Canonical Classics ← 第七十四回
第七十四回
chánggēngchuánbàotóuhěn
xíngzhěshīwéibiànhuànéng

Long Geng Brings Word of a Fierce Demon Chief · Pilgrim Works His Powers of Transformation

總鑽風
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

總鑽風 Chief Borer Of The Wind

zhuǎnshēnchāxiàshǒujiāngwěibashāoérdexiǎoháomáoxiàgēnniǎnjiào:「biàn!」biànzuòjīnpáiér穿chuānshàngróngshéngérshàngshūsānzhēnnǎizǒngzuānfēng」。chūláikànlezhuǎnshēnchāxiàshǒujiāngwěibashāoérdexiǎoháomáoxiàgēnniǎnjiào:「biàn!」biànzuòjīnpáiér穿chuānshàng绿róngshéngérshàngshūsānzhēnnǎizǒngzuānfēng」。chūláikànle


逐句解 Line by line

zhuǎnshēnchāxiàshǒujiāngwěibashāoérdexiǎoháomáoxiàgēnniǎnjiào:「biàn!」 zhuǎnshēnchāxiàshǒujiāngwěibashāoérdexiǎoháomáoxiàgēnniǎnjiào:「biàn!」

He turned away at once, put his hand behind him, pulled a small fine hair from the very tip of his tail, gave it a twist and called, "Change!"

尾巴梢兒 is the very end of the tail, and 尾巴 takes an unstressed second syllable without any help — the corpus agrees at all five of its sealed sites. 小毫毛 is the fine down rather than a proper hair. One word of command again, as with the staff.

biànzuòjīnpáiér穿chuānshàngróngshéngérshàngshūsānzhēnnǎizǒngzuānfēng」。 biànzuòjīnpáiér穿chuānshàng绿róngshéngérshàngshūsānzhēnnǎizǒngzuānfēng」。

It turned into a gilt-lacquered tally, threaded on a green silk cord too, with three plain characters written on it: Chief Borer of the Wind.

綠絨繩兒 — green, where the other man's was simply a twist of silk. The forgery is not a copy but an improvement, and 總鑽風 promotes the borer to a chief. One character added to a title he saw thirty seconds ago.

chūláikànle chūláikànle

He brought it out and handed it over for the demon to see.

Eight characters of narration with no quotation to close, which is why they stand as their own segment rather than folding backward. The transaction is completed in the flattest possible language.


總評 Commentary

The forgery is made from a hair off his own tail, which is how Pilgrim makes most things, and it takes one word.

What makes it good is that it is not a duplicate. A second Little Borer of the Wind would be one name too many on a list of four hundred; a Chief Borer of the Wind is not on the list at all, and cannot be checked against it.

The green cord is the detail that gives the game away and also sells it. A superior grade would naturally have different fittings — Pilgrim has invented not just a rank but the insignia that would go with it.