寄有家書 The Passport Returned, a Letter Revealed
國王見了，取本國玉寶，用了花押，遞與三藏。三藏謝了恩，收了文牒，又奏道：「貧僧一來倒換文牒，二來與陛下寄有家書。」國王大喜道：「有甚書？」三藏道：「陛下第三位公主娘娘，被碗子山波月洞黃袍妖攝將去，貧僧偶爾相遇，故寄書來也。」国王见了，取本国玉宝，用了花押，递与三藏。三藏谢了恩，收了文牒，又奏道：「贫僧一来倒换文牒，二来与陛下寄有家书。」国王大喜道：「有甚书？」三藏道：「陛下第三位公主娘娘，被碗子山波月洞黄袍妖摄将去，贫僧偶尔相遇，故寄书来也。」
逐句解 Line by line
When the king had read it, he took the treasure-seal of his own realm, affixed his signature, and handed it back to Tripitaka.
The admin takes one sentence. 玉寶 is the jade seal of state; 花押 is a signature-monogram, the ruler's own stylised squiggle, added beside the seal because a seal alone can be borrowed. Baoxiang's mark now sits next to the nine of Tang.
Tripitaka gave thanks for the favor, put away the rescript, and then reported further: 'This humble monk came, first, to have the rescript renewed; and second, to deliver a family letter to Your Majesty.'
謝了恩 is to give thanks for a sovereign's favour — a fixed courtesy, not a personal one. 倒換文牒 (倒 = dào) was errand one; errand two is a 家書, a family letter. He delivers the second as calmly as the first, having no idea what it will do to the room.
Greatly pleased, the king said, 'What letter is this?'
有甚書 takes 甚 as the interrogative shén: "what letter?" The king asks it delighted, because a letter from a stranger sounds like a pleasant novelty. The novel puts his pleasure on the page deliberately, a beat before it takes it away.
Said Tripitaka, 'Your Majesty's Third Princess was carried off by the Yellow-Robe Ogre of the Wave-Moon Cave on Bowl Mountain. This humble monk chanced to meet with her, and so she has sent this letter by me.'
And out it comes, in one flat sentence. 第三位公主娘娘 is the Third Princess; 碗子山波月洞黃袍妖 gives the demon his full address — the Yellow-Robe Ogre of the Wave-Moon Cave on Bowl Mountain — the way this novel always names its monsters, by lair as much as by name. 攝將去 uses 將 (jiāng) to carry off; 相遇 takes 相 as xiāng, met by chance.
The scene pivots on the second of Tripitaka's two errands. The first, the renewal of his passport, is dispatched in a single sentence — seal, signature, handed back — the routine courtesy of one realm to another's traveller. The letter is a different matter, and the novel is careful to stage the king's pleasure before he knows what is in it: "what letter is this?" he asks, delighted, and the reader, who does know, feels the grief gathering behind the question.
Tripitaka is here the unwitting bearer of catastrophe. With a monk's mild courtesy he delivers the news that will break a court: the daughter lost thirteen years ago is alive, a demon's captive and a demon's wife. A chance meeting in a cave, acted on as a small kindness, now sets a royal rescue in motion — and with it all the trouble that is about to land on the pilgrims themselves.