呆子詬罵 The Taunt
那黃袍老怪出得門來,便問:「你是那方和尚,在我門首吆喝?」八戒道:「我兒子,你不認得?我是你老爺。我是大唐差往西天去的。我師父是那御弟三藏。若在你家內,趁早送出來,省了我釘鈀築進去。」那怪笑道:「是是是,有一個唐僧在我家,我也不曾怠慢他,安排些人肉包兒與他吃哩。你們也進去吃一個兒,何如?」那黄袍老怪出得门来,便问:「你是那方和尚,在我门首吆喝?」八戒道:「我儿子,你不认得?我是你老爷。我是大唐差往西天去的。我师父是那御弟三藏。若在你家内,趁早送出来,省了我钉钯筑进去。」那怪笑道:「是是是,有一个唐僧在我家,我也不曾怠慢他,安排些人肉包儿与他吃哩。你们也进去吃一个儿,何如?」
逐句解 Line by line
The old Yellow-Robe fiend came out the gate and demanded, “What quarter's monk are you, bawling at my door?”
Both readings again in one line: 那黃袍 takes nà, that Yellow Robe, and 那方 takes nǎ, which quarter. 出得 takes dé.
Said Bajie, “My boy, don't you know me? I'm your Old Grandfather. I'm the one the Great Tang sent off to the Western Heaven.
Bajie's opening move is to claim seniority by insult — my boy, don't you know your own 老爺? Calling a stranger your son and yourself his grandfather is standard Chinese abuse, and it is being aimed at something that could eat him. 兒子 takes 兒 as ér, the noun, not the curled suffix that ends so many words in this chapter. 差往 takes 差 as chāi, dispatched on official business, not chà, lacking.
My master is the imperial brother Tripitaka. If he's inside your house, send him out at once and spare me the trouble of raking my way in.”
御弟 is imperial younger brother — Tripitaka was sworn as the Tang emperor's brother before he set out, and the title is the closest thing he has to diplomatic protection. It buys him nothing here. 那御弟 takes nà; 三藏 takes zàng; 釘鈀 takes 鈀 as pá.
The fiend laughed: “Yes, yes, yes — there's a Tang monk at my house, and I've not treated him shabbily at all: I've laid on some man-flesh dumplings for him to eat. Why don't you come in and have one too?”
人肉包兒 — man-flesh dumplings — offered as hospitality, with an invitation to come in and have one. The demon is not denying anything. He is making a joke whose punchline is the exact fate he intends. 那怪 takes nà; 包兒 and 一個兒 both end in the curled er.
The exchange is bravado on both sides. Bajie, who an hour ago was snoring in the grass, blusters magnificently — your Old Grandfather, and a threat to rake his way in — and the demon parries with mock courtesy, admitting he holds the monk and offering the disciples man-flesh dumplings to share. The comedy is real, but it is comedy on the lip of horror, because the demon's joke names exactly what he intends to do.
His ease is again the point. He neither denies holding Tripitaka nor shows any alarm at two armed disciples on his doorstep; he simply taunts them into the fight he wants. Bajie's bluster, for all its volume, is walking straight into it — and only Sha Monk's grip, a moment later, stops the blockhead accepting the invitation and stepping inside.