原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
含詞賦 With rhapsody
小妖報信 二番苦戰
Discovered; the Second Battle
正講處，只見有一個巡山的小妖來報道：「大王，禍事了，下請書的小校被孫行者打死在大路傍邊，他綽著經兒，變化做金池長老，來騙佛衣也。」那怪聞言，暗道：「我說那長老怎麼今日就來，又來得迅速，果然是他。」急縱身，拿過槍來，就刺行者。行者耳朵裡急掣出棍子，現了本相，架住槍尖，就在他那中廳裡跳出，自天井中鬥到前門外。諕得那洞裡群魔都喪膽，家間老幼盡無魂。這場在山頭好賭鬥，比前番更是不同。好殺：正讲处，只见有一个巡山的小妖来报道：「大王，祸事了，下请书的小校被孙行者打死在大路傍边，他绰著经儿，变化做金池长老，来骗佛衣也。」那怪闻言，暗道：「我说那长老怎么今日就来，又来得迅速，果然是他。」急纵身，拿过枪来，就刺行者。行者耳朵里急掣出棍子，现了本相，架住枪尖，就在他那中厅里跳出，自天井中斗到前门外。諕得那洞里群魔都丧胆，家间老幼尽无魂。这场在山头好赌斗，比前番更是不同。好杀：
那猴王膽大充和尚，這黑漢心靈隱佛衣。那猴王胆大充和尚，这黑汉心灵隐佛衣。
語去言來機會巧，隨機應變不差池。语去言来机会巧，随机应变不差池。
袈裟欲見無由見，寶貝玄微真妙微。袈裟欲见无由见，宝贝玄微真妙微。
小怪巡山言禍事，老妖發怒顯神威。小怪巡山言祸事，老妖发怒显神威。
翻身打出黑風洞，槍棒爭持辨是非。翻身打出黑风洞，枪棒争持辨是非。
棒架長槍聲響喨，槍迎鐵棒放光輝。棒架长枪声响喨，枪迎铁棒放光辉。
悟空變化人間少，妖怪神通世上稀。悟空变化人间少，妖怪神通世上稀。
這個要把佛衣來慶壽，那個不得袈裟肯善歸？这个要把佛衣来庆寿，那个不得袈裟肯善归？
這番苦戰難分手，就是活佛臨凡也解不得圍。这番苦战难分手，就是活佛临凡也解不得围。
逐句解 Line by line
正講處，只見有一個巡山的小妖來報道：「大王，禍事了，下請書的小校被孫行者打死在大路傍邊，
正讲处，只见有一个巡山的小妖来报道：「大王，祸事了，下请书的小校被孙行者打死在大路傍边，
Just as they were talking, a little demon on mountain patrol came in to report: "Great King, disaster! The junior officer who carried down the invitation has been beaten to death by Sun the Pilgrim beside the highroad,
巡山, on patrol of the mountain — the fiend keeps sentries. 小校 is a junior officer, and the messenger the Pilgrim beat flat is here given a rank he did not have while alive. 路傍: páng.
他綽著經兒，變化做金池長老，來騙佛衣也。」
他绰著经儿，变化做金池长老，来骗佛衣也。」
and he, having caught the thread of it, has changed into the elder Jinchi and comes to cheat you of the Buddha-robe!"
綽著經兒 — 綽 is chāo, to snatch up, and 著 the continuous zhe: he has hold of the thread and keeps hold of it while he does something else. 經兒, the thread or gist of the affair.
那怪聞言，暗道：「我說那長老怎麼今日就來，又來得迅速，果然是他。」
那怪闻言，暗道：「我说那长老怎么今日就来，又来得迅速，果然是他。」
Hearing this, the fiend said within himself, "I did wonder how that elder should come today, and come so speedily. It is he after all."
來得迅速 takes the manner-marking de. The fiend had reasoned his way to the truth an hour ago and let a lie talk him out of it; the confirmation costs him only an 果然.
急縱身，拿過槍來，就刺行者。行者耳朵裡急掣出棍子，現了本相，
急纵身，拿过枪来，就刺行者。行者耳朵里急掣出棍子，现了本相，
He sprang up in haste, caught his spear, and thrust at the Pilgrim. The Pilgrim whipped the rod from his ear, showed his true form,
耳朵裡急掣出棍子 — the rod has been in his ear throughout the tea. 現了本相: 相 is xiàng, an appearance.
架住槍尖，就在他那中廳裡跳出，自天井中鬥到前門外。
架住枪尖，就在他那中厅里跳出，自天井中斗到前门外。
parried the spear-point, leapt out of the middle hall, and fought his way from the courtyard to beyond the front gate.
中廳 and 天井中, both zhōng. The fight retraces, backwards, the ceremonial approach of the previous passage: middle hall, courtyard, front gate.
諕得那洞裡群魔都喪膽，家間老幼盡無魂。
諕得那洞里群魔都丧胆，家间老幼尽无魂。
The whole rabble of the cave were frightened out of their courage, and the household, old and young, out of their souls.
