Canonical Classics ← 第七十一回
第七十一回
行xíng者zhě假jiǎ名míng降xiáng怪guài犼hǒu
觀guān音yīn現xiàn像xiàng伏fú妖yāo王wáng

Pilgrim Under a False Name Subdues the Monster Hou · Guanyin Shows Her Image and Puts Down the Fiend King

一則羞
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script 繁
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

一則羞 Half Ashamed And Half Alarmed

假jiǎ春chūn嬌jiāo道dào:「大dà王wáng,拿ná鈴líng子zi來lái,等děng我wǒ也yě與yǔ你nǐ捉zhuō捉zhuō虱shī子zi。」那nà妖yāo王wáng一yī則zé羞xiū,二èr則zé慌huāng,卻què也yě不bú認rèn得dé真zhēn假jiǎ,將jiāng三sān個gè鈴líng兒ér遞dì與yǔ假jiǎ春chūn嬌jiāo。假jiǎ春chūn娇jiāo道dào:「大dà王wáng,拿ná铃líng子zi来lái,等děng我wǒ也yě与yǔ你nǐ捉zhuō捉zhuō虱shī子zi。」那nà妖yāo王wáng一yī则zé羞xiū,二èr则zé慌huāng,却què也yě不bú认rèn得dé真zhēn假jiǎ,将jiāng三sān个gè铃líng儿ér递dì与yǔ假jiǎ春chūn娇jiāo。


逐句解 Line by line

假jiǎ春chūn嬌jiāo道dào:「大dà王wáng,拿ná鈴líng子zi來lái,等děng我wǒ也yě與yǔ你nǐ捉zhuō捉zhuō虱shī子zi。」 假jiǎ春chūn娇jiāo道dào:「大dà王wáng,拿ná铃líng子zi来lái,等děng我wǒ也yě与yǔ你nǐ捉zhuō捉zhuō虱shī子zi。」

The false Chunjiao said, "Great King, hand over the bells and let me pick the lice off those too."

The whole chapter turns on this sentence and it is phrased as a chore. 也 — those too — makes the bells sound like one more item of clothing. 子 in 鈴子 and 虱子 is the light noun ending zi.

那nà妖yāo王wáng一yī則zé羞xiū,二èr則zé慌huāng,卻què也yě不bú認rèn得dé真zhēn假jiǎ, 那nà妖yāo王wáng一yī则zé羞xiū,二èr则zé慌huāng,却què也yě不bú认rèn得dé真zhēn假jiǎ,

The fiend king, ashamed in the first place and flustered in the second, could not tell true from false,

一 keeps yī here rather than shifting: 一則…二則… is the counting-off construction, in the first place and in the second, and the character is doing the work of an ordinal. 得 is dé, the fixed ending on 認, to recognise.

將jiāng三sān個gè鈴líng兒ér遞dì與yǔ假jiǎ春chūn嬌jiāo。 将jiāng三sān个gè铃líng儿ér递dì与yǔ假jiǎ春chūn娇jiāo。

and handed the three bells to the false Chunjiao.

Ten characters, and the treasure changes hands. 將 is jiāng, the disposal marker, putting the bells in front of the verb that gives them away.


總評 Commentary

Ask plainly and you get it. The false maid does not scheme, distract or steal — she asks for the bells out loud, in front of their owner, and gives a reason so mundane that refusing would be odder than agreeing. The lice have to be picked off those too.

一則羞,二則慌 is a precise little diagnosis. Two reasons, counted off, and neither of them is suspicion. He is embarrassed about the lice and rattled by the burglary, and between the two of them he has no attention left for the maid with her hand out. The construction keeps 一 at its full tone, because it is doing the work of firstly rather than of one.

卻也不認得真假 is the narrator getting ahead of the story. There is nothing false to recognise yet — the bells he hands over are the real ones. The phrase is there to tell you what is about to happen.