第七十三回 · 三個紅棗兒 Three Red Dates — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

三個紅棗兒 Three Red Dates

卻què說shuō那nà八bā戒jiè一yì則zé饑jī，二èr則zé渴kě，原yuán來lái是shì食shí腸cháng大dà大dà的de，見jiàn那nà鍾zhōng子zi裡lǐ有yǒu三sān個gè紅hóng棗zǎo兒ér，拿ná起qǐ來lái嘓guō的de都dōu咽yàn在zài肚dù裡lǐ。師shī父fù也yě吃chī了le，沙shā僧sēng也yě吃chī了le。却què说shuō那nà八bā戒jiè一yì则zé饥jī，二èr则zé渴kě，原yuán来lái是shì食shí肠cháng大dà大dà的de，见jiàn那nà钟zhōng子zi里lǐ有yǒu三sān个gè红hóng枣zǎo儿ér，拿ná起qǐ来lái啯guō的de都dōu咽yàn在zài肚dù里lǐ。师shī父fù也yě吃chī了le，沙shā僧sēng也yě吃chī了le。

逐句解 Line by line

卻què說shuō那nà八bā戒jiè一yì則zé饑jī，二èr則zé渴kě，原yuán來lái是shì食shí腸cháng大dà大dà的de，見jiàn那nà鍾zhōng子zi裡lǐ有yǒu三sān個gè紅hóng棗zǎo兒ér，拿ná起qǐ來lái嘓guō的de都dōu咽yàn在zài肚dù裡lǐ。却què说shuō那nà八bā戒jiè一yì则zé饥jī，二èr则zé渴kě，原yuán来lái是shì食shí肠cháng大dà大dà的de，见jiàn那nà钟zhōng子zi里lǐ有yǒu三sān个gè红hóng枣zǎo儿ér，拿ná起qǐ来lái啯guō的de都dōu咽yàn在zài肚dù里lǐ。

Now Eight Rules was hungry for one thing and thirsty for another, and his gullet was a large one to start with. Seeing three red dates in his cup, he picked them up and swallowed the lot down into his belly at a gulp.

⚠ Three dates. The reader has watched that number being made: twelve dates, one 釐 of poison stuffed into each, shared among four cups. The text has never stated the three-per-cup figure until this moment, and it states it now through Eight Rules's eyes, at the instant he swallows them. 食腸 is literally the food-gut — appetite as an organ — and it is the standing joke about him. 嘓 is the sound of the swallow itself, one character doing the work of a sound effect.

師shī父fù也yě吃chī了le，沙shā僧sēng也yě吃chī了le。师shī父fù也yě吃chī了le，沙shā僧sēng也yě吃chī了le。

His master ate too. Sha Monk ate too.

Ten characters, one clause repeated with the name changed, and no comment whatever. The flatness is the effect. After forty characters of Eight Rules being greedy, the two who die of ordinary politeness get five characters each.

總評 Commentary

The trap closes on a character trait. Eight Rules is hungry, he is thirsty, his appetite is famously enormous, and there are three sweets at the bottom of his cup. Nothing in the chapter has been arranged to make him drink; he simply is the sort of person who eats what is in front of him, and the Daoist did not need to know that.

Then the second sentence, which is the one that hurts. The master ate too, Sha Monk ate too — the same words twice, no elaboration, no reaction. They are not greedy and they are not careless. They are guests, drinking the tea a host has handed them with both hands, which is the only thing a guest can do.

And the count confirms itself. Three dates in the cup is exactly what the arithmetic in the back room produced, and the book has waited five hundred characters to say so out loud. Ming vernacular fiction does not usually keep faith with its own numbers this carefully. When it does, it is because the numbers are the horror.