第九十七回 · 出西門 A Hundred and Fifty Men — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

出西門 A Hundred and Fifty Men

刺cì史shǐ聞wén言yán，即jí點diǎn起qǐ馬mǎ步bù快kuài手shǒu并bìng民mín壯zhuàng人rén役yì，共gòng有yǒu百bǎi五wǔ十shí人rén，各gè執zhí鋒fēng利lì器qì械xiè，出chū西xī門mén，一yì直zhí來lái趕gǎn唐táng僧sēng四sì眾zhòng。卻què說shuō他tā師shī徒tú們men在zài那nà華huá光guāng行xíng院yuàn破pò屋wū下xià挨ái至zhì天tiān曉xiǎo，方fāng才cái出chū門mén，上shàng路lù奔bēn西xī。可kě可kě的de那nà些xiē強qiáng盜dào當dāng夜yè打dǎ劫jié了le寇kòu家jiā，繫xì出chū城chéng外wài，也yě向xiàng西xī方fāng大dà路lù上shàng，行xíng經jīng天tiān曉xiǎo，走zǒu過guò華huá光guāng院yuàn西xī去qù，有yǒu二èr十shí里lǐ遠yuǎn近jìn，藏cáng於yú山shān凹āo中zhōng，分fēn撥bō金jīn銀yín等děng物wù。刺cì史shǐ闻wén言yán，即jí点diǎn起qǐ马mǎ步bù快kuài手shǒu并bìng民mín壮zhuàng人rén役yì，共gòng有yǒu百bǎi五wǔ十shí人rén，各gè执zhí锋fēng利lì器qì械xiè，出chū西xī门mén，一yì直zhí来lái赶gǎn唐táng僧sēng四sì众zhòng。却què说shuō他tā师shī徒tú们men在zài那nà华huá光guāng行xíng院yuàn破pò屋wū下xià挨ái至zhì天tiān晓xiǎo，方fāng才cái出chū门mén，上shàng路lù奔bēn西xī。可kě可kě的de那nà些xiē强qiáng盗dào当dāng夜yè打dǎ劫jié了le寇kòu家jiā，系xì出chū城chéng外wài，也yě向xiàng西xī方fāng大dà路lù上shàng，行xíng经jīng天tiān晓xiǎo，走zǒu过guò华huá光guāng院yuàn西xī去qù，有yǒu二èr十shí里lǐ远yuǎn近jìn，藏cáng于yú山shān凹āo中zhōng，分fēn拨bō金jīn银yín等děng物wù。

逐句解 Line by line

刺cì史shǐ聞wén言yán，即jí點diǎn起qǐ馬mǎ步bù快kuài手shǒu并bìng民mín壯zhuàng人rén役yì，共gòng有yǒu百bǎi五wǔ十shí人rén，各gè執zhí鋒fēng利lì器qì械xiè，出chū西xī門mén，一yì直zhí來lái趕gǎn唐táng僧sēng四sì眾zhòng。刺cì史shǐ闻wén言yán，即jí点diǎn起qǐ马mǎ步bù快kuài手shǒu并bìng民mín壮zhuàng人rén役yì，共gòng有yǒu百bǎi五wǔ十shí人rén，各gè执zhí锋fēng利lì器qì械xiè，出chū西xī门mén，一yì直zhí来lái赶gǎn唐táng僧sēng四sì众zhòng。

The prefect, hearing this, at once mustered his mounted and foot runners together with the militia and the office staff, a hundred and fifty men in all, each carrying a keen weapon, and out they went by the west gate, straight off in pursuit of the Tang monk and his three.

馬步快手 — mounted and foot runners — were the prefecture's own constables, and 民壯 the local militia, ordinary men on a service roster. The prefect is turning out everything he has. A hundred and fifty armed men for four unarmed travellers on foot. It is a wild over-response, and it is also exactly what a conscientious official would do when handed a sworn complaint of murder with named suspects who left town this morning.

