第六十七回 · 打草驚蛇 Beating The Grass — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

打草驚蛇 Beating The Grass

行xíng者zhě見jiàn窟kū中zhōng無wú物wù，搴qiān著zhe棒bàng，跑pǎo過guò來lái叫jiào趕gǎn妖yāo怪guài。那nà八bā戒jiè聽tīng得dé吆yāo喝hè，自zì己jǐ害hài羞xiū，忍rěn著zhe疼téng，爬pá起qǐ來lái，使shǐ鈀pá亂luàn撲pū。行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，笑xiào道dào：「妖yāo怪guài走zǒu了le，你nǐ還hái撲pū甚shén的de了le？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「老lǎo豬zhū在zài此cǐ打dǎ草cǎo驚jīng蛇shé哩li。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「活huó獃dāi子zi，快kuài趕gǎn上shàng。」行xíng者zhě见jiàn窟kū中zhōng无wú物wù，搴qiān着zhe棒bàng，跑pǎo过guò来lái叫jiào赶gǎn妖yāo怪guài。那nà八bā戒jiè听tīng得dé吆yāo喝hè，自zì己jǐ害hài羞xiū，忍rěn着zhe疼téng，爬pá起qǐ来lái，使shǐ钯pá乱luàn扑pū。行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，笑xiào道dào：「妖yāo怪guài走zǒu了le，你nǐ还hái扑pū甚shén的de了le？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「老lǎo猪zhū在zài此cǐ打dǎ草cǎo惊jīng蛇shé哩li。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「活huó呆dāi子zi，快kuài赶gǎn上shàng。」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě見jiàn窟kū中zhōng無wú物wù，搴qiān著zhe棒bàng，跑pǎo過guò來lái叫jiào趕gǎn妖yāo怪guài。行xíng者zhě见jiàn窟kū中zhōng无wú物wù，搴qiān着zhe棒bàng，跑pǎo过guò来lái叫jiào赶gǎn妖yāo怪guài。

Pilgrim, finding nothing in the hole, hoisted his rod and came running over, calling to give chase.

搴 is to lift or raise. 著 is the marker zhe, and 中 is zhōng.

那nà八bā戒jiè聽tīng得dé吆yāo喝hè，自zì己jǐ害hài羞xiū，忍rěn著zhe疼téng，爬pá起qǐ來lái，使shǐ鈀pá亂luàn撲pū。那nà八bā戒jiè听tīng得dé吆yāo喝hè，自zì己jǐ害hài羞xiū，忍rěn着zhe疼téng，爬pá起qǐ来lái，使shǐ钯pá乱luàn扑pū。

Hearing the shout, Eight Rules was ashamed of himself; he bore the pain, scrambled up and flailed about with his rake.

得 in 聽得 is the full verb dé, where the same character one segment earlier was the light de. 喝 is hè, to shout — the reading it takes everywhere in this corpus except when somebody is drinking. 鈀 is fixed at pá.

行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，笑xiào道dào：「妖yāo怪guài走zǒu了le，你nǐ還hái撲pū甚shén的de了le？」行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，笑xiào道dào：「妖yāo怪guài走zǒu了le，你nǐ还hái扑pū甚shén的de了le？」

Pilgrim saw it and laughed. "The demon has gone. What are you still swatting at?"

甚 is the question-word shén — automatic transcription gives the shèn that means "extremely" at this site. Three appearances of 了 in one short segment, all of them the completion marker.

八bā戒jiè道dào：「老lǎo豬zhū在zài此cǐ打dǎ草cǎo驚jīng蛇shé哩li。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「老lǎo猪zhū在zài此cǐ打dǎ草cǎo惊jīng蛇shé哩li。」

Eight Rules said, "Old Pig is beating the grass to startle the snake."

Here is a genuine four-character idiom, and it is still in daily use: 打草驚蛇, "beat the grass and startle the snake," means to tip off your enemy by being clumsy — the exact sense of the English "you've shown your hand." Eight Rules is using it to dignify some pointless flailing, and the joke is that the snake in question is an actual snake, and it has already been startled.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「活huó獃dāi子zi，快kuài趕gǎn上shàng。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「活huó呆dāi子zi，快kuài赶gǎn上shàng。」

Pilgrim said, "You perfect idiot. Come on, after him."

活 intensifies the noun after it — a downright, out-and-out idiot.

總評 Commentary

Eight Rules gets up because he has been shouted at, not because he has recovered, and the text says so plainly: 自己害羞, he was ashamed of himself. The flailing that follows is at nothing.

The proverb is the best line he is given in the chapter. Caught doing something pointless, he produces a four-character idiom that recasts it as strategy — and the idiom happens to be about snakes, which is what they are chasing. He is covering for himself and he is also, by pure accident, exactly on the subject.

It is his third proverb here. The first two were wrong about lanterns and rueful about a lost snake; this one is improvisation under embarrassment, and much the quickest of the three.