第六十六回 · 饒我命罷 Spare My Life — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

饒我命罷 Spare My Life

彌mí勒lè卻què現xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，嘻xī嘻xī笑xiào笑xiào，叫jiào道dào：「孽niè畜chù，認rèn得dé我wǒ麼me？」那nà妖yāo擡tái頭tóu看kàn見jiàn，慌huāng忙máng跪guì倒dǎo在zài地dì，雙shuāng手shǒu揉róu著zhe肚dù子zi，磕kē頭tóu撞zhuàng腦nǎo，只zhǐ叫jiào：「主zhǔ人rén公gōng，饒ráo我wǒ命mìng罷ba，饒ráo我wǒ命mìng罷ba，再zài不bù敢gǎn了le。」彌mí勒lè上shàng前qián，一yì把bǎ揪jiū住zhù，解jiě了le他tā的de後hòu天tiān袋dài兒er，奪duó了le他tā的de敲qiāo磬qìng槌chuí兒er。叫jiào：「孫sūn悟wù空kōng，看kàn我wǒ面miàn上shàng，饒ráo他tā命mìng罷ba。」弥mí勒lè却què现xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，嘻xī嘻xī笑xiào笑xiào，叫jiào道dào：「孽niè畜chù，认rèn得dé我wǒ么me？」那nà妖yāo擡tái头tóu看kàn见jiàn，慌huāng忙máng跪guì倒dǎo在zài地dì，双shuāng手shǒu揉róu着zhe肚dù子zi，磕kē头tóu撞zhuàng脑nǎo，只zhǐ叫jiào：「主zhǔ人rén公gōng，饶ráo我wǒ命mìng罢ba，饶ráo我wǒ命mìng罢ba，再zài不bù敢gǎn了le。」弥mí勒lè上shàng前qián，一yì把bǎ揪jiū住zhù，解jiě了le他tā的de后hòu天tiān袋dài儿er，夺duó了le他tā的de敲qiāo磬qìng槌chuí儿er。叫jiào：「孙sūn悟wù空kōng，看kàn我wǒ面miàn上shàng，饶ráo他tā命mìng罢ba。」

逐句解 Line by line

彌mí勒lè卻què現xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，嘻xī嘻xī笑xiào笑xiào，叫jiào道dào：「孽niè畜chù，認rèn得dé我wǒ麼me？」弥mí勒lè却què现xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，嘻xī嘻xī笑xiào笑xiào，叫jiào道dào：「孽niè畜chù，认rèn得dé我wǒ么me？」

Then Maitreya showed his true form, laughing and chuckling, and called, "Cursed beast, do you know me?"

認得我麼 is word for word what he said to Monkey when he first came down out of the cloud. The same four characters open his dealings with the rescued and the captured alike.

那nà妖yāo擡tái頭tóu看kàn見jiàn，慌huāng忙máng跪guì倒dǎo在zài地dì，雙shuāng手shǒu揉róu著zhe肚dù子zi，磕kē頭tóu撞zhuàng腦nǎo，只zhǐ叫jiào：「主zhǔ人rén公gōng，饒ráo我wǒ命mìng罷ba，饒ráo我wǒ命mìng罷ba，再zài不bù敢gǎn了le。」那nà妖yāo擡tái头tóu看kàn见jiàn，慌huāng忙máng跪guì倒dǎo在zài地dì，双shuāng手shǒu揉róu着zhe肚dù子zi，磕kē头tóu撞zhuàng脑nǎo，只zhǐ叫jiào：「主zhǔ人rén公gōng，饶ráo我wǒ命mìng罢ba，饶ráo我wǒ命mìng罢ba，再zài不bù敢gǎn了le。」

The fiend looked up and saw him, and dropped hurriedly to his knees, rubbing his belly with both hands and knocking his head on the ground, crying only, "Master! Spare my life, spare my life — I will not dare again."

罷 is ba here, the little word that softens a request into a plea — not the bà of the fixed phrase a segment earlier. Same character, two readings, two passages apart. 主人公, master, is the first word out of him, and it concedes the whole case Monkey put about slack discipline.

彌mí勒lè上shàng前qián，一yì把bǎ揪jiū住zhù，解jiě了le他tā的de後hòu天tiān袋dài兒er，奪duó了le他tā的de敲qiāo磬qìng槌chuí兒er。弥mí勒lè上shàng前qián，一yì把bǎ揪jiū住zhù，解jiě了le他tā的de后hòu天tiān袋dài儿er，夺duó了le他tā的de敲qiāo磬qìng槌chuí儿er。

Maitreya went forward, seized him at one grasp, untied his Bag of the Latter Heaven from him and took away his chime-mallet.

Twenty-four characters to recover both treasures, against the four scenes the chapter spent losing companies to them. Both 兒 are the unstressed ending.

叫jiào：「孫sūn悟wù空kōng，看kàn我wǒ面miàn上shàng，饒ráo他tā命mìng罷ba。」叫jiào：「孙sūn悟wù空kōng，看kàn我wǒ面miàn上shàng，饶ráo他tā命mìng罢ba。」

He called, "Sun Wukong, for my sake, spare his life."

看我面上 — for the sake of my face — asks a favour rather than giving an order, which is a notable way for a Buddha to address the creature he has just rescued.

總評 Commentary

The recognition scene mirrors the one that opened the Maitreya sequence. There he asked do you know me of a Monkey weeping on a hillside; here he asks it of a fiend rolling in a melon patch, and both times the question comes before any help.

Master settles the chapter's central question in three characters. Every establishment in the novel has been thrown at this creature without anyone knowing whose he was, and the moment he sees his own master he says so.

The disarming takes one sentence. Maitreya unties the bag and takes the mallet, and the two objects that have defeated the heavenly host, five dragons, two generals, a prince and four more generals change hands without resistance, because their owner has arrived.