第七十回 · 塞住鼻子 Two Pebbles For His Nose — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

塞住鼻子 Two Pebbles For His Nose

這zhè行xíng者zhě只zhǐ顧gù看kàn玩wán，不bù覺jué沙shā灰huī飛fēi入rù鼻bí內nèi，癢yǎng斯sī斯sī的de，打dǎ了le兩liǎng個gè噴pēn嚏tì。即jí回huí頭tóu，伸shēn手shǒu在zài岩yán下xià摸mō了le兩liǎng個gè鵝é卵luǎn石shí，塞sāi住zhù鼻bí子zi。搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn做zuò一yí個gè攢cuán火huǒ的de鷂yào子zi，飛fēi入rù煙yān火huǒ中zhōng間jiān，驀mò了le幾jǐ驀mò，卻què就jiù沒méi了le沙shā灰huī，煙yān火huǒ也yě息xī了le。这zhè行xíng者zhě只zhǐ顾gù看kàn玩wán，不bù觉jué沙shā灰huī飞fēi入rù鼻bí内nèi，痒yǎng斯sī斯sī的de，打dǎ了le两liǎng个gè喷pēn嚏tì。即jí回huí头tóu，伸shēn手shǒu在zài岩yán下xià摸mō了le两liǎng个gè鹅é卵luǎn石shí，塞sāi住zhù鼻bí子zi。摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn做zuò一yí个gè攒cuán火huǒ的de鹞yào子zi，飞fēi入rù烟yān火huǒ中zhōng间jiān，蓦mò了le几jǐ蓦mò，却què就jiù没méi了le沙shā灰huī，烟yān火huǒ也yě息xī了le。

逐句解 Line by line

這zhè行xíng者zhě只zhǐ顧gù看kàn玩wán，不bù覺jué沙shā灰huī飛fēi入rù鼻bí內nèi，癢yǎng斯sī斯sī的de，打dǎ了le兩liǎng個gè噴pēn嚏tì。这zhè行xíng者zhě只zhǐ顾gù看kàn玩wán，不bù觉jué沙shā灰huī飞fēi入rù鼻bí内nèi，痒yǎng斯sī斯sī的de，打dǎ了le两liǎng个gè喷pēn嚏tì。

Pilgrim was intent on looking and enjoying himself, and before he knew it the sand and ash had blown up his nose. It tickled and itched, and he sneezed twice.

覺 is jué, to notice, so 不覺 is before he knew it. 癢斯斯的 is a colloquial doubled adjective with its 的 attached — itchy-itchy — and it is doing in prose exactly what the quatrain's doubled words were doing in verse.

即jí回huí頭tóu，伸shēn手shǒu在zài岩yán下xià摸mō了le兩liǎng個gè鵝é卵luǎn石shí，塞sāi住zhù鼻bí子zi。即jí回huí头tóu，伸shēn手shǒu在zài岩yán下xià摸mō了le两liǎng个gè鹅é卵luǎn石shí，塞sāi住zhù鼻bí子zi。

He turned round at once, put a hand under the rock, felt out two goose-egg pebbles and plugged his nostrils with them.

塞 is sāi, to bung something up, the everyday reading rather than the sè of the bookish compounds. Two sneezes, then two pebbles: the remedy is counted out against the symptom, and the Great Sage deals with a cosmological weapon by picking up gravel.

搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn做zuò一yí個gè攢cuán火huǒ的de鷂yào子zi，飛fēi入rù煙yān火huǒ中zhōng間jiān，驀mò了le幾jǐ驀mò，卻què就jiù沒méi了le沙shā灰huī，煙yān火huǒ也yě息xī了le。摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn做zuò一yí个gè攒cuán火huǒ的de鹞yào子zi，飞fēi入rù烟yān火huǒ中zhōng间jiān，蓦mò了le几jǐ蓦mò，却què就jiù没méi了le沙shā灰huī，烟yān火huǒ也yě息xī了le。

Then with a shake of his body he changed into a fire-braving sparrowhawk and flew straight into the smoke and flame, darting this way and that a few times; and the sand and ash were gone, and the smoke and fire died too.

攢 is cuán again — the same reading as in the alchemy poem. 驀了幾驀 puts the verb on both sides of its own measure, the pattern this chapter keeps using for a quick repeated action, alongside 迎他一迎 and 問他一問.

總評 Commentary

A hundred and eight thousand of road, ranges by the thousand, rivers by the hundred — and what stops the Great Sage is dust up his nose. The joke is carefully placed: the boast was made eight passages ago in verse, and the sneeze arrives in prose while he is standing still admiring the view that is attacking him.

His answer is neither magic nor force but two stones from under a rock. The book gives the practical solution a whole sentence and the shapeshifting that follows only half of one, so the pebbles carry more narrative weight than the transformation.

And then the fire goes out, in a subordinate clause. Three weapons that took a rhapsody of eighty-one characters, a quatrain of fifty-six and the prose around both to introduce are dealt with in eleven, by a bird flying back and forth a few times. The demon's arsenal is formidable to look at and no trouble at all to actually meet.