第六十三回 · 打得稀爛 Beaten To A Pulp — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

打得稀爛 Beaten To A Pulp

卻què說shuō孫sūn行xíng者zhě立lì於yú潭tán岸àn等děng候hòu，忽hū見jiàn他tā們men追zhuī趕gǎn八bā戒jiè，出chū離lí水shuǐ中zhōng，就jiù半bàn踏tà雲yún霧wù，掣chè鐵tiě棒bàng，喝hè聲shēng：「休xiū走zǒu！」只zhǐ一yí下xià，把bǎ個gè老lǎo龍lóng頭tóu打dǎ得de稀xī爛làn。可kě憐lián血xuè濺jiàn潭tán中zhōng紅hóng水shuǐ泛fàn，屍shī飄piāo浪làng上shàng敗bài鱗lín浮fú。諕xià得de那nà龍lóng子zǐ、龍lóng孫sūn各gè各gè逃táo命mìng，九jiǔ頭tóu駙fù馬mǎ收shōu龍lóng屍shī，轉zhuǎn宮gōng而ér去qù。却què说shuō孙sūn行xíng者zhě立lì于yú潭tán岸àn等děng候hòu，忽hū见jiàn他tā们men追zhuī赶gǎn八bā戒jiè，出chū离lí水shuǐ中zhōng，就jiù半bàn踏tà云yún雾wù，掣chè铁tiě棒bàng，喝hè声shēng：「休xiū走zǒu！」只zhǐ一yí下xià，把bǎ个gè老lǎo龙lóng头tóu打dǎ得de稀xī烂làn。可kě怜lián血xuè溅jiàn潭tán中zhōng红hóng水shuǐ泛fàn，尸shī飘piāo浪làng上shàng败bài鳞lín浮fú。諕xià得de那nà龙lóng子zǐ、龙lóng孙sūn各gè各gè逃táo命mìng，九jiǔ头tóu驸fù马mǎ收shōu龙lóng尸shī，转zhuǎn宫gōng而ér去qù。

逐句解 Line by line

卻què說shuō孫sūn行xíng者zhě立lì於yú潭tán岸àn等děng候hòu，忽hū見jiàn他tā們men追zhuī趕gǎn八bā戒jiè，出chū離lí水shuǐ中zhōng，就jiù半bàn踏tà雲yún霧wù，掣chè鐵tiě棒bàng，喝hè聲shēng：「休xiū走zǒu！」却què说shuō孙sūn行xíng者zhě立lì于yú潭tán岸àn等děng候hòu，忽hū见jiàn他tā们men追zhuī赶gǎn八bā戒jiè，出chū离lí水shuǐ中zhōng，就jiù半bàn踏tà云yún雾wù，掣chè铁tiě棒bàng，喝hè声shēng：「休xiū走zǒu！」

We tell now how Sun the Pilgrim stood waiting on the bank of the pool; and seeing them come chasing Eight Rules up out of the water, he set half a foot on the cloudy mist, whipped out the iron cudgel and shouted, "Stand where you are!"

The fourth and last 卻說 of the chapter. 喝聲 keeps 喝 at hè, where pypinyin gives hē; the corpus has met this default several times and 喝道 is nearly the only frame it gets right. 半踏雲霧 is to have one foot on the mist and one on the ground, which is exactly where an ambush waits.

只zhǐ一yí下xià，把bǎ個gè老lǎo龍lóng頭tóu打dǎ得de稀xī爛làn。只zhǐ一yí下xià，把bǎ个gè老lǎo龙lóng头tóu打dǎ得de稀xī烂làn。

One blow, and the old dragon's head was beaten to a pulp.

打得稀爛 takes 得 at de, the linking reading, with the state of the head as its complement. 爛 holds làn by the invariant ruling. 一下 takes 一 at yí before the falling 下 xià. Twelve graphs, and the chapter's first death.

可kě憐lián血xuè濺jiàn潭tán中zhōng紅hóng水shuǐ泛fàn，屍shī飄piāo浪làng上shàng敗bài鱗lín浮fú。可kě怜lián血xuè溅jiàn潭tán中zhōng红hóng水shuǐ泛fàn，尸shī飘piāo浪làng上shàng败bài鳞lín浮fú。

Pity it — blood spurted, and red water spread over the pool; the corpse drifted, and broken scales floated on the waves.

⚠ A seven-graph couplet printed as prose, with 可憐 fused to its head. The line it sits on carries no verse marker in the source, so it is authored as prose and stays in a three-panel passage — the second such couplet in the chapter. 血 is xuè, and 中 is zhōng.

諕xià得de那nà龍lóng子zǐ、龍lóng孫sūn各gè各gè逃táo命mìng，九jiǔ頭tóu駙fù馬mǎ收shōu龍lóng屍shī，轉zhuǎn宮gōng而ér去qù。諕xià得de那nà龙lóng子zǐ、龙lóng孙sūn各gè各gè逃táo命mìng，九jiǔ头tóu驸fù马mǎ收shōu龙lóng尸shī，转zhuǎn宫gōng而ér去qù。

It so terrified the dragon sons and dragon grandsons that every one of them fled for his life; and the nine-headed son-in-law gathered up the dragon's corpse and turned back to the palace.

諕 stands at xià by the invariant ruling, where pypinyin gives háo, and 諕得 takes the linking 得 de — the third of this graph's four occurrences in the chapter. 龍子 again takes zǐ, and 逃命 is one of the chapter's two, against four of 逃生.

總評 Commentary

The killing takes twelve graphs. 只一下 — one blow — and the head is pulp. Everything the chapter has spent on the old dragon up to now, the terror, the wine, the questions, the delight in his son-in-law, is closed out in a single clause, and the clause does not pause over it.

Then the couplet, which is where the chapter puts what the prose withholds. Blood in the water and a body on the waves and broken scales floating, the whole of it opened by 可憐 — pity it. That is the only sympathy anyone extends to the old dragon, and it is extended by the narrator, in verse, after the fact.

It is also, formally, the second time in this chapter that a perfectly regular seven-graph couplet has been set on a prose line. The source's indentation is what settles how such a line is presented, not its metre, so it is authored as prose here exactly as 觀其形像十分惡 was in the battle scene.

The son-in-law's last act in the passage is to collect the body. He does not fight, and he does not pursue; he picks up his father-in-law and carries him home. The novel has now twice given this creature a domestic gesture at the moment of greatest danger.