第七十回 · 公然傲慢 Openly And Without Ceremony — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

公然傲慢 Openly And Without Ceremony

行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，公gōng然rán傲ào慢màn那nà妖yāo精jīng，更gèng不bù循xún一yì些xiē兒ér禮lǐ法fǎ：調diào轉zhuǎn臉liǎn，朝cháo著zhe外wài，只zhǐ管guǎn敲qiāo鑼luó。妖yāo王wáng問wèn道dào：「你nǐ來lái了le？」行xíng者zhě不bù答dá。又yòu問wèn：「有yǒu來lái有yǒu去qù，你nǐ來lái了le？」也yě不bù答dá應yìng。妖yāo王wáng上shàng前qián扯chě住zhù道dào：「你nǐ怎zěn麼me到dào了le家jiā還hái篩shāi鑼luó，問wèn之zhī又yòu不bù答dá，何hé也yě？」行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，公gōng然rán傲ào慢màn那nà妖yāo精jīng，更gèng不bù循xún一yì些xiē儿ér礼lǐ法fǎ：调diào转zhuǎn脸liǎn，朝cháo着zhe外wài，只zhǐ管guǎn敲qiāo锣luó。妖yāo王wáng问wèn道dào：「你nǐ来lái了le？」行xíng者zhě不bù答dá。又yòu问wèn：「有yǒu来lái有yǒu去qù，你nǐ来lái了le？」也yě不bù答dá应yìng。妖yāo王wáng上shàng前qián扯chě住zhù道dào：「你nǐ怎zěn么me到dào了le家jiā还hái筛shāi锣luó，问wèn之zhī又yòu不bù答dá，何hé也yě？」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě見jiàn了le，公gōng然rán傲ào慢màn那nà妖yāo精jīng，更gèng不bù循xún一yì些xiē兒ér禮lǐ法fǎ：調diào轉zhuǎn臉liǎn，朝cháo著zhe外wài，只zhǐ管guǎn敲qiāo鑼luó。行xíng者zhě见jiàn了le，公gōng然rán傲ào慢màn那nà妖yāo精jīng，更gèng不bù循xún一yì些xiē儿ér礼lǐ法fǎ：调diào转zhuǎn脸liǎn，朝cháo着zhe外wài，只zhǐ管guǎn敲qiāo锣luó。

When Pilgrim saw him he was openly insolent to the fiend and would not keep a particle of ceremony: he turned his face round, faced outward, and went on beating his gong and nothing else.

調 is diào, to turn about. 朝 is cháo, to face — not the zhāo of morning that the same character took in the alchemy poem. 只管 is to keep doing a thing and pay no attention to anything else, which is the whole of his strategy in three characters.

妖yāo王wáng問wèn道dào：「你nǐ來lái了le？」妖yāo王wáng问wèn道dào：「你nǐ来lái了le？」

The fiend king asked: "Are you back?"

The demon's greeting is three characters where the gorilla's at the gate was four — the same question with one word less. Wukong answered the gorilla. He does not answer this.

行xíng者zhě不bù答dá。行xíng者zhě不bù答dá。

Pilgrim did not reply.

Four characters standing alone — the second of three such in this stretch. They close no quotation, so nothing folds them into anything else.

又yòu問wèn：「有yǒu來lái有yǒu去qù，你nǐ來lái了le？」又yòu问wèn：「有yǒu来lái有yǒu去qù，你nǐ来lái了le？」

He asked again: "There-and-Back, are you back?"

The name is added the second time round, which is what anybody does when they think they have not been heard. The demon is now using the dead courier's name to a stranger's back, and every repetition confirms the disguise a little further.

也yě不bù答dá應yìng。也yě不bù答dá应yìng。

Neither did he answer that.

應 is yìng, to answer, not the yīng of ought to. Four characters again, so the refusal has now been stated twice in eight.

妖yāo王wáng上shàng前qián扯chě住zhù道dào：「你nǐ怎zěn麼me到dào了le家jiā還hái篩shāi鑼luó，問wèn之zhī又yòu不bù答dá，何hé也yě？」妖yāo王wáng上shàng前qián扯chě住zhù道dào：「你nǐ怎zěn么me到dào了le家jiā还hái筛shāi锣luó，问wèn之zhī又yòu不bù答dá，何hé也yě？」

The fiend king came forward and caught hold of him: "How is it that you get home and go on banging your gong, and when you are asked a question you do not answer? What is the meaning of it?"

還 is hái, still. 篩鑼 is to beat a gong hard enough to shake it — to bash away at it. 何也 closes the question in the literary register, which is how this demon talks when he is annoyed.

總評 Commentary

The whole strategy is silence, and it is executed by turning round. Wukong does not hide, or bow, or attempt a voice — he shows the demon his back and keeps hitting the gong. It is the safest possible performance, because the one thing he cannot fake is what a dead man sounded like.

The demon asks three times in twenty-six characters, and each attempt gives something away. The first is a greeting; the second adds the name; the third comes with a hand on the shoulder and a demand for an explanation. Everything Wukong needs — that he is expected, that he is recognised, that a report is owed — arrives because he said nothing at all.

And the rudeness is the disguise's best feature. A messenger who sulks is a messenger with a grievance, and a grievance is a story. The demon is now certain there is something to be told before he has heard a word of it.