Canonical Classics ← 第八十六回
第八十六回
zhùwēizhēngguài
jīngōngshīmièyāoxié

The Wood Mother Lends His Strength to Fight the Monster · The Metal Lord Works His Art to Destroy the Fiend

難難難
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

難難難 Trouble Trouble Trouble

huāngdepándexiǎoguàizhànjīngjīngpǎobàodào:「nánnánnánnánnánnán。」lǎoyāodào:「zěnmeyǒuduōnán?」xiǎoyāodào:「zhūjièshāshàngdàohǒngguòlesūnxíngzhěquèshìfàndǒngde──shíhuòshíhuòhuāngdepándexiǎoguàizhànjīngjīngpǎobàodào:「nánnánnánnánnánnán。」lǎoyāodào:「zěnmeyǒuduōnán?」xiǎoyāodào:「zhūjièshāshàngdàohǒngguòlesūnxíngzhěquèshìfàndǒngde──shíhuòshíhuò


逐句解 Line by line

huāngdepándexiǎoguàizhànjīngjīngpǎobàodào:「nánnánnánnánnánnán。」 huāngdepándexiǎoguàizhànjīngjīngpǎobàodào:「nánnánnánnánnánnán。」

The little fiend with the tray was so panicked that he ran off trembling to report: "Trouble, trouble, trouble! Trouble, trouble, trouble!"

In 慌得, panicked to the point of doing something, is de, hanging the running off the fear. 戰兢兢 is shaking-and-trembling with the second character doubled, one of the novel's stock descriptions for a subordinate carrying bad news. The tripled cry is the same device as Wukong's three shouted heavens earlier — a word repeated until it stops being a word.

lǎoyāodào:「zěnmeyǒuduōnán?」 lǎoyāodào:「zěnmeyǒuduōnán?」

The old fiend said, "Why so very much trouble?"

The king's response to a messenger in hysterics is a straight question with a faint note of irritation. Nine characters, and it deflates the panic completely.

xiǎoyāodào:「zhūjièshāshàngdàohǒngguòlesūnxíngzhěquèshìfàndǒngde──shíhuòshíhuò xiǎoyāodào:「zhūjièshāshàngdàohǒngguòlesūnxíngzhěquèshìfàndǒngde──shíhuòshíhuò

The little fiend said, "Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk were fooled well enough, but Sun the Pilgrim is a dealer in antiques — he knows the goods, he knows the goods!

販古董的, an antique dealer, is a superb piece of abuse-as-compliment: the one trade whose whole skill is telling a genuine article from a clever copy. 識貨, to know the goods, is still the everyday phrase for somebody who cannot be sold a fake — and here it is a monster paying it to the man who has just ruined his plan.


總評 Commentary

The antique dealer line is the best joke in the chapter. The fiends have run a forgery operation and been caught by a specialist, and the messenger reaches for exactly the right trade to describe it.

The repetition patterns are worth watching across this chapter. Wukong shouts heaven three times in grief, the messenger shouts trouble three times in panic, and the fiends will shortly be repeating themselves about cooking methods. The novel uses a tripled word the way a comic strip uses a sound effect.