第八十六回 · 鐵背蒼狼 An Iron Backed Grey Wolf — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

鐵背蒼狼 An Iron Backed Grey Wolf

諕xià得de那nà南nán山shān大dà王wáng滾gǔn風fēng生shēng霧wù，得dé命mìng逃táo回huí。那nà先xiān鋒fēng不bù能néng變biàn化huà，早zǎo被bèi行xíng者zhě一yí棒bàng打dǎ倒dǎo，現xiàn出chū本běn相xiàng，乃nǎi是shì個gè鐵tiě背bèi蒼cāng狼láng怪guài。諕xià得de那nà南nán山shān大dà王wáng滚gǔn风fēng生shēng雾wù，得dé命mìng逃táo回huí。那nà先xiān锋fēng不bù能néng变biàn化huà，早zǎo被bèi行xíng者zhě一yí棒bàng打dǎ倒dǎo，现xiàn出chū本běn相xiàng，乃nǎi是shì个gè铁tiě背bèi苍cāng狼láng怪guài。

逐句解 Line by line

諕xià得de那nà南nán山shān大dà王wáng滾gǔn風fēng生shēng霧wù，得dé命mìng逃táo回huí。諕xià得de那nà南nán山shān大dà王wáng滚gǔn风fēng生shēng雾wù，得dé命mìng逃táo回huí。

So terrified was the Great King of the Southern Mountain that he rolled up wind and raised fog and escaped with his life.

The character 諕 is xià, to frighten, and it is the only occurrence in the chapter — a rarer written form for the everyday word for terror. 得命, to get away with your life, is the phrase Bajie used of himself in the opening scene; the great king is now in the same position as the pig he was told not to fear.

那nà先xiān鋒fēng不bù能néng變biàn化huà，早zǎo被bèi行xíng者zhě一yí棒bàng打dǎ倒dǎo，現xiàn出chū本běn相xiàng，乃nǎi是shì個gè鐵tiě背bèi蒼cāng狼láng怪guài。那nà先xiān锋fēng不bù能néng变biàn化huà，早zǎo被bèi行xíng者zhě一yí棒bàng打dǎ倒dǎo，现xiàn出chū本běn相xiàng，乃nǎi是shì个gè铁tiě背bèi苍cāng狼láng怪guài。

The vanguard, unable to work transformations, was knocked over almost at once by a blow of Pilgrim's rod and showed his true form, which was an iron-backed grey wolf fiend.

打倒 takes 倒 as dǎo, the falling reading. The phrase for showing a true form is the novel's standard one for a beaten shapeshifter, and here it means what it says — unlike the willow root, which had no true form to show. The vanguard could not transform, and that is why he is dead.

總評 Commentary

The vanguard's failure is stated as a technical limitation rather than a moral one. He could not change shape, so a single blow finished him. The old fiend could, and escaped.

He is also the cleverest character on the fiends side. He designed the stratagem that took the master, spotted Wukong's vanity, invented the fake head and then improved on it. None of it saves him, because in this novel intelligence is not a combat statistic.