剝皮為裙 The Tiger-Skin Kilt
行者拖將虎來道：「師父略坐一坐，等我脫下他的衣服來，穿了走路。」三藏道：「他那裡有甚衣服？」行者道：「師父莫管我，我自有處置。」好猴王，把毫毛拔下一根，吹口仙氣，叫：「變！」變作一把牛耳尖刀，從那虎腹上挑開皮，往下一剝，剝下個囫圇皮來。剁去了爪甲，割下頭來，割個四四方方一塊虎皮。提起來，量了一量道：「闊了些兒，一幅可作兩幅。」拿過刀來，又裁為兩幅。收起一幅，把一幅圍在腰間。路傍揪了一條葛籐，緊緊束定，遮了下體道：「師父，且去，且去。到了人家，借些針線，再縫不遲。」他把條鐵棒捻一捻，依舊像個針兒，收在耳裡。背著行李，請師父上馬。行者拖将虎来道：「师父略坐一坐，等我脱下他的衣服来，穿了走路。」三藏道：「他那里有甚衣服？」行者道：「师父莫管我，我自有处置。」好猴王，把毫毛拔下一根，吹口仙气，叫：「变！」变作一把牛耳尖刀，从那虎腹上挑开皮，往下一剥，剥下个囫囵皮来。剁去了爪甲，割下头来，割个四四方方一块虎皮。提起来，量了一量道：「阔了些儿，一幅可作两幅。」拿过刀来，又裁为两幅。收起一幅，把一幅围在腰间。路傍揪了一条葛籐，紧紧束定，遮了下体道：「师父，且去，且去。到了人家，借些针线，再缝不迟。」他把条铁棒捻一捻，依旧像个针儿，收在耳里。背著行李，请师父上马。
逐句解 Line by line
The Pilgrim dragged the tiger over and said, "Sit a moment, Master, and wait while I strip off his clothes to wear on the road."
The Pilgrim makes good on his jest: the tiger is to be his wardrobe. 拖將 ("to drag over") uses 將 as a verbal-directional marker, read jiāng.
Sanzang said, "Where would he have any clothes?"
Sanzang's puzzled question — 他那裡有甚衣服, "where would he have clothes?" — reads 那 as the interrogative nǎ and 甚 as shén ("what").
The Pilgrim said, "Never mind about me, Master; I have my own way of managing."
The monkey waves off the monk's worry with his usual confidence; he needs no help.
Good Monkey King! He plucked out a single hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, and cried, "Change!"
The first of his transformation-tricks in the disciple's service: a plucked hair, a breath of 仙氣 ("immortal breath"), and the command 變 ("Change!"). Pulling magic from his own body-hair is Wukong's signature art throughout the novel.
It became an ox-ear pointed knife. From the tiger's belly he cut the skin open, peeled it downward, and stripped off the whole hide entire.
The 牛耳尖刀 ("ox-ear pointed knife") is a broad, curved blade; with it he skins the tiger whole (囫圇皮, "the hide entire").
He chopped away the claws and cut off the head, and pared the skin into a neat four-square piece of tiger-hide.
He trims the hide into a workable square, discarding claws and head.
Lifting it, he measured it and said, "A little too wide — one width will make two."
量了一量 — "measured it" — takes 量 in its verbal sense, read liáng ("to measure"), not the nominal liàng. 幅 (fú) is a "width" of cloth.
He took up the knife again and cut it into two widths;
Finding it too broad, he halves it.
he put one width away and wrapped the other about his waist.
One half is stored; the other becomes his garment.
From the roadside he pulled up a length of creeper, bound it tight, and covered his lower body, saying, "Let us go, Master, let us go;
The improvised kilt is bound on with a creeper (葛籐). His breezy "let us go, let us go" (且去，且去) shows his impatience to be on the road.
when we reach a house, I will borrow needle and thread and sew it up — no matter for now."
He defers the proper sewing until they reach a house — a small, homely detail amid the marvels.
He gave the iron rod a twist, and it was again like a needle, which he tucked away in his ear.
The rod is shrunk back to needle-size and stowed, ready for the next need. The 如意 ("as-you-will") property of the weapon is thus quietly shown in action.
Then, the baggage on his back, he asked his master to mount.
With the tiger-skin kilt on and the baggage shouldered, the disciple resumes his place, and the journey goes on. This rough tiger-skin garment becomes part of Wukong's iconic image for the rest of the book.
Having killed the tiger for its hide, Wukong now makes the garment — a small, vivid set-piece of practical magic. A single hair plucked from his body, a breath of immortal air, and the cry "Change!" produce the knife; the rest is brisk butchery and tailoring, the Great Sage skinning and trimming and measuring like an artisan.
The scene does quiet narrative work. It shows the disciple's transformation-magic in unglamorous action, and it clothes him at last in the rough tiger-skin kilt that becomes part of his iconic image for the remainder of the journey. His impatience — "let us go, let us go" — and his casual deferral of the proper sewing keep the tone light and domestic after the violence of the kill.
By the passage's end the pattern of the pilgrimage is fully set: monk mounted, disciple shouldering the load with his needle-thin rod behind his ear, the two of them moving on together into the dusk that the next verses will describe.