Canonical Classics ← 第六十回
第六十回
niúwángzhànhuáyán
sūnxíngzhěèr調tiáojiāoshàn

The Bull Demon King Breaks Off the Fight for a Splendid Banquet · Sun the Pilgrim Contrives the Second Fetching of the Banana-Leaf Fan

青鋒寶劍
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

青鋒寶劍 Two Blue Edged Swords

jiào:「bīnglái。」tóngdào:「yedebīngzàizhè。」niúwángdào:「nǎinaidebīngláiba。」shìjiāngliǎngqīngfēngbǎojiànpěngchūniúwángtuōleyàndeqīngróngǎoshùshùtiēshēndexiǎoshuāngshǒuchāojiànzǒuchūjiāodòngjìngbènhuǒyànshānshànggǎnláijiào:「bīnglái。」tóngdào:「yedebīngzàizhè。」niúwángdào:「nǎinaidebīngláiba。」shìjiāngliǎngqīngfēngbǎojiànpěngchūniúwángtuōleyàndeqīngróngǎoshùshùtiēshēndexiǎoshuāngshǒuchāojiànzǒuchūjiāodòngjìngbènhuǒyànshānshànggǎnlái


逐句解 Line by line

jiào:「bīnglái。」 jiào:「bīnglái。」

He called, "Bring my weapons."

Five characters, and no explanation offered to anybody. He has decided what he is going to do and is now equipping himself to do it.

tóngdào:「yedebīngzàizhè。」 tóngdào:「yedebīngzàizhè。」

A serving-maid said, "Your lordship's weapons are not here."

The staff have to tell him that his own weapons are in the other house. It is the quietest humiliation in the chapter and nobody comments on it.

niúwángdào:「nǎinaidebīngláiba。」 niúwángdào:「nǎinaidebīngláiba。」

The Bull King said, "Then bring your mistress's weapons."

is the imperative particle ba. And 你奶奶的 — your mistress's — concedes in three characters what the whole scene has been about: he is a guest in his first wife's house.

shìjiāngliǎngqīngfēngbǎojiànpěngchū shìjiāngliǎngqīngfēngbǎojiànpěngchū

The waiting-women brought out two blue-edged precious swords.

is jiāng, fronting the object. These are the Rākṣasī's own swords, the pair she took to the Great Sage at this door in the previous chapter.

niúwángtuōleyàndeqīngróngǎoshùshùtiēshēndexiǎoshuāngshǒuchāojiànzǒuchūjiāodòngjìngbènhuǒyànshānshànggǎnlái niúwángtuōleyàndeqīngróngǎoshùshùtiēshēndexiǎoshuāngshǒuchāojiànzǒuchūjiāodòngjìngbènhuǒyànshānshànggǎnlái

The Bull King stripped off the crow-blue velvet jacket he had worn to the banquet, girded his close-fitting under-dress, snatched up the swords in both hands, went out of the Banana-Leaf Cave and made straight for the Mountain of Flames in pursuit.

is chāo here, to snatch up — the other reading of the character, against the chuò of 假綽名聲 earlier in the chapter, where it meant a borrowed nickname. Both readings are now exercised in this one chapter. is bèn, to make straight for. And the velvet jacket he strips off is the one he put on to go drinking.


總評 Commentary

The arming mirrors the one a few passages into the chapter and shows how far he has fallen in a single day. Then he walked up to his own great hall, took down his own armour and his own iron staff, and came out to see who was making a disturbance at his gate. Now he asks for his weapons, is told they are somewhere else, and goes after the Great Sage with his wife's swords.

The clothing tracks the same descent. He put on golden mail to look at a stranger at the door; he changed into a velvet jacket to go out drinking; and he now strips the jacket off and girds his undershirt because there is nothing else in the house to wear. The chapter opened with a poem about his helm and armour and ends with him in his underclothes.

The swords are the sharpest detail. They are the Rākṣasī's — the same pair she swung at the Great Sage at this door in the previous chapter, and failed with. The Bull King sets out to avenge the theft carrying the weapons that already failed to prevent it.