第五十二回 · 化身促織 Changed into a Cricket — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition 含詞賦 With rhapsody

化身促織 Changed into a Cricket

好hǎo大dà聖shèng，笑xiào唏xī唏xī的de，將jiāng鐵tiě棒bàng藏cáng了le。跳tiào下xià高gāo峰fēng，又yòu至zhì洞dòng口kǒu，搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn作zuò一yí個gè促cù織zhī兒er。真zhēn個gè：好hǎo大dà圣shèng，笑xiào唏xī唏xī的de，将jiāng铁tiě棒bàng藏cáng了le。跳tiào下xià高gāo峰fēng，又yòu至zhì洞dòng口kǒu，摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn作zuò一yí个gè促cù织zhī儿er。真zhēn个gè：

嘴zuǐ硬yìng鬚xū長cháng皮pí黑hēi，眼yǎn明míng爪zhǎo腳jiǎo丫yā叉chā。嘴zuǐ硬yìng须xū长cháng皮pí黑hēi，眼yǎn明míng爪zhǎo脚jiǎo丫yā叉chā。

風fēng清qīng月yuè明míng叫jiào牆qiáng涯yá。风fēng清qīng月yuè明míng叫jiào墙qiáng涯yá。

夜yè靜jìng如rú同tóng人rén話huà。夜yè静jìng如rú同tóng人rén话huà。

泣qì露lù淒qī涼liáng景jǐng色sè，聲shēng音yīn斷duàn續xù堪kān誇kuā。泣qì露lù凄qī凉liáng景jǐng色sè，声shēng音yīn断duàn续xù堪kān夸kuā。

客kè窗chuāng旅lǚ思sī怕pà聞wén他tā。客kè窗chuāng旅lǚ思sī怕pà闻wén他tā。

偏piān在zài空kōng階jiē床chuáng下xià。偏piān在zài空kōng阶jiē床chuáng下xià。

逐句解 Line by line

好hǎo大dà聖shèng，笑xiào唏xī唏xī的de，將jiāng鐵tiě棒bàng藏cáng了le。好hǎo大dà圣shèng，笑xiào唏xī唏xī的de，将jiāng铁tiě棒bàng藏cáng了le。

The fine Great Sage, chuckling to himself, put the iron rod away.

笑唏唏的 = "with a snickering laugh." 將鐵棒藏了: 將 = jiāng (disposal), 藏 = cáng ("to stow, to hide"), not the zàng of 三藏; 了 = le.

跳tiào下xià高gāo峰fēng，又yòu至zhì洞dòng口kǒu，搖yáo身shēn一yí變biàn，變biàn作zuò一yí個gè促cù織zhī兒er。跳tiào下xià高gāo峰fēng，又yòu至zhì洞dòng口kǒu，摇yáo身shēn一yí变biàn，变biàn作zuò一yí个gè促cù织zhī儿er。

He sprang down from the high peak, came again to the cave mouth, shook himself, and changed into a cricket.

促織兒: the cricket (蟋蟀); the suffix 兒 = er. The name means "urge-the-weaving" — the insect whose autumn chirring was said to hurry the women at their looms before the cold.

真zhēn個gè：真zhēn个gè：

Truly:

The verse tag takes its own unflagged segment. What follows is a 詞 in the 西江月 pattern — two stanzas of 6-6-7-6 syllables — not the seven-syllable 詩 couplets used for the battle verse.

嘴zuǐ硬yìng鬚xū長cháng皮pí黑hēi，眼yǎn明míng爪zhǎo腳jiǎo丫yā叉chā。嘴zuǐ硬yìng须xū长cháng皮pí黑hēi，眼yǎn明míng爪zhǎo脚jiǎo丫yā叉chā。

Hard of mouth, long of whisker, black of hide; / bright of eye, with claws and feet splayed wide.

First line of the 西江月, six syllables. 鬚長: 長 = cháng. 丫叉 = "forked, splayed." The description is exact entomology before it is anything else.

風fēng清qīng月yuè明míng叫jiào牆qiáng涯yá。风fēng清qīng月yuè明míng叫jiào墙qiáng涯yá。

In clear wind and bright moon it calls from the foot of the wall;

The seven-syllable third line of the stanza. 牆涯 = the wall's edge, the cricket's classical station.

夜yè靜jìng如rú同tóng人rén話huà。夜yè静jìng如rú同tóng人rén话huà。

in the stillness of night it is like a person talking.

如同人話 — the conceit that the cricket's cry resembles speech; it also prepares the plot, since this cricket is about to do a good deal of listening.

泣qì露lù淒qī涼liáng景jǐng色sè，聲shēng音yīn斷duàn續xù堪kān誇kuā。泣qì露lù凄qī凉liáng景jǐng色sè，声shēng音yīn断duàn续xù堪kān夸kuā。

Weeping dew, a scene of chill desolation; / a voice broken off and taken up again, worth the praising.

The second stanza opens. 泣露 ("weeping dew") is a standing figure for autumn insects; 斷續 catches the intermittence of the stridulation.

客kè窗chuāng旅lǚ思sī怕pà聞wén他tā。客kè窗chuāng旅lǚ思sī怕pà闻wén他tā。

At the traveller's window his wandering thoughts dread to hear it;

客窗旅思 — the traveller at his window, the classic posture of homesickness in Tang and Song verse; 旅思 = "a wanderer's brooding."

偏piān在zài空kōng階jiē床chuáng下xià。偏piān在zài空kōng阶jiē床chuáng下xià。

and it is precisely there, on the empty steps, beneath the bed.

偏在 = "is just there, of all places." 空階床下 closes the 詞 where the insect actually is — and, as it happens, where the burglar means to be.

總評 Commentary

The transformation is the smallest Wukong performs in the whole arc, and the narrator marks it with a full lyric — a 詞 in the 西江月 pattern, two stanzas of 6-6-7-6, rather than the seven-syllable couplets used for the fighting. The form matters. 西江月 is a song-measure with a long literary pedigree in melancholy, and the poem it carries here is a proper autumn-insect piece: weeping dew, a broken voice, the traveller at his window who dreads to hear the sound. Nothing in it is about burglary.

That is the joke, and it is a fine one. The cricket (促織, "urge the weaving") is the insect of homesickness — the creature whose chirring in the Book of Odes and after tells the traveller how far he is from home and how late the year has grown. The narrator gives it the full weight of that tradition, ending on 怕聞他, "they dread to hear it," and then sends it in under the door to case a demon's bedroom. The reader is invited to notice that the fiends inside really should dread hearing this particular cricket, and that Wukong, who is a very long way from home himself, is about to spend the night at the foot of somebody else's bed.