第七十三回 · 絲繩亂冒 A Canopy Of Silk — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

絲繩亂冒 A Canopy Of Silk

只zhǐ見jiàn那nà七qī個gè敞chǎng開kāi懷huái，腆tiǎn著zhe雪xuě白bái肚dù子zi，臍qí孔kǒng中zhōng作zuò出chū法fǎ來lái：骨gǔ都dū都dū絲sī繩shéng亂luàn冒mào，搭dā起qǐ一yí個gè天tiān篷péng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě蓋gài在zài底dǐ下xià。行xíng者zhě見jiàn事shì不bù諧xié，即jí翻fān身shēn念niàn聲shēng咒zhòu語yǔ，打dǎ個gè觔jīn斗dǒu，撲pū的de撞zhuàng破pò天tiān篷péng走zǒu了le。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà七qī个gè敞chǎng开kāi怀huái，腆tiǎn着zhe雪xuě白bái肚dù子zi，脐qí孔kǒng中zhōng作zuò出chū法fǎ来lái：骨gǔ都dū都dū丝sī绳shéng乱luàn冒mào，搭dā起qǐ一yí个gè天tiān篷péng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě盖gài在zài底dǐ下xià。行xíng者zhě见jiàn事shì不bù谐xié，即jí翻fān身shēn念niàn声shēng咒zhòu语yǔ，打dǎ个gè觔jīn斗dǒu，扑pū的de撞zhuàng破pò天tiān篷péng走zǒu了le。

逐句解 Line by line

只zhǐ見jiàn那nà七qī個gè敞chǎng開kāi懷huái，腆tiǎn著zhe雪xuě白bái肚dù子zi，臍qí孔kǒng中zhōng作zuò出chū法fǎ來lái：骨gǔ都dū都dū絲sī繩shéng亂luàn冒mào，搭dā起qǐ一yí個gè天tiān篷péng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě蓋gài在zài底dǐ下xià。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà七qī个gè敞chǎng开kāi怀huái，腆tiǎn着zhe雪xuě白bái肚dù子zi，脐qí孔kǒng中zhōng作zuò出chū法fǎ来lái：骨gǔ都dū都dū丝sī绳shéng乱luàn冒mào，搭dā起qǐ一yí个gè天tiān篷péng，把bǎ行xíng者zhě盖gài在zài底dǐ下xià。

The seven of them threw open their robes, thrust out their snow-white bellies, and worked a spell from their navels: out gushed silk cords in a rush, building up a canopy of heaven that covered Pilgrim over underneath it.

骨都都 is a sound word — the gurgling, gushing noise of something welling out — and the corpus reads it gǔ dōu dōu, sealed three times in the previous chapter, once in this very phrase about these very navels. 腆 is to stick the belly out; 臍孔 is the navel; 肚 takes its invariant dù. And 天篷, a heaven-awning, is the word for the great cloth canopy stretched over a courtyard for a banquet — which is exactly what it looks like and exactly the wrong thing to be under.

行xíng者zhě見jiàn事shì不bù諧xié，即jí翻fān身shēn念niàn聲shēng咒zhòu語yǔ，打dǎ個gè觔jīn斗dǒu，撲pū的de撞zhuàng破pò天tiān篷péng走zǒu了le。行xíng者zhě见jiàn事shì不bù谐xié，即jí翻fān身shēn念niàn声shēng咒zhòu语yǔ，打dǎ个gè觔jīn斗dǒu，扑pū的de撞zhuàng破pò天tiān篷péng走zǒu了le。

Pilgrim, seeing things were going badly, turned over at once, spoke a spell, turned a somersault, and with a bang burst through the canopy and was gone.

觔斗 is jīn dǒu, a somersault — the corpus seals that reading four times, and it is the same word as in 觔斗雲, the somersault-cloud that carries Pilgrim a hundred and eight thousand lǐ at a jump. 事不諧 is affairs not going harmoniously, a nicely understated way of saying it is going wrong. 撲的 is another sound word, the thump of the impact.

總評 Commentary

The seven spiders' one great trick, and it is genuinely strange. They open their clothes, push out their bellies and spin silk from their navels — not from their hands, not from a mouth, from the navel — and the silk builds itself into an awning over the courtyard with Pilgrim underneath. The previous chapter used the same manoeuvre and the same sound word for it.

What makes it frightening rather than absurd is the domestic image at the centre. A 天篷 is party equipment: the cloth roof you rig over a courtyard for a wedding banquet so the guests stay dry. The thing being described is a marquee going up, at speed, over one person.

And he is out in twenty-five characters. Spell, somersault, bang, gone — the escape gets less space than the trap, which is the book's usual proportion. Pilgrim is never in danger from a thing that merely holds him; the danger in this chapter is still lying on the floor of a guest room behind him.