金角銀角 Golden-Horn and Silver-Horn
卻說那山叫做平頂山，那洞叫做蓮花洞。洞裡兩妖：一喚金角大王，一喚銀角大王。金角正坐，對銀角說：「兄弟，我們多少時不巡山了？」銀角道：「有半個月了。」金角道：「兄弟，你今日與我去巡巡。」銀角道：「今日巡山怎的？」金角道：「你不知。近聞得東土唐朝差個御弟唐僧往西方拜佛，一行四眾，叫做孫行者、豬八戒、沙和尚，連馬五口。你看他在那處，與我把他拿來。」銀角道：「我們要吃人，那裡不撈幾個。這和尚到得那裡，讓他去罷。」却说那山叫做平顶山，那洞叫做莲花洞。洞里两妖：一唤金角大王，一唤银角大王。金角正坐，对银角说：「兄弟，我们多少时不巡山了？」银角道：「有半个月了。」金角道：「兄弟，你今日与我去巡巡。」银角道：「今日巡山怎的？」金角道：「你不知。近闻得东土唐朝差个御弟唐僧往西方拜佛，一行四众，叫做孙行者、猪八戒、沙和尚，连马五口。你看他在那处，与我把他拿来。」银角道：「我们要吃人，那里不捞几个。这和尚到得那里，让他去罢。」
逐句解 Line by line
Now that mountain, be it said, was called the Level-Top Mountain, and that cave the Lotus-Flower Cave.
卻說, "now it must be told" — the matching cue that opens the other line. 平頂山 and 蓮花洞 are named again, six hundred lǐ and thirty-one passages after the woodcutter first said them; the reader is being reminded that the warning was accurate. 那 is nà, twice.
In the cave were two fiends: one called Great King Golden-Horn, the other Great King Silver-Horn.
The villains, at last. 金角大王 / 銀角大王, Jīn jiǎo / Yín jiǎo Dà wáng, "Great King Golden-Horn" and "Great King Silver-Horn" — 角 read jiǎo, a horn. Their names are in the chapter's own title couplet, and they will run the story for several chapters yet.
Golden-Horn, sitting at his ease, said to Silver-Horn: "Brother, how long is it since we patrolled the mountain?"
巡山, xún shān, "to patrol the mountain" — the identical phrase Pilgrim used on Eight Rules, now said by one demon to another. The parallel is deliberate and it is about to pay off. 多少時, "how long has it been?"
Said Silver-Horn: "Half a month, I should think."
半個月, bàn gè yuè, "half a month." Silver-Horn answers like an employee who knows exactly how long it has been and hoped nobody would ask.
Said Golden-Horn: "Brother, go make a round for me today."
與我去巡巡, yǔ wǒ qù xún xún, "go and do a round for me." The doubled verb makes it sound casual, which it is not.
Said Silver-Horn: "Why patrol the mountain today?"
怎的, zěn de, "what for?" The reluctance is immediate and completely familiar.
Said Golden-Horn: "You don't know. I've lately heard that the Tang court of the East has sent its imperial younger-brother, the Tang Monk, west to bow before the Buddha — a party of four, called Sun the Pilgrim, Zhu Eight Rules, and Sha Monk, five counting the horse.
And the briefing. 御弟, yù dì, "the emperor's younger brother" — Taizong took the Tang Monk as a sworn brother before sending him west, so the title is genuine. Note the roster: they have the names, the number, and the horse. 差個 takes 差 as chāi, dispatch; 聞得 takes 得 as de; 佛 is fó.
Find out whereabouts he is, and bring him to me."
在那處, zài nǎ chù, "whereabouts he is" — a question, so 那 is nǎ.
Said Silver-Horn: "If it's men we want to eat, where can't we snatch a few? Wherever this monk is bound, let him pass."
Silver-Horn is not persuaded. 那裡不撈, nǎ lǐ bù lāo, "where can't we scoop a few up?" — rhetorical, so 那 is nǎ, twice in the segment. 到得 takes 得 as de. If it is only meat we want, why this monk in particular? Let him go by.
The scene cuts on the storyteller's 卻說 to the other side of the mountain, and the two Great Kings turn out to be having a conversation about staff rotas. Golden-Horn asks how long it has been since anyone patrolled; Silver-Horn says half a month, in the tone of a man who was hoping nobody would count. The novel almost always domesticates its demons this way — they keep house, run errands, cut corners and complain about being sent out, and this pair are running the same conversation Pilgrim and Eight Rules had thirty passages ago, with the roles of nagging senior and reluctant junior intact.
What Golden-Horn actually wants is the pilgrims, whose approach he already knows about in detail — the imperial connection, the four names, the horse making five. Silver-Horn shrugs it off: if it is only men to eat, they can pick some up anywhere, so why go to the trouble over this particular monk? The question is the setup, and the next passage answers it. The Tang Monk is not ordinary meat.