一棒打虎 The Tiger Felled
卻說那孫行者請三藏上馬，他在前邊背著行李，赤條條，拐步而行。不多時，過了兩界山，忽然見一隻猛虎，咆哮剪尾而來。三藏在馬上驚心。行者在路傍歡喜道：「師父莫怕他，他是送衣服與我的。」放下行李，耳朵裡拔出一個針兒，迎著風，幌一幌，原來是個碗來粗細一條鐵棒。他拿在手中，笑道：「這寶貝，五百餘年不曾用著他，今日拿出來掙件衣服兒穿穿。」你看他拽開步，迎著猛虎，道聲：「業畜！那裡去！」那隻虎蹲著身，伏在塵埃，動也不敢動動。卻被他照頭一棒，就打的腦漿迸萬點桃紅，牙齒噴幾珠玉塊。諕得那陳玄奘滾鞍落馬，咬指道聲：「天那！天那！劉太保前日打的斑斕虎，還與他鬥了半日；今日孫悟空不用爭持，把這虎一棒打得稀爛。正是強中更有強中手！」却说那孙行者请三藏上马，他在前边背着行李，赤条条，拐步而行。不多时，过了两界山，忽然见一只猛虎，咆哮剪尾而来。三藏在马上惊心。行者在路傍欢喜道：「师父莫怕他，他是送衣服与我的。」放下行李，耳朵里拔出一个针儿，迎着风，幌一幌，原来是个碗来粗细一条铁棒。他拿在手中，笑道：「这宝贝，五百余年不曾用着他，今日拿出来挣件衣服儿穿穿。」你看他拽开步，迎着猛虎，道声：「业畜！那里去！」那只虎蹲着身，伏在尘埃，动也不敢动动。却被他照头一棒，就打的脑浆迸万点桃红，牙齿喷几珠玉块。諕得那陈玄奘滚鞍落马，咬指道声：「天那！天那！刘太保前日打的斑斓虎，还与他斗了半日；今日孙悟空不用争持，把这虎一棒打得稀烂。正是强中更有强中手！」
逐句解 Line by line
Now we tell how Pilgrim Sun asked Sanzang to mount, while he himself went ahead, the baggage on his back, striding along stark and bare.
The working arrangement of the next eighty-six chapters, set in the first sentence: the monk rides, the disciple walks in front carrying everything. 赤條條, stark naked, keeps his wardrobe problem in front of us — and the next few minutes will solve it. 背著 takes the ongoing-action 著 (zhe).
Before long they had passed the Mountain of the Two Frontiers, when all at once a fierce tiger came roaring toward them, lashing its tail.
The first hazard of the open road, and the first chance for the new disciple to show what he is for. 咆哮剪尾 — roaring, its tail lashing — is the tiger doing everything a tiger is supposed to do.
Sanzang, on his horse, took fright; but the Pilgrim said gladly from the roadside, "Do not fear him, Master — he has come to bring me clothes."
Two temperaments, one sentence apart. The monk goes rigid on his horse; the monkey is delighted, because he has looked at an oncoming tiger and seen a tailor's delivery.
He set down the baggage, drew from his ear a tiny needle, met the wind with it, gave it a shake — and it became an iron rod as thick as a bowl.
The weapon comes back. Shrunk to a needle and parked behind his ear, it needs only a shake in the wind to swell into the great iron rod — the 如意金箍棒, whose full pedigree gets recited two passages from now.
Holding it in his hand, he laughed: "This treasure has not been used these five hundred years and more; today I bring it out to earn myself a suit of clothes."
Five hundred years of disuse, and the first thing he does with the most famous weapon in Chinese fiction is go and kill something for its coat. The laughter and the throwaway purpose tell you as much about him as the power does.
See him stride out, meet the fierce tiger head on, and cry, "Cursed beast! Where do you think you are going!"
業畜 — cursed beast, creature of bad karma — is his opening insult, with 畜 read chù. In 那裡去, 'where do you think you're going', 那 is the asking-word and reads nǎ.
The tiger crouched down and lay flat in the dust, not daring to stir at all.
The tiger flattens itself in the dust and does not move. Nothing has been said or done to it yet; beasts simply know what has arrived.
With one blow to the head he struck it, so that its brains burst out in ten thousand points of peach-red and its teeth flew forth like scattered pearls and shards of jade.
The kill comes out in balanced, ornamental lines: brains in ten thousand points of 桃紅, peach-red, teeth scattering like pearls and chips of jade. The violence is stylised almost to the point of decoration, and completely casual.
This so terrified Chen Xuanzang that he tumbled from the saddle; biting his finger, he cried,
The gap between the two of them, measured in a single gesture. 諕得, 'so frightened that', reads 諕 as xià and 得 as de; the monk falls straight off his horse.
"Heavens! Heavens! The other day Grand Guardian Liu killed a striped tiger, but had to fight it half a day;
He is thinking of the previous chapter, where Boqin fought a tiger of his own and needed half a day to win. 天那, 'Heavens!', uses 那 as a cry of dismay, read na. 還, 'even so, still', is hái.
today Sun Wukong needs no struggle at all — with one blow he has beaten this tiger to a pulp!
Half a day for the hunter, one stroke for the monkey. The arithmetic is a compliment and a warning at the same time, and Sanzang is only half aware which he is making.
Truly, however strong one is, there is always a stronger hand!"
強中更有強中手 — among the strong there is always a stronger hand. Sanzang is quoting a proverb still in everyday use, and quoting it ruefully: he has just discovered which of them is the stronger hand. 強 reads qiáng, 更 reads gèng.
The first hazard of the open road is a tiger, and it turns into the first demonstration of what the new disciple can do. Boqin, in the previous chapter, needed half a day to kill one. Wukong does not even see a threat — only the coat he is not wearing — and settles the matter with a single blow.
The episode brings back the iron rod, the 如意金箍棒, kept shrunk to a needle behind his ear and restored to full size with a shake. Weapon and effortless kill together re-establish for the returning reader just how far outside the human scale this creature is.
But the scene cuts both ways. The ornamental gore — brains like peach-red points, teeth like scattered jade — and Wukong's easy laughter are set directly against the monk's horror. Sanzang falls off his horse, and his rueful proverb about a stronger hand carries an undertone of unease. The disciple's power is at once what makes him useful and what will have to be curbed, which is why Guanyin's headband is only a few pages away.