恩重如山 Kindness Heavy As A Mountain
國王道:「神僧恩重如山,寡人酬謝不盡。好歹進此一巨觥,朕有話說。」行者道:「有甚話說了,老孫好飲。」国王道:「神僧恩重如山,寡人酬谢不尽。好歹进此一巨觥,朕有话说。」行者道:「有甚话说了,老孙好饮。」
逐句解 Line by line
The king said, "The divine monk's kindness is heavy as a mountain, and Our thanks can never be exhausted.
恩重如山 — kindness heavy as a mountain — opens a figure the king will close at the very end of his confession. 重 is zhòng, heavy. In 酬謝不盡 the 盡 is raised to jìn, so the 不 in front of it comes out bú rather than bù.
"At all events take this great goblet — We have something to say."
And here the wine becomes a price. Take the goblet, because I have something to tell you. 好歹 is the everyday "in any case, whatever comes of it".
Pilgrim said, "Say what you have to say, and Old Sun will drink the better for it."
The bargain is accepted in the same breath in which it is noticed. 甚 is shén, the question word — bare 甚 standing in for 甚麼 — not the shèn of "very" that the same character took a moment ago.
"Kindness heavy as a mountain" opens a figure the king will close at the very end of his confession, hundreds of characters later, with the weight of Mount Tai. The whole account is framed by it.
Then the transaction is made explicit: take this goblet, because I have something to tell you. Pilgrim accepts in the same breath in which he notices — say what you have to say and Old Sun will drink the better for it — and the evening turns from a banquet into an interview.