第八十七回 · 開明雲霧 The Clouds Are Drawn Aside — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

開明雲霧 The Clouds Are Drawn Aside

只zhǐ見jiàn那nà四sì部bù神shén祗qí開kāi明míng雲yún霧wù，各gè現xiàn真zhēn身shēn。四sì部bù者zhě，乃nǎi雨yǔ部bù、雷léi部bù、雲yún部bù、風fēng部bù。只zhǐ見jiàn那nà：只zhǐ见jiàn那nà四sì部bù神shén祗qí开kāi明míng云yún雾wù，各gè现xiàn真zhēn身shēn。四sì部bù者zhě，乃nǎi雨yǔ部bù、雷léi部bù、云yún部bù、风fēng部bù。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà：

龍lóng王wáng顯xiǎn像xiàng，雷léi將jiāng舒shū身shēn；龙lóng王wáng显xiǎn像xiàng，雷léi将jiāng舒shū身shēn；

雲yún童tóng出chū現xiàn，風fēng伯bó垂chuí真zhēn。云yún童tóng出chū现xiàn，风fēng伯bó垂chuí真zhēn。

逐句解 Line by line

只zhǐ見jiàn那nà四sì部bù神shén祗qí開kāi明míng雲yún霧wù，各gè現xiàn真zhēn身shēn。只zhǐ见jiàn那nà四sì部bù神shén祗qí开kāi明míng云yún雾wù，各gè现xiàn真zhēn身shēn。

And there the spirits of the four departments parted the cloud and mist, and each showed his true form.

祗 is qí once more — the last of its four. 開明, opening into brightness, is a lovely verb for what happens when cloud is drawn back after a storm.

四sì部bù者zhě，乃nǎi雨yǔ部bù、雷léi部bù、雲yún部bù、風fēng部bù。四sì部bù者zhě，乃nǎi雨yǔ部bù、雷léi部bù、云yún部bù、风fēng部bù。

The four departments were these: the Rain Department, the Thunder Department, the Cloud Department and the Wind Department.

The novel names all four, in order, like a list of ministries. It has been referring to them collectively for pages and only now sets them out.

只zhǐ見jiàn那nà：只zhǐ见jiàn那nà：

And this is what was seen:

The tag handing over to verse, and it must stay with the lines it introduces.

龍lóng王wáng顯xiǎn像xiàng，雷léi將jiāng舒shū身shēn；龙lóng王wáng显xiǎn像xiàng，雷léi将jiāng舒shū身shēn；

The Dragon King showed his likeness; the Thunder Marshal stretched out his body;

顯像 is to make an image appear, and 舒身 is to unfold or extend the body — gods becoming visible are described as arriving at a size, not simply appearing.

雲yún童tóng出chū現xiàn，風fēng伯bó垂chuí真zhēn。云yún童tóng出chū现xiàn，风fēng伯bó垂chuí真zhēn。

the Cloud Lad came into view; the Earl of Wind let down his true shape.

風伯, the Earl of Wind, is a genuinely ancient deity — he is in the Chu ci, well over a thousand years before this novel. 雲童, the Cloud Lad, is a boy attendant. The four are not of the same rank or the same age, and the verse gives each a different verb for appearing.

總評 Commentary

The clouds are drawn back and four gods become visible over a provincial city, and the novel takes care to name the departments first, in order, like a masthead.

The verse that follows gives each of the four a different verb — showed, stretched out, came into view, let down. Nothing appears the same way twice. For a set piece that could easily have been four identical clauses, that is a real piece of craft.