The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (88 page)

10
. Rattle:
bang
, a piece of slightly convex wood, with a slit at the top and hollowed out. It is struck by the watchman or by the bugler either as an alarm signal or as a sign that the battle is over.

CHAPTER THIRTY

1
. Second disciple: in the novel, Sha Monk is, of course, the third disciple of Tripitaka, but since the monster has no knowledge of Sun Wukong up to this point, it is only natural that Sha Monk is so identified. The emendation by the Japanese translators in
Saiyūki
1: 256 and note 1 on 264 are thus unwarranted, because they fail to take into account this simple authorial use of point of view. Throughout the long novel, the narrator’s repeated attempts to inform the readers that different characters at different times and places have also different forms of knowledge, as well as his consistent intrusion into the narrative itself through commentary or direct address to the reader,
should
indicate a growing and sophisticated awareness of the constraints and possibilities of fictive narration.

2
. Zijian
: the style of Cao Zhi
(192–232), third son of the minister and warlord Cao Cao (155–220). He was an accomplished writer and poet, and a legendary story told of his ability to finish composing a poem after taking seven steps.

3
. Pan An: Pan Yue
, style Anren
(247–300), one of the foremost poets of the Jin period. He was reputedly so handsome that women would line the streets and throw fruits at him when he went out. See
Jinshu
,
j
55, in
Ershiwushi
2: 1229c.

4
. Red threads: the Old Man in the Moon, the marriage broker in Chinese mythology, is supposed to tie the feet of fated lovers with scarlet threads for marriage.

5
.
Pipa
: a lute-like fretted instrument with four strings and a short neck.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

1
. Elixir source: the Chinese term is
danyuan
, but it is only another name for the resident god or deity (
shen
) of the heart and mind (
xin
), according to the
Huangting neijing yujing zhu
, in DZ 401, 6: 502. Chapter 8 of this scripture bears the title of “Xinshen or God of the Mind-and-Heart,” and its content consists of lines of verse on different deities of the visceral organs. The first line reads: “The Mind-Heart God [as] the elixir source is styled Guarding the Numinous
.”