借寶暗喜 Borrowing the Treasures
行者笑道：「二位，你把寶貝借我看看。」那小妖那知甚麼訣竅，就於袖中取出兩件寶貝，雙手遞與行者。行者見了，心中暗喜道：「好東西，好東西。我若把尾子一抉，颼的跳起走了，只當是送老孫。」忽又思道：「不好，不好。搶便搶去，只是壞了老孫的名頭。這叫做白日搶奪了。」復遞與他去道：「你還不曾見我的寶貝哩。」那怪道：「師父有甚寶貝？也借與我凡人看看壓災。」行者笑道：「二位，你把宝贝借我看看。」那小妖那知甚么诀窍，就于袖中取出两件宝贝，双手递与行者。行者见了，心中暗喜道：「好东西，好东西。我若把尾子一抉，飕的跳起走了，只当是送老孙。」忽又思道：「不好，不好。抢便抢去，只是坏了老孙的名头。这叫做白日抢夺了。」复递与他去道：「你还不曾见我的宝贝哩。」那怪道：「师父有甚宝贝？也借与我凡人看看压灾。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said with a smile: "You two — lend me the treasures for a look."
借我看看 (jiè wǒ kàn kàn), "lend them here and let me have a look." The doubled verb makes it idle and harmless -- just a look, no trouble at all -- and it is the single most important sentence Pilgrim speaks in the chapter.
The little imps, knowing nothing of any trick, drew the two treasures from their sleeves and handed them to Pilgrim with both hands.
那知甚麼訣竅 (nǎ zhī shén me jué qiào), "how were they to know any trick of it," with 那 as the rhetorical nǎ, a question expecting no answer. 訣竅 is the knack, the inside know-how. 雙手遞與 (shuāng shǒu dì yǔ), "handed over with both hands," is the gesture of respect you make to a superior -- so they surrender the weapons politely.
Seeing them, Pilgrim rejoiced in secret: "Fine things, fine things! If I gave my tail a flick and went bounding off with a whoosh, I'd count it as their gift to old Monkey."
尾子一抉 (wěi zi yì jué), "one flick of the tail." 颼的 (sōu de) is the sound of something going past fast. 只當是送老孫 (zhǐ dàng shì sòng lǎo sūn), "just call it a present," 當 read dàng, "to count as." For one line the whole episode could end here.
But then he thought again: "No good, no good. Snatch them and off I'd be — but it would ruin old Monkey's good name. That's what you'd call daylight robbery."
名頭 (míng tóu), "reputation, a name people know." 白日搶奪 (bái rì qiǎng duó), "robbery in broad daylight," is still the phrase for barefaced theft. What stops him is not conscience but standing: theft is beneath the Great Sage, and the distinction he draws -- swindling is fine, snatching is not -- is the moral logic of every confidence man who ever lived.
So he handed them back and said: "You haven't yet seen my treasure."
還不曾見 (hái bù céng jiàn), "you haven't seen mine yet," 還 read hái, "still, as yet," and the 哩 (li) hanging casually off the end. He gives the treasures back so that he can win them properly.
The imps said: "What treasure has the master? Lend it to us mortals too, to look at and ward off calamity."
甚寶貝 (shén bǎo bèi), "what treasure," the question-word shén. 壓災 (yā zāi), "to press disaster down," is what a lucky object is supposed to do -- the imps ask for a look the way you might ask to touch something for luck. And by asking, they take the bait.
The trap nearly springs itself. The imps, knowing nothing of any trick, hand over both treasures with the two-handed courtesy owed to a master. For a moment the whole contest could end right there -- one flick of the tail and Pilgrim could be gone with the gourds -- and his temptation is perfectly frank.
What stops him is not honesty but standing. Snatch and run would be robbery in broad daylight, beneath the Great Sage's name. The scruple is exactly in character: he will out-trick anyone alive, but he will not simply steal, and the distinction matters more to him than the treasures do. It is also, dramatically, what keeps the game running. By giving them back and boasting about his own, he baits the imps into a trade he can win in the open.