老黿訴冤 The Turtle's Grievance
那老黿又叫：「大聖，不要打船，我送你師徒過去。」行者掄著鐵棒道：「我把你這個孽畜！若到邊前，這一棒就打死你。」老黿道：「我感大聖之恩，情願辦好心送你師徒，你怎麼反要打我？」行者道：「與你有甚恩惠？」老黿道：「大聖，你不知這底下水黿之第，乃是我的住宅，自歷代以來，祖上傳留到我。我因省悟本根，養成靈氣，在此處修行，被我將祖居翻蓋了一遍，立做一個水黿之第。那妖邪乃九年前海嘯波翻，他趕潮頭，來於此處，仗逞兇頑，與我爭鬥，被他傷了我許多兒女，奪了我許多眷族。我鬥他不過，將巢穴白白的被他占了。今蒙大聖至此搭救唐師父，請了觀音菩薩掃淨妖氛，收去怪物，將第宅還歸於我。我如今團圞老小，再不須挨土幫泥，得居舊舍。此恩重若丘山，深如大海。且不但我等蒙惠，只這一莊上人，免得年年祭賽，全了多少人家兒女。此誠所謂一舉而兩得之恩也，敢不報答。」行者聞言，心中暗喜，收了鐵棒道：「你端的是真實之情麼？」老黿道：「因大聖恩德洪深，怎敢虛謬？」行者道：「既是真情，你朝天賭咒。」那老黿張著紅口，朝天發誓道：「我若真情不送唐僧過此通天河，將身化為血水。」行者笑道：「你上來，你上來。」那老鼋又叫：「大圣，不要打船，我送你师徒过去。」行者抡着铁棒道：「我把你这个孽畜！若到边前，这一棒就打死你。」老鼋道：「我感大圣之恩，情愿办好心送你师徒，你怎么反要打我？」行者道：「与你有甚恩惠？」老鼋道：「大圣，你不知这底下水鼋之第，乃是我的住宅，自历代以来，祖上传留到我。我因省悟本根，养成灵气，在此处修行，被我将祖居翻盖了一遍，立做一个水鼋之第。那妖邪乃九年前海啸波翻，他赶潮头，来于此处，仗逞凶顽，与我争斗，被他伤了我许多儿女，夺了我许多眷族。我斗他不过，将巢穴白白的被他占了。今蒙大圣至此搭救唐师父，请了观音菩萨扫净妖氛，收去怪物，将第宅还归于我。我如今团圞老小，再不须挨土帮泥，得居旧舍。此恩重若丘山，深如大海。且不但我等蒙惠，只这一庄上人，免得年年祭赛，全了多少人家儿女。此诚所谓一举而两得之恩也，敢不报答。」行者闻言，心中暗喜，收了铁棒道：「你端的是真实之情么？」老鼋道：「因大圣恩德洪深，怎敢虚谬？」行者道：「既是真情，你朝天赌咒。」那老鼋张着红口，朝天发誓道：「我若真情不送唐僧过此通天河，将身化为血水。」行者笑道：「你上来，你上来。」
逐句解 Line by line
The old turtle cried again: "Great Sage, do not build a boat. I will carry you and your master across."
那老黿 deictic 那 nà; 黿 (yuán). He repeats his offer, and Wukong's first response will be suspicion, not thanks.
Pilgrim, whirling his iron rod, said: "You accursed beast! If you come near the edge, one stroke of this rod and I'll kill you."
掄著 durative 著 zhe; 孽畜: 畜 read chù, the noun "beast" (as in 牲畜), not the verb xù. Wukong assumes any creature rising from the demon's river is another enemy.
The old turtle said: "I am grateful for the Great Sage's kindness and gladly offer, with a good heart, to carry you across. Why do you turn instead and want to strike me?"
老黿 黿 (yuán). 情願, to be willing of one's own accord. The turtle's bewildered protest turns Wukong's suspicion aside.
Pilgrim said: "What kindness have I done you?"
有甚恩惠: 甚 the interrogative shén, "what." The question opens the turtle's long recital of his grievance and his debt.
The old turtle said: "Great Sage, you do not know: this Mansion of the Water Turtle down below was my own dwelling, handed down from my forefathers through the generations.
Two occurrences of 黿 (yuán): 老黿 and 水黿之第. The turtle establishes his title — the mansion was his ancestral seat before the demon took it.
Because I awoke to my own root and nature and nurtured the numinous breath, and did my cultivation in this place, I rebuilt my ancestral home from top to bottom and made of it a Mansion of the Water Turtle.
此處 處 chù; 修行 行 xíng; 將祖居 將 jiāng, disposal coverb; 翻蓋了 了 le; 黿 (yuán). The turtle is a self-made adept who cultivated the Way and built his own hall.
That fiend, nine years ago, when the sea roared and the waves turned over, rode in on the tide-head, came to this place, and relying on his ferocity and violence, fought with me. He wounded many of my sons and daughters and carried off many of my kin.
