第八十三回 · 妖精窠穴 The Fiend Had Many Burrows — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

妖精窠穴 The Fiend Had Many Burrows

亭tíng子zi上shàng桌zhuō椅yǐ，與yǔ各gè處chù家jiā火huǒ，一yí件jiàn也yě無wú。原yuán來lái他tā的de洞dòng裡lǐ週zhōu圍wéi有yǒu三sān百bǎi餘yú里lǐ，妖yāo精jīng窠kē穴xué甚shèn多duō。前qián番fān攝shè唐táng僧sēng在zài此cǐ，被bèi行xíng者zhě尋xún著zháo；今jīn番fān攝shè了le，又yòu怕pà行xíng者zhě來lái尋xún，當dāng時shí搬bān了le，不bù知zhī去qù向xiàng。亭tíng子zi上shàng桌zhuō椅yǐ，与yǔ各gè处chù家jiā火huǒ，一yí件jiàn也yě无wú。原yuán来lái他tā的de洞dòng里lǐ周zhōu围wéi有yǒu三sān百bǎi余yú里lǐ，妖yāo精jīng窠kē穴xué甚shèn多duō。前qián番fān摄shè唐táng僧sēng在zài此cǐ，被bèi行xíng者zhě寻xún着zháo；今jīn番fān摄shè了le，又yòu怕pà行xíng者zhě来lái寻xún，当dāng时shí搬bān了le，不bù知zhī去qù向xiàng。

逐句解 Line by line

亭tíng子zi上shàng桌zhuō椅yǐ，與yǔ各gè處chù家jiā火huǒ，一yí件jiàn也yě無wú。亭tíng子zi上shàng桌zhuō椅yǐ，与yǔ各gè处chù家jiā火huǒ，一yí件jiàn也yě无wú。

On the pavilion the tables and chairs, and the household gear everywhere, were gone to the last item.

家火 is household stuff, pots and furniture — the older way of writing the word that modern Chinese spells with the fire radical dropped. 一件也無 is not one single article, the flat inventory phrase of somebody standing in a stripped room.

原yuán來lái他tā的de洞dòng裡lǐ週zhōu圍wéi有yǒu三sān百bǎi餘yú里lǐ，妖yāo精jīng窠kē穴xué甚shèn多duō。原yuán来lái他tā的de洞dòng里lǐ周zhōu围wéi有yǒu三sān百bǎi余yú里lǐ，妖yāo精jīng窠kē穴xué甚shèn多duō。

It turned out that the inside of her cave ran three hundred lǐ and more round about, and the fiend had a great many burrows in it.

The scale is the chapter's central fact and it is stated once, in passing. A Ming 里 is about 576 metres, so three hundred of them is upwards of 170 kilometres of underground country. 窠穴 is a nest or a burrow, and it is the right word for her in a way the chapter has not explained yet. 甚 is shèn here, meaning very, which is a different word from the shén of what that this chapter has already used twice.

前qián番fān攝shè唐táng僧sēng在zài此cǐ，被bèi行xíng者zhě尋xún著zháo；前qián番fān摄shè唐táng僧sēng在zài此cǐ，被bèi行xíng者zhě寻xún着zháo；

The time before, when she carried the Tang Monk off to this place, Pilgrim had managed to find him;

著 is zháo, the reading that marks a search that succeeded — not merely looked for but found. It is the same character as the zhe of continuing action and the zhuó of dispatching somebody, and the three are told apart by nothing but what the sentence is doing.

今jīn番fān攝shè了le，又yòu怕pà行xíng者zhě來lái尋xún，當dāng時shí搬bān了le，不bù知zhī去qù向xiàng。今jīn番fān摄shè了le，又yòu怕pà行xíng者zhě来lái寻xún，当dāng时shí搬bān了le，不bù知zhī去qù向xiàng。

this time she had carried him off and, afraid Pilgrim would come hunting again, had moved at once, and where to nobody knew.

The fiend has learned from the last chapter, which is unusual. Most demons in this book repeat themselves until they are caught; this one changes address.

總評 Commentary

Here is the reason the third descent will fail. The cave is not a room with a monster in it but a hundred and seventy kilometres of tunnel, and the one advantage Pilgrim had — knowing the way — has just been cancelled.

The word for her lodgings is burrow, and the novel has been using animal vocabulary about her for two chapters without saying what she is. It will say, eventually, and a reader who noticed the burrows will not be surprised.