第七十七回 · 搧開兩翅 Two Wings Beaten Open — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

搧開兩翅 Two Wings Beaten Open

三sān怪guài見jiàn行xíng者zhě駕jià觔jīn斗dǒu時shí，即jí抖dǒu抖dǒu身shēn，現xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，搧shān開kāi兩liǎng翅chì，趕gǎn上shàng大dà聖shèng。你nǐ道dào他tā怎zěn能néng趕gǎn上shàng？當dāng時shí如rú行xíng者zhě鬧nào天tiān宮gōng，十shí萬wàn天tiān兵bīng也yě拿ná他tā不bú住zhù者zhě，以yǐ他tā會huì駕jià觔jīn斗dǒu雲yún，一yí去qù有yǒu十shí萬wàn八bā千qiān里lǐ路lù，所suǒ以yǐ諸zhū神shén不bù能néng趕gǎn上shàng。三sān怪guài见jiàn行xíng者zhě驾jià觔jīn斗dǒu时shí，即jí抖dǒu抖dǒu身shēn，现xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，扇shān开kāi两liǎng翅chì，赶gǎn上shàng大dà圣shèng。你nǐ道dào他tā怎zěn能néng赶gǎn上shàng？当dāng时shí如rú行xíng者zhě闹nào天tiān宫gōng，十shí万wàn天tiān兵bīng也yě拿ná他tā不bú住zhù者zhě，以yǐ他tā会huì驾jià觔jīn斗dǒu云yún，一yí去qù有yǒu十shí万wàn八bā千qiān里lǐ路lù，所suǒ以yǐ诸zhū神shén不bù能néng赶gǎn上shàng。

逐句解 Line by line

三sān怪guài見jiàn行xíng者zhě駕jià觔jīn斗dǒu時shí，即jí抖dǒu抖dǒu身shēn，現xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，搧shān開kāi兩liǎng翅chì，趕gǎn上shàng大dà聖shèng。三sān怪guài见jiàn行xíng者zhě驾jià觔jīn斗dǒu时shí，即jí抖dǒu抖dǒu身shēn，现xiàn了le本běn像xiàng，扇shān开kāi两liǎng翅chì，赶gǎn上shàng大dà圣shèng。

When the third fiend saw Pilgrim take to his somersault, he shook himself, showed his true shape, beat his two wings open, and came up with the Great Sage.

現了本像, showed his original form, is the moment a shape-shifter stops pretending. Until now the third fiend has been fighting as a man with a halberd. He drops the disguise only when he needs the thing the disguise was hiding, which is the wings.

你nǐ道dào他tā怎zěn能néng趕gǎn上shàng？你nǐ道dào他tā怎zěn能néng赶gǎn上shàng？

You ask how he could possibly come up with him?

The narrator turning to face the reader. This is a storyteller's move, kept in the written book from the days when someone said it aloud to a crowd, and it does the job of a raised eyebrow.

當dāng時shí如rú行xíng者zhě鬧nào天tiān宮gōng，十shí萬wàn天tiān兵bīng也yě拿ná他tā不bú住zhù者zhě，以yǐ他tā會huì駕jià觔jīn斗dǒu雲yún，一yí去qù有yǒu十shí萬wàn八bā千qiān里lǐ路lù，所suǒ以yǐ諸zhū神shén不bù能néng趕gǎn上shàng。当dāng时shí如rú行xíng者zhě闹nào天tiān宫gōng，十shí万wàn天tiān兵bīng也yě拿ná他tā不bú住zhù者zhě，以yǐ他tā会huì驾jià觔jīn斗dǒu云yún，一yí去qù有yǒu十shí万wàn八bā千qiān里lǐ路lù，所suǒ以yǐ诸zhū神shén不bù能néng赶gǎn上shàng。

In the old days when Pilgrim made havoc in Heaven, a hundred thousand celestial troops could not lay hold of him, and the reason was that he could ride the somersault cloud, which goes a hundred and eight thousand li at a single leap, so that none of the gods could catch him up.

The famous number. A somersault covers 108,000 lǐ — and a Ming 里 is about 576 metres, so the leap is some sixty thousand kilometres, or one and a half times round the earth. The figure is not chosen at random: 108 is the count of beads on a Buddhist rosary, and the road to India is elsewhere given as 108,000 lǐ exactly.

總評 Commentary

The narrator stops the story to do a piece of bookkeeping, and it is one of the few places where this novel audits its own rules. Wukong's escape has always worked. Before it fails, the reader is reminded precisely why it used to work.

The rhetorical question in the middle is the hinge. It admits that what is about to happen should not be possible, which is a more honest way to raise the stakes than simply making the new enemy stronger and hoping nobody checks.

And the third fiend's timing repays attention. He held his true shape back through the whole battle and produced it at the exact moment it became decisive. That is not an animal fighting; that is somebody keeping a card.