Canonical Classics ← 第七十八回
第七十八回
qiūliánziqiǎnyīnshén
jīn殿diànshítándào

In Bhikshu He Pities the Children and Sends Out the Shade-Spirits · In the Golden Hall He Knows the Fiend and Discourses on the Way and Its Power

送來還我
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

送來還我 Bring Them Back When We Leave

dàichúlexiézhìleguóquànzhèngjūnwánglínxíngshísòngláihái。」zhòngshéntīnglìng便biàn使shǐshéntōngànxiàyúntóudàichúlexiézhìleguóquànzhèngjūnwánglínxíngshísòngláihái。」zhòngshéntīnglìng便biàn使shǐshéntōngànxiàyúntóu


逐句解 Line by line

dàichúlexiézhìleguóquànzhèngjūnwánglínxíngshísòngláihái。」 dàichúlexiézhìleguóquànzhèngjūnwánglínxíngshísòngláihái。」

"Wait till I have got rid of the fiend, set the country right and brought the king back to the true way; then when we are setting out, bring them back and return them to me."

The order of operations again, and it is the same one Wukong gave Tripitaka: the demon, then the country, then the king, and the children come home last because they can only come home safely. is hái in 還我, to give back.

zhòngshéntīnglìng便biàn使shǐshéntōngànxiàyúntóu zhòngshéntīnglìng便biàn使shǐshéntōngànxiàyúntóu

The host of gods heard the order and at once used each his divine power, pressing down their cloud-heads.

按下雲頭 — to push the head of one's cloud downward, the standard way anyone in this novel descends. Four words of assent and they are already on the way.


總評 Commentary

Wukong's last clause is the one that separates this operation from a kidnapping. The children are to be returned to him, in person, when the party leaves — not released, not left in the woods, returned. He is taking responsibility for eleven hundred and eleven children he has never met.

And the gods simply do it. No bargaining, no conditions, no request for authority. The Great Sage's rank is worth something, and for once in the novel it is being spent on something other than his own convenience.