第七十四回 · 一分人氣 Not One Part Human Left — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

一分人氣 Not One Part Human Left

這zhè個gè和hé尚shàng，怎zěn麼me這zhè等děng個gè碓duì梃tǐng嘴zuǐ，蒲pú扇shàn耳ěr朵duo，鐵tiě片piàn臉liǎn，𣮤zōng毛máo頸jǐng項xiàng，一yì分fēn人rén氣qì兒ér也yě沒méi有yǒu了le？」八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ這zhè老lǎo公gōng公gong不bù藏cáng興xìng，有yǒu些xiē兒ér好hǎo褒bāo貶biǎn人rén。这zhè个gè和hé尚shàng，怎zěn么me这zhè等děng个gè碓duì梃tǐng嘴zuǐ，蒲pú扇shàn耳ěr朵duo，铁tiě片piàn脸liǎn，𣮤zōng毛máo颈jǐng项xiàng，一yì分fēn人rén气qì儿ér也yě没méi有yǒu了le？」八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ这zhè老lǎo公gōng公gong不bù藏cáng兴xìng，有yǒu些xiē儿ér好hǎo褒bāo贬biǎn人rén。

逐句解 Line by line

這zhè個gè和hé尚shàng，怎zěn麼me這zhè等děng個gè碓duì梃tǐng嘴zuǐ，蒲pú扇shàn耳ěr朵duo，鐵tiě片piàn臉liǎn，𣮤zōng毛máo頸jǐng項xiàng，一yì分fēn人rén氣qì兒ér也yě沒méi有yǒu了le？」这zhè个gè和hé尚shàng，怎zěn么me这zhè等děng个gè碓duì梃tǐng嘴zuǐ，蒲pú扇shàn耳ěr朵duo，铁tiě片piàn脸liǎn，𣮤zōng毛máo颈jǐng项xiàng，一yì分fēn人rén气qì儿ér也yě没méi有yǒu了le？」

But this monk — how does he come by a snout like a pestle, ears like rush fans, a face like sheet iron and a bristled neck, without one part of a human about him?"

Four comparisons, each a household object. 碓梃嘴 is the pestle of a treadle-mortar; 蒲扇 is the rush fan every kitchen had; 鐵片 is sheet iron. Then 𣮤毛: bristles. That character is one of the rarest in the whole novel — it occurs once here, and a search of the entire Chinese Wikisource turns up this passage and nothing else, which is part of why it is missing from the dictionaries. It is built as hair plus a sound component, and it is simply another way of writing the ordinary word for a mane or the bristles along an animal's neck. Which, for a pig, is exactly right.

八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ這zhè老lǎo公gōng公gong不bù藏cáng興xìng，有yǒu些xiē兒ér好hǎo褒bāo貶biǎn人rén。八bā戒jiè笑xiào道dào：「你nǐ这zhè老lǎo公gōng公gong不bù藏cáng兴xìng，有yǒu些xiē儿ér好hǎo褒bāo贬biǎn人rén。

Bajie laughed. "You do not hold much back, old sir. You have quite a gift for running people down.

褒貶 is to praise and to disparage in one word — to appraise, and in practice to criticise. 不藏興 is not hiding your inclination: saying what you think without dressing it. Bajie is being told he has no human features left and answers with a compliment on the old man's frankness.

總評 Commentary

The description is the funniest thing in the chapter and it works because it is domestic. Not monstrous comparisons but kitchen ones — a pestle, a fan, a sheet of iron. The old man is not reaching for the language of nightmare. He is reaching for whatever is lying about the house.

The rare character at the centre of it is worth pausing on. A single occurrence, in this sentence, in a book of a hundred chapters, and not in the dictionaries either — somebody wanted a particular word for the coarse hair on a pig's neck and wrote it with the hair radical rather than the usual one.

Bajie's reply is the making of him. Told he has no human features, he does not argue and does not sulk; he compliments the man on his candour. It is the most likeable thing anybody does in the chapter.