Canonical Classics ← 第七十六回
第七十六回
xīnshénshèguīxìng
tóngxiángguàizhēn

The Spirit Settles in Its Dwelling and the Demon Returns to Its Nature · The Wood Mother Joins to Subdue the Monster's True Form

打詐財物
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

打詐財物 Shaking Me Down For Money

dāizirènshìxíngzhěshēngyīnzàishuǐluàndào:「tiānshādewēndàozhèmenchùháiláizhàcáili。」xíngzhěyòuxiàodào:「zhènángzāodelǎosūnbǎoshīzhīshòuleduōshǎonàndàozǎnxiàfáng。」dāizirènshìxíngzhěshēngyīnzàishuǐluàndào:「tiānshādewēndàozhèmenchùháiláizhàcáili。」xíngzhěyòuxiàodào:「zhènángzāodelǎosūnbǎoshīzhīshòuleduōshǎonàndàozǎnxiàfáng。」


逐句解 Line by line

dāizirènshìxíngzhěshēngyīnzàishuǐluàndào:「tiānshādewēndàozhèmenchùháiláizhàcáili。」 dāizirènshìxíngzhěshēngyīnzàishuǐluàndào:「tiānshādewēndàozhèmenchùháiláizhàcáili。」

The fool knew Wukong's voice, and swore at him from the water: "Damn you for a stable-boy! I am in this misery and you still come shaking me down for money."

弼馬溫 is the stable post Wukong was fobbed off with in Heaven, and the one insult that never fails to land. 打詐 — to extort by threat.

xíngzhěyòuxiàodào:「zhènángzāodelǎosūnbǎoshīzhīshòuleduōshǎonàndàozǎnxiàfáng。」 xíngzhěyòuxiàodào:「zhènángzāodelǎosūnbǎoshīzhīshòuleduōshǎonàndàozǎnxiàfáng。」

Wukong laughed again: "You mash-fed thing. I have guarded the master and taken I cannot say how much hardship, and you have been putting money by in private."

reads nàn in 苦難 — hardship suffered, not the nán that means difficult. keeps zǎn, to put by.


總評 Commentary

The insult Bajie reaches for is the stable post. Heaven once fobbed Wukong off with the job of keeper of the horses, dressed up with a grand-sounding title, and he discovered what it actually ranked at and wrecked the place. Centuries on it is still the one word that will reliably enrage him, and Bajie uses it while tied up in a pond, which takes a certain nerve.

Wukong's counter is not a denial. He does not say he was not extorting; he says Bajie has a secret hoard while the rest of them do the work. Both accusations are true, and the argument is conducted entirely in the currency of grievance rather than of fact.

The character for hardship here is the one that means a calamity undergone rather than a task that is hard. Wukong is not saying the journey has been difficult. He is saying he has been put through things, which is a different and larger complaint.