第七十回 · 太太息怒 Do Not Be Angry Madam — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

太太息怒 Do Not Be Angry Madam

眾zhòng侍shì婢bì上shàng前qián道dào：「太tài太tai息xī怒nù。他tā是shì大dà王wáng爺yé爺ye心xīn腹fù的de小xiǎo校xiào，喚huàn名míng有yǒu來lái有yǒu去qù。今jīn早zǎo差chāi下xià戰zhàn書shū的de是shì他tā。」娘niáng娘niang聽tīng說shuō，忍rěn怒nù問wèn曰yuē：「你nǐ下xià戰zhàn書shū，可kě曾céng到dào朱zhū紫zǐ國guó界jiè？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ持chí書shū直zhí至zhì城chéng裡lǐ，到dào於yú金jīn鑾luán殿diàn，面miàn見jiàn君jūn王wáng，已yǐ討tǎo回huí音yīn來lái也yě。」娘niáng娘niang道dào：「你nǐ面miàn君jūn，君jūn有yǒu何hé言yán？」众zhòng侍shì婢bì上shàng前qián道dào：「太tài太tai息xī怒nù。他tā是shì大dà王wáng爷yé爷ye心xīn腹fù的de小xiǎo校xiào，唤huàn名míng有yǒu来lái有yǒu去qù。今jīn早zǎo差chāi下xià战zhàn书shū的de是shì他tā。」娘niáng娘niang听tīng说shuō，忍rěn怒nù问wèn曰yuē：「你nǐ下xià战zhàn书shū，可kě曾céng到dào朱zhū紫zǐ国guó界jiè？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ持chí书shū直zhí至zhì城chéng里lǐ，到dào于yú金jīn銮luán殿diàn，面miàn见jiàn君jūn王wáng，已yǐ讨tǎo回huí音yīn来lái也yě。」娘niáng娘niang道dào：「你nǐ面miàn君jūn，君jūn有yǒu何hé言yán？」

逐句解 Line by line

眾zhòng侍shì婢bì上shàng前qián道dào：「太tài太tai息xī怒nù。众zhòng侍shì婢bì上shàng前qián道dào：「太tài太tai息xī怒nù。

The waiting-women came forward: "Do not be angry, madam.

太太 is the form of address for the lady of a household, and it is what the fox-women call her. It is not a royal title, and nobody in this cave uses one.

他tā是shì大dà王wáng爺yé爺ye心xīn腹fù的de小xiǎo校xiào，喚huàn名míng有yǒu來lái有yǒu去qù。他tā是shì大dà王wáng爷yé爷ye心xīn腹fù的de小xiǎo校xiào，唤huàn名míng有yǒu来lái有yǒu去qù。

"He is a trusted junior officer of His Lordship the Great King, and his name is There-and-Back.

The tablet read trusted junior officer, one, name There-and-Back, and the maid says it back almost word for word. Wukong read those words off a corpse, and he is now being introduced with them by somebody who believes every one.

今jīn早zǎo差chāi下xià戰zhàn書shū的de是shì他tā。」今jīn早zǎo差chāi下xià战zhàn书shū的de是shì他tā。」

"It was he who was sent with the declaration of war this morning."

差 is chāi, sent on an errand, not the chà of falling short that the character gives on its own.

娘niáng娘niang聽tīng說shuō，忍rěn怒nù問wèn曰yuē：「你nǐ下xià戰zhàn書shū，可kě曾céng到dào朱zhū紫zǐ國guó界jiè？」娘niáng娘niang听tīng说shuō，忍rěn怒nù问wèn曰yuē：「你nǐ下xià战zhàn书shū，可kě曾céng到dào朱zhū紫zǐ国guó界jiè？」

The queen heard this, held down her anger and asked: "You took the declaration of war — did you ever get as far as the borders of the Vermilion-Purple Kingdom?"

可曾 takes céng on the second character — the chapter's third such question. 忍怒 is to hold anger in: she does not stop being angry, she stops showing it, because the question underneath is about home.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ持chí書shū直zhí至zhì城chéng裡lǐ，到dào於yú金jīn鑾luán殿diàn，面miàn見jiàn君jūn王wáng，已yǐ討tǎo回huí音yīn來lái也yě。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ持chí书shū直zhí至zhì城chéng里lǐ，到dào于yú金jīn銮luán殿diàn，面miàn见jiàn君jūn王wáng，已yǐ讨tǎo回huí音yīn来lái也yě。」

Pilgrim said: "I carried the letter right into the city, came to the Hall of the Golden Bells, saw the sovereign face to face, and have already got an answer to bring back."

Four verbs of arrival in a row — carried, came, saw, got — and every one of them is true. He is telling her exactly what he did, having told the demon a complete fabrication about the same journey sixty segments earlier.

娘niáng娘niang道dào：「你nǐ面miàn君jūn，君jūn有yǒu何hé言yán？」娘niáng娘niang道dào：「你nǐ面miàn君jūn，君jūn有yǒu何hé言yán？」

The queen said: "You saw the king. What did the king say?"

Ten characters, with 君 falling twice in the second half of them. She has stopped being a queen insulted by a servant and become a woman asking after a husband, and the transition takes one sentence.

總評 Commentary

The maids save him without knowing it. He greeted her wrongly, the wrongness is explained away as rank — he is only a junior officer, madam — and the explanation carries the name off the tablet along with it. Every element of the disguise is now being vouched for by the household it is deceiving.

Then the anger is put away in two characters and the real question arrives. Did you get to the border? She does not ask about the war, or the letter, or what happened to him there. She asks whether he reached the country — and her next question is what her husband said.

And Wukong, who has spent this chapter lying with great skill to a demon, answers her with the plain truth: he carried the letter, entered the city, saw the king, and has an answer to bring back. All four are exactly what happened, and none of them will be what convinces her.