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，我两只手勾着天边月哩。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!"
The first insult of the fight, and it is a good one: your eyes are that big and you still can't see me. 潑 (pō) is an all-purpose abusive prefix, and 老孫, "Old Sun," is Wukong's own swaggering name for himself — the one he will use for the rest of the novel, in front of gods and Buddhas alike. He has had the surname about a day. 喝 is hè, to shout. (看不見 takes 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?"
The demon takes his measurements: under four 尺, call it a metre and a bit; under thirty (旬 being a span of ten); and no weapon. Every one of those is true, and not one of them is relevant. 大膽猖狂 is audacious and out of hand. (不滿 keeps bù; 不過 takes bú.)
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!"
The reply answers both charges and adds a taunt. Small? Being big is no trouble — which is a plain statement of what the seventy-two transformations can do, delivered as trash-talk. No weapon? 我兩隻手勾著天邊月哩: with my two hands I can hook the moon at the edge of the sky. And then, magnificently, 你不要怕 — don't be frightened — addressed to something ten metres tall. 量 is liáng, to gauge, to size up. (不難 keeps bù; 不要 takes bú; 一拳 is yì quán.)
With a single leap he sprang up and struck right at the face.
Seven characters, no preamble. 劈臉 is straight at the face. (一縱 is yí zòng.)
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."
And here the demon does something unexpectedly decent. He blocks the punch, points out the mismatch — 矬矮 (cuó ǎi), stunted and short, against his own height — and then puts the sabre down, because cutting down something that small with a blade would only 吃人笑, get him laughed at. It is vanity rather than honour, but the effect is the same, and it costs him the fight. 使路拳 is to run through a bout of boxing, 路 being the measure word for a sequence of moves, as it still is in the martial arts.
Wukong said: "Well said. Come on then, brave fellow."
好漢子, a fine fellow, a stout fellow. He accepts the terms with real good humour, which does not stop him fighting dirty about forty words from now.
The Demon King threw open his stance and struck; this Wukong bored straight in, grappling and closing.
丟開架子 is to drop into a fighting stance, and 鑽進去 (鑽 zuān) is to bore straight in. That one verb is the whole tactic.
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.
And the narrator pauses to explain the technique, in a line that is genuine martial theory: 長拳空大，短簇堅牢 — long-range boxing is wide and hollow, close work is compact and solid. Against a much larger opponent you get inside his reach, where all that length becomes useless. This is why the fight goes the way it goes. (一衝 takes yì, 一撞 takes yí.)
The Demon King, jabbed by Wukong in the flank, rammed in the crotch, and struck a few times at the joints, was badly hurt.
The theory applied, and it is not gentlemanly: the lower ribs (短脅), the crotch (襠 dāng), then the joints (觔節, with 觔 a variant of 筋). A small opponent going for everything soft and everything that hinges.
He dodged aside, took up that board-broad steel sabre, and slashed straight at Wukong's head.
And the moment he is hurt, the agreement is off — up comes the 板大的鋼刀, the steel sabre broad as a plank, straight down at Wukong's head.
Wukong quickly drew back, and the demon's slash struck empty.
撤身 is to pull back sharply. The blade meets air. (一個 is yí gè.)
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!"
And here it is: the first appearance of the most famous trick in the book. 身外身法, the "body-outside-the-body method," works like this — pull out a fistful of fur (毫毛), chew it up, spit it into the air, and shout 變. Note the timing. Bare hands were enough against muscle; the instant the sabre comes out, he reaches for what the mountain gave him. (一把 and 一聲 both take yì.)
At once they became two or three hundred little monkeys, swarming all around.
Two or three hundred of him, 攢簇, swarming in a cluster — 攢 being cuán, the same verb as the elixir poem's 攢簇五行, clustering the Five Phases.
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 cutting 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 start, 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 and 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, 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.