再饒一次 Pardoned a Second Time
唐僧大驚道：「悟空，我當時只是菩薩暗受一卷緊箍兒咒，卻沒有甚麼鬆箍兒咒。」行者道：「若無松箍兒咒，你還帶我去走走罷。」長老又沒奈何道：「你且起來，我再饒你這一次，卻不可再行兇了。」行者道：「再不敢了。再不敢了。」又伏侍師父上馬，剖路前進。唐僧大惊道：「悟空，我当时只是菩萨暗受一卷紧箍儿咒，却没有甚么松箍儿咒。」行者道：「若无松箍儿咒，你还带我去走走罢。」长老又没奈何道：「你且起来，我再饶你这一次，却不可再行凶了。」行者道：「再不敢了。再不敢了。」又伏侍师父上马，剖路前进。
逐句解 Line by line
The Tang Monk started in alarm: "Wukong — at the time, the Bodhisattva only secretly gave me the one scroll of the Tight-Fillet Spell. There is no Band-Loosening Spell at all."
當時 (dāng shí) "at that time," 當 (dāng). 暗受一卷緊箍兒咒 (àn shòu yī juàn jǐn gū er zhòu) "secretly received one scroll of the Tight-Fillet Spell," the suffix 兒 (er). 沒有甚麼鬆箍兒咒 (méi yǒu shén me sōng gū er zhòu) "there is no Band-Loosening Spell," 甚 (shén), 兒 (er). The revelation is quietly terrible: Guanyin gave the means to bind but none to release. Wukong's bondage to the quest is, by design, without exit.
Said Pilgrim, "If there's no Band-Loosening Spell, then you'll just have to take me along with you after all."
若無松箍兒咒 (ruò wú sōng gū er zhòu) "if there is no loosening-spell," the suffix 兒 (er). 你還帶我去走走罷 (nǐ hái dài wǒ qù zǒu zǒu bà) "you'll just have to take me along," 還 (hái) "then, after all." With no way to remove the band, the logic of Wukong's own plea now binds the master: he cannot free Wukong, so he cannot honourably cast him out.
The elder, at a loss once more, said, "Get up, then; I'll pardon you this once again — only you must do no more violence."
沒奈何 (méi nài hé) "having no alternative, helpless." 再饒你這一次 (zài ráo nǐ zhè yí cì) "pardon you once more." 不可再行兇 (bù kě zài xíng xiōng) "do no more violence," 行 (xíng). The second pardon is wrung from the elder less by mercy than by the impossibility of the alternative — the band cannot come off, so Wukong must stay.
Said Pilgrim, "I'll not dare again.
再不敢了 (zài bù gǎn le) "I'll not dare [do it] again." Wukong's submission — echoing his promise after the first spell — is sincere, and, the reader knows, impossible to keep: the demon has one disguise left, and Wukong will not let it pass.
"I'll not dare again."
The doubled 再不敢了 presses the promise home, as Wukong's pledges are wont to be doubled — a verbal earnestness that the third assault, moments away, will force him once more to break.
And once more he waited on his master to mount, and cleared the way ahead.
伏侍師父上馬 (fú shì shī fu shàng mǎ) "waited on the master to mount"; 剖路前進 (pōu lù qián jìn) "opened the road and pressed on." The reconciliation is sealed, as before, by Wukong's dutiful service — the pattern of the first cycle exactly repeated, and set to be broken a final time.
The passage delivers the chapter's quietest and most permanent cruelty: there is no Band-Loosening Spell. Guanyin gave Tripitaka the means to bind the Great Sage but none to release him. Wukong's reasonable request — free me if you cast me out — turns out to have no possible answer; his bondage to the pilgrimage is, by the Bodhisattva's design, without exit. What looked like a negotiation was a closed door.
Ironically, this dead end is what preserves the bond. Since the band cannot be removed, the elder cannot honourably send Wukong away, and Wukong's own plea now compels the master to keep him: 你還帶我去走走罷, "you'll just have to take me along after all." The second pardon is granted less from mercy than from sheer impossibility — a reconciliation founded not on restored trust but on a shared inability to part.
With the doubled promise (再不敢了，再不敢了) and the dutiful boosting of the master onto his horse, the second cycle closes exactly as the first did — strike, spell, plea, pardon — and on the same fragile, hollow note. The pattern has now repeated twice; the third disguise waits just ahead, and with it the final rupture that no impossibility of parting will prevent.