第七十四回 · 字墜腳 Every Name Ends In Wind — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

字墜腳 Every Name Ends In Wind

他tā卻què心xīn中zhōng暗àn想xiǎng道dào：「不bù消xiāo說shuō了le，但dàn是shì巡xún山shān的de，必bì有yǒu個gè『風fēng』字zì墜zhuì腳jiǎo。」便biàn道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng下xià衣yī走zǒu過guò，等děng我wǒ拿ná牌pái兒ér你nǐ看kàn。」他tā却què心xīn中zhōng暗àn想xiǎng道dào：「不bù消xiāo说shuō了le，但dàn是shì巡xún山shān的de，必bì有yǒu个gè『风fēng』字zì坠zhuì脚jiǎo。」便biàn道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng下xià衣yī走zǒu过guò，等děng我wǒ拿ná牌pái儿ér你nǐ看kàn。」

逐句解 Line by line

他tā卻què心xīn中zhōng暗àn想xiǎng道dào：「不bù消xiāo說shuō了le，但dàn是shì巡xún山shān的de，必bì有yǒu個gè『風fēng』字zì墜zhuì腳jiǎo。」他tā却què心xīn中zhōng暗àn想xiǎng道dào：「不bù消xiāo说shuō了le，但dàn是shì巡xún山shān的de，必bì有yǒu个gè『风fēng』字zì坠zhuì脚jiǎo。」

He thought to himself, "That settles it. Anyone on mountain patrol is bound to have Wind hung on the end of his name."

不消說了 is no need to say more, that settles it. 墜腳 is a hanging foot — the tail end of a name, the syllable that dangles off it. Pilgrim has worked out the naming convention of an organisation from a single sample, which is the whole of what he needed.

便biàn道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng下xià衣yī走zǒu過guò，等děng我wǒ拿ná牌pái兒ér你nǐ看kàn。」便biàn道dào：「你nǐ且qiě放fàng下xià衣yī走zǒu过guò，等děng我wǒ拿ná牌pái儿ér你nǐ看kàn。」

So he said, "Put your clothes down and step aside, and let me get out my tally for you to look at."

放下衣走過 is put your clothes down and move off — he needs the man's hands busy and his eyes elsewhere for about four seconds. The politeness is doing the work of misdirection.

總評 Commentary

The deduction is the cleverest thing Pilgrim does in the chapter and it takes eleven characters. One tally, one grade, and he has the naming system.

It is worth noticing what he does not do. He does not copy the tally he has just seen — that would make him a second Little Borer of the Wind on a roster of four hundred, checkable against a list.

And the request that follows is pure stagecraft. Put your clothes down, step over there, and let me get mine out. Every conjuror in history has said something like it.