第八十七回 · 唿𡃤𡃤 Thunder Rolls Over Fengxian — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

唿𡃤𡃤 Thunder Rolls Over Fengxian

天tiān尊zūn道dào：「既jì如rú此cǐ，差chāi鄧dèng、辛xīn、張zhāng、陶táo，帥shuài領lǐng閃shǎn電diàn娘niáng子zi，即jí隨suí大dà聖shèng下xià降jiàng鳳fèng仙xiān郡jùn聲shēng雷léi。」那nà四sì將jiāng同tóng大dà聖shèng不bù多duō時shí，至zhì於yú鳳fèng仙xiān境jìng界jiè，即jí於yú半bàn空kōng中zhōng作zuò起qǐ法fǎ來lái。只zhǐ聽tīng得dé唿hū𡃤lài𡃤lài的de雷léi聲shēng，又yòu見jiàn那nà淅xī瀝lì瀝lì的de閃shǎn電diàn。天tiān尊zūn道dào：「既jì如rú此cǐ，差chāi邓dèng、辛xīn、张zhāng、陶táo，帅shuài领lǐng闪shǎn电diàn娘niáng子zi，即jí随suí大dà圣shèng下xià降jiàng凤fèng仙xiān郡jùn声shēng雷léi。」那nà四sì将jiāng同tóng大dà圣shèng不bù多duō时shí，至zhì于yú凤fèng仙xiān境jìng界jiè，即jí于yú半bàn空kōng中zhōng作zuò起qǐ法fǎ来lái。只zhǐ听tīng得dé唿hū𡃤lài𡃤lài的de雷léi声shēng，又yòu见jiàn那nà淅xī沥lì沥lì的de闪shǎn电diàn。

逐句解 Line by line

天tiān尊zūn道dào：「既jì如rú此cǐ，差chāi鄧dèng、辛xīn、張zhāng、陶táo，帥shuài領lǐng閃shǎn電diàn娘niáng子zi，即jí隨suí大dà聖shèng下xià降jiàng鳳fèng仙xiān郡jùn聲shēng雷léi。」天tiān尊zūn道dào：「既jì如rú此cǐ，差chāi邓dèng、辛xīn、张zhāng、陶táo，帅shuài领lǐng闪shǎn电diàn娘niáng子zi，即jí随suí大dà圣shèng下xià降jiàng凤fèng仙xiān郡jùn声shēng雷léi。」

The Honoured One said, "In that case — detail Deng, Xin, Zhang and Tao, with the Lightning Lady under their command, to go down at once with the Great Sage to Fengxian Prefecture and sound the thunder."

差 is chāi here, to detail somebody for duty — not the chà that means amiss, which is how the base reads it and how the character goes at only one of its seven appearances in this chapter. 閃電娘子, the Lightning Lady, is the goddess of lightning, and the title 娘子 is an ordinary respectful word for a married woman — the same one a Ming husband would use for his wife.

那nà四sì將jiāng同tóng大dà聖shèng不bù多duō時shí，至zhì於yú鳳fèng仙xiān境jìng界jiè，即jí於yú半bàn空kōng中zhōng作zuò起qǐ法fǎ來lái。那nà四sì将jiāng同tóng大dà圣shèng不bù多duō时shí，至zhì于yú凤fèng仙xiān境jìng界jiè，即jí于yú半bàn空kōng中zhōng作zuò起qǐ法fǎ来lái。

It was no long time before the four marshals and the Great Sage reached the borders of Fengxian, and there in mid-air they set the magic working.

作起法來, setting the magic going, is workmanlike — the same construction one might use for starting a machine. Five gods have arrived above a prefecture and are getting on with it.

只zhǐ聽tīng得dé唿hū𡃤lài𡃤lài的de雷léi聲shēng，又yòu見jiàn那nà淅xī瀝lì瀝lì的de閃shǎn電diàn。只zhǐ听tīng得dé唿hū𡃤lài𡃤lài的de雷léi声shēng，又yòu见jiàn那nà淅xī沥lì沥lì的de闪shǎn电diàn。

There came the sound of thunder going hū lài lài, and lightning flickering with a spatter and a hiss.

𡃤 is lài, a rare character that exists almost solely for this noise. It sits outside the range of characters most fonts cover, so it may render as a blank box. Its reading comes from the character on its right-hand side, which supplies the sound rather than the sense; doubled after 唿 the whole thing is pure noise, the Chinese for a rolling peal. 淅瀝瀝 does the same job for the lightning, borrowing the patter of rain to describe a flicker. 得 is dé, following the perception verb to hear.

總評 Commentary

After all the offices and edicts and borrowed staff, the chapter finally gives you weather — and it gives it as noise.

The thunder is written with a character so rare it exists almost only for this, and the novel puts it in twice in a row. Nothing is described. There is no metaphor and no simile in the line at all, just a sound and then a flicker. For a book this fond of ornamental verse, three plain clauses of onomatopoeia is a deliberate choice: a town that has not heard thunder in three years hears it before it sees anything.