餓鷹叼食無功 The Hawk-Stoop Fails
卻說行者見他不肯上岸，急得他心焦性爆，恨不得一把捉來。行者道：「師父，你自坐下，等我與他個『餓鷹叼食』。」就縱觔斗，跳在半空，刷的落下來，要抓那妖。那妖正與八戒嚷鬧，忽聽得風響，急回頭，見是行者落下雲來，卻又收了那杖，一頭淬下水，隱跡潛蹤，渺然不見。行者佇立岸上，對八戒說：「兄弟呀，這妖也弄得滑了，他再不肯上岸，如之奈何？」八戒道：「難，難，難，戰不勝他。就把吃奶的氣力也使盡了，只繃得個手平。」行者道：「且見師父去。」却说行者见他不肯上岸，急得他心焦性爆，恨不得一把捉来。行者道：「师父，你自坐下，等我与他个『饿鹰叼食』。」就纵觔斗，跳在半空，刷的落下来，要抓那妖。那妖正与八戒嚷闹，忽听得风响，急回头，见是行者落下云来，却又收了那杖，一头淬下水，隐迹潜踪，渺然不见。行者伫立岸上，对八戒说：「兄弟呀，这妖也弄得滑了，他再不肯上岸，如之奈何？」八戒道：「难，难，难，战不胜他。就把吃奶的气力也使尽了，只绷得个手平。」行者道：「且见师父去。」
逐句解 Line by line
Now the Pilgrim, seeing that he would not come up onto the bank, grew so frantic that his temper blazed, and he longed to snatch the demon up in a single grab.
心焦性爆, 'heart scorched, temper detonating' (得 de twice), and 恨不得一把捉來 — he would give anything to grab the thing in one handful. The very impatience that caused this mess is now boiling over because of it.
The Pilgrim said: 'Master, sit you down, and let me give him a "hungry hawk snatching its prey."' He turned a somersault,
餓鷹叼食, 'a starving hawk snatching its food,' is a named move, announced before it is performed the way a wrestler announces a finisher. He turns a 觔斗 (斗 dǒu) and goes up to come down.
sprang into mid-air, and came dropping down with a rush to seize the fiend.
刷的落下來, 'came down with a swish' (那 nà). The whole hawk-stoop is rendered in one noise-word — the vernacular's favourite economy, and the reason these fight scenes move so fast.
The fiend, just then wrangling with Bajie, heard of a sudden the rush of wind, turned his head sharply, and saw the Pilgrim dropping down out of the cloud;
聽得風響, 'heard the wind' (那 nà, 得 de). And that is the flaw in the plan: a creature dropping out of the sky at speed arrives with an announcement. The demon gets his warning from the air itself.
so he drew in his staff again, plunged headlong into the water, hid every trace, and vanished utterly.
一頭淬下水, went in headfirst (那 nà) — 淬 is the verb for quenching hot metal in water, which is a fine choice for something diving to escape a blow — and 隱跡潛蹤, hid his tracks and sank out of sight. Same ending as every other attempt.
The Pilgrim stood on the bank and said to Bajie: 'Brother, this fiend has grown slippery too — he won't come up on the bank again. What's to be done?'
弄得滑了, 'has got himself slippery' (得 de) — meaning sly, hard to catch hold of, with the pun on a wet animal fully intended. The monkey is now admitting out loud what Bajie told him after the second duel.
Bajie said: 'Hard, hard, hard — I can't beat him. Even if I put out the strength I sucked in at the breast, I'd only fight him to a draw.'
難，難，難 — hard, hard, hard, three times over (nán). Then 吃奶的氣力, 'the strength you had at the breast,' which is the Chinese for your absolute last reserve, the effort of an infant with nothing else to give. 使盡了 (盡 jìn), all of it spent, and 繃得個手平 — braced out to a draw and no further (得 de). Bajie is done pretending.
The Pilgrim said: 'Let's go and see the master, then.'
且見師父去, 'let's go and see the master, then.' Five characters, no plan, and the failure is carried back up the bank — where the master's reaction will do what none of the fighting could.
The monkey now tries in person what Bajie could not: a hawk's plunge out of the sky to take the demon bodily. It founders on the same rock as everything else. The rush of his own descent warns the fiend, who dives and vanishes before the blow can land. The scene is a near-exact replay of the previous two, and the repetition is the argument — even a direct assault by the Great Sage cannot reach a foe whose element is water.
What follows is a double admission of defeat. The monkey grants that the demon has grown slippery; Bajie, with his tripled 'hard, hard, hard,' grants that his utmost strength buys only a draw. Neither cunning nor force has served and the disciples have nothing left to try. The curt 且見師父去 carries the deadlock back to Sanzang — and it is the master's tears, in the next scene, that finally produce a solution.