第七十一回 · 立身無地 You Would Have Nowhere To Stand — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

立身無地 You Would Have Nowhere To Stand

妖yāo王wáng喝hè道dào：「快kuài早zǎo說shuō出chū姓xìng甚shén名míng誰shuí，有yǒu些xiē甚shén麼me武wǔ藝yì，敢gǎn到dào我wǒ這zhè裡lǐ猖chāng獗jué！」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ若ruò不bú問wèn姓xìng名míng猶yóu可kě，若ruò要yào我wǒ說shuō出chū姓xìng名míng，只zhǐ怕pà你nǐ立lì身shēn無wú地dì。妖yāo王wáng喝hè道dào：「快kuài早zǎo说shuō出chū姓xìng甚shén名míng谁shuí，有yǒu些xiē甚shén么me武wǔ艺yì，敢gǎn到dào我wǒ这zhè里lǐ猖chāng獗jué！」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ若ruò不bú问wèn姓xìng名míng犹yóu可kě，若ruò要yào我wǒ说shuō出chū姓xìng名míng，只zhǐ怕pà你nǐ立lì身shēn无wú地dì。

逐句解 Line by line

妖yāo王wáng喝hè道dào：「快kuài早zǎo說shuō出chū姓xìng甚shén名míng誰shuí，有yǒu些xiē甚shén麼me武wǔ藝yì，敢gǎn到dào我wǒ這zhè裡lǐ猖chāng獗jué！」妖yāo王wáng喝hè道dào：「快kuài早zǎo说shuō出chū姓xìng甚shén名míng谁shuí，有yǒu些xiē甚shén么me武wǔ艺yì，敢gǎn到dào我wǒ这zhè里lǐ猖chāng獗jué！」

The fiend king shouted, "Out with your surname and your name, and what skill-at-arms you have, that you dare run riot here!"

甚 is shén twice over, the interrogative — what surname, what name, what skills. 猖獗 is to run wild, and it is the word a besieged commander uses about the enemy.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ若ruò不bú問wèn姓xìng名míng猶yóu可kě，行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ若ruò不bú问wèn姓xìng名míng犹yóu可kě，

Pilgrim said, "If you had not asked my name, it might have passed;

The set-up. 猶可 is might still do, might have been all right — the concessive before the threat. 不 drops to bú before the falling tone of 問.

若ruò要yào我wǒ說shuō出chū姓xìng名míng，只zhǐ怕pà你nǐ立lì身shēn無wú地dì。若ruò要yào我wǒ说shuō出chū姓xìng名míng，只zhǐ怕pà你nǐ立lì身shēn无wú地dì。

"but if you make me speak my name, I am afraid you will have nowhere left to stand."

立身無地 is to have no ground to stand on — no footing, no place in the world. It is a threat about reputation dressed as a threat about geography.

總評 Commentary

This is the hinge of the whole confrontation, and it is built out of a courtesy formula. 若不問…若要… — if you had not asked, if you insist — is the polite shape you use before telling somebody something they will not enjoy. Wukong is warning him.

立身無地 is a fine piece of vernacular menace. Literally there will be no ground for you to stand your body on; in practice it means you will not know where to put yourself. The threat is not that Wukong will kill him. It is that the name alone will finish him.

And the fiend did ask. 快早說出姓甚名誰 — out with your surname and your name — and Wukong repeats the demand back at him before obliging. The four hundred and forty-eight characters of autobiography that follow are, technically, his own fault.