第七十一回 · 繡花針兒 A Needle In His Ear — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

繡花針兒 A Needle In His Ear

行xíng者zhě將jiāng鐵tiě棒bàng捏niē做zuò個gè繡xiù花huā針zhēn兒ér，藏cáng在zài耳ěr內nèi。卻què去qù腰yāo間jiān解jiě下xià三sān個gè真zhēn寶bǎo貝bèi來lái，對duì妖yāo王wáng說shuō：「這zhè不bú是shì我wǒ的de紫zǐ金jīn鈴líng兒ér？」妖yāo王wáng見jiàn了le，心xīn驚jīng道dào：「蹺qiāo蹊qī，蹺qiāo蹊qī！行xíng者zhě将jiāng铁tiě棒bàng捏niē做zuò个gè绣xiù花huā针zhēn儿ér，藏cáng在zài耳ěr内nèi。却què去qù腰yāo间jiān解jiě下xià三sān个gè真zhēn宝bǎo贝bèi来lái，对duì妖yāo王wáng说shuō：「这zhè不bú是shì我wǒ的de紫zǐ金jīn铃líng儿ér？」妖yāo王wáng见jiàn了le，心xīn惊jīng道dào：「跷qiāo蹊qī，跷qiāo蹊qī！

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě將jiāng鐵tiě棒bàng捏niē做zuò個gè繡xiù花huā針zhēn兒ér，藏cáng在zài耳ěr內nèi。行xíng者zhě将jiāng铁tiě棒bàng捏niē做zuò个gè绣xiù花huā针zhēn儿ér，藏cáng在zài耳ěr内nèi。

Pilgrim pinched the iron cudgel down into an embroidery needle and hid it in his ear.

藏 is cáng, to store away. The cudgel goes into his ear so that both hands are free for the bells — a housekeeping detail the novel never fails to include.

卻què去qù腰yāo間jiān解jiě下xià三sān個gè真zhēn寶bǎo貝bèi來lái，却què去qù腰yāo间jiān解jiě下xià三sān个gè真zhēn宝bǎo贝bèi来lái，

Then he untied the three genuine treasures from his waist,

真寶貝 — the genuine treasures. The narrator says it plainly, because the whole scene depends on the reader knowing which set is which when neither character does. 解 is jiě, to untie.

對duì妖yāo王wáng說shuō：「這zhè不bú是shì我wǒ的de紫zǐ金jīn鈴líng兒ér？」对duì妖yāo王wáng说shuō：「这zhè不bú是shì我wǒ的de紫zǐ金jīn铃líng儿ér？」

and said to the fiend king, "Are these not my own purple-gold bells?"

紫金鈴 is the bells' proper name, and Wukong uses it as though it had always been his. 不 drops to bú before the falling tone of 是.

妖yāo王wáng見jiàn了le，心xīn驚jīng道dào：「蹺qiāo蹊qī，蹺qiāo蹊qī！妖yāo王wáng见jiàn了le，心xīn惊jīng道dào：「跷qiāo蹊qī，跷qiāo蹊qī！

The fiend king saw them and said in alarm, "Strange, strange!

蹺蹊 is odd, fishy, not right — a vernacular word, both characters written with the foot radical. Doubling it is the sound of a man refusing to believe his eyes.

總評 Commentary

The needle in the ear is a small piece of practical staging. Wukong needs both hands for the bells, so the cudgel goes back to being an embroidery needle and into his ear, where the novel has kept it since the first chapters.

真寶貝 is the narrator taking sides with the reader. He does not have to say genuine — nobody in the scene is confused yet — but saying it sets up the whole comedy that follows, in which two characters compare two sets of bells and only one of them is holding real ones, and neither of them knows.

蹺蹊，蹺蹊 is a good vernacular word for a man whose worldview has just failed. Both characters carry the foot radical, and the sense is of something that will not walk straight. He says it twice.