第七十回 · 拿妖精 Seize The Fiend They Cried — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

拿妖精 Seize The Fiend They Cried

行xíng者zhě把bǎ鑼luó往wǎng地dì下xià一yí摜guàn道dào：「甚shén麼me『何hé也yě』、『何hé也yě』？我wǒ說shuō我wǒ不bú去qù，你nǐ卻què教jiào我wǒ去qù。行xíng到dào那nà廂xiāng，只zhǐ見jiàn無wú數shù的de人rén馬mǎ列liè成chéng陣zhèn勢shì，見jiàn了le我wǒ，就jiù都dōu叫jiào：『拿ná妖yāo精jīng，拿ná妖yāo精jīng。』行xíng者zhě把bǎ锣luó往wǎng地dì下xià一yí掼guàn道dào：「甚shén么me『何hé也yě』、『何hé也yě』？我wǒ说shuō我wǒ不bú去qù，你nǐ却què教jiào我wǒ去qù。行xíng到dào那nà厢xiāng，只zhǐ见jiàn无wú数shù的de人rén马mǎ列liè成chéng阵zhèn势shì，见jiàn了le我wǒ，就jiù都dōu叫jiào：『拿ná妖yāo精jīng，拿ná妖yāo精jīng。』

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě把bǎ鑼luó往wǎng地dì下xià一yí摜guàn道dào：「甚shén麼me『何hé也yě』、『何hé也yě』？行xíng者zhě把bǎ锣luó往wǎng地dì下xià一yí掼guàn道dào：「甚shén么me『何hé也yě』、『何hé也yě』？

Pilgrim flung the gong down on the ground: "What do you mean, what is the meaning of it, what is the meaning of it?

The single quotation marks belong to the edition, throwing the demon's own what-is-the-meaning-of-it back at him twice. 摜 is to dash a thing down. The gong has been beaten for a hundred characters and is now the first thing he gets rid of.

我wǒ說shuō我wǒ不bú去qù，你nǐ卻què教jiào我wǒ去qù。我wǒ说shuō我wǒ不bú去qù，你nǐ却què教jiào我wǒ去qù。

"I told you I would not go, and you made me go.

Ten characters, and they are a lie built on a fact. The courier really did complain about being sent, at length, on an empty road, and Wukong heard every word of it. He is quoting a dead man back to that man's own master.

行xíng到dào那nà廂xiāng，只zhǐ見jiàn無wú數shù的de人rén馬mǎ列liè成chéng陣zhèn勢shì，見jiàn了le我wǒ，就jiù都dōu叫jiào：『拿ná妖yāo精jīng，拿ná妖yāo精jīng。』行xíng到dào那nà厢xiāng，只zhǐ见jiàn无wú数shù的de人rén马mǎ列liè成chéng阵zhèn势shì，见jiàn了le我wǒ，就jiù都dōu叫jiào：『拿ná妖yāo精jīng，拿ná妖yāo精jīng。』

"I got as far as their side and there were men and horses beyond counting drawn up in battle order, and when they saw me they all set up a cry: 'Take the fiend! Take the fiend!'

數 is shù, a number, inside 無數, countless. The cry is given twice in six characters — the same doubling this chapter uses whenever somebody means what they are saying — and it is the first invented detail in the whole account.

總評 Commentary

The lie works because most of it is true. There really is an army; the courier really was sent against his will and really did say so. Wukong is not inventing a situation, only an outcome, and everything load-bearing in the story was supplied by the man he killed.

It opens on a grievance rather than a report, which is precisely the register the demon has already been primed to expect. The silence did that. By the time the story starts, the demon is not evaluating it — he is finding out what is the matter with his messenger.