第七十一回 · 搖樁打盹 Swaying Like A Fence Post — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

搖樁打盹 Swaying Like A Fence Post

那nà春chūn嬌jiāo果guǒ然rán漸jiàn覺jué困kùn倦juàn，立lì不bú住zhù腳jiǎo，搖yáo樁zhuāng打dǎ盹dǔn，即jí忙máng尋xún著zháo原yuán睡shuì處chù，丟diū倒dǎo頭tóu，只zhǐ情qíng呼hū呼hū的de睡shuì起qǐ。行xíng者zhě跳tiào下xià來lái，搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn做zuò那nà春chūn嬌jiāo一yì般bān模mú樣yàng，轉zhuǎn屏píng風fēng，與yǔ眾zhòng排pái立lì不bù題tí。那nà春chūn娇jiāo果guǒ然rán渐jiàn觉jué困kùn倦juàn，立lì不bú住zhù脚jiǎo，摇yáo桩zhuāng打dǎ盹dǔn，即jí忙máng寻xún着zháo原yuán睡shuì处chù，丢diū倒dǎo头tóu，只zhǐ情qíng呼hū呼hū的de睡shuì起qǐ。行xíng者zhě跳tiào下xià来lái，摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn做zuò那nà春chūn娇jiāo一yì般bān模mú样yàng，转zhuǎn屏píng风fēng，与yǔ众zhòng排pái立lì不bù题tí。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà春chūn嬌jiāo果guǒ然rán漸jiàn覺jué困kùn倦juàn，立lì不bú住zhù腳jiǎo，搖yáo樁zhuāng打dǎ盹dǔn，那nà春chūn娇jiāo果guǒ然rán渐jiàn觉jué困kùn倦juàn，立lì不bú住zhù脚jiǎo，摇yáo桩zhuāng打dǎ盹dǔn，

Sure enough, Chunjiao grew steadily drowsier, could not keep her feet, and swayed on the spot, nodding,

搖樁 means swaying like a stake driven into the ground — upright, rooted, and rocking. 不 drops to bú before the falling tone of 住.

即jí忙máng尋xún著zháo原yuán睡shuì處chù，丟diū倒dǎo頭tóu，只zhǐ情qíng呼hū呼hū的de睡shuì起qǐ。即jí忙máng寻xún着zháo原yuán睡shuì处chù，丢diū倒dǎo头tóu，只zhǐ情qíng呼hū呼hū的de睡shuì起qǐ。

then hurried to find her usual sleeping place, flung herself down head first, and simply snored away.

Two readings decided here. 著 is zháo: the seeking is 尋 and the finding is the 著, the same pattern as 遇著 and 撞著. And 倒 is dǎo, to topple — 康熙人部八畫 puts 什也 with 絕倒 and 傾倒 in the rising-tone band and keeps turning a thing upside down separate, at 音到. She falls; nothing is inverted.

行xíng者zhě跳tiào下xià來lái，搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，行xíng者zhě跳tiào下xià来lái，摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，

Pilgrim jumped down, gave himself a shake,

Nine characters, and one of them is the whole transformation. 搖身一變 is the set phrase for changing shape — give the body a shake and it is done. 一 takes yí before the falling tone of 變.

變biàn做zuò那nà春chūn嬌jiāo一yì般bān模mú樣yàng，轉zhuǎn屏píng風fēng，與yǔ眾zhòng排pái立lì不bù題tí。变biàn做zuò那nà春chūn娇jiāo一yì般bān模mú样yàng，转zhuǎn屏píng风fēng，与yǔ众zhòng排pái立lì不bù题tí。

and turned himself into the very likeness of Chunjiao, went round the screen, and fell in with the rest of them — of which no more for now.

模 is mú in 模樣, appearance; the pair fixes the reading, not the character on its own. 不題 is the storyteller's scene cut — we will say no more of that for the moment — and it always means the camera is about to move somewhere else.

總評 Commentary

The falling asleep gets more words than the transformation does. Chunjiao's collapse takes seventeen characters and four separate stages — drowsy, unsteady, swaying on her feet, flat out and snoring — while Wukong becoming her takes nine. The novel is far more interested in the body giving way than in the magic.

搖樁打盹 is a fine piece of observation. A 樁 is a post driven into the ground, and someone falling asleep standing up does exactly that: stays planted, rocks at the top. Anyone who has stood through a long meeting knows the movement being described.

不題 at the end is a stage direction. The storyteller is telling you he is leaving this room now, with a monkey standing in the servants' line wearing a fox's face and nobody the wiser. Chunjiao's name appears sixteen times in the chapter, and 假春嬌 — the false Chunjiao — ten times more, starting 448 characters from here. From this point on, whenever the name is used, you have to check which one is meant.