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Reader's edition
天蓬元帥
Marshal Tianpeng
觀音按下雲頭，前來問道：「你是那裡成精的野豕，何方作怪的老彘，敢在此間擋我？」那怪道：「我不是野豕，亦不是老彘，我本是天河裡天蓬元帥。只因帶酒戲弄嫦娥，玉帝把我打了二千鎚，貶下塵凡。一靈真性，徑來奪舍投胎，不期錯了道路，投在個母豬胎裡，變得這般模樣。是我咬殺母豬，打死群彘，在此處占了山場，吃人度日。不期撞著菩薩，萬望拔救拔救。」菩薩道：「此山叫做甚麼山？」怪物道：「叫做福陵山。山中有一洞，叫做雲棧洞。洞裡原有個卵二姐，他見我有些武藝，招我做了家長，又喚做倒蹅門。不上一年，他死了，將一洞的家當，盡歸我受用。在此日久年深，沒有贍身的勾當，只是依本等吃人度日。萬望菩薩恕罪。」观音按下云头，前来问道：「你是那里成精的野豕，何方作怪的老彘，敢在此间挡我？」那怪道：「我不是野豕，亦不是老彘，我本是天河里天蓬元帅。只因带酒戏弄嫦娥，玉帝把我打了二千锤，贬下尘凡。一灵真性，径来夺舍投胎，不期错了道路，投在个母猪胎里，变得这般模样。是我咬杀母猪，打死群彘，在此处占了山场，吃人度日。不期撞著菩萨，万望拔救拔救。」菩萨道：「此山叫做甚么山？」怪物道：「叫做福陵山。山中有一洞，叫做云栈洞。洞里原有个卵二姐，他见我有些武艺，招我做了家长，又唤做倒蹅门。不上一年，他死了，将一洞的家当，尽归我受用。在此日久年深，没有赡身的勾当，只是依本等吃人度日。万望菩萨恕罪。」
逐句解 Line by line
觀音按下雲頭，前來問道：「你是那裡成精的野豕，何方作怪的老彘，敢在此間擋我？」
观音按下云头，前来问道：「你是那里成精的野豕，何方作怪的老彘，敢在此间挡我？」
Guanyin brought down her cloud and came forward to ask: “What manner of wild boar-spirit are you, from what quarter this old hog turned demon, that you dare to block me here?”
那裡 is interrogative, 那 read nǎ. 野豕 / 老彘 — wild boar and old hog, both swine-words for the demon.
那怪道：「我不是野豕，亦不是老彘，我本是天河裡天蓬元帥。
那怪道：「我不是野豕，亦不是老彘，我本是天河里天蓬元帅。
The monster said: “I am no wild boar, nor any old hog; I was once Marshal Tianpeng of the Heavenly River.
天蓬元帥 — Marshal Tianpeng, commander of the celestial naval host, Bajie's former rank. Each 不是 takes bú before 是.
只因帶酒戲弄嫦娥，玉帝把我打了二千鎚，貶下塵凡。
只因带酒戏弄嫦娥，玉帝把我打了二千锤，贬下尘凡。
Only because, in my cups, I made sport of Chang'e, the Jade Emperor had me beaten two thousand mallet-blows and banished to the mortal dust.
嫦娥 — the moon-goddess; the drunken affront is the canonical cause of Bajie's fall.
一靈真性，徑來奪舍投胎，不期錯了道路，投在個母豬胎裡，變得這般模樣。
一灵真性，径来夺舍投胎，不期错了道路，投在个母猪胎里，变得这般模样。
My single sentient nature came straight to seize a lodging and enter a womb, but missing the road by mischance, I lodged in a sow's belly and was changed into this shape.
奪舍投胎 — “seizing a lodging, casting into a womb,” a reincarnation gone awry. 一靈 takes yì; 變得 uses neutral-tone de.
是我咬殺母豬，打死群彘，在此處占了山場，吃人度日。
是我咬杀母猪，打死群彘，在此处占了山场，吃人度日。
I bit the sow to death, slew the whole litter, seized this mountain ground, and live by eating men.
不期撞著菩薩，萬望拔救拔救。」
不期撞著菩萨，万望拔救拔救。」
I never thought to run into the Bodhisattva — I beg you, deliver me, deliver me!”
撞著 — “ran into”; the resultative 著 is read zháo.
菩薩道：「此山叫做甚麼山？」
菩萨道：「此山叫做甚么山？」
The Bodhisattva said: “What is this mountain called?”
怪物道：「叫做福陵山。山中有一洞，叫做雲棧洞。
怪物道：「叫做福陵山。山中有一洞，叫做云栈洞。
The monster said: “It is called Mount Fuling. In the mountain is a cave called Cloud-Path Cave.
福陵山 (Mount Fuling) and 雲棧洞 (Cloud-Path Cave) are Bajie's lair. 一洞 takes yí.
洞裡原有個卵二姐，他見我有些武藝，招我做了家長，又喚做倒蹅門。
洞里原有个卵二姐，他见我有些武艺，招我做了家长，又唤做倒蹅门。
In the cave there was once one Second Sister Luan; seeing I had some skill at arms, she took me as her householder — what is called a “back-tread door” match.
家長 — head of the household; 長 is zhǎng. 倒蹅門 — an uxorilocal marriage, the man marrying into the woman's house.
不上一年，他死了，將一洞的家當，盡歸我受用。
不上一年，他死了，将一洞的家当，尽归我受用。
In less than a year she died, and the whole cave's estate passed to me to enjoy.
不上 — 不 takes bú before fourth-tone 上; 一年 takes yì, 一洞 takes yí; 將 is disposal jiāng.
在此日久年深，沒有贍身的勾當，只是依本等吃人度日。
在此日久年深，没有赡身的勾当，只是依本等吃人度日。
Dwelling here through long days and deep years, with no livelihood to keep myself, I simply do as my kind does and live by eating men.
依本等 — “as befits my sort,” i.e. following bestial nature.
萬望菩薩恕罪。」
万望菩萨恕罪。」
I beg the Bodhisattva to forgive my sin.”
總評 Commentary
The boar tells his tale, and it rhymes with Sha Wujing's: a high celestial officer — Marshal Tianpeng of the Heavenly River — fallen for a drunken impropriety with the moon-goddess, his reincarnation botched into a sow's womb. The pattern of the noble sinner reborn as monster is now firmly established.
Bajie's particular comedy lies in the squalid specifics he volunteers — killing the sow that bore him, marrying into Second Sister Luan's cave, inheriting her estate. Where Sha Wujing's account was tragic, Bajie's is faintly disreputable, and the difference fixes the two characters' temperaments at the moment of their introduction.
Following Anthony C. Yu, the naming of his lair (Mount Fuling, Cloud-Path Cave) and his uxorilocal history root the demon in a recognizably human, even rustic, world. Plaks notes that Bajie is the most thoroughly mortal of the disciples, his appetites and evasions a constant earthward pull against the pilgrimage's transcendent aim — a tension the whole novel will exploit for both comedy and instruction.