老兒贈鞭 The Old Man's Parting Gift
行者心中暗喜，將鞍轡背在馬上，就似量著做的一般。三藏拜謝那老，那老慌忙攙起道：「惶恐，惶恐。何勞致謝？」那老者也不再留，請三藏上馬。那長老出得門來，攀鞍上馬。行者擔著行李。那老兒復袖中取出一條鞭兒來，卻是皮丁兒寸劄的香籐柄子，虎筋絲穿結的梢兒，在路傍拱手奉上道：「聖僧，我還有一條挽手兒，一發送了你罷。」那三藏在馬上接了道：「多承布施，多承布施。」行者心中暗喜，将鞍辔背在马上，就似量著做的一般。三藏拜谢那老，那老慌忙搀起道：「惶恐，惶恐。何劳致谢？」那老者也不再留，请三藏上马。那长老出得门来，攀鞍上马。行者担著行李。那老儿复袖中取出一条鞭儿来，却是皮丁儿寸劄的香籐柄子，虎筋丝穿结的梢儿，在路傍拱手奉上道：「圣僧，我还有一条挽手儿，一发送了你罢。」那三藏在马上接了道：「多承布施，多承布施。」
逐句解 Line by line
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, "secretly glad at heart"; 將 is the coverb (jiāng). In 就似量著做的一般, 似 is read sì and 量 is the verb liáng, "to measure"; 量著 takes durative 著 (zhe). A harness kept forty years in a poor man's cupboard fits a dragon exactly, which is the passage's whole quiet argument.
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, "to raise a man by the arm"; 惶恐, "overcome with awe and shame," doubled. 何勞致謝, "why put yourself to the trouble of thanks." The giver is embarrassed by gratitude — the surest sign that the gift was real.
The old man did not press them to stay, but asked Sanzang to mount.
不再留, "did not detain them further." Hospitality knows when to end, 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, "to grasp the saddle and mount." Set this against the 刬馬, the bare-backed horse, that he was made to bestride 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, "brought out besides." The saddle and bridle were promised; the whip is not. He is giving away more than he said he would.
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, "leather studs"; 寸劄, "stitched at the inch"; 香籐, fragrant rattan; 虎筋絲, "threads of tiger-sinew." The workmanship is set down as lovingly as the saddle's, and this too has been kept back through 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, "at the roadside," with 傍 read páng; 拱手奉上, "to offer with folded hands." 還有 takes 還 as hái, "there is yet"; 一發送了你, "let me give it you 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 (bùshī) renders Sanskrit dāna, religious almsgiving — the technical term for a layman's offering to a monk. Sanzang chooses the word exactly, and it is the right one: what has just been made is an offering.
就似量著做的一般 — "as though it had been made to measure." The line is thrown away in passing and carries the passage. A saddle laid up years ago by a countryman who once liked to ride fits, to the inch, a transfigured prince of the Western Sea. The reader is permitted to think this a coincidence for exactly as long as the next passage takes to begin.
Meanwhile the old man will not stop giving. He promised a saddle and bridle; he brings the whole equipage, and then a whip out of his sleeve, and then a hand-strap, hurrying to press them on the monk before the horse can move off. He is embarrassed by thanks — 惶恐，惶恐。何勞致謝 — and does not detain them a moment for the pleasure of being thanked. Sanzang, who has fumbled most things in this chapter, gets this one exactly right: he calls it 布施, dāna, the almsgiving of a layman to a monk. It is the correct technical term, and it is also the truth. Whatever else the old man turns out to be, what he has done is give away everything he had.