原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
打詐財物
Shaking Me Down For Money
那獃子認是行者聲音,在水裡亂罵道:「天殺的弼馬溫,到這們苦處,還來打詐財物哩。」行者又笑道:「我把你這饢糟的,老孫保師父,不知受了多少苦難,你倒攢下私房。」那呆子认是行者声音,在水里乱骂道:「天杀的弼马温,到这们苦处,还来打诈财物哩。」行者又笑道:「我把你这馕糟的,老孙保师父,不知受了多少苦难,你倒攒下私房。」
逐句解 Line by line
那獃子認是行者聲音,在水裡亂罵道:「天殺的弼馬溫,到這們苦處,還來打詐財物哩。」
那呆子认是行者声音,在水里乱骂道:「天杀的弼马温,到这们苦处,还来打诈财物哩。」
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.
行者又笑道:「我把你這饢糟的,老孫保師父,不知受了多少苦難,你倒攢下私房。」
行者又笑道:「我把你这馕糟的,老孙保师父,不知受了多少苦难,你倒攒下私房。」
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."
難 reads nàn in 苦難 — hardship suffered, not the nán that means difficult. 攢 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.