第七十二回 · 些小人兒 Seven Very Small Monsters — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

些小人兒 Seven Very Small Monsters

行xíng者zhě聞wén言yán，急jí拽yè步bù便biàn走zǒu；八bā戒jiè牽qiān著zhe馬mǎ。急jí急jí來lái到dào莊zhuāng前qián，但dàn見jiàn那nà石shí橋qiáo上shàng有yǒu七qī個gè小xiǎo妖yāo兒ér擋dǎng住zhù道dào：「慢màn來lái，慢màn來lái，吾wú等děng在zài此cǐ。」行xíng者zhě看kàn了le道dào：「好hǎo笑xiào，乾gān淨jìng都dōu是shì些xiē小xiǎo人rén兒ér。長cháng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu二èr尺chǐ五wǔ六liù寸cùn，不bù滿mǎn三sān尺chǐ；重zhòng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu八bā九jiǔ斤jīn，不bù滿mǎn十shí斤jīn。」行xíng者zhě闻wén言yán，急jí拽yè步bù便biàn走zǒu；八bā戒jiè牵qiān着zhe马mǎ。急jí急jí来lái到dào庄zhuāng前qián，但dàn见jiàn那nà石shí桥qiáo上shàng有yǒu七qī个gè小xiǎo妖yāo儿ér挡dǎng住zhù道dào：「慢màn来lái，慢màn来lái，吾wú等děng在zài此cǐ。」行xíng者zhě看kàn了le道dào：「好hǎo笑xiào，干gān净jìng都dōu是shì些xiē小xiǎo人rén儿ér。长cháng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu二èr尺chǐ五wǔ六liù寸cùn，不bù满mǎn三sān尺chǐ；重zhòng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu八bā九jiǔ斤jīn，不bù满mǎn十shí斤jīn。」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě聞wén言yán，急jí拽yè步bù便biàn走zǒu；行xíng者zhě闻wén言yán，急jí拽yè步bù便biàn走zǒu；

Pilgrim heard this and set off at once with a long stride;

拽 is yè for the seventh and last time in the chapter — the fourth of the four that stretch a stride, against three that trail a skirt. The reading holds across every one of the seven and the base gives it right at none of them.

八bā戒jiè牽qiān著zhe馬mǎ。八bā戒jiè牵qiān着zhe马mǎ。

Eight Rules led the horse.

Five characters. He has been beaten, netted and asked about his face, and now he is back on baggage duty.

急jí急jí來lái到dào莊zhuāng前qián，但dàn見jiàn那nà石shí橋qiáo上shàng有yǒu七qī個gè小xiǎo妖yāo兒ér擋dǎng住zhù道dào：「慢màn來lái，慢màn來lái，吾wú等děng在zài此cǐ。」急jí急jí来lái到dào庄zhuāng前qián，但dàn见jiàn那nà石shí桥qiáo上shàng有yǒu七qī个gè小xiǎo妖yāo儿ér挡dǎng住zhù道dào：「慢màn来lái，慢màn来lái，吾wú等děng在zài此cǐ。」

They came up to the farmstead in a hurry, and there on the stone bridge were seven little monsters barring the way. "Not so fast, not so fast — we are here for you."

兒 takes the full ér in 小妖兒 — little monsters, people rather than a suffix. 吾等 is bookish for "we", and seven insects have picked it up from somewhere.

行xíng者zhě看kàn了le道dào：「好hǎo笑xiào，乾gān淨jìng都dōu是shì些xiē小xiǎo人rén兒ér。行xíng者zhě看kàn了le道dào：「好hǎo笑xiào，干gān净jìng都dōu是shì些xiē小xiǎo人rén儿ér。

Pilgrim looked and said, "How funny. The whole lot of them are tiny little people."

乾 is gān in 乾淨, the second of the chapter's three sites — and here the phrase means "purely, nothing but", where sixty passages ago it meant physically clean. Same two characters, same reading, different job.

長cháng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu二èr尺chǐ五wǔ六liù寸cùn，不bù滿mǎn三sān尺chǐ；长cháng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu二èr尺chǐ五wǔ六liù寸cùn，不bù满mǎn三sān尺chǐ；

"The tallest of them is only two chi five or six cun, not a full three chi;"

長 is cháng — long, the measurement sense. A 尺 is chǐ and a 寸 is cùn, ten of the latter to one of the former; a 尺 of this period runs a little over a modern foot, so these creatures are about waist-high on a child.

重zhòng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu八bā九jiǔ斤jīn，不bù滿mǎn十shí斤jīn。」重zhòng的de也yě只zhǐ有yǒu八bā九jiǔ斤jīn，不bù满mǎn十shí斤jīn。」

"and the heaviest only eight or nine catties, not a full ten."

重 is zhòng, heavy — the weight sense, not chóng, again. A 斤 is a catty, close to a modern pound and a bit. He is sizing them up out loud like a man at a market.

總評 Commentary

Seven insect sons block the bridge and announce themselves, and Pilgrim's response is to give their dimensions.

The measurements are the joke. Two chi five, not a full three; eight or nine catties, not a full ten. He is not frightened and he is not impressed — he is estimating them the way you would estimate a fish. A chi runs a little over a foot and a catty is about a pound and a third, so these are knee-high creatures weighing what a large cat weighs.

One word here is doing something worth watching. The phrase that means purely, nothing but, is written with the same two characters that meant physically clean a sixty-odd passages ago, when Eight Rules asked how the clothes came off so neatly. Same sound, same characters, entirely different sense.