第六十二回 · 猜拳吃酒 Two Fiends At Their Wine — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

猜拳吃酒 Two Fiends At Their Wine

好hǎo猴hóu王wáng，輕qīng輕qīng的de挾xié著zhe笤tiáo帚zhǒu，撒sā起qǐ衣yī服fú，鑽zuān出chū前qián門mén，踏tà著zhe雲yún頭tóu觀guān看kàn。只zhǐ見jiàn第dì十shí三sān層céng塔tǎ心xīn裡lǐ坐zuò著zhe兩liǎng個gè妖yāo精jīng，面miàn前qián放fàng一yì盤pán下xià飯fàn、一yì隻zhī碗wǎn、一yì把bǎ壺hú，在zài那nà裡lǐ猜cāi拳quán吃chī酒jiǔ哩li。行xíng者zhě使shǐ個gè神shén通tōng，丟diū了le笤tiáo帚zhǒu，掣chè出chū金jīn箍gū棒bàng，攔lán住zhù塔tǎ門mén，喝hè道dào：「好hǎo怪guài物wù，偷tōu塔tǎ上shàng寶bǎo貝bèi的de原yuán來lái是shì你nǐ。」好hǎo猴hóu王wáng，轻qīng轻qīng的de挟xié着zhe笤tiáo帚zhǒu，撒sā起qǐ衣yī服fú，钻zuān出chū前qián门mén，踏tà着zhe云yún头tóu观guān看kàn。只zhǐ见jiàn第dì十shí三sān层céng塔tǎ心xīn里lǐ坐zuò着zhe两liǎng个gè妖yāo精jīng，面miàn前qián放fàng一yì盘pán下xià饭fàn、一yì只zhī碗wǎn、一yì把bǎ壶hú，在zài那nà里lǐ猜cāi拳quán吃chī酒jiǔ哩li。行xíng者zhě使shǐ个gè神shén通tōng，丢diū了le笤tiáo帚zhǒu，掣chè出chū金jīn箍gū棒bàng，拦lán住zhù塔tǎ门mén，喝hè道dào：「好hǎo怪guài物wù，偷tōu塔tǎ上shàng宝bǎo贝bèi的de原yuán来lái是shì你nǐ。」

逐句解 Line by line

好hǎo猴hóu王wáng，輕qīng輕qīng的de挾xié著zhe笤tiáo帚zhǒu，撒sā起qǐ衣yī服fú，鑽zuān出chū前qián門mén，踏tà著zhe雲yún頭tóu觀guān看kàn。好hǎo猴hóu王wáng，轻qīng轻qīng的de挟xié着zhe笤tiáo帚zhǒu，撒sā起qǐ衣yī服fú，钻zuān出chū前qián门mén，踏tà着zhe云yún头tóu观guān看kàn。

Good Monkey King! Tucking the broom lightly under his arm and gathering up his robe, he slipped out at the front door and stood on a cloud head to look.

好猴王, Good Monkey King, is the storyteller's exclamation that marks the start of a set-piece of action. 著 stands twice in this one sentence and both are zhe, the while-it-is-going-on reading: holding the broom, treading the cloud.

只zhǐ見jiàn第dì十shí三sān層céng塔tǎ心xīn裡lǐ坐zuò著zhe兩liǎng個gè妖yāo精jīng，面miàn前qián放fàng一yì盤pán下xià飯fàn、一yì隻zhī碗wǎn、一yì把bǎ壺hú，在zài那nà裡lǐ猜cāi拳quán吃chī酒jiǔ哩li。只zhǐ见jiàn第dì十shí三sān层céng塔tǎ心xīn里lǐ坐zuò着zhe两liǎng个gè妖yāo精jīng，面miàn前qián放fàng一yì盘pán下xià饭fàn、一yì只zhī碗wǎn、一yì把bǎ壶hú，在zài那nà里lǐ猜cāi拳quán吃chī酒jiǔ哩li。

He saw, in the heart of the thirteenth storey, two fiends sitting, with a dish of relishes, a bowl and a pot set out before them, playing the finger-game and drinking away there.

猜拳 is the finger-guessing drinking game, where each round's loser drinks — the ancestor of every bar game since. What makes the picture, though, is the tableware: one dish, one bowl, one pot. That is two men settled in for the evening, not anything supernatural.

行xíng者zhě使shǐ個gè神shén通tōng，丟diū了le笤tiáo帚zhǒu，掣chè出chū金jīn箍gū棒bàng，攔lán住zhù塔tǎ門mén，喝hè道dào：「好hǎo怪guài物wù，偷tōu塔tǎ上shàng寶bǎo貝bèi的de原yuán來lái是shì你nǐ。」行xíng者zhě使shǐ个gè神shén通tōng，丢diū了le笤tiáo帚zhǒu，掣chè出chū金jīn箍gū棒bàng，拦lán住zhù塔tǎ门mén，喝hè道dào：「好hǎo怪guài物wù，偷tōu塔tǎ上shàng宝bǎo贝bèi的de原yuán来lái是shì你nǐ。」

Pilgrim worked a spell, threw down the broom, drew out his gold-hooped rod, barred the pagoda door and shouted, "So, monsters! It was you who stole the treasure from the pagoda after all."

喝道 is the shouting 喝, hè, and not the hē of drinking — which is worth marking, given what these two have been doing. And 原來是你, so it was you after all, is an accusation. It is also, as the very next passage establishes, wrong.

總評 Commentary

What is on top of the pagoda is not a guardian, not a spirit and not a sentinel. It is two of somebody's underlings drinking, with a pot and one bowl between them, playing a game with their fingers. The novel has built a whole chapter of ruined splendour and unexplained portents and then puts a pub game at the top of it.

The anticlimax is deliberate and it is also the solution. Three years of investigation failed because everybody went looking for a culprit inside the institution. What was actually up there was two nobodies posted to watch the place, and all it took to find them was one person climbing the stairs at night.

Pilgrim's shout gets the accusation wrong, and gets it wrong the same way the court did — he sees who is there and concludes that they did it. The difference is that he keeps them alive long enough to be corrected.