赤手鬥魔 The Fistfight
猴王喝道：「這潑魔這般眼大，看不見老孫。」魔王見了，笑道：「你身不滿四尺，年不過三旬，手內又無兵器，怎麼大膽猖狂，要尋我見甚麼上下？」悟空罵道：「你這潑魔，原來沒眼。你量我小，要大卻也不難；你量我無兵器，我兩隻手勾著天邊月哩。你不要怕，只吃老孫一拳。」縱一縱，跳上去，劈臉就打。那魔王伸手架住道：「你這般矬矮，我這般高長；你要使拳，我要使刀。使刀就殺了你，也吃人笑。待我放下刀，與你使路拳看。」悟空道：「說得是。好漢子，走來。」那魔王丟開架子便打，這悟空鑽進去相撞相迎。他兩個拳捶腳踢，一衝一撞。原來長拳空大，短簇堅牢。那魔王被悟空掏短脅，撞了襠，幾下觔節，把他打重了。他閃過，拿起那板大的鋼刀，望悟空劈頭就砍。悟空急撤身，他砍了一個空。悟空見他凶猛，即使身外身法，拔一把毫毛，丟在口中嚼碎，望空噴去，叫一聲：「變！」即變做三、二百個小猴，周圍攢簇。猴王喝道：「这泼魔这般眼大，看不见老孙。」魔王见了，笑道：「你身不满四尺，年不过三旬，手内又无兵器，怎么大胆猖狂，要寻我见甚么上下？」悟空骂道：「你这泼魔，原来没眼。你量我小，要大却也不难；你量我无兵器，我两只手勾著天边月哩。你不要怕，只吃老孙一拳。」纵一纵，跳上去，劈脸就打。那魔王伸手架住道：「你这般矬矮，我这般高长；你要使拳，我要使刀。使刀就杀了你，也吃人笑。待我放下刀，与你使路拳看。」悟空道：「说得是。好汉子，走来。」那魔王丢开架子便打，这悟空钻进去相撞相迎。他两个拳捶脚踢，一冲一撞。原来长拳空大，短簇坚牢。那魔王被悟空掏短胁，撞了裆，几下觔节，把他打重了。他闪过，拿起那板大的钢刀，望悟空劈头就砍。悟空急撤身，他砍了一个空。悟空见他凶猛，即使身外身法，拔一把毫毛，丢在口中嚼碎，望空喷去，叫一声：「变！」即变做三、二百个小猴，周围攒簇。
逐句解 Line by line
The Monkey King shouted: “This wretched demon, with eyes so big — and you can't even see Old Sun!”
喝道 (hè dào): "shouted"; 喝 = hè. 潑魔 (pō mó): "wretched demon"; 潑 = pō, an abusive epithet. 老孫 (lǎo sūn): "Old Sun," Wukong's swaggering self-name. Sandhi: 看不見 → bú.
The Demon King looked and laughed: “Your body isn't four chǐ, your years not past thirty, and you've no weapon in hand — how dare you be so wildly bold as to seek me out and settle any superiority?”
不滿四尺: "not a full four chǐ"; sandhi 不 → bù; 尺 = chǐ, left untranslated. 年不過三旬: "no more than thirty in years"; sandhi 不 → bú; 旬 = xún (a span of ten). 大膽猖狂 (dà dǎn chāng kuáng): "audacious and presumptuous"; 膽 = dǎn.
Wukong cursed: “You wretched demon, so you're blind after all! You reckon me small — yet to be big is no trouble; you reckon I've no weapon — why, with my two hands I can hook the moon at heaven's edge. Don't be afraid — just take one fist of Old Sun's!”
沒眼 (méi yǎn): "blind." 量 (liáng): "to gauge, reckon"; 多音字 here liáng. 兩隻手 (liǎng zhī shǒu): "two hands"; 隻 = zhī. 勾著天邊月 (gōu zhe tiān biān yuè): "can hook the moon at the sky's edge." Sandhi: 不難 → bù; 不要 → bú; 一拳 → yì.
With a single leap he sprang up and struck right at the face.
縱一縱 (zòng yí zòng): "with a leap"; sandhi 一 → yí. 劈臉 (pī liǎn): "right in the face"; 臉 = liǎn.
The Demon King reached out and parried: “You're so stunted and short, I'm so tall and big; you want fists, I want the sabre. But to kill you with the blade would only get me laughed at. Let me set it down and have a bout of boxing with you.”
