The Pilgrim, secretly delighted, laid the saddle and bridle upon the horse's back — and they fitted as though they had been made to measure.

心中暗喜 is secretly glad at heart; 將 jiāng shunts the saddle in front of its verb. In 就似量著做的一般, 似 is read sì and 量 is the verb liáng, to measure, its 著 the unstressed zhe. A harness laid up in a poor man's cupboard for a lifetime fits a transfigured prince of the Western Sea to the inch. Read that sentence again in about a page.

Sanzang bowed his thanks to the old man, who hastily raised him up, saying: "I am overwhelmed, I am overwhelmed. What need is there to thank me?"

攙起 is to raise a man by the arm; 惶恐 is to be overcome with awe and shame, doubled; 何勞致謝 is "why put yourself to the trouble of thanks?" The giver is embarrassed by gratitude, which is about the surest sign there is that a gift was real.

The old man did not press them to stay, but asked Sanzang to mount.

不再留 is "did not detain them any further". Hospitality also consists in knowing when to stop, and this old man knows everything there is to know about hospitality.

The elder came out at the gate, laid hold of the saddle and mounted; the Pilgrim shouldered the baggage.

出得門來 takes 得 as dé; 攀鞍上馬 is to take hold of the saddle and swing up. Set it beside the 刬馬, the bare-backed horse he was made to straddle at the gorge: the same animal, and an entirely different act.

Then from his sleeve the old man drew out a whip besides —

復… 取出 is "brought out besides". The saddle and bridle were promised. The whip was not. He is giving away more than he said he would, and he has not finished.

a haft of fragrant rattan, studded with leather and stitched at the inch, and a lash strung and knotted of tiger-sinew —

皮丁兒 are leather studs; 寸劄 is stitched at the inch; 香籐 is fragrant rattan; 虎筋絲 is thread of tiger-sinew. The workmanship is set down as lovingly as the saddle's was — and this too has been kept back through all the years of fire and mourning.

and holding it out at the roadside with folded hands he said: "Holy monk, I have a hand-strap yet. Let me give you that as well."

路傍 is "at the roadside", with 傍 read páng; 拱手奉上 is to offer with folded hands. 還有 takes 還 as hái, "there is yet"; 一發送了你 is "let me give you that as well, all at one go". He is emptying his sleeves, and hurrying to finish before they ride away.

Sanzang took it from horseback, saying: "Much thanks for your charity, much thanks for your charity."

布施 bù shī renders Sanskrit dāna, religious almsgiving: the technical term for what a layman gives a monk, and the same root as the 施主, the lay donor, that the old man mentioned last night. Sanzang picks the word exactly, and it is the right one. What has just taken place is an offering.