誣僧為虎 Tripitaka Named the Tiger
臣因此言，故將虎解了索子，饒了他性命。那虎帶著箭傷，跑蹄剪尾而去。不知他得了性命，在那山中，修了這幾年，煉體成精，專一迷人害人。臣聞得昔年也有幾次取經的，都說是大唐來的唐僧。想是這虎害了唐僧，得了他文引，變作那取經的模樣，今在朝中哄騙主公。主公啊，那繡墩上坐的，正是那十三年前馱公主的猛虎，不是真正取經之人。」臣因此言，故将虎解了索子，饶了他性命。那虎带着箭伤，跑蹄剪尾而去。不知他得了性命，在那山中，修了这几年，炼体成精，专一迷人害人。臣闻得昔年也有几次取经的，都说是大唐来的唐僧。想是这虎害了唐僧，得了他文引，变作那取经的模样，今在朝中哄骗主公。主公啊，那绣墩上坐的，正是那十三年前驮公主的猛虎，不是真正取经之人。」
逐句解 Line by line
At these words your servant untied the tiger's rope and spared its life.
In 故將虎解了 the 將 marking the object is jiāng; 索子, rope, takes the suffix 子 as zi. He has now let the tiger loose in his story, which is the whole reason it was invented.
The tiger, bearing its arrow-wound, went off at a gallop, its tail switching behind.
In 帶著, carrying, the 著 is zhe; 跑蹄剪尾 — hooves pounding, tail cutting the air — pictures its flight. 那 is the pointing nà.
Little did I know that, having got away with its life, it stayed in those mountains and, cultivating itself these several years, refined its body into a spirit — bent solely on beguiling and harming men.
得了性命 takes 得 as dé, "got, kept"; 那山中 takes 那 as pointing nà and 中 as zhōng. 煉體成精, "to refine the body into a spirit," is genuine Daoist self-cultivation vocabulary — the language the novel uses seriously elsewhere — here bent to slander.
Your servant has heard that in years past there came several scripture-seekers, all said to be a Tang monk out of Great Tang.
聞得 takes the structural 得 as de; 都說 takes 都 as dōu, "all say." He is building on true rumour, which is what makes the next sentence land.
I surmise this tiger did the Tang monk to death, got hold of his travel-warrant, took on the very likeness of the pilgrim, and now, here at court, deceives my sovereign.
And there it is, the exact inversion of the truth. 得了他文引 takes 得 as dé; 那取經的 takes 那 as pointing nà; 朝中 takes 中 as zhōng. 文引 is a travel-warrant, the pilgrim's passport. The demon accuses the real monk of being a beast wearing a monk.
My sovereign — the one seated there upon the embroidered stool is none other than that fierce tiger which, thirteen years ago, bore the princess on its back; he is no true scripture-seeker at all."
繡墩 is an embroidered drum-shaped stool; both instances of 那 are pointing nà. He raises his arm and points at Tripitaka, and the frame closes.
The accusation completes a perfect inversion. Having narrated a tiger into existence, the demon now identifies that tiger with the pilgrim sitting on the stool — so that Tripitaka, powerless and unrecognised and about to be transformed, stands accused of being exactly the kind of creature his accuser is. The liar assigns the victim his own nature.
The vocabulary is borrowed from the novel's serious machinery: 煉體成精, a beast refining itself into a spirit, and 文引, the travel-warrant, invoked as stolen property. The fiction is dense with the authentic furniture of the pilgrimage, and that is precisely what makes it dangerous.
The pointing finger — 那繡墩上坐的, "the one seated on the embroidered stool" — is the hinge of the chapter. From it follow the king's demand that the "tiger" be exposed, and the transformation itself.