諕 writes 嚇 and reads xià; 得 is resultative de. 喪膽 takes sàng, to lose; 盡 is fixed globally at jìn. 家間老幼 — a household with children in it.
這場在山頭好賭鬥，比前番更是不同。好殺：
这场在山头好赌斗，比前番更是不同。好杀：
It was a fine contest there on the mountaintop, and quite another thing from the bout before. A fine fight:
前番, the previous bout. 好殺 introduces the second battle-賦 of the chapter.
那猴王膽大充和尚，這黑漢心靈隱佛衣。
那猴王胆大充和尚，这黑汉心灵隐佛衣。
That Monkey King, bold of gall, passed himself for a monk; this black fellow, quick of wit, had hidden the Buddha-robe.
充和尚, to pass for a monk; 隱佛衣, to hide the robe. The couplet gives each combatant one verb, and both verbs are deceits. The rhyme is in -i and -ei: 衣 · 池 · 微 · 威 · 非 · 輝 · 稀 · 歸 · 圍.
語去言來機會巧，隨機應變不差池。
语去言来机会巧，随机应变不差池。
Word went and word came, and the occasion was nicely turned; each met the moment as it fell, and neither missed a step.
應變: 應 reads yìng, to respond. 不差池: 差 is chā, an error or discrepancy. The sandhi of 不 runs on the base tone chà and gives bú.
袈裟欲見無由見，寶貝玄微真妙微。
袈裟欲见无由见，宝贝玄微真妙微。
The cassock he would see, and had no way to see it; the treasure lay dark and subtle, wondrous and fine.
玄微 and 妙微 put the rhyme-graph twice in one line — a licence of the 賦, not of regulated verse.
小怪巡山言禍事，老妖發怒顯神威。
小怪巡山言祸事，老妖发怒显神威。
The little fiend on patrol spoke of disaster; the old fiend flew into rage and put forth his divine might.
The 賦 narrates what the prose has just narrated. This doubling is the convention, and it lets the poem assign motives the prose withheld.
翻身打出黑風洞，槍棒爭持辨是非。
翻身打出黑风洞，枪棒争持辨是非。
They turned and fought their way out of Black Wind Cave: spear and rod contending to settle the right and the wrong.
辨是非, to settle right from wrong. It is a startling claim, since the earlier battle-rhapsody had concluded 只為袈裟各不良, and nothing has changed but the venue.
棒架長槍聲響喨，槍迎鐵棒放光輝。
棒架长枪声响喨，枪迎铁棒放光辉。
The rod parried the long spear with a ringing clang; the spear met the iron rod and gave out light.
長槍: cháng. 響喨, liàng, is a clear ringing sound; the graph is a variant of 亮.
悟空變化人間少，妖怪神通世上稀。
悟空变化人间少，妖怪神通世上稀。
Wukong's transformations are rare among men; the monster's powers are seldom seen on earth.
人間少: 少 reads shǎo, rare. The couplet praises them in the same breath and in the same measure — the poem has stopped distinguishing between them.
這個要把佛衣來慶壽，那個不得袈裟肯善歸？
这个要把佛衣来庆寿，那个不得袈裟肯善归？
The one would take the Buddha-robe to keep his birthday: would the other, lacking the cassock, consent to go quietly home?
不得袈裟 takes the acquisitive dé. The line runs to nine graphs against the seven of its fellows, and the couplet it makes with the next breaks the metre of the whole piece. 善歸, to go home in good part.
這番苦戰難分手，就是活佛臨凡也解不得圍。
这番苦战难分手，就是活佛临凡也解不得围。
In this bitter fight they could not part their hands; and had a living Buddha come down to earth, he could not have broken the ring.
Nine graphs again, closing a poem of sevens. 活佛, a living Buddha — and one will in fact come down, though not a Buddha and not to break the ring. 解不得圍: dé. Note that split_verse cuts at ？ in the couplet above, but both units are whole; no re-joining is needed here.
總評 Commentary
The disguise is undone by the corpse it left on the road. A patrolling demon has found the body of the messenger and drawn the correct inference, and the bear-fiend — who had drawn the same inference himself an hour earlier, and been talked out of it by a good lie over tea — has only to say 果然是他. The fight then runs backwards through the ceremony: out of the middle hall where they took tea, across the courtyard of pine and orchid, past the gate with the recluse's couplet on it, and into the open.
The battle-賦 that follows contradicts the first one. Where the earlier poem ended 只為袈裟各不良 — all for a cassock, and neither of them good — this one declares the spears to be contending 辨是非, to settle right from wrong. Nothing has changed except that the reader has now seen the fiend's garden, his letter, and his manners. The poem praises them in identical measure, breaks its own metre in the last two couplets, and ends by conceding that not even a living Buddha could separate them. A Bodhisattva will manage it, and she will do it with a pill.