Canonical Classics ← 第六十八回
第六十八回
zhūguótángsēnglùnqiánshì
sūnxíngzhěshīwéisānzhégōng

At Purpuria the Tang Monk Discourses on a Former Life · Pilgrim Sun Practises as a Thrice-Broken Arm

下回分解
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

下回分解 To Be Continued

jìngzhèzhīkànchūshénmebìngláiyòngshénmeyàopǐnzhīduānqiětīngxiàhuífēnjiějìngzhèzhīkànchūshénmebìngláiyòngshénmeyàopǐnzhīduānqiětīngxiàhuífēnjiě


逐句解 Line by line

jìngzhèzhīkànchūshénmebìngláiyòngshénmeyàopǐn jìngzhèzhīkànchūshénmebìngláiyòngshénmeyàopǐn

There is no telling what sickness he will make out from this, nor what medicines he will use.

takes shén before at both sites, closing a chapter that has run the character through both its readings more than a dozen times.

zhīduānqiětīngxiàhuífēnjiě zhīduānqiětīngxiàhuífēnjiě

If you would know the truth of it, listen to the next chapter and it will be explained.

reads in 端的, the older spoken word for what is actually so — the second and last of the chapter's two, the first being the eunuch's promise at the drum tower. is fēn, to divide out or set forth.


總評 Commentary

The closer names the two things the chapter has withheld: what is wrong with the king, and what will be done about it. Everything up to here has been about getting into the room.

端的 comes round for the second time, two thousand characters after the first. A court eunuch used it at the drum tower to mean they would soon find out the truth; the storyteller uses it here to promise the reader the same thing, and then defers it to the next chapter.

What this chapter has actually delivered is a monkey who stole a royal proclamation to avoid buying vinegar, and who is now walking into a sick king's private apartments with three tail hairs and no medical training whatever.