原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
擔不起 A Load I Cannot Shoulder
還去救他救罷。」行者道：「師父既然如此，只是這個擔兒，老孫卻擔不起。还去救他救罢。」行者道：「师父既然如此，只是这个担儿，老孙却担不起。
逐句解 Line by line
還去救他救罷。」
还去救他救罢。」
Go and save her after all."
Six characters, and the doubled 救他救 makes it a plea rather than an order. The 罷 is the light ba.
行者道：「師父既然如此，只是這個擔兒，老孫卻擔不起。
行者道：「师父既然如此，只是这个担儿，老孙却担不起。
Pilgrim said, "If that is how it is with you, Master — only this is a load Old Monkey cannot shoulder.
The character 擔 appears twice and takes both its readings. In 擔兒 it is dàn, the load itself, the same word Sha Monk has been carrying all chapter; in 擔不起 it is dān, the verb, to take a weight on the shoulder. Pilgrim has turned the baggage into a figure of speech and handed it back.
Pilgrim concedes, and the way he concedes is the point. He does not agree, and he does not pretend to. He says he will not carry the consequences.
The image is drawn straight from the road they are walking. The four of them have spent fifty-eight chapters passing a load between shoulders, and Pilgrim now uses it to say that responsibility works the same way and that this particular piece of it is his master's to carry. He is right, and it will be.