第七十五回 · 一條尾巴 Yellow Fur And A Tail — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

一條尾巴 Yellow Fur And A Tail

果guǒ然rán一yì身shēn黃huáng毛máo，兩liǎng塊kuài紅hóng股gǔ，一yì條tiáo尾wěi巴ba。老lǎo妖yāo看kàn著zhe道dào：「是shì孫sūn行xíng者zhě的de身shēn子zi，小xiǎo鑽zuān風fēng的de臉liǎn皮pí。是shì他tā了le。」教jiào：「小xiǎo的de們men，先xiān安ān排pái酒jiǔ來lái，與yǔ你nǐ三sān大dà王wáng遞dì個gè得dé功gōng之zhī杯bēi。果guǒ然rán一yì身shēn黄huáng毛máo，两liǎng块kuài红hóng股gǔ，一yì条tiáo尾wěi巴ba。老lǎo妖yāo看kàn着zhe道dào：「是shì孙sūn行xíng者zhě的de身shēn子zi，小xiǎo钻zuān风fēng的de脸liǎn皮pí。是shì他tā了le。」教jiào：「小xiǎo的de们men，先xiān安ān排pái酒jiǔ来lái，与yǔ你nǐ三sān大dà王wáng递dì个gè得dé功gōng之zhī杯bēi。

逐句解 Line by line

果guǒ然rán一yì身shēn黃huáng毛máo，兩liǎng塊kuài紅hóng股gǔ，一yì條tiáo尾wěi巴ba。果guǒ然rán一yì身shēn黄huáng毛máo，两liǎng块kuài红hóng股gǔ，一yì条tiáo尾wěi巴ba。

Sure enough — a coat of yellow fur, two red haunches, and a tail.

Nine characters, three items, no verbs at all. The book stops narrating and simply lists what is in front of them. 尾巴 is wěi ba, with the second syllable falling away to nothing, the way a worn-out everyday word does in any language.

老lǎo妖yāo看kàn著zhe道dào：「是shì孫sūn行xíng者zhě的de身shēn子zi，小xiǎo鑽zuān風fēng的de臉liǎn皮pí。是shì他tā了le。」老lǎo妖yāo看kàn着zhe道dào：「是shì孙sūn行xíng者zhě的de身shēn子zi，小xiǎo钻zuān风fēng的de脸liǎn皮pí。是shì他tā了le。」

The old fiend looked and said, "Sun Wukong's body, Little Bore-Wind's face. It's him."

看著 takes the light zhe — looking, and going on looking. 是他了, three characters, closes the quotation and is short enough to fold back onto the sentence it belongs to. 臉皮 is literally face-skin, which given what this cave does to travellers is a colder word than it looks.

教jiào：「小xiǎo的de們men，先xiān安ān排pái酒jiǔ來lái，與yǔ你nǐ三sān大dà王wáng遞dì個gè得dé功gōng之zhī杯bēi。教jiào：「小xiǎo的de们men，先xiān安ān排pái酒jiǔ来lái，与yǔ你nǐ三sān大dà王wáng递dì个gè得dé功gōng之zhī杯bēi。

He ordered, "Little ones, set out wine first, and pass the Third Great King a cup for the merit of it.

得功 keeps 得 at the full dé, to win or achieve — the same 得功 cup an earlier chapter pours and Wukong walks away from without drinking.

總評 Commentary

The chief's verdict is a beautiful piece of accounting: body from one, face from the other, therefore him. He has been shown the answer twice already and refused it twice, and now that the evidence is physical he adopts it instantly and with no embarrassment.

And his very next move is to order a drink for the brother who was right. It is generous, and it is also the mistake, because it treats a captured Sun Wukong as a finished piece of business. Every demon in this book who stops to celebrate before the monkey is dealt with is telling you how the chapter ends.