第七十七回 · 藏在櫃中 Shut In The Iron Chest — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

藏在櫃中 Shut In The Iron Chest

老lǎo怪guài、二èr怪guài俱jù大dà喜xǐ道dào：「是shì是shì是shì，兄xiōng弟dì說shuō得de有yǒu理lǐ。」可kě憐lián把bǎ個gè唐táng僧sēng連lián夜yè拿ná將jiāng進jìn去qù，藏cáng在zài櫃guì中zhōng，閉bì了le亭tíng子zi；傳chuán出chū謠yáo言yán，滿mǎn城chéng裡lǐ都dōu亂luàn講jiǎng不bù題tí。老lǎo怪guài、二èr怪guài俱jù大dà喜xǐ道dào：「是shì是shì是shì，兄xiōng弟dì说shuō得de有yǒu理lǐ。」可kě怜lián把bǎ个gè唐táng僧sēng连lián夜yè拿ná将jiāng进jìn去qù，藏cáng在zài柜guì中zhōng，闭bì了le亭tíng子zi；传chuán出chū谣yáo言yán，满mǎn城chéng里lǐ都dōu乱luàn讲jiǎng不bù题tí。

逐句解 Line by line

老lǎo怪guài、二èr怪guài俱jù大dà喜xǐ道dào：「是shì是shì是shì，兄xiōng弟dì說shuō得de有yǒu理lǐ。」老lǎo怪guài、二èr怪guài俱jù大dà喜xǐ道dào：「是shì是shì是shì，兄xiōng弟dì说shuō得de有yǒu理lǐ。」

The old monster and the second fiend were both delighted, and said, "Yes, yes, yes — our brother talks sense."

得 in 說得有理 is de, introducing what the speaking amounts to. The tripled yes is the sound of two tired men agreeing to somebody else's plan.

可kě憐lián把bǎ個gè唐táng僧sēng連lián夜yè拿ná將jiāng進jìn去qù，藏cáng在zài櫃guì中zhōng，閉bì了le亭tíng子zi；可kě怜lián把bǎ个gè唐táng僧sēng连lián夜yè拿ná将jiāng进jìn去qù，藏cáng在zài柜guì中zhōng，闭bì了le亭tíng子zi；

Poor Tang Monk! They carried him straight in that same night, hid him in the chest, and shut up the pavilion;

可憐, poor thing, is the narrator putting his thumb on the scale — the one place in the passage where anybody expresses pity. 藏 is cáng again, hidden away.

傳chuán出chū謠yáo言yán，滿mǎn城chéng裡lǐ都dōu亂luàn講jiǎng不bù題tí。传chuán出chū谣yáo言yán，满mǎn城chéng里lǐ都dōu乱luàn讲jiǎng不bù题tí。

and they put the rumour about, and the whole city was buzzing with it, and of that no more.

不題, of this we say no more, is the storyteller's formal signal that he is dropping this thread to pick up another. It answers the 且不言 that opened the chapter.

總評 Commentary

The chapter closes one of its two threads here, and closes it badly for everyone in it. Tripitaka is in a box, the brothers are tied to opposite pillars, and a lie is going round a city.

The narrator's poor Tang Monk is the only sympathy on offer and it arrives too late to help. It is also the first time in a long while that the book has said anything kind about him — after a night of showing him frightened, self-pitying and dropped off a wall, the storyteller finally says the obvious thing.

And the formal close mirrors the formal opening. The chapter began by setting the master aside to watch a fight; it sets the rumour aside now to follow Pilgrim. Both times the storyteller tells you plainly that he is choosing where to point, and both times what he turns away from is the master in trouble.