第七十九回 · 千千萬萬 Ten Thousand Acres Of Willow — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

千千萬萬 Ten Thousand Acres Of Willow

那nà大dà聖shèng攜xié著zhe八bā戒jiè，徑jìng到dào南nán方fāng七qī十shí里lǐ之zhī地dì，住zhù下xià風fēng雲yún，找zhǎo尋xún妖yāo處chù。但dàn只zhǐ見jiàn一yì股gǔ清qīng溪xī，兩liǎng邊biān夾jiā岸àn，岸àn上shàng有yǒu千qiān千qiān萬wàn萬wàn的de楊yáng柳liǔ，更gèng不bù知zhī清qīng華huá莊zhuāng在zài於yú何hé處chù。正zhèng是shì那nà：那nà大dà圣shèng携xié着zhe八bā戒jiè，径jìng到dào南nán方fāng七qī十shí里lǐ之zhī地dì，住zhù下xià风fēng云yún，找zhǎo寻xún妖yāo处chù。但dàn只zhǐ见jiàn一yì股gǔ清qīng溪xī，两liǎng边biān夹jiā岸àn，岸àn上shàng有yǒu千qiān千qiān万wàn万wàn的de杨yáng柳liǔ，更gèng不bù知zhī清qīng华huá庄zhuāng在zài于yú何hé处chù。正zhèng是shì那nà：

萬wàn頃qǐng野yě田tián觀guān不bú盡jìn，千qiān堤dī煙yān柳liǔ隱yǐn無wú蹤zōng。万wàn顷qǐng野yě田tián观guān不bú尽jìn，千qiān堤dī烟yān柳liǔ隐yǐn无wú踪zōng。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà大dà聖shèng攜xié著zhe八bā戒jiè，徑jìng到dào南nán方fāng七qī十shí里lǐ之zhī地dì，住zhù下xià風fēng雲yún，找zhǎo尋xún妖yāo處chù。那nà大dà圣shèng携xié着zhe八bā戒jiè，径jìng到dào南nán方fāng七qī十shí里lǐ之zhī地dì，住zhù下xià风fēng云yún，找zhǎo寻xún妖yāo处chù。

The Great Sage took Bajie with him and went straight to the place seventy lǐ to the south, where they put down their wind and cloud and began looking for the fiend's quarters.

攜著 takes zhe: he is holding on to Bajie for the whole flight, which is how Bajie travels when speed matters. 住下風雲, putting down the wind and cloud, is the novel's fixed phrase for landing — the wind and the cloud are the vehicle, and you set them down the way you would a horse.

但dàn只zhǐ見jiàn一yì股gǔ清qīng溪xī，兩liǎng邊biān夾jiā岸àn，岸àn上shàng有yǒu千qiān千qiān萬wàn萬wàn的de楊yáng柳liǔ，更gèng不bù知zhī清qīng華huá莊zhuāng在zài於yú何hé處chù。但dàn只zhǐ见jiàn一yì股gǔ清qīng溪xī，两liǎng边biān夹jiā岸àn，岸àn上shàng有yǒu千qiān千qiān万wàn万wàn的de杨yáng柳liǔ，更gèng不bù知zhī清qīng华huá庄zhuāng在zài于yú何hé处chù。

But all they could see was a clear stream between two banks, and on the banks ten thousand upon ten thousand willows, and there was no telling where the Clear Splendour Manor might be.

千千萬萬 is a doubled doubling — thousands upon tens of thousands — and it is not an estimate. Chinese piles numbers like this to mean "more than can be counted," and the whole point of the line is that the trees have swallowed the address.

正zhèng是shì那nà：正zhèng是shì那nà：

It was truly a case of:

正是那 is the storyteller's cue that verse is coming. Three characters, and a Ming audience would have settled back.

Ten thousand acres of open field, more than the eye can take in; / a thousand dykes of misted willow, hiding every trace.

The couplet is doing a real job, not decorating. It says the same thing the prose just said — the place is too big and too green to search — but in a form that makes the reader feel the size rather than be told it. 觀不盡 keeps 不 as bú: 盡 is jìn here, a falling tone, and a 不 in front of a falling tone rises.

總評 Commentary

The hunt begins with a failure, which is unusual for this novel and deliberate here. Wukong can find almost anything; what defeats him is a landscape with no landmarks in it, because the address he was given describes a building that does not exist.

Willows carry a particular weight in Chinese poetry. They are the tree of parting, of the pliant and the yielding, and — in a novel this fond of matching creature to setting — a soft, bending, deceptive sort of tree for a soft, bending, deceptive pair to live under.