掙挫不得 You Cannot Wriggle Out
隨又結束整齊,帶了寶貝,舉著那輕軟狼牙棒,走出門來,叫道:「孫悟空,今番掙挫不得了。」行者罵道:「潑怪物,我怎麼掙挫不得?」妖王道:「我見你計窮力竭,無處求人,獨自個強來支持,如今拿住,再沒個甚麼神兵救拔,此所以說你掙挫不得也。」行者道:「這怪不知死活。莫說嘴,吃我一棒。」随又结束整齐,带了宝贝,举着那轻软狼牙棒,走出门来,叫道:「孙悟空,今番挣挫不得了。」行者骂道:「泼怪物,我怎么挣挫不得?」妖王道:「我见你计穷力竭,无处求人,独自个强来支持,如今拿住,再没个甚么神兵救拔,此所以说你挣挫不得也。」行者道:「这怪不知死活。莫说嘴,吃我一棒。」
逐句解 Line by line
He girded himself up neatly, took his treasure, raised that light pliant wolf-tooth club and came out at the gate, calling, "Sun Wukong, this time there is no wriggling out."
掙 is zhèng. 康熙字典 gives this character exactly two sound-bands — one meaning to stab, one glossed as the same word as the 挫 standing beside it here — and no level-tone band at all, which rules out the reading a modern dictionary offers first. 得 is the unstressed particle: a verb followed by 不得 means cannot manage to.
Pilgrim cursed him: "You wretched monster, why can I not wriggle out?"
The taunt is thrown straight back with the same four characters, which is Monkey's habitual way of answering an insult in this chapter.
The fiend king said, "I see your schemes are spent and your strength gone, and you have nowhere left to ask; you have come alone to force it out. Once I have you, there will be no divine troops of any sort to pull you free — that is why I say there is no wriggling out."
沒 is méi and 甚 shén. The fiend sets out his reasoning in full, which no opponent in the chapter has done before, and every step of it is true.
Pilgrim said, "This monster does not know life from death.
不知死活 — cannot tell living from dead — is abuse, but given what is about to happen it is also a statement about the fiend's grasp of his own position.
Don't brag — take a taste of my rod!"
Seven characters, and all but one of them the challenge the fiend threw at the five dragons earlier in the chapter — 不要走,吃吾一棒 against this 莫說嘴,吃我一棒. The formula comes back in Monkey's mouth with 吾 exchanged for 我.
The fiend explains himself at length for the only time in the chapter, and what he produces is a piece of accurate strategic analysis: the enemy is out of allies, out of schemes, and has come alone; take him now and no rescue can follow. Every premise is correct.
The conclusion is wrong because a premise is missing, and the missing premise is a word written in spittle on a closed hand. This is the chapter's method in miniature — the fiend has beaten everything he could see, and is undone by the one thing that was never shown to him.
No wriggling out is said three times in five segments, twice by the fiend and once thrown back at him. It is the most repeated phrase in the chapter and it is about to be proved false.