第八十四回 · 不是綑著 Bound or Else Strung Up — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

不是綑著 Bound or Else Strung Up

行xíng者zhě道dào：「外wài面miàn有yǒu人rén打dǎ開kāi櫃guì，拿ná出chū來lái，不bú是shì綑kǔn著zhe，便biàn是shì吊diào著zhe。且qiě忍rěn耐nài些xiē兒ér，免miǎn了le綑kǔn吊diào。明míng日rì見jiàn那nà昏hūn君jūn，老lǎo孫sūn自zì有yǒu登dēng答dá，管guǎn你nǐ一yì毫háo兒ér也yě不bù傷shāng。且qiě放fàng心xīn睡shuì睡shuì。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「外wài面miàn有yǒu人rén打dǎ开kāi柜guì，拿ná出chū来lái，不bú是shì捆kǔn着zhe，便biàn是shì吊diào着zhe。且qiě忍rěn耐nài些xiē儿ér，免miǎn了le捆kǔn吊diào。明míng日rì见jiàn那nà昏hūn君jūn，老lǎo孙sūn自zì有yǒu登dēng答dá，管guǎn你nǐ一yì毫háo儿ér也yě不bù伤shāng。且qiě放fàng心xīn睡shuì睡shuì。」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě道dào：「外wài面miàn有yǒu人rén打dǎ開kāi櫃guì，拿ná出chū來lái，不bú是shì綑kǔn著zhe，便biàn是shì吊diào著zhe。行xíng者zhě道dào：「外wài面miàn有yǒu人rén打dǎ开kāi柜guì，拿ná出chū来lái，不bú是shì捆kǔn着zhe，便biàn是shì吊diào着zhe。

Pilgrim said: "If people outside break the chest open and take us out, it will be either bound or else strung up.

Both instances of 著 are zhe, states you are held in. 綑 is tied up and 吊 is hung by the wrists, and the pair names the two standard preliminaries of a Ming interrogation.

且qiě忍rěn耐nài些xiē兒ér，免miǎn了le綑kǔn吊diào。且qiě忍rěn耐nài些xiē儿ér，免miǎn了le捆kǔn吊diào。

Bear it a while yet and you are spared the binding and the hanging.

忍耐些兒 is put up with it a little. Pilgrim's comfort is that being in a box is better than being out of it, which is true and not reassuring.

明míng日rì見jiàn那nà昏hūn君jūn，老lǎo孫sūn自zì有yǒu登dēng答dá，管guǎn你nǐ一yì毫háo兒ér也yě不bù傷shāng。明míng日rì见jiàn那nà昏hūn君jūn，老lǎo孙sūn自zì有yǒu登dēng答dá，管guǎn你nǐ一yì毫háo儿ér也yě不bù伤shāng。

Tomorrow when we see that muddled king, old Monkey will have his own answer ready, and I promise you will not be harmed by so much as a hair.

昏君 is a benighted ruler, one whose judgement is clouded — the standard term of political condemnation, and the first time anybody in the party has used it of this king. 登答 is a reply, a rejoinder, in its vernacular form.

且qiě放fàng心xīn睡shuì睡shuì。」且qiě放fàng心xīn睡shuì睡shuì。」

Now set your mind at rest and sleep."

Five characters, and it is the same thing he said on the road before any of this began. He has said it three times in the chapter and been wrong twice.

總評 Commentary

Pilgrim's answer is not a plan, it is a promise, and he gives it in the same words he used at the hollow: he has his own way of doing things. Nothing about the last twelve hours supports the confidence.

But the promise is the turn. Everything from here is Pilgrim working, and the chapter's remaining problem is no longer how to get out of a box — it is how to make a kingdom stop killing monks. He is about to solve that in one night, with hair.