì悟wù淨jìng尋xún至zhì我wǒ山shān，被bèi這zhè妖yāo假jiǎ捏niē巧qiǎo言yán，說shuō有yǒu真zhēn僧sēng取qǔ經jīng之zhī故gù。悟wù淨jìng脫tuō身shēn至zhì南nán海hǎi，備bèi說shuō詳xiáng細xì。觀guān音yīn知zhī之zhī，遂suì令lìng弟dì子zǐ同tóng悟wù淨jìng再zài至zhì我wǒ山shān。不bù期qī这zhè个gè妖yāo精jīng假jiǎ变biàn弟dì子zǐ声shēng音yīn、相xiàng貌mào，将jiāng师shī父fù打dǎ倒dǎo，把bǎ行xíng李lǐ抢qiǎng去qù。师shī弟dì悟wù净jìng寻xún至zhì我wǒ山shān，被bèi这zhè妖yāo假jiǎ捏niē巧qiǎo言yán，说shuō有yǒu真zhēn僧sēng取qǔ经jīng之zhī故gù。悟wù净jìng脱tuō身shēn至zhì南nán海hǎi，备bèi说shuō详xiáng细xì。观guān音yīn知zhī之zhī，遂suì令lìng弟dì子zǐ同tóng悟wù净jìng再zài至zhì我wǒ山shān。

逐句解 Line by line

不bù期qī這zhè個gè妖yāo精jīng假jiǎ變biàn弟dì子zǐ聲shēng音yīn、相xiàng貌mào，將jiāng師shī父fù打dǎ倒dǎo，把bǎ行xíng李lǐ搶qiǎng去qù。不bù期qī这zhè个gè妖yāo精jīng假jiǎ变biàn弟dì子zǐ声shēng音yīn、相xiàng貌mào，将jiāng师shī父fù打dǎ倒dǎo，把bǎ行xíng李lǐ抢qiǎng去qù。

"Unlooked for, this fiend falsely changed himself into your disciple's voice and appearance, struck my master down and carried the luggage off.

相貌 takes xiàng. 將, here jiāng, and 把 both turn up in this one sentence doing the same job of introducing what gets handled — a doubling the everyday language allows without blinking.

師shī弟dì悟wù淨jìng尋xún至zhì我wǒ山shān，被bèi這zhè妖yāo假jiǎ捏niē巧qiǎo言yán，說shuō有yǒu真zhēn僧sēng取qǔ經jīng之zhī故gù。师shī弟dì悟wù净jìng寻xún至zhì我wǒ山shān，被bèi这zhè妖yāo假jiǎ捏niē巧qiǎo言yán，说shuō有yǒu真zhēn僧sēng取qǔ经jīng之zhī故gù。

My junior brother Wujing sought as far as my mountain, and was met by this fiend with a false and artful tale, saying that there was a true monk fetching scriptures.

假捏巧言, falsely kneading up artful words — 捏 is what you do to dough, and it is the standard verb for making up a story. The fiend has a cover story and delivers it under questioning.

悟wù淨jìng脫tuō身shēn至zhì南nán海hǎi，備bèi說shuō詳xiáng細xì。悟wù净jìng脱tuō身shēn至zhì南nán海hǎi，备bèi说shuō详xiáng细xì。

Wujing got himself away to the Southern Sea and set it all out in detail.

脫身, to get one's body away, to extricate oneself. Eleven characters for what took Sha Monk two whole passages to accomplish.

觀guān音yīn知zhī之zhī，遂suì令lìng弟dì子zǐ同tóng悟wù淨jìng再zài至zhì我wǒ山shān。观guān音yīn知zhī之zhī，遂suì令lìng弟dì子zǐ同tóng悟wù净jìng再zài至zhì我wǒ山shān。

Guanyin knew of it, and thereupon ordered your disciple to go with Wujing back again to my mountain.

觀 takes guān. 弟子 takes zǐ here as elsewhere; the automatic reading wavers between zǐ and the flat zi from one occurrence to the next, so each occurrence gets its reading set explicitly.

總評 Commentary

The account compresses hard. What took the narrative the whole opening stretch of the chapter — Sha Monk's journey, the raid on the cave, the return to Potalaka — Wukong gives in four sentences, and the compression suits a petition rather than a story.

假捏巧言，說有真僧取經之故 is new information, or at least newly explicit. The false Pilgrim told Sha Monk that there was a genuine scripture-seeking monk — meaning himself, and his own replacement party. He is not merely wearing Wukong's face. He has a cover story and delivers it when challenged.

It is worth noticing how little of this recital concerns the mechanism of the imposture. Wukong has no theory of what the fiend is. He describes what it did, in order, and leaves the classification to the being he is addressing — which turns out to be exactly the right division of labour.