Canonical Classics ← 第七十五回
第七十五回
xīnyuánzuāntòuyīnyáng
zhǔhuánguīdàozhēn

The Mind-Monkey Bores Through the Body of Yin and Yang · The Demon Lord Returns to the True Great Way

嘴長耳大
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

嘴長耳大 After Him After Him

zhǐdàozuǐchángěrshǒuyìngxiōngbàilezhèndiūledāohuítóujiùzǒushèngdào:「gǎnshànggǎnshàng。」zhèdāizizhàngzhewēifēngzhedīngmánggǎnxiàguàizhǐdàozuǐchángěrshǒuyìngxiōngbàilezhèndiūledāohuítóujiùzǒushèngdào:「gǎnshànggǎnshàng。」zhèdāizizhàngzhewēifēngzhedīngmánggǎnxiàguài


逐句解 Line by line

zhǐdàozuǐchángěrshǒuyìngxiōngbàilezhèndiūledāohuítóujiùzǒu zhǐdàozuǐchángěrshǒuyìngxiōngbàilezhèndiūledāohuítóujiùzǒu

He took it for a long snout and big ears, a hard hand and a savage rake — lost the field, dropped his sabre, turned his head and ran.

is cháng, long — the measuring band, not the zhǎng of growing. The demon's assessment is entirely physical: snout, ears, hand, rake. He has not been beaten by skill and he knows it.

shèngdào:「gǎnshànggǎnshàng。」 shèngdào:「gǎnshànggǎnshàng。」

The Great Sage shouted, "After him! After him!"

is , the shout. The doubled order is the fourth time somebody in this chapter has said a thing twice in a crisis — the cave's own habit, now caught by the other side.

zhèdāizizhàngzhewēifēngzhedīngmánggǎnxiàguài zhèdāizizhàngzhewēifēngzhedīngmánggǎnxiàguài

The Idiot, riding on his own moment of glory and holding the rake up, chased straight down after the demon.

Both take the light zhe — relying and going on relying, holding and going on holding. 仗著威風 is leaning on a display of power, which is precisely what Bajie is doing: he has frightened somebody once and is now living on it.


總評 Commentary

Wukong's instinct is to pursue and it is the wrong one. Everything about this demon's retreat is too quick — he was not losing a moment before — and the chapter has already shown us what happens when he stands still and opens his mouth.

Bajie chasing is the funnier half. He has landed exactly one blow in his life that worked, and he is now hurtling downhill after a creature four times his size on the strength of it. 仗著威風 is the narrator's dry assessment of what is carrying him.