第六十五回 · 一些瑕縫 Not The Smallest Flaw — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

一些瑕縫 Not The Smallest Flaw

卻què說shuō行xíng者zhě合hé在zài金jīn鐃náo裡lǐ，黑hēi洞dòng洞dòng的de，燥zào得de滿mǎn身shēn流liú汗hàn，左zuǒ拱gǒng右yòu撞zhuàng，不bù能néng得dé出chū。急jí得de他tā使shǐ鐵tiě棒bàng亂luàn打dǎ，莫mò想xiǎng得de動dòng分fēn毫háo。他tā心xīn裡lǐ沒méi了le算suàn計jì，將jiāng身shēn往wǎng外wài一yí掙zhèng，卻què要yào掙zhèng破pò那nà金jīn鐃náo。遂suì捻niǎn著zhe一yí個gè訣jué，就jiù長zhǎng有yǒu千qiān百bǎi丈zhàng高gāo；那nà金jīn鐃náo也yě隨suí他tā身shēn長zhǎng，全quán無wú一yì些xiē瑕xiá縫fèng光guāng明míng。卻què又yòu捻niǎn訣jué把bǎ身shēn子zi往wǎng下xià一yì小xiǎo，小xiǎo如rú芥jiè菜cài子zi兒er；那nà鐃náo也yě就jiù隨suí身shēn小xiǎo了le，更gèng無wú些xiē些xiē孔kǒng竅qiào。却què说shuō行xíng者zhě合hé在zài金jīn铙náo里lǐ，黑hēi洞dòng洞dòng的de，燥zào得de满mǎn身shēn流liú汗hàn，左zuǒ拱gǒng右yòu撞zhuàng，不bù能néng得dé出chū。急jí得de他tā使shǐ铁tiě棒bàng乱luàn打dǎ，莫mò想xiǎng得de动dòng分fēn毫háo。他tā心xīn里lǐ没méi了le算suàn计jì，将jiāng身shēn往wǎng外wài一yí挣zhèng，却què要yào挣zhèng破pò那nà金jīn铙náo。遂suì捻niǎn着zhe一yí个gè诀jué，就jiù长zhǎng有yǒu千qiān百bǎi丈zhàng高gāo；那nà金jīn铙náo也yě随suí他tā身shēn长zhǎng，全quán无wú一yì些xiē瑕xiá缝fèng光guāng明míng。却què又yòu捻niǎn诀jué把bǎ身shēn子zi往wǎng下xià一yì小xiǎo，小xiǎo如rú芥jiè菜cài子zi儿er；那nà铙náo也yě就jiù随suí身shēn小xiǎo了le，更gèng无wú些xiē些xiē孔kǒng窍qiào。

逐句解 Line by line

卻què說shuō行xíng者zhě合hé在zài金jīn鐃náo裡lǐ，黑hēi洞dòng洞dòng的de，燥zào得de滿mǎn身shēn流liú汗hàn，左zuǒ拱gǒng右yòu撞zhuàng，不bù能néng得dé出chū。却què说shuō行xíng者zhě合hé在zài金jīn铙náo里lǐ，黑hēi洞dòng洞dòng的de，燥zào得de满mǎn身shēn流liú汗hàn，左zuǒ拱gǒng右yòu撞zhuàng，不bù能néng得dé出chū。

Now Pilgrim, shut inside the golden cymbals, was in pitch darkness, so parched that he was running with sweat all over. He shoved left and butted right and could not get out.

Pitch dark, no air, and sweat running off him — the chapter's first look inside the trap. Watch the two 得 in one sentence take opposite jobs: de in 燥得, linking the parching to what it produced, and dé in 得出, heading a claim of its own — to manage to get out.

急jí得de他tā使shǐ鐵tiě棒bàng亂luàn打dǎ，莫mò想xiǎng得de動dòng分fēn毫háo。急jí得de他tā使shǐ铁tiě棒bàng乱luàn打dǎ，莫mò想xiǎng得de动dòng分fēn毫háo。

In desperation he laid about him with the iron cudgel, but there was no hope of shifting the thing a hair's breadth.