卻què說shuō他tā師shī徒tú們men在zài那nà華huá光guāng行xíng院yuàn破pò屋wū下xià挨ái至zhì天tiān曉xiǎo，方fāng才cái出chū門mén，上shàng路lù奔bēn西xī。却què说shuō他tā师shī徒tú们men在zài那nà华huá光guāng行xíng院yuàn破pò屋wū下xià挨ái至zhì天tiān晓xiǎo，方fāng才cái出chū门mén，上shàng路lù奔bēn西xī。

Now as for the pilgrims: they had held out under the broken roof of the Huaguang shrine until daybreak, and only then came out and took the road west.

挨至天曉 — held out until daybreak. The word here means to endure something you cannot get out of, the same one behind going hungry or taking a beating, and not the near-identical word for edging up close to somebody. The chapter proves this against itself. Much later, when Monkey lies awake in a prison cell counting the watches, the book writes the very same phrase using the twin character kept specially for this sense. Same word, two spellings, one chapter. 卻說 again — the second of three in the chapter. The story left the pilgrims in its opening sentence and comes back to them one thousand and seventy-nine characters later.

可kě可kě的de那nà些xiē強qiáng盜dào當dāng夜yè打dǎ劫jié了le寇kòu家jiā，繫xì出chū城chéng外wài，也yě向xiàng西xī方fāng大dà路lù上shàng，行xíng經jīng天tiān曉xiǎo，走zǒu過guò華huá光guāng院yuàn西xī去qù，有yǒu二èr十shí里lǐ遠yuǎn近jìn，藏cáng於yú山shān凹āo中zhōng，分fēn撥bō金jīn銀yín等děng物wù。可kě可kě的de那nà些xiē强qiáng盗dào当dāng夜yè打dǎ劫jié了le寇kòu家jiā，系xì出chū城chéng外wài，也yě向xiàng西xī方fāng大dà路lù上shàng，行xíng经jīng天tiān晓xiǎo，走zǒu过guò华huá光guāng院yuàn西xī去qù，有yǒu二èr十shí里lǐ远yuǎn近jìn，藏cáng于yú山shān凹āo中zhōng，分fēn拨bō金jīn银yín等děng物wù。

And as luck would have it, those same robbers had plundered the Kou house that night, let themselves down over the wall and out of the city, and had also gone off along the great westward road, travelling until dawn. They had passed the Huaguang shrine and gone twenty li beyond it, and were now hidden in a fold of the hills, sharing out the gold and silver and the rest of it.

可可的 — as luck would have it. The book flags the coincidence itself rather than letting the reader find it, which is a storyteller's move: it says out loud that what follows is chance, so that nobody thinks the plot is cheating. 繫出 — let themselves down on a rope — is the same word used of them seven hundred and forty-nine characters ago, and the two are the only places in the whole novel it appears. 行經天曉 — travelled until dawn. The robbers spent the night doing exactly what the pilgrims did: sitting out the same rain, then walking the same road at the same hour. The parallel is deliberate and the book does not point at it.

總評 Commentary

This is the passage where the chapter's machinery becomes visible. Two parties left the same town in the same direction on the same night, for entirely unrelated reasons, and the book has arranged for them to be twenty li apart on one road with a hundred and fifty armed men closing from behind.

The narrator draws attention to the coincidence with 可可的 — as luck would have it — instead of hiding it. That is worth noticing. A less confident book would try to make the meeting feel inevitable. This one admits it is chance, and then makes the chance do an enormous amount of work: the robbers are about to rob the very men accused of the robbery, in front of the posse sent to arrest them.

The two overnight stops are described in near-identical language, and the pairing is not decorative. Both groups sat out the same storm; both set off west at first light; the book uses the same word for daybreak in both sentences. Pilgrims and thieves have had precisely the same night. The only difference between them, for the next several thousand characters, will be what a piece of paper says.