第五十八回 · 只除駕雲 The Old Man Marvels — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

只除駕雲 The Old Man Marvels

老lǎo者zhě道dào：「爺yé爺ye呀ya！似sì這zhè幾jǐ日rì，就jiù走zǒu了le這zhè許xǔ多duō路lù，只zhǐ除chú是shì駕jià雲yún，方fāng能néng夠gòu得dé到dào！」八bā戒jiè道dào：「不bú是shì駕jià雲yún，如rú何hé過guò海hǎi？」沙shā僧sēng道dào：「我wǒ們men那nǎ算suàn得dé走zǒu路lù，若ruò是shì我wǒ大dà師shī兄xiōng，只zhǐ消xiāo一yī二èr日rì，可kě往wǎng回huí也yě。」老lǎo者zhě道dào：「爷yé爷ye呀ya！似sì这zhè几jǐ日rì，就jiù走zǒu了le这zhè许xǔ多duō路lù，只zhǐ除chú是shì驾jià云yún，方fāng能néng够gòu得dé到dào！」八bā戒jiè道dào：「不bú是shì驾jià云yún，如rú何hé过guò海hǎi？」沙shā僧sēng道dào：「我wǒ们men那nǎ算suàn得dé走zǒu路lù，若ruò是shì我wǒ大dà师shī兄xiōng，只zhǐ消xiāo一yī二èr日rì，可kě往wǎng回huí也yě。」

逐句解 Line by line

老lǎo者zhě道dào：「爺yé爺ye呀ya！似sì這zhè幾jǐ日rì，就jiù走zǒu了le這zhè許xǔ多duō路lù，只zhǐ除chú是shì駕jià雲yún，方fāng能néng夠gòu得dé到dào！」老lǎo者zhě道dào：「爷yé爷ye呀ya！似sì这zhè几jǐ日rì，就jiù走zǒu了le这zhè许xǔ多duō路lù，只zhǐ除chú是shì驾jià云yún，方fāng能néng够gòu得dé到dào！」

The old man said: "Good heavens! In these few days, to have walked so much road as that — unless you rode the clouds, there would be no way of getting there!"

爺爺呀 is the old man's gasp — grandfather! — and English has nothing closer than "good heavens". 似 is sì throughout the project.

八bā戒jiè道dào：「不bú是shì駕jià雲yún，如rú何hé過guò海hǎi？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「不bú是shì驾jià云yún，如rú何hé过guò海hǎi？」

Eight Rules said: "If we did not ride the clouds, how should we have got across the sea?"

Eight Rules answers an impossibility with a rhetorical question, conceding the marvel without noticing that it is one.

沙shā僧sēng道dào：「我wǒ們men那nǎ算suàn得dé走zǒu路lù，若ruò是shì我wǒ大dà師shī兄xiōng，只zhǐ消xiāo一yī二èr日rì，可kě往wǎng回huí也yě。」沙shā僧sēng道dào：「我wǒ们men那nǎ算suàn得dé走zǒu路lù，若ruò是shì我wǒ大dà师shī兄xiōng，只zhǐ消xiāo一yī二èr日rì，可kě往wǎng回huí也yě。」

Sha Monk said: "How should we count that as walking? If it were our eldest brother, he would need only a day or two, and could go and come back again."

我們那算得走路: 那 here is nǎ, the rhetorical "how", against the six pointing nà readings scattered through this stretch. In 一二日 the 一 keeps its full yī: 一二 is a pair of numbers being counted off, and the tone does not shift, just as it does not in 一一.

總評 Commentary

The exchange is played entirely for the household's benefit, and the pilgrims have no idea they are performing. 只除是駕雲，方能夠得到 is offered by the old man as an absurdity — nobody could do that unless they flew — and Eight Rules simply agrees that they flew.

Sha Monk's contribution is the best line in the passage. Asked to marvel at two hundred thousand lǐ in three days, he waves it away as barely walking and points out that his eldest brother would have managed it in a day or two. It is offered as modesty and functions as boasting, and underneath both it is a piece of characterisation of Wukong delivered while he is off somewhere being unidentifiable.

There is something quietly sad in it too. The chapter's whole crisis is that nobody can pick Wukong out of a pair; here his own companions describe what he can do with easy familiarity, as a settled fact about a man they know well. Knowing what a person is capable of turns out not to be the same as knowing which one he is.