第八十六回 · 紛紛嚷嚷 Clustering and Clamouring Together — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

紛紛嚷嚷 Clustering and Clamouring Together

大dà聖shèng念niàn聲shēng咒zhòu語yǔ，卻què又yòu搖yáo身shēn還hái變biàn做zuò個gè螞mǎ蟻yǐ兒ér，復fù入rù中zhōng堂táng，丁dīng在zài正zhèng梁liáng之zhī上shàng。只zhǐ見jiàn那nà些xiē未wèi傷shāng命mìng的de小xiǎo妖yāo簇cù簇cù攢cuán攢cuán，紛fēn紛fēn嚷rǎng嚷rǎng。大dà圣shèng念niàn声shēng咒zhòu语yǔ，却què又yòu摇yáo身shēn还hái变biàn做zuò个gè蚂mǎ蚁yǐ儿ér，复fù入rù中zhōng堂táng，丁dīng在zài正zhèng梁liáng之zhī上shàng。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà些xiē未wèi伤shāng命mìng的de小xiǎo妖yāo簇cù簇cù攒cuán攒cuán，纷fēn纷fēn嚷rǎng嚷rǎng。

逐句解 Line by line

大dà聖shèng念niàn聲shēng咒zhòu語yǔ，卻què又yòu搖yáo身shēn還hái變biàn做zuò個gè螞mǎ蟻yǐ兒ér，復fù入rù中zhōng堂táng，丁dīng在zài正zhèng梁liáng之zhī上shàng。大dà圣shèng念niàn声shēng咒zhòu语yǔ，却què又yòu摇yáo身shēn还hái变biàn做zuò个gè蚂mǎ蚁yǐ儿ér，复fù入rù中zhōng堂táng，丁dīng在zài正zhèng梁liáng之zhī上shàng。

The Great Sage recited a spell, gave his body a shake and changed back into an ant, went into the main hall again, and settled on the main roof-beam.

丁 is used as a verb here, to alight and stick — an old usage that survives mainly in this sense of an insect landing. Wukong is now a fly on the wall in the most literal available way, and directly over the meeting table.

只zhǐ見jiàn那nà些xiē未wèi傷shāng命mìng的de小xiǎo妖yāo簇cù簇cù攢cuán攢cuán，紛fēn紛fēn嚷rǎng嚷rǎng。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà些xiē未wèi伤shāng命mìng的de小xiǎo妖yāo簇cù簇cù攒cuán攒cuán，纷fēn纷fēn嚷rǎng嚷rǎng。

There he saw the little fiends whose lives were still whole, clustering and crowding, milling and clamouring.

Two doubled words in a row, and both are reduplications that the machinery gets wrong. 攢 is cuán here, to gather together — not the put-money-by reading it defaults to. And 嚷 is rǎng, which is the ruling for this character throughout the novel, against the lighter modern reading the doubling invites.

總評 Commentary

The scene that follows is a meeting, and the novel sets it up as one: the survivors gather in the hall, mill about, and then somebody stands up with a proposal.

Wukong on the beam is the chapter's best piece of staging. He has been outside every door in this cave all afternoon and he is now above the room where the decisions are made, listening to people discuss how to cook his teacher.