第七十七回 · 捽開鼻子 The Trunk Swung Open — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

捽開鼻子 The Trunk Swung Open

沙shā和hé尚shàng見jiàn事shì不bù諧xié，虛xū幌huǎng著zhe寶bǎo杖zhàng，顧gù本běn身shēn回huí頭tóu便biàn走zǒu。被bèi二èr怪guài捽zuó開kāi鼻bí子zi，響xiǎng一yì聲shēng，連lián手shǒu捲juǎn住zhù，拿ná到dào城chéng裡lǐ，也yě叫jiào小xiǎo妖yāo綑kǔn在zài殿diàn下xià。卻què又yòu騰téng空kōng去qù叫jiào拿ná行xíng者zhě。沙shā和hé尚shàng见jiàn事shì不bù谐xié，虚xū幌huǎng着zhe宝bǎo杖zhàng，顾gù本běn身shēn回huí头tóu便biàn走zǒu。被bèi二èr怪guài捽zuó开kāi鼻bí子zi，响xiǎng一yì声shēng，连lián手shǒu卷juǎn住zhù，拿ná到dào城chéng里lǐ，也yě叫jiào小xiǎo妖yāo捆kǔn在zài殿diàn下xià。却què又yòu腾téng空kōng去qù叫jiào拿ná行xíng者zhě。

逐句解 Line by line

沙shā和hé尚shàng見jiàn事shì不bù諧xié，虛xū幌huǎng著zhe寶bǎo杖zhàng，顧gù本běn身shēn回huí頭tóu便biàn走zǒu。沙shā和hé尚shàng见jiàn事shì不bù谐xié，虚xū幌huǎng着zhe宝bǎo杖zhàng，顾gù本běn身shēn回huí头tóu便biàn走zǒu。

Sha Monk saw that things were going badly, made a feint with his precious staff, and looked to himself: he turned and fled.

見事不諧, seeing the business would not come right, is a set phrase for the moment a man decides to cut his losses. 虛幌 is a feint, an empty flourish — he swings to buy room, not to hit.

被bèi二èr怪guài捽zuó開kāi鼻bí子zi，響xiǎng一yì聲shēng，連lián手shǒu捲juǎn住zhù，拿ná到dào城chéng裡lǐ，也yě叫jiào小xiǎo妖yāo綑kǔn在zài殿diàn下xià。被bèi二èr怪guài捽zuó开kāi鼻bí子zi，响xiǎng一yì声shēng，连lián手shǒu卷juǎn住zhù，拿ná到dào城chéng里lǐ，也yě叫jiào小xiǎo妖yāo捆kǔn在zài殿diàn下xià。

The second fiend swung his trunk open, gave one loud blast, and rolled him up, arms and all; he carried him into the city and likewise told the little demons to bind him below the hall.

連手捲住, rolled up together with his hands, is the detail that makes an elephant an elephant: the trunk takes the arms in with the body, so the staff is useless before he has lost it. Note 也, likewise — the narrator is keeping a tally.

卻què又yòu騰téng空kōng去qù叫jiào拿ná行xíng者zhě。却què又yòu腾téng空kōng去qù叫jiào拿ná行xíng者zhě。

Then he soared aloft again to call for the capture of Pilgrim.

Two down. The sentence is nine characters long and contains the word 拿, to seize, which has now been used of all three disciples in the space of a page.

總評 Commentary

Sha Monk gets the least heroic exit in the book and the most sensible one. He reads the situation, fakes a blow to make space, and runs. The narrator does not sneer at him for it; the phrase used is the one a merchant would use about a bad deal.

The capture is over in one clause because an elephant's trunk does not need two. Where Bajie was taken by a mouth and had to be carried, Sha Monk is simply wrapped, weapon arm and all, and the fight ends before it starts.

Note where each prisoner is put. Bajie is bound in the hall, Sha Monk below it. The fiends are sorting their catch by rank on the floor plan of somebody else's throne room, and they will do it again with the steamer trays.