巧言虛詞 The Fabricated Tale
那妖精巧語花言，虛情假意的答道：「主公，微臣自幼兒好習弓馬，採獵為生。那十三年前，帶領家童數十，放鷹逐犬，忽見一隻斑斕猛虎，身馱著一個女子，往山坡下走。是微臣兜弓一箭，射倒猛虎，將女子帶上本莊，把溫水溫湯灌醒，救了他性命。因問他是那裡人家，他更不曾題『公主』二字。早說是萬歲的三公主，怎敢欺心，擅自配合？當得進上金殿，大小討一個官職榮身。只因他說是民家之女，才被微臣留在莊所。女貌郎才，兩相情願，故配合至此多年。那妖精巧语花言，虚情假意的答道：「主公，微臣自幼儿好习弓马，采猎为生。那十三年前，带领家童数十，放鹰逐犬，忽见一只斑斓猛虎，身驮著一个女子，往山坡下走。是微臣兜弓一箭，射倒猛虎，将女子带上本庄，把温水温汤灌醒，救了他性命。因问他是那里人家，他更不曾题『公主』二字。早说是万岁的三公主，怎敢欺心，擅自配合？当得进上金殿，大小讨一个官职荣身。只因他说是民家之女，才被微臣留在庄所。女貌郎才，两相情愿，故配合至此多年。
逐句解 Line by line
The demon, with artful words and flowering speech, all false feeling and feigned sincerity, replied: "My sovereign, from my youth your humble servant loved to practise bow and horse, and lived by the hunt.
巧語花言 ("clever words, flowery speech") and 虛情假意 ("false feeling, pretended intent") flag the whole tale as fabrication before it begins. In 自幼兒 the colloquial 兒 is er; 採獵為生 ("to live by hunting") takes 為 as wéi. 那 is deictic nà.
Some thirteen years ago, leading a few dozen household boys, loosing the hawks and coursing the hounds, I suddenly saw a fierce, brindled tiger, a woman borne upon its back, making down the mountain slope.
數十 ("some tens, several dozen") takes 數 as shù; in 身馱著 ("bearing on its back") the durative 著 is zhe. 斑斕猛虎 is a "brindled fierce tiger." 那 is deictic nà.
It was your servant who drew the bow and, with a single arrow, shot the fierce tiger down; I bore the woman up to my own manor, revived her with warm water and warm broth, and saved her life.
兜弓 is to draw the bow taut; 射倒 ("shot down") takes 倒 as dǎo; 將女子帶上 takes the coverb 將 as jiāng. The whole rescue is invented, transferring the princess’s abduction into an act of gallant deliverance.
When I asked from what household she came, she never once let fall the two words "royal princess."
Here again 那裡 means "where, from what place," so 那 is interrogative nǎ. 更不曾 ("never even once") takes 更 as gèng. The lie is carefully self-exculpating: he could not have known her rank.
Had she but said she was Your Majesty’s Third Princess, how should I have dared, against all conscience, to wed her without leave?
欺心 is "to deceive one’s own heart," to act against conscience; 擅自, "on one’s own authority, without leave." The demon feigns the scruples of a loyal subject.
I should surely have delivered her up to the golden hall, and begged some office, great or small, to bring me honor.
當得 ("ought to, would surely") takes 得 as dé; 榮身 is "to bring honor to one’s person." He casts himself as one who would have done the correct, ambitious thing.
It was only because she said she was a commoner’s daughter that your servant kept her at the manor.
民家之女, "a daughter of a common household." The fiction supplies an innocent motive for what was in fact an abduction and forced marriage.
The maiden fair, the man of parts, and both of one willing mind — and so we have been matched these many years.
女貌郎才 ("the woman’s beauty, the man’s talent") is the stock phrase for a well-matched pair; 兩相情願 ("both willing") takes 相 as xiāng ("mutually"). The forced union is repainted as a love-match freely entered.
The tale is a bravura performance of villainous eloquence, and the narrator marks it as such at the outset (巧語花言, 虛情假意). Its method is total inversion: the abduction becomes a rescue, the captor a gallant huntsman, the forced marriage a willing love-match. Every incriminating fact is turned into its exculpating opposite.
The fiction is also cannily self-protecting. By claiming the princess concealed her rank, the demon forestalls the obvious charge — that he wed a royal daughter without leave — and even feigns the loyal subject’s scruple (怎敢欺心). The lie is built to survive scrutiny, not merely to please.
Structurally, the tale prepares its sting: having established a tiger in the story, the demon can now transfer that beast onto Tripitaka. The whole elaborate origin serves the single accusation to come.