第八十五回 · 有個把小妖 A Small Imp or Two — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

有個把小妖 A Small Imp or Two

行xíng者zhě瞞mán不bú過guò，躬gōng身shēn笑xiào道dào：「是shì有yǒu個gè把bǎ小xiǎo妖yāo兒ér，他tā不bù敢gǎn惹rě我wǒ們men。──八bā戒jiè，你nǐ過guò來lái，一yì發fā照zhào顧gù你nǐ照zhào顧gù。行xíng者zhě瞒mán不bú过guò，躬gōng身shēn笑xiào道dào：「是shì有yǒu个gè把bǎ小xiǎo妖yāo儿ér，他tā不bù敢gǎn惹rě我wǒ们men。──八bā戒jiè，你nǐ过guò来lái，一yì发fā照zhào顾gù你nǐ照zhào顾gù。

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě瞞mán不bú過guò，躬gōng身shēn笑xiào道dào：「是shì有yǒu個gè把bǎ小xiǎo妖yāo兒ér，他tā不bù敢gǎn惹rě我wǒ們men。行xíng者zhě瞒mán不bú过guò，躬gōng身shēn笑xiào道dào：「是shì有yǒu个gè把bǎ小xiǎo妖yāo儿ér，他tā不bù敢gǎn惹rě我wǒ们men。

Pilgrim could not keep it hidden. He bowed and said with a smile, "There is an imp or two about, but they would not dare provoke us.

瞞不過 — cannot get the concealment past — is the narrator conceding on his behalf. What follows is not a confession but a reduction: 個把 means one or two, and there were thirty or forty drawn up in ranks, with a striped fiend on a crag above them.

──八bā戒jiè，你nǐ過guò來lái，一yì發fā照zhào顧gù你nǐ照zhào顧gù。 ──八bā戒jiè，你nǐ过guò来lái，一yì发fā照zhào顾gù你nǐ照zhào顾gù。

— Bajie, come here. Let me do you another good turn.

The dash is in the printed text, marking him turning away mid-sentence to address somebody else. 照顧你照顧 is the very phrase he used on the crag when planning to send his brother into the ambush, verb wrapped round object and repeated. He has changed the subject and used the same words to do it.

總評 Commentary

Asked a direct question, he gives a true answer of the wrong size. There were imps. There were forty, and a commander, and a plan.

Then the dash. He turns to his brother mid-breath and offers him another favour, in exactly the words the first favour was announced in, and the question is never answered.