第七十六回 · 兩全其美 The Best Of Both Ways — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

兩全其美 The Best Of Both Ways

也yě罷bà，也yě罷bà，與yǔ他tā個gè兩liǎng全quán其qí美měi：出chū去qù便biàn出chū去qù，還hái與yǔ他tā肚dù裡lǐ生shēng下xià一yí個gè根gēn兒ér。」即jí轉zhuǎn手shǒu，將jiāng尾wěi上shàng毫háo毛máo拔bá了le一yì根gēn，吹chuī口kǒu仙xiān氣qì，叫jiào：「變biàn！」即jí變biàn一yì條tiáo繩shéng兒ér，只zhǐ有yǒu頭tóu髮fà粗cū細xì，倒dào有yǒu四sì十shí丈zhàng長cháng短duǎn。也yě罢bà，也yě罢bà，与yǔ他tā个gè两liǎng全quán其qí美měi：出chū去qù便biàn出chū去qù，还hái与yǔ他tā肚dù里lǐ生shēng下xià一yí个gè根gēn儿ér。」即jí转zhuǎn手shǒu，将jiāng尾wěi上shàng毫háo毛máo拔bá了le一yì根gēn，吹chuī口kǒu仙xiān气qì，叫jiào：「变biàn！」即jí变biàn一yì条tiáo绳shéng儿ér，只zhǐ有yǒu头tóu发fà粗cū细xì，倒dào有yǒu四sì十shí丈zhàng长cháng短duǎn。

逐句解 Line by line

也yě罷bà，也yě罷bà，與yǔ他tā個gè兩liǎng全quán其qí美měi：出chū去qù便biàn出chū去qù，還hái與yǔ他tā肚dù裡lǐ生shēng下xià一yí個gè根gēn兒ér。」也yě罢bà，也yě罢bà，与yǔ他tā个gè两liǎng全quán其qí美měi：出chū去qù便biàn出chū去qù，还hái与yǔ他tā肚dù里lǐ生shēng下xià一yí个gè根gēn儿ér。」

Very well then, very well. I shall give him the best of both ways: out I go, and still I leave a root growing in his belly."

兩全其美 — to have both sides come out well. 還 reads hái, meaning as well, on top of that.

即jí轉zhuǎn手shǒu，將jiāng尾wěi上shàng毫háo毛máo拔bá了le一yì根gēn，吹chuī口kǒu仙xiān氣qì，叫jiào：「變biàn！」即jí转zhuǎn手shǒu，将jiāng尾wěi上shàng毫háo毛máo拔bá了le一yì根gēn，吹chuī口kǒu仙xiān气qì，叫jiào：「变biàn！」

At once he reached back, plucked a hair from his tail, breathed on it and cried: "Change!"

將 reads jiāng, the syllable that puts the object before the verb — took the hair and plucked it.

即jí變biàn一yì條tiáo繩shéng兒ér，只zhǐ有yǒu頭tóu髮fà粗cū細xì，倒dào有yǒu四sì十shí丈zhàng長cháng短duǎn。即jí变biàn一yì条tiáo绳shéng儿ér，只zhǐ有yǒu头tóu发fà粗cū细xì，倒dào有yǒu四sì十shí丈zhàng长cháng短duǎn。

It changed into a cord no thicker than a hair, yet fully forty zhang in length.

丈 stays as zhàng, about 3.2 metres, so forty of them run to some 128 metres. 長 reads cháng here — the noun length, not the verb to grow.

總評 Commentary

The phrase Wukong lands on is the ordinary Chinese expression for a solution that satisfies both requirements at once, and it is used here with a straight face for a plan that satisfies neither party honestly. He keeps his word by leaving, and keeps his grip by not really leaving. It is the kind of compromise a lawyer would admire.

The hair is his oldest trick and the novel never tires of it. Every hair on his body can become anything he names, and across the hundred chapters they become monkeys, tools, sleeping-drugs and, here, a cord. What makes the moment work is the scale: a thread finer than hair, and long enough to reach from a hilltop into a stomach.

The measurement deserves a pause. Forty zhang is roughly a hundred and thirty metres, which is not a rope so much as a cable, and the reader is meant to feel the mismatch between something invisibly thin and something absurdly long. The novel does this constantly with Wukong's equipment, and it is one of the reliable sources of its comedy.