原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
擡赴廟中 Carried Out to the Shrine
兄弟正然談論，只聽得外面鑼鼓喧天，燈火照耀，同莊眾人打開前門，叫：「擡出童男童女來。」這老者哭哭啼啼，那四個後生將他二人擡將出去。兄弟正然谈论，只听得外面锣鼓喧天，灯火照耀，同庄众人打开前门，叫：「抬出童男童女来。」这老者哭哭啼啼，那四个后生将他二人抬将出去。
逐句解 Line by line
兄弟正然談論，只聽得外面鑼鼓喧天，燈火照耀，同莊眾人打開前門，叫：「擡出童男童女來。」
兄弟正然谈论，只听得外面锣鼓喧天，灯火照耀，同庄众人打开前门，叫：「抬出童男童女来。」
The brothers were still in the midst of their talk when they heard from without a clamor of gongs and drums to shake the sky and a blaze of lamps and torches, as the villagers all together threw open the front gate and called: "Bring out the boy and the girl!"
只聽得: 得 = dé. 鑼鼓喧天 = "gongs and drums clamoring to the sky"; 同莊眾人 = "the people of the whole village."
這老者哭哭啼啼，那四個後生將他二人擡將出去。
这老者哭哭啼啼，那四个后生将他二人抬将出去。
The old men wept and sobbed, and the four young men carried the two of them out.
Deictic 那四個後生: 那 = nà. Coverb 將他二人 and directional 擡將出去: both 將 = jiāng. 哭哭啼啼 = "weeping and sobbing."
Two sentences carry the chapter to its edge. The rehearsal in the hall is broken off by the sound of the village arriving in force — gongs and drums "to shake the sky," torches blazing, the front gate thrown open, and the summons called out for the boy and the girl. The ritual has its own momentum, and the pilgrims' preparations are overtaken by it.
The detail that redeems the scene from spectacle is the weeping of the old men. They know the substitution has been made and their children are safe, yet they sob as the trays are carried out — whether from the residue of terror, or from grief for the guests going in their children's place, the narrative does not say. The ambiguity is the passage's last touch of humanity before the demon is met.