第七十回 · 急收不住 He Could Not Stop It — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

急收不住 He Could Not Stop It

他tā不bù知zhī利lì害hài，就jiù把bǎ綿mián花huā扯chě了le。只zhǐ聞wén得dé噹dāng的de一yì聲shēng響xiǎng喨liàng，骨gǔ都dū都dū的de迸bèng出chū煙yān、火huǒ、黃huáng沙shā，急jí收shōu不bú住zhù，滿mǎn亭tíng中zhōng烘hōng烘hōng火huǒ起qǐ。諕xià得de那nà把bǎ門mén精jīng怪guài一yì擁yōng撞zhuàng入rù後hòu宮gōng，驚jīng動dòng了le妖yāo王wáng，慌huāng忙máng教jiào：「去qù救jiù火huǒ，救jiù火huǒ。」他tā不bù知zhī利lì害hài，就jiù把bǎ绵mián花huā扯chě了le。只zhǐ闻wén得dé当dāng的de一yì声shēng响xiǎng喨liàng，骨gǔ都dū都dū的de迸bèng出chū烟yān、火huǒ、黄huáng沙shā，急jí收shōu不bú住zhù，满mǎn亭tíng中zhōng烘hōng烘hōng火huǒ起qǐ。諕xià得de那nà把bǎ门mén精jīng怪guài一yì拥yōng撞zhuàng入rù后hòu宫gōng，惊jīng动dòng了le妖yāo王wáng，慌huāng忙máng教jiào：「去qù救jiù火huǒ，救jiù火huǒ。」

逐句解 Line by line

他tā不bù知zhī利lì害hài，就jiù把bǎ綿mián花huā扯chě了le。他tā不bù知zhī利lì害hài，就jiù把bǎ绵mián花huā扯chě了le。

He did not know how dangerous they were, and pulled the cotton wool out.

Eleven characters, and the first five are the narrator's verdict rather than the character's thought — he did not know how dangerous they were. 利害 is the very word Wukong used himself, twice over, when the queen told him what the sand does.

只zhǐ聞wén得dé噹dāng的de一yì聲shēng響xiǎng喨liàng，骨gǔ都dū都dū的de迸bèng出chū煙yān、火huǒ、黃huáng沙shā，急jí收shōu不bú住zhù，滿mǎn亭tíng中zhōng烘hōng烘hōng火huǒ起qǐ。只zhǐ闻wén得dé当dāng的de一yì声shēng响xiǎng喨liàng，骨gǔ都dū都dū的de迸bèng出chū烟yān、火huǒ、黄huáng沙shā，急jí收shōu不bú住zhù，满mǎn亭tíng中zhōng烘hōng烘hōng火huǒ起qǐ。

There was one ringing clang, and out came smoke and fire and yellow sand in a gushing rush; he could not check it in time, and the whole pavilion went up roaring in flame.

都 is dū twice here: 骨都都 is a noise, not the everyday adverb the character usually carries, and not the reading a dictionary offers first. 聞得 takes dé. Note the order the three come out in — smoke, fire, sand — which is the courier's ordering from the road, not the one in the chapter's title.

諕xià得de那nà把bǎ門mén精jīng怪guài一yì擁yōng撞zhuàng入rù後hòu宮gōng，驚jīng動dòng了le妖yāo王wáng，慌huāng忙máng教jiào：「去qù救jiù火huǒ，救jiù火huǒ。」諕xià得de那nà把bǎ门mén精jīng怪guài一yì拥yōng撞zhuàng入rù后hòu宫gōng，惊jīng动dòng了le妖yāo王wáng，慌huāng忙máng教jiào：「去qù救jiù火huǒ，救jiù火huǒ。」

The gate-keeping fiends were so frightened that they crowded in a body into the inner palace and roused the fiend king, who cried out in a panic: "Go and put the fire out! Put the fire out!"

諕 is xià, to frighten, with the light de tying it to what the fright produced. 救火 doubled is the chapter's mark of somebody who means it — and the demon king who dismissed an entire army's weapons in nine characters is now shouting at his own household.

總評 Commentary

One clang undoes the whole operation. The bells have been carried out of the cave, past the gate and as far as an empty pavilion, and what betrays them is not a guard or a search but curiosity: he wanted to see them, and the cotton came out with the wrapping.

The chapter has been careful to make this avoidable. He sneezed at that sand himself on the slope; the queen told him it takes a man's life; the demon stopped the bells' mouths with cotton in front of him and said on no account shake them; and the queen repeated the instruction back in his hearing. Then: he did not know how dangerous they were.

And the demon's response is the most ordinary thing he does in the chapter. No cosmology, no weapon, no boast — he shouts at his people to put the fire out. It is his own fire, in his own pavilion, and for one sentence he is simply a man whose house is burning.