八戒醒悟 Bajie Wakes in the Wild
且不言三藏逢災，小龍敗戰。卻說那豬八戒從離了沙僧，一頭藏在草科裡，拱了一個豬渾塘。這一覺，直睡到半夜時候才醒。醒來時，又不知是甚麼去處。摸摸眼，定了神思，側耳才聽。噫！正是那山深無犬吠，野曠少雞鳴。他見那星移斗轉，約莫有三更時分，心中想道：「我要回救沙僧，誠然是『單絲不線，孤掌難鳴』。罷罷罷，我且進城去見了師父，奏准當今，再選些驍勇人馬，助著老豬明日來救沙僧罷。」且不言三藏逢灾，小龙败战。却说那猪八戒从离了沙僧，一头藏在草科里，拱了一个猪浑塘。这一觉，直睡到半夜时候才醒。醒来时，又不知是甚么去处。摸摸眼，定了神思，侧耳才听。噫！正是那山深无犬吠，野旷少鸡鸣。他见那星移斗转，约莫有三更时分，心中想道：「我要回救沙僧，诚然是『单丝不线，孤掌难鸣』。罢罢罢，我且进城去见了师父，奏准当今，再选些骁勇人马，助着老猪明日来救沙僧罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
But let us say no more of Tripitaka's calamity and the little dragon's defeat in battle.
In the name 三藏 the character 藏 is zàng. The storyteller puts the palace down and picks Bajie up.
Rather let us speak of Zhu Bajie, who, since parting from Sha Wujing, had buried himself head-first in a clump of brush and rooted out a hog's wallow.
And here he is. 藏在草科, hidden in the brush, takes 藏 as cáng; 豬渾塘 is a hog's muddy wallow — he has rooted himself out a proper one. 那 is pointing nà. His master is in a cage and he has been asleep in the mud.
This one nap he slept clean through to the middle of the night before he woke.
In 這一覺, "this one sleep," the character 覺 is jiào, a stretch of sleep, as in 睡覺. Because jiào is a falling tone, the 一 before it lifts to yí — the tone shift Chinese applies automatically to 一 and 不.
Waking, he could not tell where he was.
甚麼 takes 甚 as shén; 去處 is whereabouts, a place. He has no idea where he is, and the novel is enjoying itself.
He rubbed his eyes, collected his wits, and cocked an ear to listen.
定神思 is to steady your spirit and your thoughts. Rubbing the eyes, cocking an ear: the gestures are entirely homely, and keep him firmly in the comic register even as the plot needs him.
Ah! — it was just such a place: the mountains deep, with no dog's bark; the wilds empty, with few cocks' crows.
那 is pointing nà; 少雞鳴, few cock-crows, takes 少 as shǎo. No dogs, no roosters: two sounds by whose absence a Ming reader would know instantly that there is no village anywhere near.
Seeing the stars shifted and the Dipper turned, he reckoned it about the third watch, and thought within himself: "If I go back to save Sha Wujing, then truly — 'a single thread makes no cord, and one palm alone claps not.'
星移斗轉 — the stars shift, the Dipper turns — is how you tell the time with no clock, and here 斗 is dǒu, the Dipper. In 三更時分 the character 更 is gēng, the night-watch reading, distinct from the gèng that means "still, even more." Then the proverb: 單絲不線，孤掌難鳴 — one silk thread makes no cord, one palm cannot clap. The second half is still in daily use for anything that cannot be done single-handed. 心中 takes 中 as zhōng; 那 is pointing nà.
Enough, enough! Let me first go into the city to see the master, get the sovereign's leave, and pick out some brave troops to help old Pig come and rescue Sha Wujing tomorrow."
In 助著老豬 the 著 is zhe. 奏准當今 is to get the reigning sovereign's approval; 驍勇人馬 are valiant troops. His plan is to file a petition and requisition soldiers. Against a shape-changing demon this is roughly like answering a house fire with a planning application.
The chapter turns here to its second half and its second title-term. The 意馬 has acted and failed, so the narrative must now reach the 心猿, the banished Sun Wukong — and the bridge to him is Bajie, discovered at his least heroic, snout-down in a hog wallow. The deflation is deliberate: against the cosmic allegory of the couplet just past, the novel sets a sleeping pig.
Bajie's reasoning is characteristically self-serving and characteristically wrong-footed. His proverb — 單絲不線，孤掌難鳴 — correctly diagnoses that he cannot do this alone, but his remedy, begging the king for soldiers, mistakes a supernatural problem for an administrative one. The chapter is quietly steering him, and the reader, toward the only answer there is: not troops, but the Mind-Monkey. Getting him is the work of the rest of the chapter.