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

招醫的皇榜
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

招醫的皇榜 You Took Down The Notice

quèzhuǎnshēnyàozǒuyòubèimiànqiándǎndechězhùdào:「jiēlezhāodehuángbǎngháijìncháozhìwànsuìquèdàiwǎng?」dāizihuānghuāngzhāngzhāngdào:「érzi便biànjiēlehuángbǎngsūnzi便biànhuìzhì。」quèzhuǎnshēnyàozǒuyòubèimiànqiándǎndechězhùdào:「jiēlezhāodehuángbǎngháijìncháozhìwànsuìquèdàiwǎng?」dāizihuānghuāngzhāngzhāngdào:「érzi便biànjiēlehuángbǎngsūnzi便biànhuìzhì。」


逐句解 Line by line

quèzhuǎnshēnyàozǒuyòubèimiànqiándǎndechězhùdào:「jiēlezhāodehuángbǎngháijìncháozhìwànsuìquèdàiwǎng?」 quèzhuǎnshēnyàozǒuyòubèimiànqiándǎndechězhùdào:「jiēlezhāodehuángbǎngháijìncháozhìwànsuìquèdàiwǎng?」

He turned to go, but several of the bolder men in front of him caught hold of him and said, "You have taken down the royal notice calling for a physician. Why do you not go into court and treat His Majesty, instead of making off?"

is hái, still or yet. Read huán the same character means to give something back, which would be apt enough for a stolen notice and is not what it is doing here — this is the chapter's only site where that other reading is in play.

dāizihuānghuāngzhāngzhāngdào:「érzi便biànjiēlehuángbǎngsūnzi便biànhuìzhì。」 dāizihuānghuāngzhāngzhāngdào:「érzi便biànjiēlehuángbǎngsūnzi便biànhuìzhì。」

The Idiot said in a great fluster, "It is your son who took down the notice, and your grandson who knows medicine!"

keeps its full tone ér in 兒子, a son. Of the chapter's seven occurrences of this character it is the only one that does; the other six are the weak little er that softens a word.


總評 Commentary

The accusation is put as a reproach rather than a charge. Nobody suspects him of theft; they assume the notice was taken by somebody who meant to answer it, and the only puzzle is why he is walking away.

Eight Rules denies it in the coarsest form available. Attaching the deed to the other man's son and the skill to his grandson is a way of saying not I, and an insult to two generations he has never met at the same time. It is also, unluckily for him, not a denial anybody will take at face value.