第七十五回 · 三大王抽筋 Skin Bones And Sinew — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

三大王抽筋 Skin Bones And Sinew

行xíng者zhě道dào：「他tā說shuō拿ná大dà大dà王wáng剝bō皮pí，二èr大dà王wáng剮guǎ骨gǔ，三sān大dà王wáng抽chōu筋jīn。你nǐ們men若ruò關guān了le門mén，不bù出chū去qù啊a，他tā會huì變biàn化huà，一yì時shí變biàn了le個gè蒼cāng蠅yíng兒ér，自zì門mén縫fèng裡lǐ飛fēi進jìn，把bǎ我wǒ們men都dōu拿ná出chū去qù，卻què怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「他tā说shuō拿ná大dà大dà王wáng剥bō皮pí，二èr大dà王wáng剐guǎ骨gǔ，三sān大dà王wáng抽chōu筋jīn。你nǐ们men若ruò关guān了le门mén，不bù出chū去qù啊a，他tā会huì变biàn化huà，一yì时shí变biàn了le个gè苍cāng蝇yíng儿ér，自zì门mén缝fèng里lǐ飞fēi进jìn，把bǎ我wǒ们men都dōu拿ná出chū去qù，却què怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě道dào：「他tā說shuō拿ná大dà大dà王wáng剝bō皮pí，二èr大dà王wáng剮guǎ骨gǔ，三sān大dà王wáng抽chōu筋jīn。行xíng者zhě道dào：「他tā说shuō拿ná大dà大dà王wáng剥bō皮pí，二èr大dà王wáng剐guǎ骨gǔ，三sān大dà王wáng抽chōu筋jīn。

Wukong said, "He said he would take the First Great King and flay him, the Second Great King and slice the flesh off his bones, and the Third Great King and draw out his sinews.

Three chiefs, three verbs, and every one of them is drawn from what the chapter has already shown us. The flaying, the slicing and the stripped sinew are the boneyard at the front gate, read back to its owners as a threat. Wukong is not inventing atrocities; he is quoting theirs.

你nǐ們men若ruò關guān了le門mén，不bù出chū去qù啊a，他tā會huì變biàn化huà，一yì時shí變biàn了le個gè蒼cāng蠅yíng兒ér，自zì門mén縫fèng裡lǐ飛fēi進jìn，把bǎ我wǒ們men都dōu拿ná出chū去qù，卻què怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」你nǐ们men若ruò关guān了le门mén，不bù出chū去qù啊a，他tā会huì变biàn化huà，一yì时shí变biàn了le个gè苍cāng蝇yíng儿ér，自zì门mén缝fèng里lǐ飞fēi进jìn，把bǎ我wǒ们men都dōu拿ná出chū去qù，却què怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」

If you shut the doors and don't go out, well — he can transform. In a moment he'll turn into a fly, come in through a crack in the door, and carry the lot of us out. What are we to do then?"

This is the sentence the rest of the chapter hangs on. Wukong is telling them, accurately, exactly what he can do and exactly what he is about to do, and offering it as a warning. It is the cleanest kind of lie there is — a true statement aimed the wrong way.

總評 Commentary

The escalation is calculated. The first lie was a giant outside; this one is a fly inside, which is far more frightening because it makes the locked doors useless. Wukong has to undo the very defence he talked them into, and he does it by turning their own solution into their new problem.

The list of three punishments is also doing quiet work. It assigns a specific fate to each chief by rank, which is the sort of detail a real report would contain and a made-up one usually would not. Liars in this book are graded by how much unnecessary specificity they can afford.