第七十五回 · 瓶輕了 The Bottle Has Gone Light — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

瓶輕了 The Bottle Has Gone Light

三sān魔mó笑xiào道dào：「還hái到dào此cǐ時shí哩li？」老lǎo魔mó教jiào傳chuán令lìng擡tái上shàng瓶píng來lái。那nà下xià面miàn三sān十shí六liù個gè小xiǎo妖yāo即jí便biàn擡tái瓶píng，瓶píng就jiù輕qīng了le許xǔ多duō。慌huāng得de眾zhòng小xiǎo妖yāo報bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，瓶píng輕qīng了le。」老lǎo魔mó喝hè道dào：「胡hú說shuō，寶bǎo貝bèi乃nǎi陰yīn陽yáng二èr氣qì之zhī全quán功gōng，如rú何hé輕qīng了le？」三sān魔mó笑xiào道dào：「还hái到dào此cǐ时shí哩li？」老lǎo魔mó教jiào传chuán令lìng抬tái上shàng瓶píng来lái。那nà下xià面miàn三sān十shí六liù个gè小xiǎo妖yāo即jí便biàn抬tái瓶píng，瓶píng就jiù轻qīng了le许xǔ多duō。慌huāng得de众zhòng小xiǎo妖yāo报bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，瓶píng轻qīng了le。」老lǎo魔mó喝hè道dào：「胡hú说shuō，宝bǎo贝bèi乃nǎi阴yīn阳yáng二èr气qì之zhī全quán功gōng，如rú何hé轻qīng了le？」

逐句解 Line by line

三sān魔mó笑xiào道dào：「還hái到dào此cǐ時shí哩li？」三sān魔mó笑xiào道dào：「还hái到dào此cǐ时shí哩li？」

The third monster laughed: "Still at this hour? He'll be long gone."

還 is hái, still — the adverb. The third chief, who has been right about everything, is finally wrong, and he is wrong in the direction of overconfidence.

老lǎo魔mó教jiào傳chuán令lìng擡tái上shàng瓶píng來lái。老lǎo魔mó教jiào传chuán令lìng抬tái上shàng瓶píng来lái。

The old fiend gave the order to have the bottle carried up.

教 is jiào, to order — the causative verb rather than the jiāo of teaching.

那nà下xià面miàn三sān十shí六liù個gè小xiǎo妖yāo即jí便biàn擡tái瓶píng，瓶píng就jiù輕qīng了le許xǔ多duō。那nà下xià面miàn三sān十shí六liù个gè小xiǎo妖yāo即jí便biàn抬tái瓶píng，瓶píng就jiù轻qīng了le许xǔ多duō。

The thirty-six lesser fiends below at once lifted the bottle, and the bottle was a great deal lighter.

Thirty-six again — the number the chapter established as the weight of a cosmos when the bottle was first carried out. That arithmetic is now being spent.

慌huāng得de眾zhòng小xiǎo妖yāo報bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，瓶píng輕qīng了le。」慌huāng得de众zhòng小xiǎo妖yāo报bào道dào：「大dà王wáng，瓶píng轻qīng了le。」

The lesser fiends were so alarmed they reported, "Great King, the bottle is light!"

慌得 puts 得 in the light de — alarmed so that they reported. It is the third time this chapter has used the frightened-so-that shape and each one has been a demon bringing bad news upstairs.

老lǎo魔mó喝hè道dào：「胡hú說shuō，寶bǎo貝bèi乃nǎi陰yīn陽yáng二èr氣qì之zhī全quán功gōng，如rú何hé輕qīng了le？」老lǎo魔mó喝hè道dào：「胡hú说shuō，宝bǎo贝bèi乃nǎi阴yīn阳yáng二èr气qì之zhī全quán功gōng，如rú何hé轻qīng了le？」

The old fiend shouted, "Nonsense! The treasure is the whole working of the two breaths, yin and yang. How should it be light?"

喝 is hè, to shout — the character only reads hē when it means drinking, and the old fiend has in fact been drinking, which makes the contrast worth naming. His objection is theoretical rather than observational: it cannot be light, because of what it is.

總評 Commentary

The comedy here is entirely institutional. Staff report an anomaly; management explains that the anomaly is impossible; the staff are standing there holding it. The old fiend's reasoning is not stupid — the bottle really is a treasure of the two breaths — it is simply the wrong kind of reasoning to bring to a weight.

And the reason it is light is the reason he cannot imagine. The bottle has not been emptied of a monkey; it has been emptied of yin and yang. He is holding the correct premise and drawing the opposite conclusion from it.