第七十回 · 更無蹤跡 Not A Trace Of Him — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

更無蹤跡 Not A Trace Of Him

眾zhòng妖yāo尋xún不bú見jiàn，報bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，走zǒu了le賊zéi也yě，走zǒu了le賊zéi也yě。」妖yāo王wáng問wèn：「可kě曾céng自zì門mén裡lǐ走zǒu出chū去qù？」眾zhòng妖yāo都dōu說shuō：「前qián門mén緊jǐn鎖suǒ牢láo拴shuān在zài此cǐ，不bù曾céng走zǒu出chū。」妖yāo王wáng只zhǐ說shuō：「仔zǐ細xì搜sōu尋xún。」有yǒu的de取qǔ水shuǐ潑pō火huǒ，有yǒu的de仔zǐ細xì搜sōu尋xún，更gèng無wú蹤zōng跡jì。众zhòng妖yāo寻xún不bú见jiàn，报bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，走zǒu了le贼zéi也yě，走zǒu了le贼zéi也yě。」妖yāo王wáng问wèn：「可kě曾céng自zì门mén里lǐ走zǒu出chū去qù？」众zhòng妖yāo都dōu说shuō：「前qián门mén紧jǐn锁suǒ牢láo拴shuān在zài此cǐ，不bù曾céng走zǒu出chū。」妖yāo王wáng只zhǐ说shuō：「仔zǐ细xì搜sōu寻xún。」有yǒu的de取qǔ水shuǐ泼pō火huǒ，有yǒu的de仔zǐ细xì搜sōu寻xún，更gèng无wú踪zōng迹jì。

逐句解 Line by line

眾zhòng妖yāo尋xún不bú見jiàn，報bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，走zǒu了le賊zéi也yě，走zǒu了le賊zéi也yě。」众zhòng妖yāo寻xún不bú见jiàn，报bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，走zǒu了le贼zéi也yě，走zǒu了le贼zéi也yě。」

The fiends looked and could not find him, and reported: "Great King, the thief has got away! The thief has got away!"

The thief has got away, doubled — this chapter's mark of somebody who means what they are saying, and one of sixteen such pairs across the chapter.

妖yāo王wáng問wèn：「可kě曾céng自zì門mén裡lǐ走zǒu出chū去qù？」妖yāo王wáng问wèn：「可kě曾céng自zì门mén里lǐ走zǒu出chū去qù？」

The fiend king asked: "Did he ever get out through the gate?"

可曾 takes céng on the second character, and this is the fourth and last of the chapter's four such questions. Read alone the character is a surname, so every one of the four needs saying.

眾zhòng妖yāo都dōu說shuō：「前qián門mén緊jǐn鎖suǒ牢láo拴shuān在zài此cǐ，不bù曾céng走zǒu出chū。」众zhòng妖yāo都dōu说shuō：「前qián门mén紧jǐn锁suǒ牢láo拴shuān在zài此cǐ，不bù曾céng走zǒu出chū。」

The fiends all said: "The front gate is fast locked and firmly barred here. He has not got out."

緊鎖牢拴 is two verbs of fastening with an adverb apiece — locked fast and barred firm. The answer is the one the demon wanted. It is also entirely true.

妖yāo王wáng只zhǐ說shuō：「仔zǐ細xì搜sōu尋xún。」妖yāo王wáng只zhǐ说shuō：「仔zǐ细xì搜sōu寻xún。」

The fiend king only said: "Search carefully."

仔 is zǐ inside 仔細, carefully, where the character alone gives zǎi. Eight characters, own he-said, own quotation closed: the unit stands however short it runs.

有yǒu的de取qǔ水shuǐ潑pō火huǒ，有yǒu的de仔zǐ細xì搜sōu尋xún，更gèng無wú蹤zōng跡jì。有yǒu的de取qǔ水shuǐ泼pō火huǒ，有yǒu的de仔zǐ细xì搜sōu寻xún，更gèng无wú踪zōng迹jì。

Some fetched water and threw it on the fire, and some searched carefully, and there was not a trace of him.

跡 is jì, a trace. The two parties are doing the two things the previous passage set going — putting the fire out and hunting the thief — and the sentence gives them a clause each and the failure a third.

總評 Commentary

The demon asks the one question that would settle it and gets a truthful answer that tells him nothing at all. Did he get out through the gate? No — and he did not, because he is on the wall in the shape of a fly. The gate is exactly as secure as they say and the thief is exactly as inside as they think.

What the passage quietly records is that the search cannot work. They are looking for a person in a cave that contains one, and the only instruction anybody gives is to look more carefully. Not a trace of him — which is precisely what a fly leaves.