第七十二回 · 滑扢虀的 Slippery As Anything — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

滑扢虀的 Slippery As Anything

那nà怪guài就jiù都dōu摸mō魚yú，趕gǎn上shàng拿ná他tā不bú住zhù：東dōng邊biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu漬zì了le西xī去qù；西xī邊biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu漬zì了le東dōng去qù。滑huá扢gǔ虀jī的de，只zhǐ在zài那nà腿tuǐ襠dāng裡lǐ亂luàn鑽zuān。原yuán來lái那nà水shuǐ有yǒu攙chān胸xiōng之zhī深shēn，水shuǐ上shàng盤pán了le一yí會huì，又yòu盤pán在zài水shuǐ底dǐ，都dōu盤pán倒dào了le，喘chuǎn噓xū噓xū的de，精jīng神shén倦juàn怠dài。那nà怪guài就jiù都dōu摸mō鱼yú，赶gǎn上shàng拿ná他tā不bú住zhù：东dōng边biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu渍zì了le西xī去qù；西xī边biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu渍zì了le东dōng去qù。滑huá扢gǔ虀jī的de，只zhǐ在zài那nà腿tuǐ裆dāng里lǐ乱luàn钻zuān。原yuán来lái那nà水shuǐ有yǒu搀chān胸xiōng之zhī深shēn，水shuǐ上shàng盘pán了le一yí会huì，又yòu盘pán在zài水shuǐ底dǐ，都dōu盘pán倒dào了le，喘chuǎn嘘xū嘘xū的de，精jīng神shén倦juàn怠dài。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà怪guài就jiù都dōu摸mō魚yú，趕gǎn上shàng拿ná他tā不bú住zhù：東dōng邊biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu漬zì了le西xī去qù；那nà怪guài就jiù都dōu摸mō鱼yú，赶gǎn上shàng拿ná他tā不bú住zhù：东dōng边biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu渍zì了le西xī去qù；

The monsters set to groping for the fish and could not lay hands on him: grope to the east, and off he slipped westward;

漬 is zì, to slip or soak away. 拿他不住 — cannot catch and hold him, the potential negative. The clause is built to be answered by the next one.

西xī邊biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu漬zì了le東dōng去qù。西xī边biān摸mō，忽hū的de又yòu渍zì了le东dōng去qù。

grope to the west, and off he slipped eastward.

Ten characters answering the twenty-two before them, east for west and west for east. The joke is entirely in the symmetry.

滑huá扢gǔ虀jī的de，只zhǐ在zài那nà腿tuǐ襠dāng裡lǐ亂luàn鑽zuān。滑huá扢gǔ虀jī的de，只zhǐ在zài那nà腿tuǐ裆dāng里lǐ乱luàn钻zuān。

Slithery as anything, he went darting about between their legs.

滑扢虀 is a sound-and-texture word for slipperiness, the sort of three-character coinage this book invents freely. 腿襠 is the fork of the legs, and there is no way to make this sentence less crude than it is.

原yuán來lái那nà水shuǐ有yǒu攙chān胸xiōng之zhī深shēn，水shuǐ上shàng盤pán了le一yí會huì，又yòu盤pán在zài水shuǐ底dǐ，都dōu盤pán倒dào了le，喘chuǎn噓xū噓xū的de，精jīng神shén倦juàn怠dài。原yuán来lái那nà水shuǐ有yǒu搀chān胸xiōng之zhī深shēn，水shuǐ上shàng盘pán了le一yí会huì，又yòu盘pán在zài水shuǐ底dǐ，都dōu盘pán倒dào了le，喘chuǎn嘘xū嘘xū的de，精jīng神shén倦juàn怠dài。

Now that water was chest-deep. They swam about on the surface for a while and then round about the bottom, until every one of them was worn out with turning, gasping for breath, all their strength gone out of them.

倒 is dào in 盤倒 — turned over, worn out with turning. 攙胸之深 means deep enough to reach the chest. 喘噓噓 triples a breath sound: panting.

總評 Commentary

The fight is a farce and the book plays it straight. Seven creatures grope about in a hot pool for a fish they cannot hold, while the fish swims between their legs.

The east-west couplet is built as a mirror and it is the whole joke. Grope east, he goes west; grope west, he goes east. Nothing else happens for thirty-two characters and nothing else needs to.

What is genuinely uncomfortable is where it ends up: seven exhausted women, breathless, all their strength gone, with a pig in the water who has come to kill them. The book has spent the last two passages inviting you to laugh and now stops inviting.