滴淚告道 She Tells It Weeping
羅剎聞言,滴淚告道:「大王,常言說:『男兒無婦財無主,女子無夫身無主。』我的性命,險些兒被這猢猻害了。」大聖聽得,故意發怒,罵道:「那潑猴幾時過去了?」罗刹闻言,滴泪告道:「大王,常言说:『男儿无妇财无主,女子无夫身无主。』我的性命,险些儿被这猢狲害了。」大圣听得,故意发怒,骂道:「那泼猴几时过去了?」
逐句解 Line by line
The Rākṣasī, hearing this, told him with falling tears, "My lord, the common saying has it: a man without a wife has no master for his goods; a woman without a husband has no master for her person."
兒 in 男兒 is the noun-morpheme ér and 子 in 女子 the full zǐ. The proverb is quoted in its own 『』 and its two halves are exactly parallel, which is why the source does not cut them apart.
"My life was very near being taken by that ape."
兒 in 險些兒 is the retroflex suffix er, against the ér of 男兒 in the previous segment.
The Great Sage, hearing this, put on a show of rage and railed, "When did that foul monkey pass this way?"
聽得 takes dé. 故意發怒 tells the reader the anger is manufactured — the narration will not let the performance pass unlabelled.
Her proverb is the hinge of the scene and she does not know what she is saying. A man without a wife has no master for his goods; a woman without a husband has no master for her person. She offers it as a reproach to a husband who has been away, and the reader hears it as a description of her actual position: she has no husband, she is about to be robbed, and the man she is confiding in is the thief.
The Great Sage's counterfeit rage is the technique of the whole imposture. He does not invent details; he supplies emotions. Told that the ape nearly killed her, he produces indignation on cue, and the indignation is what persuades her to keep talking. Everything he learns in the next two passages, he learns by pretending to be angry on her behalf about himself.