蓬萊神仙 The Immortal from Penglai
行者道：「小道童見我這老道人，要跌一跌兒做見面錢。」那妖道：「我大王見面錢只要幾兩銀子，你怎麼跌一跌兒做見面錢？你別是一鄉風，決不是我這裡道士。」行者道：「我當真不是，我是蓬萊山來的。」那妖道：「蓬萊山是海島神仙境界。」行者道：「我不是神仙，誰是神仙？」那妖卻回嗔作喜，上前道：「老神仙，老神仙，我等肉眼凡胎，不能識認，言語衝撞，莫怪，莫怪。」行者道：「小道童见我这老道人，要跌一跌儿做见面钱。」那妖道：「我大王见面钱只要几两银子，你怎么跌一跌儿做见面钱？你别是一乡风，决不是我这里道士。」行者道：「我当真不是，我是蓬莱山来的。」那妖道：「蓬莱山是海岛神仙境界。」行者道：「我不是神仙，谁是神仙？」那妖却回嗔作喜，上前道：「老神仙，老神仙，我等肉眼凡胎，不能识认，言语冲撞，莫怪，莫怪。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said: "When young acolytes meet an old adept like me, they take a little tumble as a meeting-gift."
跌一跌兒 (diē yì diē er), "a little tumble," toneless 兒. 見面錢 (jiàn miàn qián) is a real custom -- the gift or tip handed over on a first meeting, the ancestor of the red envelope pressed on a child by a visiting relative. Pilgrim keeps the custom and swaps the currency, inventing on the spot a tradition in which juniors pay their respects by falling over.
The imps said: "Our king's meeting-gift is just a few taels of silver — how can a tumble count as a meeting-gift? You must be from some other district; you're certainly no Daoist from these parts."
幾兩銀子 (jǐ liǎng yín zi), "a few taels of silver." A 兩 is a weight, not a coin -- imperial China never minted silver, so silver circulated as lumps you put on a scale -- and English took the word tael from Portuguese traders, who had it from Malay. 一鄉風 (yì xiāng fēng), "the custom of some other district." The imps are not stupid; they have correctly spotted that this man is not local.
Pilgrim said: "Truly I'm not — I've come from Mount Penglai."
當真 (dāng zhēn), "in all seriousness." 蓬萊山 (péng lái shān) is Penglai, chief of the fabled isles of the immortals in the eastern sea -- the place Chinese emperors sent expeditions to look for, and never found.
The imps said: "Mount Penglai is the realm of the sea-isle immortals!"
海島神仙境界 (hǎi dǎo shén xiān jìng jiè), "the immortals' country among the sea-isles." They supply the premise themselves, which saves Pilgrim the trouble of arguing for it.
Pilgrim said: "If I'm no immortal, who is?"
Six words, and the trap shuts. Having been told by his own marks that Penglai is where immortals live, Pilgrim simply asks who else they think he might be.
At this the imps turned from anger to delight, stepped forward, and said: "Old immortal, old immortal! We are but fleshly-eyed mortals who failed to know you; forgive our rude words, forgive us!"
回嗔作喜 (huí chēn zuò xǐ), "to turn from anger into delight," is a stock phrase for a face changing all at once. 肉眼凡胎 (ròu yǎn fán tāi), "eyes of flesh, born of a common womb," is still the self-deprecating thing to say when you have failed to recognize someone important -- and here it is being said, quite sincerely, by two demons to a monkey in a wig.
Pilgrim improvises brilliantly, converting a crude trick into a point of dignity: their fall was a first-meeting gift, the tribute the young owe an old adept. When they object that their king takes his in silver, he simply raises the stakes and declares himself a Daoist of Penglai -- and when they helpfully identify Penglai as the country of the immortals, he springs the trap made of their own sentence. If I am not an immortal, who is?
Their reversal, from abuse to grovelling apology inside a line, is the comic heart of the exchange and the engine of everything that follows. Their credulity is total, and they supply the premise themselves. The self-deprecation they end on -- eyes of flesh, common womb -- completes their conversion from armed captors into disciples, and hands Pilgrim exactly the standing he needs to start working on their treasures.