第八十四回 · 兩行高柳 Two Rows of Tall Willows — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

兩行高柳 Two Rows of Tall Willows

師shī徒tú四sì眾zhòng，耽dān炎yán受shòu熱rè，正zhèng行xíng處chù，忽hū見jiàn那nà路lù傍páng有yǒu兩liǎng行xíng高gāo柳liǔ，柳liǔ陰yīn中zhōng走zǒu出chū一yí個gè老lǎo母mǔ，右yòu手shǒu下xià攙chān著zhe一yí個gè小xiǎo孩hái兒ér，對duì唐táng僧sēng高gāo叫jiào道dào：「和hé尚shàng，不bú要yào走zǒu了le，快kuài早zǎo兒ér撥bō馬mǎ東dōng回huí，進jìn西xī去qù都dōu是shì死sǐ路lù。」师shī徒tú四sì众zhòng，耽dān炎yán受shòu热rè，正zhèng行xíng处chù，忽hū见jiàn那nà路lù傍páng有yǒu两liǎng行xíng高gāo柳liǔ，柳liǔ阴yīn中zhōng走zǒu出chū一yí个gè老lǎo母mǔ，右yòu手shǒu下xià搀chān着zhe一yí个gè小xiǎo孩hái儿ér，对duì唐táng僧sēng高gāo叫jiào道dào：「和hé尚shàng，不bú要yào走zǒu了le，快kuài早zǎo儿ér拨bō马mǎ东dōng回huí，进jìn西xī去qù都dōu是shì死sǐ路lù。」

逐句解 Line by line

Master and disciples, all four of them, bore the blazing heat as they went; and just as they were walking, an old woman came out from the willow shade of two tall rows beside the road, leading a small child by her right hand, and called out to the Tang Monk: "Monk, go no further. Turn your horse east this minute. Everything west of here is a road to your death."

The whole warning arrives in one breath, which is why it is one long sentence. 傍 is páng here, the plain word for a side or an edge — beside the road — not the verb that means to keep close to something. 快早兒 is vernacular for right now, this minute, and 兒 on the end of it is the spoken-language tag that runs through every line the old woman and the innkeepers speak in this chapter.

總評 Commentary

An old woman with a child by the hand, appearing from nowhere to warn travellers off a road: the novel has trained its readers to be suspicious of exactly this. By the shape of the scene she should be a fiend, the child should be bait, and Pilgrim should be reaching for the staff. Hold that thought.

The warning itself is precise in a way that fiends never are. Not danger, not monsters — a direction, a distance, and a specific claim about what the road leads to. She is giving directions, and the pilgrims are about to argue with her about the map.