原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
索打山神
Demanding to Thrash the Gods
行者跳將起來，抖抖土，束束裙，耳後掣出棒來，叫山神、土地：「都伸過孤拐來，每人先打兩下，與老孫散散悶。」眾神大驚道：「剛才大聖已吩咐，恕我等之罪，怎麼出來就變了言語要打？」行者道：「好土地，好山神，你道不怕老孫，卻怕妖怪？」土地道：「那魔神通廣大，法術高強，念動真言咒語，拘喚我等在他洞裡，一日一個輪流當值哩。」行者跳将起来，抖抖土，束束裙，耳后掣出棒来，叫山神、土地：「都伸过孤拐来，每人先打两下，与老孙散散闷。」众神大惊道：「刚才大圣已吩咐，恕我等之罪，怎么出来就变了言语要打？」行者道：「好土地，好山神，你道不怕老孙，却怕妖怪？」土地道：「那魔神通广大，法术高强，念动真言咒语，拘唤我等在他洞里，一日一个轮流当值哩。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者跳將起來，抖抖土，束束裙，耳後掣出棒來，叫山神、土地：「都伸過孤拐來，每人先打兩下，與老孫散散悶。」
行者跳将起来，抖抖土，束束裙，耳后掣出棒来，叫山神、土地：「都伸过孤拐来，每人先打两下，与老孙散散闷。」
Pilgrim sprang up, shook off the dirt, tightened his kilt, drew the cudgel from behind his ear, and called to the mountain-god and earth-god: “All of you, stick out your ankle-bones — two strokes apiece, to help old Monkey work off his gloom.”
跳將起來 (tiào jiāng qǐ lái), “sprang up,” 將 a particle of motion. 孤拐 (gū guǎi), “ankle-bone.” 散散悶 (sàn sàn mèn), “to dispel some gloom.”
眾神大驚道：「剛才大聖已吩咐，恕我等之罪，怎麼出來就變了言語要打？」
众神大惊道：「刚才大圣已吩咐，恕我等之罪，怎么出来就变了言语要打？」
The gods, aghast, said: “Just now the Great Sage promised to pardon our offense — how is it that the moment he's out, his words change and he means to beat us?”
剛才 (gāng cái), “just now, a moment ago.” 變了言語 (biàn le yán yǔ), “changed his words, gone back on his word.” The gods protest the sudden reversal.
行者道：「好土地，好山神，你道不怕老孫，卻怕妖怪？」
行者道：「好土地，好山神，你道不怕老孙，却怕妖怪？」
Pilgrim said: “Fine earth-god, fine mountain-god! You mean to say you don't fear old Monkey, but you fear the demon?”
好土地，好山神 (hǎo tǔ dì, hǎo shān shén), “fine earth-god, fine mountain-god” — sarcastic. Pilgrim's grievance: they served the demon but slight him.
土地道：「那魔神通廣大，法術高強，念動真言咒語，拘喚我等在他洞裡，一日一個輪流當值哩。」
土地道：「那魔神通广大，法术高强，念动真言咒语，拘唤我等在他洞里，一日一个轮流当值哩。」
The earth-god said: “That fiend's powers are vast and his arts formidable; he chants his spells and summons us into his cave, where one of us must stand duty by turns, a day at a time.”
拘喚 (jū huàn), “to summon by compulsion.” 輪流當值 (lún liú dāng zhí), “to serve on duty by rotation,” 當 read dāng; the final 哩 (li).
總評 Commentary
Freed, Pilgrim reverts at once to type — springing up, shaking off the dust, drawing his cudgel, and demanding the gods present their ankles for a beating “to work off his gloom.” The reversal is pure comedy of character: he had promised not to strike them, but grievance and pent frustration overrule the pledge the instant he is loose. The gods' scandalized protest (“his words change!”) only sharpens the joke.
Yet the exchange turns on a real indignation. Pilgrim's complaint is not idle cruelty but wounded pride on the gods' own behalf: they fear a mere demon enough to crush the Great Sage at his command, yet stand unafraid of Pilgrim himself. The earth-god's answer — the fiend compels them by spell to serve daily shifts in his cave — supplies the information that will sting Pilgrim most, and sets up his outcry to Heaven in the passage to come.