解粽插艾 Rice Dumplings And Mugwort
國王滴淚道：「不在已三年矣。」行者道：「向那廂去了？」國王道：「三年前，正值端陽之節，朕與嬪后都在御花園海榴亭下解粽插艾，飲菖蒲雄黃酒，看鬥龍舟。国王滴泪道：「不在已三年矣。」行者道：「向那厢去了？」国王道：「三年前，正值端阳之节，朕与嫔后都在御花园海榴亭下解粽插艾，饮菖蒲雄黄酒，看斗龙舟。
逐句解 Line by line
The king let fall tears and said, "She has been gone three years now."
Three years — and this is the first time the chapter has given the illness a duration. Everything before it says only "a long sickness" or "some years". From here the figure is fixed, and it will be repeated three more times. 滴淚, letting fall tears, is the first crack in the king's composure since he came down off the couch.
Pilgrim said, "Which way did she go?"
那 is nǎ here, "which way" — the only one of the five occurrences across the king's whole account that is a question rather than a pointing word.
The king said, "Three years ago, at the Double Fifth, We were with Our consorts in the imperial garden, under the Pomegranate Pavilion, untying rice dumplings and setting up mugwort, drinking calamus and realgar wine, and watching the dragon boats race.
Every detail is a real Double Fifth custom: the rice dumplings, the mugwort hung up against pestilence, the medicated wine, the dragon-boat race. One of them is not decoration. The dumplings are made of glutinous rice — and you have already seen a lump of glutinous rice come out of this king in a chamber pot.
"She has been gone three years now" — and the chapter has a date at last. This is the first time the illness is given a duration; everything before it says only a long sickness, or some years. From here the figure is fixed and repeated three more times, and the tears are the first crack in the king's composure since he rose from his sickbed.
The scene he sets is entirely conventional and entirely specific: the Double Fifth, the imperial garden, the Pomegranate Pavilion, untying rice dumplings, setting up mugwort against pestilence, drinking medicated wine, watching the dragon boats. Every item is a genuine custom of the festival.
One of them is not decoration. The dumplings are made of glutinous rice, and anybody who has followed this chapter has already watched a lump of glutinous rice come out of this king in a chamber pot. The physical mechanism of the entire plot is sitting in a list of holiday customs, unmarked.