南柯夢醒 Waking from the Dream
這猴王打出城中，忽然絆著一個草紇繨，跌了個躘踵，猛的醒來，乃是南柯一夢。才覺伸腰，只聞得四健將與眾猴高叫道：「大王，吃了多少酒，睡這一夜，還不醒來？」悟空道：「睡還小可，我夢見兩個人來此勾我，把我帶到幽冥界城門之外，卻才醒悟。是我顯神通，直嚷到森羅殿，與那十王爭吵，將我們的生死簿子看了，但有我等名號，俱是我勾了，都不伏那廝所轄也。」眾猴磕頭禮謝。自此，山猴多有不老者，以陰司無名故也。美猴王言畢前事，四健將報知各洞妖王，都來賀喜。不幾日，六個義兄弟又來拜賀，一聞銷名之故，又個個歡喜，每日聚樂不題。这猴王打出城中，忽然绊着一个草纥𫄤，跌了个躘踵，猛的醒来，乃是南柯一梦。才觉伸腰，只闻得四健将与众猴高叫道：「大王，吃了多少酒，睡这一夜，还不醒来？」悟空道：「睡还小可，我梦见两个人来此勾我，把我带到幽冥界城门之外，却才醒悟。是我显神通，直嚷到森罗殿，与那十王争吵，将我们的生死簿子看了，但有我等名号，俱是我勾了，都不伏那厮所辖也。」众猴磕头礼谢。自此，山猴多有不老者，以阴司无名故也。美猴王言毕前事，四健将报知各洞妖王，都来贺喜。不几日，六个义兄弟又来拜贺，一闻销名之故，又个个欢喜，每日聚乐不题。
逐句解 Line by line
As the Monkey King fought his way out of the city, he suddenly tripped on a tangled knot of grass, took a stumbling fall, and woke with a start — it had all been a mere dream.
He trips on a clump of grass and the whole underworld dissolves. 南柯一夢, "a Dream of Nanke," is the proverbial phrase — from the Tang tale 南柯太守傳 — for a whole vivid lifetime that turns out to have been a nap, and it is still the phrase Chinese reaches for when a grand experience proves hollow. 絆著 is "tripped on," 著 the value zháo that marks the trip as having come off; 一個 takes yí; 草紇繨 is a tangle of grass, 紇繨 (gē da, the same as 疙瘩) being a knot or lump; 躘踵 (lóng zhǒng) is "to stumble, to totter"; 猛的 is "abruptly"; and the 一 of 南柯一夢 takes yí before the falling tone of 夢. A dream, then — but one with waking consequences.
Just as he stretched himself awake, he heard the four Stalwart Generals and the other monkeys calling out: 'Your Majesty! How much wine did you drink, that you've slept the whole night and still aren't awake?'
The generals have been standing guard all night and think he has merely over-drunk. 才覺伸腰 is "just as he stretched awake," 覺 read jué, "to feel, to become aware," not jiào; 聞得 is "heard," 得 the linking de; the 將 of 四健將 is jiàng; 多少酒 is "how much wine," 少 read shǎo; 睡這一夜 takes yí before the falling tone of 夜; and in 還不醒, 還 is hái and 不 is bù.
Wukong said, 'The sleeping is a small matter. I dreamt that two men came to summon me, and took me to outside the city gate of the Land of Darkness — and only just now did I wake to it.
睡還小可 is "the sleeping is a trifling matter," 還 read hái; 夢見 is "dreamt"; 勾我 has 勾 as gōu; 把我帶到 uses 把 (bǎ) to front the object; 卻才醒悟 is "only just woke to it."
There I worked my magic, shouted my way to the Hall of Darkness, and quarreled with the Ten Kings; I looked at our register of life and death, and every one of our names I struck out — so none of us is under that fellow's rule any longer.'
He tells it as a good story, and the punchline is that everyone present has just become immortal. 顯神通 is "worked my magic"; 直嚷到 is "shouted my way to," 嚷 read rǎng; 森羅殿 takes 羅 as luó; 爭吵 is "quarreled"; 將…看了 uses 將 as the object-marker jiāng; 簿子 has 簿 as bù and 子 as zi; 但有我等名號 is "every one of our names"; 俱是我勾了 is "I struck them all out," 勾 read gōu; and 不伏那廝所轄, "not under that fellow's rule," takes 不 as bù, 伏 as fú, and 廝 as sī, "fellow," disparaging — here of King Yama himself.
The monkeys kowtowed in thanks. From this time many of the mountain-monkeys never grew old, because their names were no longer in the registers of the shades.
And here is the pay-off that settles the question of whether the dream was "only" a dream: the monkeys stop dying. 磕頭禮謝 is "kowtowed in thanks"; 自此 is "from this time"; 多有不老者 is "many never grew old," 不 read bù; 陰司 is the offices of the shades, the underworld's administration; and 以…故也 is a literary frame for "for the reason that…" The note is an origin-story of the kind this novel loves: a natural curiosity explained out of its own fiction.
When the Handsome Monkey King had finished telling the affair, the four Stalwart Generals reported it to the demon-kings of the various caves, who all came to offer congratulations.
言畢前事 is "finished relating the affair," 畢 read bì; the 將 of 四健將 is jiàng; 報知 is "reported to"; 都來賀喜 takes dōu, with 賀 as hè.
Within a few days the six sworn brothers came again to pay their respects, and as soon as they heard the reason — the striking-out of the names — every one of them was delighted; and they gathered in merriment day after day — but no more of this.
The chapter parks its earthly thread here, with everyone drinking. 不幾日 is "within a few days," 不 taking bù before the dipping tone of 幾; 六個義兄弟 is "the six sworn brothers," 義 read yì; 一聞銷名之故 is "as soon as they heard of the name-erasing," with 一 as yì before the rising tone of 聞 and 銷 read xiāo, "to erase"; 又個個歡喜 is "each delighted"; and 每日聚樂不題 is "gathered daily in merriment — no more of this," 樂 read lè and 不 bù before the rising tone of 題.
The entire underworld adventure is abruptly reframed: Wukong trips on a clump of grass and wakes to find it was "a Dream of Nanke" (南柯一夢), the classic Tang allusion for a whole lived experience dissolving into a nap. But the novel refuses the easy moral of its source, in which the dream exposes worldly glory as illusion. Here the dream has unmistakable waking effects — the monkeys really do stop dying. The frame is left productively unstable: was the soul genuinely summoned and the body left sleeping, or was it "only" a dream that nevertheless altered the world? The narrative simply lets both be true at once.
The small origin-story gloss — that from this time many mountain-monkeys never aged, because their names were no longer in the registers of the shades — is characteristic of the novel's playful mythmaking, supplying a folk-explanation for a natural curiosity out of its own fiction. It also completes the social meaning of the underworld raid: Wukong's transcendence is not hoarded but shared, extended to his whole people, just as the rod and regalia furnished his kingdom. With both the dragons' and the underworld's complaints now lodged, and Wukong feasting in oblivious contentment, the chapter pivots decisively upward. The next passages leave Flower-Fruit Mountain entirely for the Hall of Miraculous Mist, where the two memorials will at last be read before the Jade Emperor.