第八十二回 · 三四杠子 Three or Four Blows Taken — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

三四杠子 Three or Four Blows Taken

八bā戒jiè道dào：「山shān凹āo內nèi兩liǎng個gè女nǚ妖yāo精jīng在zài井jǐng上shàng打dǎ水shuǐ，我wǒ只zhǐ叫jiào了le他tā一yì聲shēng，就jiù被bèi他tā打dǎ了le我wǒ三sān四sì杠gàng子zi。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ叫jiào他tā做zuò甚shén麼me的de？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ叫jiào他tā做zuò妖yāo怪guài。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「山shān凹āo内nèi两liǎng个gè女nǚ妖yāo精jīng在zài井jǐng上shàng打dǎ水shuǐ，我wǒ只zhǐ叫jiào了le他tā一yì声shēng，就jiù被bèi他tā打dǎ了le我wǒ三sān四sì杠gàng子zi。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ叫jiào他tā做zuò甚shén么me的de？」八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ叫jiào他tā做zuò妖yāo怪guài。」

逐句解 Line by line

八bā戒jiè道dào：「山shān凹āo內nèi兩liǎng個gè女nǚ妖yāo精jīng在zài井jǐng上shàng打dǎ水shuǐ，我wǒ只zhǐ叫jiào了le他tā一yì聲shēng，就jiù被bèi他tā打dǎ了le我wǒ三sān四sì杠gàng子zi。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「山shān凹āo内nèi两liǎng个gè女nǚ妖yāo精jīng在zài井jǐng上shàng打dǎ水shuǐ，我wǒ只zhǐ叫jiào了le他tā一yì声shēng，就jiù被bèi他tā打dǎ了le我wǒ三sān四sì杠gàng子zi。」

Bajie said, "There are two women fiends down in the hollow drawing water at a well. I gave them one shout and they laid three or four strokes of the pole across me."

Note how he tells it. He gave them one shout; they hit him four times. The arithmetic is doing the arguing, and he leaves out entirely what the shout was.

行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ叫jiào他tā做zuò甚shén麼me的de？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「你nǐ叫jiào他tā做zuò甚shén么me的de？」

Pilgrim said, "And what did you call them?"

The one question that undoes the whole account, asked without comment. Pilgrim has already worked out that the missing piece is the wording.

八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ叫jiào他tā做zuò妖yāo怪guài。」八bā戒jiè道dào：「我wǒ叫jiào他tā做zuò妖yāo怪guài。」

Bajie said, "I called them monsters."

He answers honestly and without the least suspicion that this is the problem. That is the joke, and it is why the confession has to be given its own short sentence.

總評 Commentary

Three short exchanges, and a small comic machine has been assembled. Bajie's version omits the cause; Pilgrim asks for it; Bajie supplies it cheerfully. The audience is ahead of him the entire time, which is where an audience most enjoys being.

The technique here is dialogue as cross-examination, and the novel uses it constantly. A character reports events with a gap in them, another character finds the gap in one question, and the gap turns out to be the whole story.