分毫 is the smallest unit the language keeps for this purpose, a tenth and a hundredth — the Chinese equivalent of not a hair's breadth. It turns up twice in this stretch, three hundred graphs apart, both times about the same failure. 莫想得動 parses as 莫想 plus 得動, so the linking de falls between them.

他tā心xīn裡lǐ沒méi了le算suàn計jì，將jiāng身shēn往wǎng外wài一yí掙zhèng，卻què要yào掙zhèng破pò那nà金jīn鐃náo。他tā心xīn里lǐ没méi了le算suàn计jì，将jiāng身shēn往wǎng外wài一yí挣zhèng，却què要yào挣zhèng破pò那nà金jīn铙náo。

He was at the end of his devices. He gave one heave outward, meaning to burst the cymbals apart.

He is out of ideas, so he tries brute force. 掙 reads zhèng: the Kāngxī dictionary carries only two spellings for the graph, 初耕切 and 側迸切, and the second — glossed 剉也, to snap or break off — is this one. There is no first tone in the entry at all. That in turn forces 一 to yí rather than yì, because the graph after it now falls in the fourth tone.

遂suì捻niǎn著zhe一yí個gè訣jué，就jiù長zhǎng有yǒu千qiān百bǎi丈zhàng高gāo；遂suì捻niǎn着zhe一yí个gè诀jué，就jiù长zhǎng有yǒu千qiān百bǎi丈zhàng高gāo；

So he made a sign and grew a thousand zhàng and more in height;

A zhàng is ten chǐ, a little over three metres, so a thousand of them is a formula for immensity rather than a measurement anybody is expected to add up. 長 is zhǎng, the verb of growing, which this stretch uses three times against a single cháng.

那nà金jīn鐃náo也yě隨suí他tā身shēn長zhǎng，全quán無wú一yì些xiē瑕xiá縫fèng光guāng明míng。那nà金jīn铙náo也yě随suí他tā身shēn长zhǎng，全quán无wú一yì些xiē瑕xiá缝fèng光guāng明míng。

but the cymbals grew with his body, and there was not the smallest flaw or seam to let light through.

瑕縫 pairs a blemish with a join, and 光明 is what would come through one if there were one. The sentence is the exact mirror of the one before it, which is why the source cuts them apart with a semicolon instead of running them together.

卻què又yòu捻niǎn訣jué把bǎ身shēn子zi往wǎng下xià一yì小xiǎo，小xiǎo如rú芥jiè菜cài子zi兒er；却què又yòu捻niǎn诀jué把bǎ身shēn子zi往wǎng下xià一yì小xiǎo，小xiǎo如rú芥jiè菜cài子zi儿er；

Then he made another sign and shrank himself downward, small as a mustard seed;

芥菜子, a mustard seed, is the standard figure for the least visible thing there is — the same seed the Gospels use for the same purpose. It comes back nine hundred graphs later, when he needs to be that small a second time. 小 is used first as a verb and then at once as an adjective: shrank small, small as.

那nà鐃náo也yě就jiù隨suí身shēn小xiǎo了le，更gèng無wú些xiē些xiē孔kǒng竅qiào。那nà铙náo也yě就jiù随suí身shēn小xiǎo了le，更gèng无wú些xiē些xiē孔kǒng窍qiào。

and the cymbals shrank with him, and there was not the least little opening.

些些 doubles a word that already means a little, which is about as small as prose can be made to go. 更 is gèng, the adverb of degree, answering 全無 in the matching sentence two units back.

總評 Commentary

The problem is set out as two experiments and two failures, in matched sentences. He grows enormous and the cymbals grow with him; he shrinks to nothing and the cymbals shrink with him. Both halves end on the same finding: no crack, no hole.

That symmetry is the chapter's real subject. The Great Sage's entire repertoire is transformation, and he has walked into an object that transforms with him. Neither size nor strength is any use against something that has no relative size at all.

The prose does something quiet with scale as well. A thousand zhàng and a mustard seed are the two ends of the available range, and the sentence closing each attempt shrinks its own vocabulary to match — 全無一些 after the growing, 更無些些 after the shrinking.