第七十三回 · 背了是非 They Carried The Tale Here — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

背了是非 They Carried The Tale Here

蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng在zài盤pán絲sī洞dòng要yào害hài我wǒ師shī父fù，是shì我wǒ與yǔ師shī弟dì八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng救jiù解jiě得de脫tuō。那nà蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng走zǒu到dào他tā這zhè裡lǐ，背bèi了le是shì非fēi，說shuō我wǒ等děng有yǒu欺qī騙piàn之zhī意yì。道dào士shì將jiāng毒dú藥yào茶chá藥yào倒dǎo我wǒ師shī父fù、師shī弟dì共gòng三sān人rén，連lián馬mǎ四sì口kǒu，陷xiàn在zài他tā觀guàn裡lǐ。蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng在zài盘pán丝sī洞dòng要yào害hài我wǒ师shī父fù，是shì我wǒ与yǔ师shī弟dì八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng救jiù解jiě得de脱tuō。那nà蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng走zǒu到dào他tā这zhè里lǐ，背bèi了le是shì非fēi，说shuō我wǒ等děng有yǒu欺qī骗piàn之zhī意yì。道dào士shì将jiāng毒dú药yào茶chá药yào倒dǎo我wǒ师shī父fù、师shī弟dì共gòng三sān人rén，连lián马mǎ四sì口kǒu，陷xiàn在zài他tā观guàn里lǐ。

逐句解 Line by line

蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng在zài盤pán絲sī洞dòng要yào害hài我wǒ師shī父fù，是shì我wǒ與yǔ師shī弟dì八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng救jiù解jiě得de脫tuō。蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng在zài盘pán丝sī洞dòng要yào害hài我wǒ师shī父fù，是shì我wǒ与yǔ师shī弟dì八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng救jiù解jiě得de脱tuō。

"The spider spirits meant to do my master harm at Gossamer Cave, and it was I and my brothers Eight Rules and Sha Monk who got him free."

救解得脫 takes 得 as de, because 脫 after it is a result: rescued him free. When 得 is instead fused onto a verb of perception, or follows a modal, it keeps the full dé. 救解 itself keeps 解 as jiě, to loosen or release — a different word from the 解數 of the fight verse, where the same character was xiè.

那nà蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng走zǒu到dào他tā這zhè裡lǐ，背bèi了le是shì非fēi，說shuō我wǒ等děng有yǒu欺qī騙piàn之zhī意yì。那nà蜘zhī蛛zhū精jīng走zǒu到dào他tā这zhè里lǐ，背bèi了le是shì非fēi，说shuō我wǒ等děng有yǒu欺qī骗piàn之zhī意yì。

"The spider spirits came here to him, carried their tale, and said we had meant to cheat them."

背是非 is to carry gossip from one place to another — 是非 being literally rights-and-wrongs, and by extension the quarrels people make of them. The reading stays bèi: the corpus seals this character five times and 中原音韻 files it in one band only, so the bēi of carrying on one's back is a later development that has no place here.

道dào士shì將jiāng毒dú藥yào茶chá藥yào倒dǎo我wǒ師shī父fù、師shī弟dì共gòng三sān人rén，連lián馬mǎ四sì口kǒu，陷xiàn在zài他tā觀guàn裡lǐ。道dào士shì将jiāng毒dú药yào茶chá药yào倒dǎo我wǒ师shī父fù、师shī弟dì共gòng三sān人rén，连lián马mǎ四sì口kǒu，陷xiàn在zài他tā观guàn里lǐ。

"The Daoist drugged my master and my brothers down with poisoned tea — three of them, four counting the horse — and they are trapped inside his abbey."

藥倒 once more: 藥 as a verb, to drug, with 倒 as dǎo, the falling result. This is the third of the chapter's five. 四口 counts living beings with 口, mouths — and the horse gets counted, which is both a way of reckoning a household and a small joke.

總評 Commentary

This is the chapter's own summary, delivered by a character, and it is a good test of how much of it he has understood. He has the sequence right: the spiders attacked, they were beaten off, they came here, they complained, the Daoist acted. What he does not have is why any of it worked.

背了是非 is the phrase to keep. Carrying tales — moving a quarrel from the place where it happened to a place where it can be acted on — is exactly what the seven did, and it is the mechanism of the whole plot. Nothing in this chapter would have occurred if seven people had not walked twenty li to complain.

And the horse gets counted. 連馬四口 — four mouths counting the horse — is Pilgrim doing the arithmetic of a household, and it is the closest the chapter comes to acknowledging that a party of pilgrims is a small family with livestock. The animal is poisoned too, and nobody has mentioned it until now.