第五十九回 · 無影無形 Blown Away Without A Trace — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

無影無形 Blown Away Without A Trace

那nà羅luó剎chà女nǚ與yǔ行xíng者zhě相xiāng持chí到dào晚wǎn，見jiàn行xíng者zhě棒bàng重zhòng，卻què又yòu解jiě數shù周zhōu密mì，料liào鬥dòu他tā不bú過guò，即jí便biàn取qǔ出chū芭bā蕉jiāo扇shàn，幌huǎng一yì幌huǎng，一yí扇shàn陰yīn風fēng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě搧shān得de無wú影yǐng無wú形xíng，莫mò想xiǎng收shōu留liú得de住zhù。這zhè羅luó剎chà得dé勝shèng回huí歸guī。那nà罗luó刹chà女nǚ与yǔ行xíng者zhě相xiāng持chí到dào晚wǎn，见jiàn行xíng者zhě棒bàng重zhòng，却què又yòu解jiě数shù周zhōu密mì，料liào斗dòu他tā不bú过guò，即jí便biàn取qǔ出chū芭bā蕉jiāo扇shàn，幌huǎng一yì幌huǎng，一yí扇shàn阴yīn风fēng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě扇shān得de无wú影yǐng无wú形xíng，莫mò想xiǎng收shōu留liú得de住zhù。这zhè罗luó刹chà得dé胜shèng回huí归guī。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà羅luó剎chà女nǚ與yǔ行xíng者zhě相xiāng持chí到dào晚wǎn，見jiàn行xíng者zhě棒bàng重zhòng，卻què又yòu解jiě數shù周zhōu密mì，料liào鬥dòu他tā不bú過guò，即jí便biàn取qǔ出chū芭bā蕉jiāo扇shàn，幌huǎng一yì幌huǎng，一yí扇shàn陰yīn風fēng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě搧shān得de無wú影yǐng無wú形xíng，莫mò想xiǎng收shōu留liú得de住zhù。那nà罗luó刹chà女nǚ与yǔ行xíng者zhě相xiāng持chí到dào晚wǎn，见jiàn行xíng者zhě棒bàng重zhòng，却què又yòu解jiě数shù周zhōu密mì，料liào斗dòu他tā不bú过guò，即jí便biàn取qǔ出chū芭bā蕉jiāo扇shàn，幌huǎng一yì幌huǎng，一yí扇shàn阴yīn风fēng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě扇shān得de无wú影yǐng无wú形xíng，莫mò想xiǎng收shōu留liú得de住zhù。

The Rākṣasī had held her ground against Pilgrim until evening; but seeing how heavy his cudgel was and how close-knit his play of arms, and reckoning that she could not beat him, she brought out the banana-leaf fan, gave it a shake, and with one fan of the dark wind she blew Pilgrim away without shadow or shape, so that there was no hope of keeping hold of anything.

解數 is the sequence of movements in a martial set, so 解 is jiě and 數 is shù. Both 得 here are the light toneless kind. 重 is zhòng, heavy. She loses the fight on the merits and wins it with the fan, which is exactly what the couplet about male hardness has just finished denying.

這zhè羅luó剎chà得dé勝shèng回huí歸guī。这zhè罗luó刹chà得dé胜shèng回huí归guī。

So the Rākṣasī returned home victorious.

得勝, "to gain the victory," with 得 as dé. Seven characters, flatly stated. The Great Sage has been beaten and the chapter does not soften it.

總評 Commentary

The prose restates the fight in the flat language of assessment: his cudgel was heavy, his play of arms close-knit, and she reckoned — 料 — that she could not beat him. She is not panicking. She has fought until evening, taken the measure of her opponent, concluded that she will lose, and reached for the thing that ends it.

And it ends it completely. One shake, one fan of dark wind, and the Great Sage Equal to Heaven is 無影無形, without shadow or shape, with nothing left to hold on to. There is no struggle and no counter-move. The novel has spent fifty chapters establishing that almost nothing can touch him, and the fan does it in a line.

這羅剎得勝回歸 — so the Rākṣasī returned home victorious. Seven characters, entirely without irony, and it is the only unambiguous defeat Pilgrim suffers in this chapter. The banana-leaf fan has just demonstrated why an entire district worships its owner once every ten years.