原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
搭個橋兒
Have Him Make A Bridge
行者在妖精肚裡支著鐵棒道:「八戒莫愁,我叫他搭個橋兒你看。」那怪物躬起腰來,就似一道路東虹。八戒道:「雖是像橋,只是沒人敢走。」行者道:「我再叫他變做個船兒你看。」行者在妖精肚里支着铁棒道:「八戒莫愁,我叫他搭个桥儿你看。」那怪物躬起腰来,就似一道路东虹。八戒道:「虽是像桥,只是没人敢走。」行者道:「我再叫他变做个船儿你看。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者在妖精肚裡支著鐵棒道:「八戒莫愁,我叫他搭個橋兒你看。」
行者在妖精肚里支着铁棒道:「八戒莫愁,我叫他搭个桥儿你看。」
From inside the demon's belly Pilgrim braced his iron rod and said, "Don't grieve, Eight Rules. I'll have him put up a bridge for you to look at."
著 is the marker zhe. 肚 keeps its fixed dù. The offer is phrased as a performance — something for Eight Rules to watch.
那怪物躬起腰來,就似一道路東虹。
那怪物躬起腰来,就似一道路东虹。
The creature arched its back, and it was for all the world like a rainbow standing east of the road.
似 is fixed at sì. 虹 is hóng, the rainbow.
八戒道:「雖是像橋,只是沒人敢走。」
八戒道:「虽是像桥,只是没人敢走。」
Eight Rules said, "It may look like a bridge, but nobody would dare walk on it."
沒 is méi. The objection is practical and entirely beside the point, which is the shape of every response he makes in this scene.
行者道:「我再叫他變做個船兒你看。」
行者道:「我再叫他变做个船儿你看。」
Pilgrim said, "Then I'll have him turn into a boat for you to look at."
再 — "again," "next" — treats the objection as a request for a different item.
總評 Commentary
Pilgrim's answer to grief is a demonstration. He is inside a body that has just swallowed him whole, and his first move is to make that body perform a trick — announced beforehand, and staged for an audience of one.
Eight Rules criticises the bridge on grounds of safety. It is a good objection to a bridge and no objection at all to what is actually being shown him, and Pilgrim does not argue. He simply offers the next item.
The exchange has the rhythm of a shop rather than a rescue. Something is produced, found wanting, replaced with something else — and each offer closes on the same phrase, 你看, "have a look."