那妖邪 deictic 那 nà; 此處 處 chù; 傷了 and 奪了 了 le ×2; 兒女 兒 the person-morpheme ér. The demon's usurpation is told as a family catastrophe — children killed, kin seized.
I could not out-fight him, and my den and burrow were taken from me for nothing.
將巢穴 將 jiāng, disposal; 占了: 占 zhàn, "to seize, occupy"; 了 le. 白白的, for nothing, in vain — the injury that Wukong has, unknowing, avenged.
Now, thanks to the Great Sage coming here to rescue the Tang master, and inviting the Guanyin Bodhisattva to sweep clean the fiendish vapours, take away the monster, and return the mansion to me,
請了 了 le; 觀音 觀 guān; 將第宅 將 jiāng; 還歸 還 hái. The turtle recounts his restoration — the demon gone, the mansion his again.
I now have my whole household reunited, old and young, and need no more heap up earth and daub on mud, but may dwell in my old home.
團圞: 圞 (luán), "round, complete" — 團圞 means the family gathered whole. This is the graph that forces 圞 into T2S_KEEP: OpenCC would otherwise map it to an astral codepoint (U+2A8AE), and the guard holds it in its BMP form. 挨土幫泥: 挨 āi, to push against; 幫 bāng, to daub; 得居 得 dé; 舊舍 舍 shè.
This kindness is heavy as a mountain, deep as the great sea.
恩重: 重 zhòng, "heavy." The paired hyperbole — mountain and sea — is the formula of an unrepayable debt.
And not my kind alone have had the benefit: the people of this one village are spared their yearly sacrifice, and how many households' sons and daughters are kept whole.
免得: 得 the complement particle de; 祭賽 賽 sài; 全了 了 le; 多少 少 shǎo; 兒女 兒 the person-morpheme ér. The turtle counts the village's children among those his rescuer has saved.
This is truly what is called a kindness that gains two ends at a single stroke — how should I not repay it?"
一舉而兩得: 得 dé, to gain. 一舉兩得, one act two gains — the turtle applies the proverb to his rescuer's single deed, which freed both his household and the village.
Pilgrim, hearing this, was secretly glad at heart. He put away his iron rod and said: "Is this the real truth of your feeling?"
心中 中 zhōng; 收了 了 le; 端的, vernacular "really, truly." Wukong's suspicion gives way, but he demands an oath before trusting the creature with his master.
The old turtle said: "Because the Great Sage's kindness and virtue are broad and deep, how should I dare speak falsely?"
老黿 黿 (yuán); 虛謬: 謬 miù, false, mistaken. The turtle protests his sincerity, and Wukong puts him to the proof.
Pilgrim said: "Since it is your true feeling, swear an oath to Heaven."
朝天賭咒: 朝 cháo, "toward"; 咒 zhòu, an oath or imprecation. Wukong requires the oath because a creature that can speak may also lie — the same principle he will invert two blocks later.
The old turtle, opening his red mouth, swore an oath to Heaven: "If I do not truly carry the Tang Monk across this River That Reaches to Heaven, may my body dissolve into a pool of blood."
那老黿 deictic 那 nà; 黿 (yuán); 張著 durative 著 zhe; 朝天 朝 cháo; 將身 將 jiāng; 化為 化 huà, 為 wèi, purposive "into." The self-curse is the guarantee Wukong demanded.
Pilgrim laughed: "Come up, come up."
你上來 doubled — the suspicion wholly gone, Wukong welcomes the turtle ashore. The block turns on this reversal from raised rod to laughter.
The turtle's grievance retroactively explains the whole chapter's central image. The sign over the demon's gate — 水黿之第, the Mansion of the Water Turtle — has hung there since the reconnaissance in block two, naming an owner who never appeared; here he appears, and the name is his. Nine years ago the 靈感大王 rode in on a tide, killed his children, seized his kin, and drove him from the ancestral hall he had rebuilt with his own cultivated powers. Wukong, coming to save his master, has without knowing it avenged a turtle's family and restored a dispossessed adept to his home — 一舉而兩得, one deed and two goods.
The exchange also stages a small comedy of suspicion. Wukong's reflex on seeing anything rise from the demon's river is to raise his rod and threaten to kill it — 孽畜, accursed beast — and the turtle's bewildered protest, that he comes in gratitude and is met with a cudgel, is the chapter's last turn of its recurring joke about Wukong's temper. Even convinced, Wukong demands an oath to Heaven, and the turtle swears to dissolve into blood-water if he proves false. The demand is characteristic and, as it happens, ironic: the whole reason the turtle can be trusted is that 會說人話，決不打誑語 — a creature that has cultivated human speech will not lie — which is exactly the principle Wukong will state, two blocks later, to reassure his frightened master. The block closes on the reversal that governs the rest of the chapter: the raised rod becomes a laugh, and the enemy-that-wasn't becomes the ferry.