第六十三回 · 把臉一抹 He Wipes His Face — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

把臉一抹 He Wipes His Face

行xíng者zhě將jiāng兩liǎng個gè匣xiá兒er收shōu在zài身shēn邊biān，把bǎ臉liǎn一yì抹mǒ，現xiàn了le本běn像xiàng道dào：「公gōng主zhǔ，你nǐ看kàn我wǒ可kě是shì駙fù馬mǎ麼me？」公gōng主zhǔ慌huāng了le，便biàn要yào搶qiǎng奪duó匣xiá子zi。被bèi八bā戒jiè跑pǎo上shàng去qù，著zhuó背bèi一yì鈀pá，築zhù倒dǎo在zài地dì。行xíng者zhě将jiāng两liǎng个gè匣xiá儿er收shōu在zài身shēn边biān，把bǎ脸liǎn一yì抹mǒ，现xiàn了le本běn像xiàng道dào：「公gōng主zhǔ，你nǐ看kàn我wǒ可kě是shì驸fù马mǎ么me？」公gōng主zhǔ慌huāng了le，便biàn要yào抢qiǎng夺duó匣xiá子zi。被bèi八bā戒jiè跑pǎo上shàng去qù，着zhuó背bèi一yì钯pá，筑zhù倒dǎo在zài地dì。

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě將jiāng兩liǎng個gè匣xiá兒er收shōu在zài身shēn邊biān，把bǎ臉liǎn一yì抹mǒ，現xiàn了le本běn像xiàng道dào：「公gōng主zhǔ，你nǐ看kàn我wǒ可kě是shì駙fù馬mǎ麼me？」行xíng者zhě将jiāng两liǎng个gè匣xiá儿er收shōu在zài身shēn边biān，把bǎ脸liǎn一yì抹mǒ，现xiàn了le本běn像xiàng道dào：「公gōng主zhǔ，你nǐ看kàn我wǒ可kě是shì驸fù马mǎ么me？」

Pilgrim stowed the two caskets about him, gave his face a wipe, showed his own form and said, "Princess — do I look to you like your husband?"

匣兒 takes 兒 at the neutral er, a true retroflex suffix — the fifth and last 兒 of the chapter and the fourth of its retroflexes. ⚠ The same object is named six times in this stretch, five of them 匣子 and this one alone 匣兒. 一抹 takes 一 at yì before the dipping 抹 mǒ.

公gōng主zhǔ慌huāng了le，便biàn要yào搶qiǎng奪duó匣xiá子zi。公gōng主zhǔ慌huāng了le，便biàn要yào抢qiǎng夺duó匣xiá子zi。

The princess took fright and made to snatch the caskets back.

匣子 is back to the neutral zi one segment after the retroflex — the two forms of the same word, thirty-three graphs apart. 了 is the particle le, marking the fright as newly arrived at.

被bèi八bā戒jiè跑pǎo上shàng去qù，著zhuó背bèi一yì鈀pá，築zhù倒dǎo在zài地dì。被bèi八bā戒jiè跑pǎo上shàng去qù，着zhuó背bèi一yì钯pá，筑zhù倒dǎo在zài地dì。

But Eight Rules ran up, laid a rake across her back, and struck her down to the ground.

著 at 著背 is zhuó, the contact reading — the rake makes contact with the back — the same value it took at 鈀頭著重 in the hall. 倒 is dǎo, to fall over, where pypinyin gives the dào of reversal. 背 is bèi and 鈀 pá.

總評 Commentary

The reveal is done with a gesture and a question. He wipes his face — one clause — and asks whether she still takes him for her husband. There is no speech of triumph and no explanation; the question does all of it, and it is put politely.

Her response is to reach for the caskets, and Eight Rules puts a rake across her back. The chapter has now killed the head of this household, a son, a grandson, and struck down a daughter, and none of the four gets more than one clause.

The narrator names the same object two ways within six graphs — 匣兒 when it is in Pilgrim's coat and 匣子 when she grabs for it. Nothing turns on the difference, and the text does not mark it; it is simply how the spoken language moves.