夢醒松林 The Vanished Mansion
卻說三藏、行者、沙僧一覺睡醒，不覺的東方發白。忽睜睛擡頭觀看，那裡得那大廈高堂，也不是雕梁畫棟，一個個都睡在松柏林中。慌得那長老忙呼行者。沙僧道：「哥哥，罷了，罷了，我們遇著鬼了。」孫大聖心中明白，微微的笑道：「怎麼說？」長老道：「你看我們睡在那裡耶？」行者道：「這松林下落得快活。但不知那獃子在那裡受罪哩。」長老道：「那個受罪？」行者笑道：「昨日這家子娘女們，不知是那裡菩薩，在此顯化我等，想是半夜裡去了，只苦了豬八戒受罪。」却说三藏、行者、沙僧一觉睡醒，不觉的东方发白。忽睁睛抬头观看，那里得那大厦高堂，也不是雕梁画栋，一个个都睡在松柏林中。慌得那长老忙呼行者。沙僧道：「哥哥，罢了，罢了，我们遇着鬼了。」孙大圣心中明白，微微的笑道：「怎么说？」长老道：「你看我们睡在那里耶？」行者道：「这松林下落得快活。但不知那呆子在那里受罪哩。」长老道：「那个受罪？」行者笑道：「昨日这家子娘女们，不知是那里菩萨，在此显化我等，想是半夜里去了，只苦了猪八戒受罪。」
逐句解 Line by line
Now Tripitaka, Pilgrim Sun, and Sha Monk woke from a night's sleep, and before they knew it the east was growing pale.
一覺睡醒, woke from a sleep, takes 覺 as jiào, a spell of sleep, with 一 lifting to yí before it. Then 不覺, without noticing, takes the same character as jué, to be aware — two readings of 覺 in a single line, and the sentence is doing the joke deliberately: they slept unaware, and woke unaware. 東方發白, the east turned white.
Suddenly opening their eyes and raising their heads to look — where was that great mansion and lofty hall? nor any carved beams and painted rafters; one and all, they lay asleep in a grove of pine and cypress.
The house is gone. 那裡得那大廈 puts both readings of 那 side by side in four characters — the first is the question-word nǎ, where, and the second the pointing nà, that — with 得 as dé, to come by. 松柏林中, in the pine and cypress grove, with 中 as zhōng and 都 as dōu. And note the detail: the carved beams and painted rafters that the narrator catalogued so lovingly at the gate are itemised again here, in the negative.
So alarmed was the elder that he hastily called for Pilgrim.
慌得, so alarmed that, with the light de; 那 as nà, 長 as zhǎng, 行 as xíng.
Sha Monk said, "Brother — it's all over, all over; we've run into ghosts."
罷了, 罷了 — done for, done for. 遇著鬼, run into ghosts, takes 著 as zháo, the encounter actually made. Sha Monk, who gave the firmest answer of anyone last night, is the first to panic this morning.
The Great Sage Sun, clear in his heart, smiled faintly and said, "What do you mean?"
心中明白, clear inside, with 中 as zhōng. The faint smile is the tell: Wukong worked it out at the gate yesterday, when he saw the auspicious clouds and said nothing.
The elder said, "Look — where are we sleeping?"
睡在那裡, sleeping where, takes 那 as the question-word nǎ; 長 as zhǎng.
Pilgrim said, "Under these pines we've slept snug enough."
落得快活, ended up comfortable enough, with the light de; 行 as xíng. Wukong is enjoying himself.
"Only there's no knowing where that blockhead is suffering for it."
那獃子 takes 那 as nà and 子 as the light suffix zi, while 在那裡受罪 takes the second 那 as the question-word nǎ — both readings again, one line apart. He has not asked whether Bajie is in trouble. He has asked where.
The elder said, "Who is suffering?"
那個受罪, which one is suffering, with 那 as nǎ; 長 as zhǎng. The master still has not understood what happened last night.
Pilgrim laughed, "Yesterday's household of mother and daughters — who knows what bodhisattvas they were — appeared here to try us, and must have departed at midnight, leaving only poor Zhu Bajie to suffer for it."
這家子 takes 子 as the light suffix zi; 不知是那裡菩薩, what bodhisattvas one cannot say, with 那 as the question-word nǎ. 顯化 is to manifest in a transformed shape in order to teach — the technical word for exactly what has been done to them. Wukong names the truth casually, over his shoulder, having known it since yesterday afternoon.
Daylight dissolves the illusion. The three pilgrims wake to no mansion, no lofty hall, no carved beams — only themselves lying in a grove of pine and cypress. All the grandeur of the night before has gone with the dark. The elder calls out in alarm, and Sha Monk, startled, decides they have run into ghosts.
Wukong alone is unbothered, and his faint smile marks the knowledge the others lack. Tripitaka is still asking where they are and who is suffering; the Great Sage read the whole affair yesterday afternoon, from the auspicious clouds over the roof, and kept it to himself. His only question now is where Bajie has come to grief.
Then he says it outright: the mother and daughters were bodhisattvas in disguise, come to test them, gone at midnight. What has played for two-thirds of a chapter as farce is revealed as a trial — a deliberate probing of four men's resolve, from which three emerged untouched and one did not. The scene turns the chapter from comedy toward its reckoning, with only Bajie left to pay it.