鱖婆識俊 The Mandarin-Fish Dame's Warning
卻說那妖邪敗陣逃生，回歸本宅，眾妖接到宮中，鱖婆上前問道：「大王趕那兩個和尚到那方來？」妖邪道：「那和尚原來還有一個幫手。他兩個跳上岸去，那幫手掄一條鐵棒打我，我閃過與他相持。也不知他那棍子有多少斤重，我的銅鎚莫想架得他住，戰未三合，我卻敗回來也。」鱖婆道：「大王，可記得那幫手是甚相貌？」妖邪道：「是一個毛臉雷公嘴、查耳朵、折鼻梁、火眼金睛和尚。」鱖婆聞說，打了一個寒噤道：「大王啊，虧了你識俊，逃了性命；若再三合，決然不得全生。那和尚我認得他。」妖邪道：「你認得他是誰？」鱖婆道：「我當年在東洋海內，曾聞得老龍王說他的名譽，乃是五百年前大鬧天宮混元一氣上方太乙金仙美猴王齊天大聖。如今歸依佛教，保唐僧往西天取經，改名喚做孫悟空行者。他的神通廣大，變化多端，大王你怎麼惹他？今後再莫與他戰了。」却说那妖邪败阵逃生，回归本宅，众妖接到宫中，鳜婆上前问道：「大王赶那两个和尚到那方来？」妖邪道：「那和尚原来还有一个帮手。他两个跳上岸去，那帮手抡一条铁棒打我，我闪过与他相持。也不知他那棍子有多少斤重，我的铜锤莫想架得他住，战未三合，我却败回来也。」鳜婆道：「大王，可记得那帮手是甚相貌？」妖邪道：「是一个毛脸雷公嘴、查耳朵、折鼻梁、火眼金睛和尚。」鳜婆闻说，打了一个寒噤道：「大王啊，亏了你识俊，逃了性命；若再三合，决然不得全生。那和尚我认得他。」妖邪道：「你认得他是谁？」鳜婆道：「我当年在东洋海内，曾闻得老龙王说他的名誉，乃是五百年前大闹天宫混元一气上方太乙金仙美猴王齐天大圣。如今归依佛教，保唐僧往西天取经，改名唤做孙悟空行者。他的神通广大，变化多端，大王你怎么惹他？今后再莫与他战了。」
逐句解 Line by line
Now we tell how the fiend, beaten in the fight and fleeing for his life, came back to his own mansion, where the demons received him into the hall. The mandarin-fish dame came forward and asked: "To what quarter did the Great King chase those two monks?"
Three occurrences of 那 in one segment: 那妖邪 deictic nà, 那兩個 deictic nà, and 到那方 interrogative nǎ — "to which quarter," fixed positionally. 宮中 中 zhōng.
The fiend said: "Those monks had a helper after all.
還有: 還 hái, "after all, besides." 那和尚 deictic nà. The demon reports the arrival of Wukong as a fighting fact, not yet knowing whom he has met.
The two of them leapt ashore, and that helper swung an iron rod at me; I dodged and closed with him.
相持: 相 xiāng, mutual — "grappled together." 那幫手 deictic nà.
I could not tell how many catties that cudgel of his weighed, but my copper mallet had no hope of warding it off. We had not fought three bouts before I came away beaten."
斤重: 重 zhòng, "heavy" (weight). 架得他住: 得 dé, potential. 那棍子 deictic nà; 多少 少 shǎo. The demon's own three-bout terms are turned against him for the second time.
The mandarin-fish dame said: "Great King, do you recall what the helper looked like?"
記得 得 dé. 甚相貌: 甚 the interrogative shén, "what," and 相 xiàng, "appearance" — the same graph read xiāng ("mutual") one segment above.
The fiend said: "He was a monk with a hairy face and a thunder-god's beak, splayed ears, a flattened nose-bridge, and fiery eyes with golden pupils."
折鼻梁: 折 zhé, "snapped, flattened." 雷公嘴 and 火眼金睛 are Wukong's fixed epithets throughout the novel — the dame will recognize him from them alone.
Hearing this, the mandarin-fish dame gave a shiver and said: "Great King! It was well you knew when to be shrewd and got away with your life;
寒噤: 噤 read jìn, "to shiver, to shut the mouth from cold"; the compound is a shudder. 識俊, to know the clever course — here, to know when to run.
another three bouts and you would surely not have come off with your life whole.
不得全生: 得 dé, ability. The three-bout count reappears a third time, now in the dame's mouth as a measure of how near a thing it was.
That monk — I know who he is."
認得 得 dé. 那和尚 deictic nà. The recognition is the block's pivot: what the fighting could not tell the demon, his adviser can.
The fiend said: "You know who he is?"
認得 得 dé. The demon's question sets up the roll-call of titles that follows.
The mandarin-fish dame said: "In years past, within the Eastern Ocean, I once heard the old Dragon King tell of his fame. He is the Handsome Monkey King, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, who five hundred years ago made great havoc in the Palaces of Heaven — the Primal-Unity, Single-Breath, Supreme Ultimate Golden Immortal of the Upper Realm.
當年: 當 dāng, "in that year, formerly." 聞得 得 dé. The string of titles — 混元一氣, 上方太乙, 金仙 — is Daoist rather than Buddhist, the honorifics of a realized immortal, and the novel piles them up as a single unpunctuated style.
Now he has taken refuge in the Buddha's teaching and guards the Tang Monk on his way west to fetch the scriptures, and has changed his name to Pilgrim Sun Wukong.
佛教: 教 jiào, "teaching, doctrine" — not jiāo. 行者 行 xíng. The dame gives both the Daoist career and the Buddhist office, which is precisely Wukong's double nature.
His divine powers are vast, his transformations past number — Great King, how could you provoke him?
變化: 化 huà. 惹 read rě, "to provoke, to stir up" — pypinyin gives the correct reading here, but the graph is on the silent-error watch. The rhetorical question is the point of the whole recognition.
From now on, never fight him again."
莫與他戰了 — the dame's counsel is flat and practical: not a plan, but a prohibition. It sets up the siege that the demon adopts in its place.
The recognition scene turns the chapter. For eleven blocks the demon has fought a nameless helper to a standstill; here his adviser names him, and the naming is done entirely by roll-call. The 鱖婆 recites the Daoist honorifics first — 混元一氣上方太乙金仙, the styles of a realized immortal — and only then the Buddhist office, 保唐僧, 孫悟空行者. The order matters: she knows him as Heaven knew him, five hundred years before his conversion, from the old Dragon King's account of the havoc in the celestial palaces.
What the scene establishes is that the demon is out of his depth, and knows it once he is told. His own report already carried the sign — a cudgel of unguessable weight, no hope of parrying it, beaten inside three bouts — but he read it as a hard fight rather than a lost cause. The dame reads it correctly and gives the only sound advice in the chapter: 今後再莫與他戰了, never fight him again. The demon takes the conclusion and discards the method; instead of avoiding Wukong he will shut his gate against him, which is the subject of the next three blocks and, in the end, no protection at all.