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。背着行李,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."
He was not joking about the clothes. 拖將, to drag over, uses 將 to point the verb at its object, read jiāng.
Sanzang said, "Where would he have any clothes?"
A perfectly reasonable question from a man who has not caught up yet. 他那裡有甚衣服 reads 那 as the asking-word nǎ and 甚 as shén, 'what'.
The Pilgrim said, "Never mind about me, Master; I have my own way of managing."
Never mind about me, master, I have my own way of managing — which is more or less his motto for the whole journey.
Good Monkey King! He plucked out a single hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, and cried, "Change!"
The first of his transformations in a disciple's service, and the trick that will get him out of more trouble than any other. One hair pulled from his own body, a breath of 仙氣, immortal air, and the command 變 — Change!
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.
A 牛耳尖刀, an ox-ear pointed knife, is a broad curved blade. He opens the belly, peels downward, and takes the whole hide off in one piece — 囫圇皮, the skin entire.
He chopped away the claws and cut off the head, and pared the skin into a neat four-square piece of tiger-hide.
Claws off, head off, and the hide pared down to a workable square.
Lifting it, he measured it and said, "A little too wide — one width will make two."
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, holding a tiger skin up and squinting at it like a man in a fabric shop. 量了一量, measured it, takes 量 as a verb, read liáng, 'to measure' — not the noun-ish liàng. 幅 (fú) is a width of cloth.
He took up the knife again and cut it into two widths;
Too broad, so he halves it.
he put one width away and wrapped the other about his waist.
One half put by for later, the other round his waist.
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;
A creeper (葛籐) for a belt, and the kilt is on. 且去,且去 — let's go, let's go — is a monkey who has been sitting still for five centuries and does not intend to sit still again.
when we reach a house, I will borrow needle and thread and sew it up — no matter for now."
The proper sewing can wait for the first house they come to. Amid immortal breath and exploding mountains, a note about borrowing a needle and thread.
He gave the iron rod a twist, and it was again like a needle, which he tucked away in his ear.
The rod shrinks back to needle size and goes behind the ear again. The 如意, 'as-you-will', half of its name is being demonstrated rather than explained.
Then, the baggage on his back, he asked his master to mount.
Kilt on, baggage up, master mounted, and the road resumes. That rough tiger-skin will stay with him for the rest of the book — it is the reason every later illustrator draws him in it.
Having killed the tiger for its coat, Wukong now makes the coat: a small vivid set-piece of practical magic. One hair plucked from his body, a breath of immortal air, the cry 'Change!' and there is the knife; the rest is brisk butchery and tailoring, the Great Sage skinning, trimming and measuring like an artisan with a job on.
The scene does quiet work. It shows his transformation-magic doing something unglamorous, and it puts him at last into the rough tiger-skin kilt that becomes part of his permanent image. His impatience — let's go, let's go — and his casual deferral of the proper stitching keep the tone light and domestic straight after the violence of the kill.
By the end of the passage the shape of the pilgrimage is fully set: monk in the saddle, disciple on foot with the load on his back and a needle-thin cudgel behind his ear, the two of them moving on into the dusk the next verses will paint.