第八十六回 · 個假人頭 A Head That Is Not His — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

個假人頭 A Head That Is Not His

我wǒ們men拿ná個gè假jiǎ人rén頭tóu出chū去qù哄hǒng他tā一yì哄hǒng，奉fèng承chéng他tā幾jǐ句jù，只zhǐ說shuō他tā師shī父fù是shì我wǒ們men吃chī了le。若ruò還hái哄hǒng得de他tā去qù了le，唐táng僧sēng還hái是shì我wǒ們men受shòu用yòng；哄hǒng不bú過guò，再zài作zuò理lǐ會huì。」老lǎo怪guài道dào：「那nǎ裡lǐ得dé個gè假jiǎ人rén頭tóu？」先xiān鋒fēng道dào：「等děng我wǒ做zuò一yí個gè兒ér看kàn。」我wǒ们men拿ná个gè假jiǎ人rén头tóu出chū去qù哄hǒng他tā一yì哄hǒng，奉fèng承chéng他tā几jǐ句jù，只zhǐ说shuō他tā师shī父fù是shì我wǒ们men吃chī了le。若ruò还hái哄hǒng得de他tā去qù了le，唐táng僧sēng还hái是shì我wǒ们men受shòu用yòng；哄hǒng不bú过guò，再zài作zuò理lǐ会huì。」老lǎo怪guài道dào：「那nǎ里lǐ得dé个gè假jiǎ人rén头tóu？」先xiān锋fēng道dào：「等děng我wǒ做zuò一yí个gè儿ér看kàn。」

逐句解 Line by line

我wǒ們men拿ná個gè假jiǎ人rén頭tóu出chū去qù哄hǒng他tā一yì哄hǒng，奉fèng承chéng他tā幾jǐ句jù，只zhǐ說shuō他tā師shī父fù是shì我wǒ們men吃chī了le。我wǒ们men拿ná个gè假jiǎ人rén头tóu出chū去qù哄hǒng他tā一yì哄hǒng，奉fèng承chéng他tā几jǐ句jù，只zhǐ说shuō他tā师shī父fù是shì我wǒ们men吃chī了le。

Let us take a false human head out and give him a good hoodwinking, pay him a few compliments, and simply tell him we have eaten his master.

哄他一哄 doubles the verb around a numeral, a construction that makes an action brief and offhand — give him a bit of a fooling. The plan has three parts and only the middle one is a lie about a fact; the other two are lies about feelings.

若ruò還hái哄hǒng得de他tā去qù了le，唐táng僧sēng還hái是shì我wǒ們men受shòu用yòng；哄hǒng不bú過guò，再zài作zuò理lǐ會huì。」若ruò还hái哄hǒng得de他tā去qù了le，唐táng僧sēng还hái是shì我wǒ们men受shòu用yòng；哄hǒng不bú过guò，再zài作zuò理lǐ会huì。」

If we can hoodwink him into leaving, we still have the Tang Monk for our own enjoyment. If it does not work, we can think again."

In 哄得他去了, 得 is de, marking whether the fooling can actually achieve the leaving — a can-you-manage-it hinge rather than an attainment. A semicolon joins the two halves of this speech in the source, but they are not a matched pair: the first runs seven characters and eight, the second three and four, and it changes the subject.

老lǎo怪guài道dào：「那nǎ裡lǐ得dé個gè假jiǎ人rén頭tóu？」老lǎo怪guài道dào：「那nǎ里lǐ得dé个gè假jiǎ人rén头tóu？」

The old fiend said, "Where would we get a false human head?"

那裡 is nǎ, where — and the question is practical rather than rhetorical, which is the funny part. The king has accepted the entire plan and is now stuck on logistics.

先xiān鋒fēng道dào：「等děng我wǒ做zuò一yí個gè兒ér看kàn。」先xiān锋fēng道dào：「等děng我wǒ做zuò一yí个gè儿ér看kàn。」

The vanguard said, "Let me make one and we will see."

Ten characters, and the chapter's grimmest turn is decided in them. 做一個兒看 ends with a see-how-it-goes that would suit somebody proposing to try a recipe.

總評 Commentary

The plan works by combining a prop with a compliment, and the vanguard understands that the compliment is the load-bearing part. A false head on its own would never get past Wukong. A false head handed over by somebody addressing him as Great Sage Grandpa very nearly does.

It is worth noticing how casual the manufacture is. Nobody in the cave finds it strange to be asked to produce a human head at short notice, and the only question raised is where to source one. The novel is letting us understand what sort of household this is without ever describing an atrocity directly.