第七十三回 · 闖下甚禍 What Trouble Have We Caused — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

闖下甚禍 What Trouble Have We Caused

我wǒ與yǔ你nǐ有yǒu甚shén相xiāng干gān，你nǐ卻què將jiāng毒dú藥yào茶chá藥yào倒dǎo我wǒ的de人rén？」道dào士shì道dào：「你nǐ這zhè個gè村cūn畜chù生sheng闖chuǎng下xià禍huò來lái，你nǐ豈qǐ不bù知zhī？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ們men才cái進jìn你nǐ門mén，方fāng敘xù了le坐zuò次cì，道dào及jí鄉xiāng貫guàn，又yòu不bù曾céng有yǒu個gè高gāo言yán，那nà裡lǐ闖chuǎng下xià甚shén禍huò？」我wǒ与yǔ你nǐ有yǒu甚shén相xiāng干gān，你nǐ却què将jiāng毒dú药yào茶chá药yào倒dǎo我wǒ的de人rén？」道dào士shì道dào：「你nǐ这zhè个gè村cūn畜chù生sheng闯chuǎng下xià祸huò来lái，你nǐ岂qǐ不bù知zhī？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ们men才cái进jìn你nǐ门mén，方fāng叙xù了le坐zuò次cì，道dào及jí乡xiāng贯guàn，又yòu不bù曾céng有yǒu个gè高gāo言yán，那nà里lǐ闯chuǎng下xià甚shén祸huò？」

逐句解 Line by line

我wǒ與yǔ你nǐ有yǒu甚shén相xiāng干gān，你nǐ卻què將jiāng毒dú藥yào茶chá藥yào倒dǎo我wǒ的de人rén？」我wǒ与yǔ你nǐ有yǒu甚shén相xiāng干gān，你nǐ却què将jiāng毒dú药yào茶chá药yào倒dǎo我wǒ的de人rén？」

"What have I to do with you, that you should drug my people down with poisoned tea?"

甚 is shén, meaning what — not shèn, meaning very. The chapter has eight bare 甚 and six of them are this interrogative one. 相干 is to have a bearing on, to concern — still alive in 不相干, nothing to do with me. And 藥倒 uses 藥 as a verb, to drug, with 倒 as dǎo, the result: drugged them down.

道dào士shì道dào：「你nǐ這zhè個gè村cūn畜chù生sheng闖chuǎng下xià禍huò來lái，你nǐ豈qǐ不bù知zhī？」道dào士shì道dào：「你nǐ这zhè个gè村cūn畜chù生sheng闯chuǎng下xià祸huò来lái，你nǐ岂qǐ不bù知zhī？」

"You coarse animal," said the Daoist, "you have brought this trouble down on yourself. Can you really not know it?"

He has taken Pilgrim's insult and added his own to the front of it — 村畜生, coarse animal, welding 村魯 and 畜生 into one word. 闖下禍 is to blunder into trouble, with 闖 carrying the sense of barging in where you should not.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ們men才cái進jìn你nǐ門mén，方fāng敘xù了le坐zuò次cì，道dào及jí鄉xiāng貫guàn，又yòu不bù曾céng有yǒu個gè高gāo言yán，那nà裡lǐ闖chuǎng下xià甚shén禍huò？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「我wǒ们men才cái进jìn你nǐ门mén，方fāng叙xù了le坐zuò次cì，道dào及jí乡xiāng贯guàn，又yòu不bù曾céng有yǒu个gè高gāo言yán，那nà里lǐ闯chuǎng下xià甚shén祸huò？」

"We had only just come in at your door," said Pilgrim. "We had barely settled who sat where and said where we were from. Not one sharp word had passed. What trouble have we blundered into?"

坐次 is the seating order — who sits where, which in a Chinese room is a real subject — and 鄉貫 is one's native place, the standard thing a stranger asks and the exact question that condemned them. 高言 is a raised or haughty word. Note 不曾 here bases correctly as céng with no help, twenty characters before 可曾 in the next passage does not.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim's question is the honest one and he means it: what have I ever done to you? He does not know about Gossamer Cave; he was not at the bathing pool in any way that seemed to matter; and from where he stands a stranger has poisoned three men over nothing.

His defence is a small masterpiece of literal accuracy. We came in, we sat down, we said where we were from, nobody raised his voice. Every clause is true, and the third one is the whole problem — 道及鄉貫, we mentioned our native place, is precisely the moment the Daoist decided to kill them. Pilgrim lists it as evidence of innocence.

And the Daoist's 你豈不知 — can you really not know — is not rhetorical. He is genuinely surprised. He assumes these four know what they did at his sisters' cave and are brazening it out. Neither man is lying and neither understands the other, which is why the next question has to be asked outright.