第七十九回 · 尋些枯柴 Gather Some Dry Brushwood — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

尋些枯柴 Gather Some Dry Brushwood

八bā戒jiè聞wén言yán，舉jǔ鈀pá將jiāng柳liǔ樹shù亂luàn築zhù。行xíng者zhě又yòu念niàn聲shēng「唵ǎn」字zì真zhēn言yán，依yī然rán拘jū出chū當dāng方fāng土tǔ地dì，叫jiào：「尋xún些xiē枯kū柴chái，點diǎn起qǐ烈liè火huǒ，與yǔ你nǐ這zhè方fāng消xiāo除chú妖yāo患huàn，以yǐ免miǎn欺qī凌líng。」八bā戒jiè闻wén言yán，举jǔ钯pá将jiāng柳liǔ树shù乱luàn筑zhù。行xíng者zhě又yòu念niàn声shēng「唵ǎn」字zì真zhēn言yán，依yī然rán拘jū出chū当dāng方fāng土tǔ地dì，叫jiào：「寻xún些xiē枯kū柴chái，点diǎn起qǐ烈liè火huǒ，与yǔ你nǐ这zhè方fāng消xiāo除chú妖yāo患huàn，以yǐ免miǎn欺qī凌líng。」

逐句解 Line by line

八bā戒jiè聞wén言yán，舉jǔ鈀pá將jiāng柳liǔ樹shù亂luàn築zhù。八bā戒jiè闻wén言yán，举jǔ钯pá将jiāng柳liǔ树shù乱luàn筑zhù。

Bajie heard him, raised his rake and set about the willows at random.

亂築, digging away anyhow — he is back to attacking trees, which is what he was doing when nobody was watching him. This time he has been told to.

行xíng者zhě又yòu念niàn聲shēng「唵ǎn」字zì真zhēn言yán，依yī然rán拘jū出chū當dāng方fāng土tǔ地dì，叫jiào：「尋xún些xiē枯kū柴chái，點diǎn起qǐ烈liè火huǒ，與yǔ你nǐ這zhè方fāng消xiāo除chú妖yāo患huàn，以yǐ免miǎn欺qī凌líng。」行xíng者zhě又yòu念niàn声shēng「唵ǎn」字zì真zhēn言yán，依yī然rán拘jū出chū当dāng方fāng土tǔ地dì，叫jiào：「寻xún些xiē枯kū柴chái，点diǎn起qǐ烈liè火huǒ，与yǔ你nǐ这zhè方fāng消xiāo除chú妖yāo患huàn，以yǐ免miǎn欺qī凌líng。」

Pilgrim recited the true word 唵 once more, summoned the local god of the place out as before, and said, "Gather some dry brushwood and get a fierce fire going. I will clear this district of its plague of fiends for you, so nobody bullies you again."

唵 is ǎn, the Sanskrit oṃ, the same summons as before. 以免欺凌 — so that he is not bullied — picks up the god's own excuse from several passages back, when he admitted he had said nothing because the fiend would come and push him around. Wukong heard it, remembered it, and is now answering it.

總評 Commentary

The small courtesy here is easy to miss. Wukong does not tell the god to fetch wood because he needs wood; he frames the whole burning as something done for the god's benefit, using the god's own words.

It is also a correction of the record. The god's failure was cowardice, and rather than punish it Wukong removes the thing that caused it. That is a more useful response than a beating, and it is not what the reader has been trained to expect from him.