Canonical Classics ← 第五十九回
第五十九回
tángsānzànghuǒyànshān
sūnxíngzhě調tiáojiāoshàn

Tripitaka's Road Is Blocked at the Mountain of Flames · Sun the Pilgrim Contrives the First Fetching of the Banana-Leaf Fan

又來借扇
模式 Mode Read Study
拼音 Pinyin Off
字體 Script
原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

又來借扇 Open The Door Again

xíngzhělelíngjiàjīndǒuyúnjìngfǎncuìyúnshānqǐngérzhì使shǐtiěbàngzhedòngménjiàodào:「kāiménkāiménlǎosūnláijièshànzi使shǐ使shǐli。」huāngdeméntóngmángláibào:「nǎinaijièshànzideyòuláile。」xíngzhělelíngjiàjīndǒuyúnjìngfǎncuìyúnshānqǐngérzhì使shǐtiěbàngzhedòngménjiàodào:「kāiménkāiménlǎosūnláijièshànzi使shǐ使shǐli。」huāngdeméntóngmángláibào:「nǎinaijièshànzideyòuláile。」


逐句解 Line by line

xíngzhělelíngjiàjīndǒuyúnjìngfǎncuìyúnshānqǐngérzhì xíngzhělelíngjiàjīndǒuyúnjìngfǎncuìyúnshānqǐngérzhì

Pilgrim took his leave of Lingji, mounted his cloud-somersault, and went straight back to Mount Cuiyun, arriving in an instant.

觔斗雲 is the cloud-somersault, and is dǒu in that compound; pypinyin gives dòu, the reading for fighting. Fifty thousand li, covered in 頃刻 — the distance that took the fan a night takes him a moment, which is the joke the arithmetic has been building toward.

使shǐtiěbàngzhedòngménjiàodào:「kāiménkāimén 使shǐtiěbàngzhedòngménjiàodào:「kāiménkāimén

He beat on the cave door with his iron cudgel and shouted, 'Open up, open up!'

打著 takes the durative zhe. The manner has changed entirely: on his first visit he tidied his robes and called out 'Brother Bull', then bowed to a servant. Now he hammers on the door with a weapon.

lǎosūnláijièshànzi使shǐ使shǐli。」 lǎosūnláijièshànzi使shǐ使shǐli。」

'Old Sun has come to borrow that fan of yours!'

使使 'to use, to make use of', the verb doubled in the vernacular manner. is the toneless sentence-final particle — the eighth of the chapter's ten, against the two that belong to the transcribed place name.

huāngdeméntóngmángláibào:「nǎinaijièshànzideyòuláile。」 huāngdeméntóngmángláibào:「nǎinaijièshànzideyòuláile。」

The maid inside the door was thrown into a fluster and went at once to report: 'Mistress, the one who wants to borrow the fan is here again.'

慌得 takes as the of a resultative. 借扇子的 'the fan-borrowing one' — the household has stopped using his name and reduced him to his errand, which is funnier than an insult would be.


總評 Commentary

頃刻而至 — he arrived in an instant. The fifty thousand li that took the fan a whole night of tumbling take the cloud-somersault a moment, and the novel sets the two journeys side by side without comment. The arithmetic of the previous passage exists partly so that this line can land.

The manner of his second arrival is the reverse of his first. Then he composed himself into a genteel bearing, called out to a sworn brother, put his palms together for a servant girl and asked her to take word in. Now he beats on the door with the cudgel and shouts that he has come to borrow the fan.

The maid's report is the passage's best line. Not 'Sun Wukong is here' but 借扇子的又來了 — the fan-borrowing one is back again. In two visits he has been reduced from a name to an errand, and the household's exasperation is entirely audible.