妖言賺哄 The Demon's False Tale
三藏一見，連忙跳起身來，合掌當胸道：「女菩薩，你府上在何處住？是甚人家？有甚願心，來此齋僧？」分明是個妖精，那長老也不認得。那妖精見唐僧問他來歷，他立地就起個虛情，花言巧語，來賺哄道：「師父，此山叫做蛇回獸怕的白虎嶺，正西下面是我家。我父母在堂，看經好善，廣齋方上遠近僧人。只因無子，求神作福，生了奴奴。欲扳門第，配嫁他人，又恐老來無倚，只得將奴招了一個女婿，養老送終。」三藏一见，连忙跳起身来，合掌当胸道：「女菩萨，你府上在何处住？是甚人家？有甚愿心，来此斋僧？」分明是个妖精，那长老也不认得。那妖精见唐僧问他来历，他立地就起个虚情，花言巧语，来赚哄道：「师父，此山叫做蛇回兽怕的白虎岭，正西下面是我家。我父母在堂，看经好善，广斋方上远近僧人。只因无子，求神作福，生了奴奴。欲扳门第，配嫁他人，又恐老来无倚，只得将奴招了一个女婿，养老送终。」
逐句解 Line by line
At the sight of her Tripitaka sprang up at once and, palms joined at his breast, said, "Lady Bodhisattva, where is your honoured home?
合掌當胸 "palms pressed together at the chest," 當 (dāng) (at, against), the monk's respectful greeting. 府上 "your honoured residence," a polite formula. The elder who a moment ago doubted now rises eagerly — his very courtesy already half-persuaded.
"Of what family are you?
甚人家 "what household," 甚 (shén) (what).
"And with what vow in your heart do you come here to feed monks?"
甚願心 "what vow," 甚 (shén). 願心 "a vow, a pious wish." The elder's three quick questions are the courteous inquiry of a curious, well-meaning man — and exactly the opening the demon requires.
Plainly she was a fiend, yet the elder could not tell.
The narrator repeats the refrain of P10 (分明是個妖怪): 那長老 "that elder," 那 (nà), 長 (zhǎng); 認得 "recognize," 得 (de). The doubling drives home that the failure is one of perception, passing from monk to monk.
Seeing the Tang Monk inquire into her origins, the fiend on the spot spun a false tale, and with honeyed, artful words came deceiving him: "Master, this mountain is called White Tiger Ridge, where snakes turn back and beasts take fright; and just below, to the due west, is my home.
起個虛情 "to concoct a false story"; 賺哄 "to deceive, take in." 白虎嶺 "White Tiger Ridge" — the ominous name (蛇回獸怕 "snakes retreat, beasts fear") quietly confirms the demon's true nature even as she speaks. 那妖精 "that fiend," 那 (nà).
"My parents are living, devout readers of the sutras and lovers of good works, who give alms freely to monks far and near.
在堂 "[parents] alive, in the household." 看經好善 "reading scriptures and delighting in good deeds." The demon paints a family of exemplary lay-Buddhist piety — the likeliest sort to be feeding wandering monks.
"Having no son, they prayed to the gods and made offerings, and so your handmaid was born.
無子 "without a son," 子 (zǐ) (the noun "son, child"). 奴奴 (nú nú) "your slave, handmaid," a woman's humble self-reference. The detail of a prayed-for child lends pathos and plausibility to the fabrication.
"Wishing to rise by a good match, they would have married me out to another house; but fearing to be left without support in old age, they had no choice but to take in a son-in-law for me, to see them to the end of their days."
扳門第 "to climb to a higher family rank," 扳 (pān) (a variant of 攀 (pān) "to reach up"). 只得 "had no choice but," 得 (dé) (must). 將奴招了 "took me [and] wed [me to a son-in-law]," 將 (jiāng) (coverb). The uxorilocal marriage (招女婿, taking a husband into the wife's home) explains why a married woman is still with her parents — closing a gap Tripitaka will nonetheless probe.
The demon's fabrication is a small masterpiece of plausibility: pious parents, a prayed-for child, an uxorilocal marriage that accounts for her presence at home. Each detail forestalls a possible doubt before it can form. The narrator's aside — plainly a fiend, yet the elder could not tell — frames the scene as a test of discernment that the monk is failing in real time.
The lie carries its own hidden confession. The demon names her mountain "White Tiger Ridge, where snakes turn back and beasts take fright" — the truth of her nature tucked inside the fiction, a grim joke the reader catches and Tripitaka misses entirely.
The tale also does quiet ideological work, dressing the fiend in the robes of Confucian-Buddhist virtue — filial provision for aged parents, alms-giving to monks — the very values Tripitaka most esteems. It is because they are his own ideals that they disarm him so completely.