架住 (jià zhù): "to parry, block." 矬矮 (cuó ǎi): "short and stunted"; 矬 = cuó. 高長 (gāo cháng): "tall and big." 使拳 / 使刀 (shǐ quán / shǐ dāo): "to use fists / the sabre." 吃人笑 (chī rén xiào): "to be laughed at." 使路拳 (shǐ lù quán): "to spar a round of boxing"; 路 = lù, a measure word for a routine of moves.
Wukong said: “Well said. Come on then, brave fellow.”
說得是 (shuō de shì): "well said"; 得 = de. 好漢子 (hǎo hàn zi): "a good, brave fellow"; 子 = zi suffix.
The Demon King threw open his stance and struck; this Wukong bored straight in, grappling and closing.
丟開架子 (diū kāi jià zi): "to drop into a fighting stance." 鑽進去 (zuān jìn qù): "to bore in"; 鑽 = zuān. 相撞相迎 (xiāng zhuàng xiāng yíng): "grappling and closing."
The two of them pounded with fists and kicked with feet, lunging and ramming. Now long-range boxing is wide but empty, while close-in blows are solid.
拳捶腳踢 (quán chuí jiǎo tī): "fists pounding, feet kicking"; 捶 = chuí. 一衝一撞: "lunging and ramming"; sandhi 一 → yì (before 衝) then yí (before 撞). 長拳空大 (cháng quán kōng dà): "long boxing is wide but empty." 短簇堅牢 (duǎn cù jiān láo): "close, compact blows are solid."
The Demon King, jabbed by Wukong in the flank, rammed in the crotch, and struck a few times at the joints, was badly hurt.
掏短脅 (tāo duǎn xié): "to jab the lower flank"; 脅 = xié. 撞了襠 (zhuàng le dāng): "rammed the crotch"; 襠 = dāng. 觔節 (jīn jié): "the sinews and joints"; 觔 = jīn, a variant of 筋. 打重 (dǎ zhòng): "to hurt badly"; 重 = zhòng.
He dodged aside, took up that board-broad steel sabre, and slashed straight at Wukong's head.
閃過 (shǎn guò): "dodged aside." 那板大的鋼刀 (nà bǎn dà de gāng dāo): "that board-broad steel sabre"; 板大 = "broad as a plank." 劈頭就砍 (pī tóu jiù kǎn): "slashed right at the head."
Wukong quickly drew back, and the demon's slash struck empty.
撤身 (chè shēn): "to draw back"; 撤 = chè. 砍了一個空 (kǎn le yí gè kōng): "slashed at empty air"; sandhi 一 → yí.
Seeing how fierce he was, Wukong used the body-outside-the-body method: he plucked a handful of fur, chewed it to bits in his mouth, spat it into the air, and cried, “Transform!”
身外身法 (shēn wài shēn fǎ): "the body-outside-the-body method," the hair-clone trick. 一把毫毛 (yì bǎ háo máo): "a handful of fur"; sandhi 一 → yì. 嚼碎 (jiáo suì): "to chew to bits"; 嚼 = jiáo. 噴去 (pēn qù): "to spit out"; 噴 = pēn. Sandhi: 一聲 → yì.
At once they became two or three hundred little monkeys, swarming all around.
三、二百個 (sān èr bǎi gè): "two or three hundred." 攢簇 (cuán cù): "to cluster, swarm"; 攢 = cuán.
The duel opens in trash-talk, and the comedy rides on the size gap. The demon looks down at a challenger "not four 尺 tall, not thirty in years, with no weapon in hand," while Wukong answers with pure swagger — 我兩隻手勾著天邊月哩, "with my two hands I can hook the moon at heaven's edge." There is even a flash of rough chivalry: the demon, conscious that to cut down so small a foe with his great sabre would only 吃人笑, "get him laughed at," sets the blade aside to box fair. And when the fists fly, the narrator slips in a piece of real martial lore — 長拳空大，短簇堅牢, "long-range boxing is wide but empty, while close blows are solid" — which is exactly Wukong's winning tactic: he 鑽進去, "bores straight in," inside the big demon's reach, and works the flank, the crotch, the joints until the giant is hurt.
When the demon, beaten at close quarters, snatches up the great steel sabre and the contest turns lethal, Wukong reaches for the first time into his cultivated powers — and the ability he produces is one of the most famous in the book. The 身外身法, the "body-outside-the-body method," is the hair-magic: he plucks a fistful of fur, chews it small, spits it skyward, and cries 變, "Transform!" — and two or three hundred little monkeys spring up to swarm the foe. This is the debut of the 毫毛 trick that the next passage will explain in numbers (the eighty-four thousand hairs, each able to change), and its timing is pointed. Bare hands sufficed against muscle; against the sabre, Wukong turns to what the chapter's first half gave him. The inner attainment, invisible until now, takes the field.