第七十回 · 想象騰那 Into The Shape Of The Dead — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

想象騰那 Into The Shape Of The Dead

行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，不bù敢gǎn前qián進jìn，抽chōu身shēn徑jìng轉zhuǎn舊jiù路lù。你nǐ道dào他tā抽chōu身shēn怎zěn麼me？不bú是shì怕pà他tā。他tā卻què至zhì那nà打dǎ死sǐ小xiǎo妖yāo之zhī處chù，尋xún出chū黃huáng旗qí、銅tóng鑼luó，迎yíng風fēng捏niē訣jué，想xiǎng象xiàng騰téng那nuó，即jí搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn做zuò那nà有yǒu來lái有yǒu去qù的de模mú樣yàng，乒pīng乓pāng敲qiāo著zhe鑼luó，大dà踏tà步bù，一yì直zhí前qián來lái，徑jìng撞zhuàng至zhì獬xiè豸zhì洞dòng。行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，不bù敢gǎn前qián进jìn，抽chōu身shēn径jìng转zhuǎn旧jiù路lù。你nǐ道dào他tā抽chōu身shēn怎zěn么me？不bú是shì怕pà他tā。他tā却què至zhì那nà打dǎ死sǐ小xiǎo妖yāo之zhī处chù，寻xún出chū黄huáng旗qí、铜tóng锣luó，迎yíng风fēng捏niē诀jué，想xiǎng象xiàng腾téng那nuó，即jí摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn做zuò那nà有yǒu来lái有yǒu去qù的de模mú样yàng，乒pīng乓pāng敲qiāo着zhe锣luó，大dà踏tà步bù，一yì直zhí前qián来lái，径jìng撞zhuàng至zhì獬xiè豸zhì洞dòng。

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，不bù敢gǎn前qián進jìn，抽chōu身shēn徑jìng轉zhuǎn舊jiù路lù。行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，不bù敢gǎn前qián进jìn，抽chōu身shēn径jìng转zhuǎn旧jiù路lù。

When Pilgrim saw them he did not dare go forward, but drew back and turned straight down the road he had come by.

不敢前進 — did not dare go forward — is the second admission of the chapter, after the one on the burning slope. He has now declined to walk into a fire and declined to walk into a muster, and both times the sentence says so plainly rather than dressing it up.

你nǐ道dào他tā抽chōu身shēn怎zěn麼me？你nǐ道dào他tā抽chōu身shēn怎zěn么me？

You ask why he drew back?

The storyteller turning to face the room. Seven characters of direct address, and the question is asked on the audience's behalf because the narrative has just made its hero back off twice running.

不bú是shì怕pà他tā。不bú是shì怕pà他tā。

It was not that he was afraid of them.

Four characters, standing alone. Nothing folds them in: they close no quotation, so the rule for short tails cannot reach them, and unlike the chapter's two shorter segments they are neither an announcement nor a he-said.

他tā卻què至zhì那nà打dǎ死sǐ小xiǎo妖yāo之zhī處chù，尋xún出chū黃huáng旗qí、銅tóng鑼luó，迎yíng風fēng捏niē訣jué，想xiǎng象xiàng騰téng那nuó，即jí搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn做zuò那nà有yǒu來lái有yǒu去qù的de模mú樣yàng，乒pīng乓pāng敲qiāo著zhe鑼luó，大dà踏tà步bù，一yì直zhí前qián來lái，徑jìng撞zhuàng至zhì獬xiè豸zhì洞dòng。他tā却què至zhì那nà打dǎ死sǐ小xiǎo妖yāo之zhī处chù，寻xún出chū黄huáng旗qí、铜tóng锣luó，迎yíng风fēng捏niē诀jué，想xiǎng象xiàng腾téng那nuó，即jí摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn做zuò那nà有yǒu来lái有yǒu去qù的de模mú样yàng，乒pīng乓pāng敲qiāo着zhe锣luó，大dà踏tà步bù，一yì直zhí前qián来lái，径jìng撞zhuàng至zhì獬xiè豸zhì洞dòng。

He went back to the place where he had killed the little fiend, dug out the yellow flag and the brass gong, made the sign into the wind, worked his shifting and turning, and with a shake of his body changed into the very likeness of There-and-Back. Beating the gong with a clang and a clatter, he came striding straight on and walked right up to the Xiezhi Cave.

Two registered readings fall in this one sentence and neither can be worked out from the characters alone. 那 inside 騰那 is nuó, where it stands in for 挪, to shift — the chapter's first, against five other occurrences here that point or ask. And 模 in 模樣 is mú, an appearance.

總評 Commentary

The storyteller stops the narrative to defend his hero, and the defence is four characters long. It was not fear. Nothing else is offered, and the sentence after it does the arguing instead: he went back for the flag and the gong, which is what a man does who has been thinking about a disguise rather than about running away.

The props he buried in the grass eleven hundred characters ago are why the retreat works. He hid them at the time for no stated reason — the letter went into his sleeve because it was evidence, and the flag and gong went into the grass because they were not. They turn out to have been the useful half.

What he becomes is a man he killed and whose name he has already made a joke of. There-and-Back walks up to the Xiezhi Cave beating his gong, twelve hundred characters after There-and-Back stopped existing, and the last thing anybody did with that name was turn it into an epitaph.