第五十九回 · 不停當 It Would Not Do — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

不停當 It Would Not Do

那nà師shī父fù爬pá上shàng馬mǎ，與yǔ八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，復fù東dōng來lái有yǒu二èr十shí餘yú里lǐ，方fāng才cái歇xiē下xià，道dào：「悟wù空kōng，如rú何hé了le呀ya？」行xíng者zhě丟diū下xià扇shàn子zi道dào：「不bù停tíng當dàng，不bù停tíng當dàng，被bèi那nà廝sī哄hǒng了le。」三sān藏zàng聽tīng說shuō，愁chóu促cù眉méi尖jiān，悶mèn添tiān心xīn上shàng，止zhǐ不bú住zhù兩liǎng淚lèi交jiāo流liú，只zhǐ道dào：「怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」那nà师shī父fù爬pá上shàng马mǎ，与yǔ八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，复fù东dōng来lái有yǒu二èr十shí余yú里lǐ，方fāng才cái歇xiē下xià，道dào：「悟wù空kōng，如rú何hé了le呀ya？」行xíng者zhě丢diū下xià扇shàn子zi道dào：「不bù停tíng当dàng，不bù停tíng当dàng，被bèi那nà厮sī哄hǒng了le。」三sān藏zàng听tīng说shuō，愁chóu促cù眉méi尖jiān，闷mèn添tiān心xīn上shàng，止zhǐ不bú住zhù两liǎng泪lèi交jiāo流liú，只zhǐ道dào：「怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」

逐句解 Line by line

那nà師shī父fù爬pá上shàng馬mǎ，與yǔ八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，復fù東dōng來lái有yǒu二èr十shí餘yú里lǐ，方fāng才cái歇xiē下xià，道dào：「悟wù空kōng，如rú何hé了le呀ya？」那nà师shī父fù爬pá上shàng马mǎ，与yǔ八bā戒jiè、沙shā僧sēng，复fù东dōng来lái有yǒu二èr十shí余yú里lǐ，方fāng才cái歇xiē下xià，道dào：「悟wù空kōng，如rú何hé了le呀ya？」

That master scrambled onto the horse and came back eastward with Eight Rules and Sha Monk more than twenty li before they halted at last. Then he said, 'Wukong — how did it go?'

如何了呀 'how has it turned out, then' — 呀 is the exclamatory particle here, toneless, not the yā of a creaking door in blk9. Twenty li of retreat is the measure of the fire.

行xíng者zhě丟diū下xià扇shàn子zi道dào：「不bù停tíng當dàng，不bù停tíng當dàng，被bèi那nà廝sī哄hǒng了le。」行xíng者zhě丢diū下xià扇shàn子zi道dào：「不bù停tíng当dàng，不bù停tíng当dàng，被bèi那nà厮sī哄hǒng了le。」

Pilgrim threw down the fan and said, 'It would not do, it would not do. That creature has tricked me.'

停當 is tíngdàng, 'settled, in proper order', so 當 takes dàng and not the positional dāng pypinyin supplies. This is the sense the §4 entry was widened to cover at the Ch.59 rulings — 'fitting, as it should be' — and here it is negated twice in five graphs. 哄 hǒng is to fool or take in.

三sān藏zàng聽tīng說shuō，愁chóu促cù眉méi尖jiān，悶mèn添tiān心xīn上shàng，止zhǐ不bú住zhù兩liǎng淚lèi交jiāo流liú，只zhǐ道dào：「怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」三sān藏zàng听tīng说shuō，愁chóu促cù眉méi尖jiān，闷mèn添tiān心xīn上shàng，止zhǐ不bú住zhù两liǎng泪lèi交jiāo流liú，只zhǐ道dào：「怎zěn生shēng是shì好hǎo？」

Hearing this, Tripitaka knitted his brows in grief and heaped care upon his heart. He could not hold back the tears that ran down both cheeks, and could only say, 'What is to be done?'

愁促眉尖 'sorrow drawing the brow-tips together'; 悶添心上 'gloom added onto the heart'. The two four-graph clauses are a matched pair, and the 不 in 止不住 reads bú before the fourth-tone 住.

總評 Commentary

Twenty li of retreat, and only then do they stop. The distance is the measure of what Pilgrim's three fannings did, and Tripitaka's question when they halt — 如何了呀, how did it go then — is asked of a man who has arrived at a run with his leg hair burnt off.

不停當，不停當 is the answer, doubled in the cadence the chapter has used all through, and it is an admission rather than a report. 停當 means settled, in proper order, as things ought to be; negated twice it says that nothing is. Then the diagnosis: 被那廝哄了, that creature has tricked me.

It is worth registering how quickly he gets there. He has no proof, no second fan to compare, and the one witness he consulted confirmed the object was genuine. He reasons from a result that contradicts everything he was told about the fan, and arrives at the right answer immediately — the same method that got him from a cake in his hand to the existence of the Iron-Fan Immortal.

Tripitaka weeps. The novel gives him two matched four-graph clauses of grief and then 怎生是好, what is to be done, which is his standing contribution at such moments. He has been told the road is shut and the remedy has failed.