謀竊人參 Plotting the Theft
八戒道：「他這裡有。那童子拿兩個與師父吃，那老和尚不認得，道是三朝未滿的孩兒，不曾敢吃。那童子老大憊懶，師父既不吃，便該讓我們，他就瞞著我們，才自在這隔壁房裡，一家一個，嘓啅嘓啅的吃了出去。就急得我口裡水泱。怎麼得一個兒嘗新？我想你有些溜撒，去他那園子裡偷幾個來嘗嘗，如何？」行者道：「這個容易，老孫去，手到擒來。」急抽身，往前就走，八戒一把扯住道：「哥啊，我聽得他在這房裡說，要拿甚麼金擊子去打哩。須是幹得停當，不可走露風聲。」行者道：「我曉得，我曉得。」八戒道：「他这里有。那童子拿两个与师父吃，那老和尚不认得，道是三朝未满的孩儿，不曾敢吃。那童子老大惫懒，师父既不吃，便该让我们，他就瞒着我们，才自在这隔壁房里，一家一个，啯啅啯啅的吃了出去。就急得我口里水泱。怎么得一个儿尝新？我想你有些溜撒，去他那园子里偷几个来尝尝，如何？」行者道：「这个容易，老孙去，手到擒来。」急抽身，往前就走，八戒一把扯住道：「哥啊，我听得他在这房里说，要拿甚么金击子去打哩。须是干得停当，不可走露风声。」行者道：「我晓得，我晓得。」
逐句解 Line by line
Bajie said, "They have it right here.
Four syllables, and the chapter turns.
The boys brought two for Master to eat, but the old monk didn't know it — said it was an infant not three days old, and dared not touch it.
Bājiè's account is accurate as far as it goes. 三朝 takes 朝 as zhāo, "day."
And those lazy boys — since Master wouldn't eat, they ought to have offered us; instead they hid it from us, and just now, one apiece in the room next door, gobbled them down, munch-munch, and made off.
And now the grievance, which is where accuracy stops. 老大憊懶, lǎo dà bèi lǎn, thoroughly good-for-nothing. His argument is that once the master declined, the fruit was owed to the servants — a proposition with no basis whatever, since the master allotted exactly two to exactly one guest. 嘓啅嘓啅, guō zhuó guō zhuó, is onomatopoeia for gulping and chomping, and hearing it through the wall in that much detail says a good deal about how closely he was listening.
It set my mouth fair watering.
水泱, shuǐ yāng, the mouth welling up. 急得 takes the light de.
How am I to get one to taste?
The same line he said to himself a passage ago, now said aloud to somebody who can act on it.
I reckon you're nimble enough — go into their orchard and filch a few for us to taste. How's that?"
溜撒, liū sā, quick and nimble — 撒 in the 撒手/撒腿 sense of letting fly, not the sǎ of scattering seed. The flattery is transparent and it works instantly.
Pilgrim said, "Easy enough — Old Sun will go; I'll have them the moment I reach."
手到擒來, shǒu dào qín lái — "caught the moment the hand arrives." A chengyu meaning something is trivially easy, and one Pilgrim is fond of. He will repeat it after the theft, at which point it will be slightly less true than he thinks.
He whipped round to be off, but Bajie caught him fast: "Brother — I heard them say in there that you must fetch some golden striker to knock them down.
Bājiè, who has been listening far more carefully than Pilgrim has, supplies the one piece of technical information that matters: you need the golden striker. 聽得 takes the light de.
You must manage it neatly, and let no word of it leak out."
幹得停當 — 停當, tíng dàng, properly settled, done neatly, with 當 as dàng again. 走露風聲, zǒu lù fēng shēng, to let the wind of it escape — an idiom for a leak. Bājiè gives this warning and is personally responsible for breaking it nine passages later.
Pilgrim said, "I know, I know."
曉得, xiǎo dé, doubled for airy confidence. He does not, in fact, know: he has the striker but not the rest of the procedure, and the next passages will cost him a fruit to find out.
The plot is struck in four syllables: they have it right here. Bājiè lays out the grievance — the boys offered two, the master refused them, and instead of passing them on to the servants they hid the fruit and gulped it down next door, munch-munch, which he heard through the wall in some detail. His premise is that the fruit was owed to them once the master declined. It was not: two were allotted to one guest, and that is the whole allowance.
Pilgrim agrees at once and with his usual bravado — caught the moment the hand arrives. It is Bājiè, of all people, who supplies the practical intelligence: you will need the golden striker, and mind you do it neatly and let no word leak. He has been listening far more carefully than Pilgrim has.
Pilgrim's airy "I know, I know" is the last beat before the theft, and it is not true. He has heard about the striker and nothing else — not the tray, not the cloth, not the reason for either. The next two passages will cost him a fruit to learn the rest. And the warning about letting no word leak will be broken, in due course, by the man who gave it.