魔王披掛 The Demon King Arms
那小妖聽說，疾忙跑入洞裡報道：「大王，禍事了！」魔王道：「有甚禍事？」小妖道：「洞外有猴頭稱為花果山水簾洞洞主，他說你屢次欺他兒孫，特來尋你，見個上下哩。」魔王笑道：「我常聞得那些猴精說他有個大王，出家修行去，想是今番來了。你們見他怎生打扮？有甚器械？」小妖道：「他也沒甚麼器械，光著個頭，穿一領紅色衣，勒一條黃絛，足下踏一對烏靴，不僧不俗，又不像道士、神仙，赤手空拳，在門外叫哩。」魔王聞說：「取我披掛、兵器來。」那小妖即時取出。那魔王穿了甲胄，綽刀在手，與眾妖出得門來，即高聲叫道：「那個是水簾洞洞主？」悟空急睜睛觀看，只見那魔王：那小妖听说，疾忙跑入洞里报道：「大王，祸事了！」魔王道：「有甚祸事？」小妖道：「洞外有猴头称为花果山水帘洞洞主，他说你屡次欺他儿孙，特来寻你，见个上下哩。」魔王笑道：「我常闻得那些猴精说他有个大王，出家修行去，想是今番来了。你们见他怎生打扮？有甚器械？」小妖道：「他也没甚么器械，光着个头，穿一领红色衣，勒一条黄绦，足下踏一对乌靴，不僧不俗，又不像道士、神仙，赤手空拳，在门外叫哩。」魔王闻说：「取我披挂、兵器来。」那小妖即时取出。那魔王穿了甲胄，绰刀在手，与众妖出得门来，即高声叫道：「那个是水帘洞洞主？」悟空急睁睛观看，只见那魔王：
逐句解 Line by line
The little demons, hearing this, scrambled into the cave to report: "Great King, there's trouble!"
禍事了 — "there's trouble!" The stock cry of a minion in this novel, and we will hear it a great many more times.
The Demon King said: "What trouble?"
"What trouble?" He is not alarmed yet.
The little demons said: "Outside the cave is a monkey-fellow who calls himself lord of the Water-Curtain Cave on Flower-Fruit Mountain; he says you have bullied his children again and again, and has come on purpose to seek you out and settle which of you is the better."
猴頭 is "monkey-fellow," faintly contemptuous — the word Zhu Bajie will later use on Wukong at every opportunity. The message gets through intact, which is more than the messenger was asked for.
The Demon King laughed: "I have often heard those monkey-spirits speak of a king of theirs who left home to cultivate the Way — so he has come at last. How did you see him got up? What weapons has he?"
He laughs, and the reason is telling: he has heard about this absent king from the very monkeys he has been bullying. 出家修行 is to leave home and take up cultivation. Then the two questions a fighter actually asks — what is he wearing, and what is he carrying? 怎生打扮 is "got up how" (扮 neutral); 器械 is weapons.
The little demons said: "He has no weapons at all — bareheaded, in a red robe cinched with a yellow sash, a pair of black boots on his feet, neither monk nor layman, nor yet like a Daoist or an immortal, bare-handed and empty-fisted, shouting at the gate."
And the answer is a small comic masterpiece, because the scouts cannot classify him. 不僧不俗，又不像道士、神仙 — not a monk, not a layman, and not like a Daoist or an immortal either. He fits nothing they have a word for. 赤手空拳, bare hands and empty fists, is still the phrase for going into something with nothing at all. 領 is the measure word for garments, 絛 (tāo) a silk cord, 勒 (lè) to cinch. (一領 and 一條 take yì; 一對 takes yí; 不僧不俗 keeps bù, and 又不像 takes bú.)
The Demon King said: "Fetch me my armor and weapon!" and the little demons brought them out at once.
He arms anyway. 披掛 is the full panoply, armour and trappings together.
The Demon King donned helmet and armor, snatched up his sabre, came out the gate with his demons, and called aloud: "Which of you is the lord of the Water-Curtain Cave?"
綽刀 takes 綽 as chāo, to snatch up, not chuò. And then, having armed to the teeth, he comes out and has to ask which one is the challenger — a nice touch, given what he is about to be told concerning the size of his eyes. 那個 takes 那 as nǎ, which.
Wukong quickly opened his eyes wide and looked, and saw the Demon King:
睜睛 is to open the eyes wide (睜 zhēng), and 只見那魔王 cues the martial blazon.
On his head a black-gold helmet, gleaming in the sun;
The blazon opens with the standard formula — 頭戴…, "on his head" — the frame vernacular fiction uses to kit out every warrior who matters. A black-gold helmet, catching the sun.
on his body a black gauze robe, billowing in the wind.
身掛…, "on his body": a robe of 皂羅, black silk gauze (皂 black, 羅 gauze), billowing in the wind.
Below, black iron armor, tightly bound with leather thongs;
Black iron armour underneath, strapped tight with leather (勒 lè). 著 is the durative zhe, "wearing."
on his feet, patterned pleated boots, mighty as a general.
足踏…, "on his feet": patterned pleated boots (褶 zhě). And the verdict — 雄如上將, mighty as a senior general (將 jiàng). Head, body, torso, feet: the formula is complete.
His waist ten spans around,
圍 is a girth measure, roughly the span of two arms. Ten of them.
his body three zhàng tall.
Three 丈 tall, so around ten metres. Bear that in mind: Wukong, as we are about to be told, stands under four 尺.
In his hand he held a sabre,
口 is the measure word for blades. (一口 is yì kǒu.)
its blade-edge keen and bright.
鋒刃 is the edge of the blade, and how bright it is.
Called the Monstrous King of Havoc,
The name at last — at the end of the portrait rather than the start of it.
rugged and fierce of mien.
磊落 is rugged and imposing, and 凶模樣 a fierce appearance (模 is mú in 模樣). In every particular, he looks like the winner.
The chapter sets its first duel as a study in contrasts, and the comedy is in the mismatch. The little demons' report is bewildered: this challenger has no weapon at all, goes bareheaded in a red robe and yellow sash, and is 不僧不俗，又不像道士、神仙 — "neither monk nor layman, nor yet like a Daoist or an immortal." Wukong fits no category they possess; he is simply, anomalously, himself, 赤手空拳, bare-handed and empty-fisted. Against that the Demon King arms to the teeth and gets a full martial blazon — black-gold helmet, gauze robe, iron armour strapped with leather, pleated boots, a waist ten spans round and a body three 丈 tall, with a bright sabre in his hand.
That blazon is pure convention — the formulaic 頭戴…身掛…足踏…, "on his head… on his body… on his feet…," by which vernacular fiction outfits any warrior worth describing — and its very lavishness is the point. The demon's power is entirely external: it hangs on him as armour and bulk and steel. Wukong carries nothing, because what he has acquired — the elixir, the transformations, the perfected body of the chapter's first half — cannot be worn or seen. The contest is therefore rigged in advance by its own imagery: ostentatious outward force against invisible inner attainment. The huge armoured 混世魔王, 磊落凶模樣, rugged and fierce of mien, looks every inch the victor — which in this novel is the surest sign of who falls first.