原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
假葫誆妖
The False Gourd Deceives the Imps
好行者，伸下手，把尾上毫毛拔了一根，捻一捻，叫：「變！」即變做一個一尺七寸長的大紫金紅葫蘆，自腰裡拿將出來道：「你看我的葫蘆麼？」那伶俐蟲接在手，看了道：「師父，你這葫蘆長大，有樣範，好看，卻只是不中用。」行者道：「怎的不中用？」那怪道：「我這兩件寶貝，每一個可裝千人哩。」行者道：「你這裝人的，何足稀罕？好行者，伸下手，把尾上毫毛拔了一根，捻一捻，叫：「变！」即变做一个一尺七寸长的大紫金红葫芦，自腰里拿将出来道：「你看我的葫芦么？」那伶俐虫接在手，看了道：「师父，你这葫芦长大，有样范，好看，却只是不中用。」行者道：「怎的不中用？」那怪道：「我这两件宝贝，每一个可装千人哩。」行者道：「你这装人的，何足稀罕？
逐句解 Line by line
好行者，伸下手，把尾上毫毛拔了一根，捻一捻，叫：「變！」
好行者，伸下手，把尾上毫毛拔了一根，捻一捻，叫：「变！」
Fine Pilgrim! He reached down, plucked a hair from the tip of his tail, gave it a rub, and cried: “Change!”
尾上毫毛 (wěi shàng háo máo), “a hair from the tail,” Monkey's inexhaustible source of transformations. 捻一捻 (niǎn yì niǎn), “gave it a rub between the fingers.”
即變做一個一尺七寸長的大紫金紅葫蘆，自腰裡拿將出來道：「你看我的葫蘆麼？」
即变做一个一尺七寸长的大紫金红葫芦，自腰里拿将出来道：「你看我的葫芦么？」
At once it turned into a great purple-gold red gourd, a foot and seven inches long, which he drew from his waist, saying: “Do you see my gourd?”
一尺七寸長 (yì chǐ qī cùn cháng), “a foot and seven inches long,” 長 here cháng, “long.” 拿將出來 (ná jiāng chū lái), “drew out,” 將 a particle of motion.
那伶俐蟲接在手，看了道：「師父，你這葫蘆長大，有樣範，好看，卻只是不中用。」
那伶俐虫接在手，看了道：「师父，你这葫芦长大，有样范，好看，却只是不中用。」
Clever-Bug took it in hand, looked it over, and said: “Master, this gourd of yours is big and well-shaped, handsome to look at — but it's simply of no use.”
長大 (zhǎng dà), “large, sizeable,” 長 here zhǎng. 有樣範 (yǒu yàng fàn), “well-formed, of good shape.” 不中用 (bú zhòng yòng), “of no use,” 中 read zhòng, “to be of use.”
行者道：「怎的不中用？」
行者道：「怎的不中用？」
Pilgrim said: “How is it of no use?”
怎的 (zěn de), “how, in what way.” 不中用 (bú zhòng yòng), “useless,” 中 read zhòng.
那怪道：「我這兩件寶貝，每一個可裝千人哩。」
那怪道：「我这两件宝贝，每一个可装千人哩。」
The imps said: “These two treasures of ours can each bottle a thousand men.”
可裝千人 (kě zhuāng qiān rén), “can hold a thousand people bottled inside”; the final 哩 (li). The imps boast their vessels' capacity.
行者道：「你這裝人的，何足稀罕？
行者道：「你这装人的，何足稀罕？
Pilgrim said: “What's so remarkable about yours, that only bottle people?
何足稀罕 (hé zú xī han), “what is there to marvel at, hardly a wonder.” Pilgrim baits them by belittling their treasures.
總評 Commentary
Pilgrim opens the wager by conjuring a decoy — a hair from his tail becomes a great purple-gold gourd, twin to the imps' own, drawn with a flourish from his waist. The imitation is deliberate: he shows them a vessel exactly like theirs, then lets them find the “flaw.” Clever-Bug obliges, praising its size and shape but pronouncing it useless, and so walks into the trap Pilgrim has laid.
The comedy turns on inverted salesmanship. The imps boast that their gourds bottle a thousand men apiece; Pilgrim, feigning indifference, dismisses so paltry a power. His belittling — “what's so remarkable about yours?” — is calculated to provoke their curiosity, and it sets up the outrageous claim to come. The whole contest is a confidence game in which Pilgrim always holds the card the imps cannot match.