復得龍馬 The Horse Restored
這行者才按落雲頭，揪著那龍馬的頂鬃，來見三藏道：「師父，馬有了也。」三藏一見，大喜道：「徒弟，這馬怎麼比前反肥盛了些？在何處尋著的？」行者道：「師父，你還做夢哩。卻才是金頭揭諦請了菩薩來，把那澗裡龍化作我們的白馬，其毛片相同，只是少了鞍轡。著老孫揪將來也。」三藏大驚道：「菩薩何在？待我去拜謝他。」行者道：「菩薩此時已到南海，不耐煩矣。」三藏就撮土焚香，望南禮拜。拜罷，起身即與行者收拾前進。行者喝退了山神、土地，吩咐了揭諦、功曹，卻請師父上馬。三藏道：「那無鞍轡的馬，怎生騎得？且待尋船渡過澗去，再作區處。」行者道：「這個師父好不知時務！這個曠野山中，船從何來？這匹馬，他在此久住，必知水勢，就騎著他做個船兒過去罷。」这行者才按落云头，揪著那龙马的顶鬃，来见三藏道：「师父，马有了也。」三藏一见，大喜道：「徒弟，这马怎么比前反肥盛了些？在何处寻著的？」行者道：「师父，你还做梦哩。却才是金头揭谛请了菩萨来，把那涧里龙化作我们的白马，其毛片相同，只是少了鞍辔。著老孙揪将来也。」三藏大惊道：「菩萨何在？待我去拜谢他。」行者道：「菩萨此时已到南海，不耐烦矣。」三藏就撮土焚香，望南礼拜。拜罢，起身即与行者收拾前进。行者喝退了山神、土地，吩咐了揭谛、功曹，却请师父上马。三藏道：「那无鞍辔的马，怎生骑得？且待寻船渡过涧去，再作区处。」行者道：「这个师父好不知时务！这个旷野山中，船从何来？这匹马，他在此久住，必知水势，就骑著他做个船儿过去罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Pilgrim then brought down his cloud-head, took the dragon-horse by the forelock, and came before Sanzang, saying: "Master, the horse is here."
揪著 takes the durative 著 (zhe); 頂鬃, "the mane at the crown." He does not lead the horse by a rein — there is none — but hauls it by the forelock, as he did everything else in this chapter.
One look, and Sanzang cried out for joy: "Disciple! How comes this horse to be even sleeker than before?
肥盛, "well-fleshed, in fine condition." The monk's first thought is the horse's coat; the dragon prince, the Bodhisattva and the golden fillet are all quite beyond his notice.
Where did you find it?"
尋著的, "found it." 尋著 is verb-plus-resultative — the seeking attained — and takes 著 as zháo, against the durative zhe of 揪著 in the sentence before. The question is entirely reasonable, and it is met with derision.
Said the Pilgrim: "Master, you are still dreaming.
還做夢哩 — 還 read hái, "still." The gibe stands for the master's whole condition in this chapter: he has slept through his own deliverance.
It was the Gold-Headed Guardian who fetched the Bodhisattva just now, and she has turned the dragon of the gorge into our white horse,
卻才, "just now, a moment ago"; 化作, "to transform into." Wukong's account is scrupulously accurate and gives himself no credit, which is not his usual habit.
with the same hair and markings — only the saddle and bridle are lacking.
毛片相同 takes 相 as xiāng, "the same as each other." The missing saddle and bridle are no oversight: what has been restored is a mount, not its harness, and the harness will be the business of the next passage.
She had old Sun lead him hither."
著 is causative here, zhuó — "she had old Sun…"; 揪將來, 將 the directional particle. Even in reporting the Bodhisattva's command he cannot resist the verb 揪, "to haul by the hair."
Sanzang was greatly astonished, and said: "Where is the Bodhisattva?
大驚, "greatly astonished." Only now does the monk grasp that a Bodhisattva has been in the air above his head.
Let me go and bow my thanks to her."
拜謝, "to bow in thanks." The impulse is his best quality, and it is characteristically too late.
Said the Pilgrim: "By this time the Bodhisattva has reached the Southern Sea. She will not be troubled with it."
不耐煩矣, "she will not be bothered with it." The line is deliciously rude, and Wukong is once again quite right: she has gone.
Sanzang thereupon heaped up a little earth for an incense-burner, kindled incense, and bowed toward the south.
撮土焚香, "to heap up earth and burn incense" — the poor man's altar, improvised from the ground itself. It is Sanzang's one act of practical religion in the chapter, and the novel gives it to him without irony.
His reverence done, he rose, and with the Pilgrim set about going forward.
收拾前進, "to gather up and go forward." The interval is over; the road resumes.
The Pilgrim dismissed the Mountain God and the Local God with a shout, gave his charge to the Guardian and the Sentinel, and then invited his master to mount.
喝退, "to dismiss with a shout." He beat them, questioned them, used them, and now sends them off — the celestial bureaucracy has served its turn.
Said Sanzang: "How am I to ride a horse that has neither saddle nor bridle?
怎生騎得, "however is one to ride it," with potential 得 (dé). The objection is not foolish: a horse without harness is not a mount.
Let us wait and find a boat to ferry us over the gorge, and then consider what to do."
區處, "to make arrangements, to settle a matter." The monk's instinct, as always, is to wait, to find a boat, to defer.
Said the Pilgrim: "What a master this is, who knows nothing of the times!
好不知時務, "how ignorant of what the moment requires." 知時務 is ordinarily said of a man who bends to circumstance; Wukong turns it into an insult.
In this wild waste of hills, where should a boat come from?
曠野山中, "amid wild and empty hills." The retort is unanswerable, and its impatience is affectionate.
This horse has lived here long and must know the lie of the water. Just ride him, and let him serve for a boat to carry you across."
水勢, "the set and lie of the water"; 騎著 takes durative 著 (zhe). The dragon that swallowed the horse in this water will now carry the master across it — the chapter's last and quietest inversion.
The reunion is played for comedy, and the comedy is at the master's expense. Sanzang, who has spent the chapter weeping, doubting and fearing, notices first that the horse looks unusually well-fed; asked where it was found, Wukong tells him he is still dreaming. And in a sense he is. A Bodhisattva has descended, quarrelled, transformed a condemned dragon prince and departed, all in the air above his head, and the monk knew nothing of any of it — 不經由三藏, "without going by way of Sanzang," as the narrative noted when the Guardian first flew past him. His late, earnest scraping of a little earth into an incense-burner and bowing southward to a Bodhisattva already gone is at once absurd and rather touching; the novel does not mock it.
The passage ends where the chapter's allegory demands. The horse has been restored but the harness has not, and Sanzang's objection — 那無鞍轡的馬，怎生騎得, how does one ride a horse with neither saddle nor bridle? — is more pointed than he knows. The will-horse has been recovered; it has not yet been reined. His instinct is to wait for a boat; Wukong's is to ride. And Wukong is right, for the deepest of reasons: the creature that swallowed the horse in these waters is now the horse, and knows the water, and will carry the man across the very gorge that swallowed him. What was the obstacle has become the means of passage.