原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
賺頭升廳
Cozening a Bow, Ascending the Hall
行者聽得，暗喜道：「造化，也輪到我為人了。我先變小妖，去請老怪，磕了他一個頭；這番來，我變老怪，是他母親，定行四拜之禮，雖不怎的，好道也賺他兩個頭兒。」好大聖，下了轎子，抖抖衣服，把那四根毫毛收在身上。那把門的小妖把空轎擡入門裡。他卻隨後徐行，那般嬌嬌啻啻，扭扭捏捏，就像那老怪的行動，徑自進去。又只見大小群妖，都來跪接。鼓樂簫韶，一派響喨；博山爐裡，靄靄香煙。他到正廳中，南面坐下。兩個魔頭，雙膝跪倒，朝上叩頭，叫道：「母親，孩兒拜揖。」行者道：「我兒起來。」行者听得，暗喜道：「造化，也轮到我为人了。我先变小妖，去请老怪，磕了他一个头；这番来，我变老怪，是他母亲，定行四拜之礼，虽不怎的，好道也赚他两个头儿。」好大圣，下了轿子，抖抖衣服，把那四根毫毛收在身上。那把门的小妖把空轿抬入门里。他却随后徐行，那般娇娇啻啻，扭扭捏捏，就像那老怪的行动，径自进去。又只见大小群妖，都来跪接。鼓乐箫韶，一派响喨；博山炉里，霭霭香烟。他到正厅中，南面坐下。两个魔头，双膝跪倒，朝上叩头，叫道：「母亲，孩儿拜揖。」行者道：「我儿起来。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者聽得，暗喜道：「造化，也輪到我為人了。我先變小妖，去請老怪，磕了他一個頭；這番來，我變老怪，是他母親，定行四拜之禮，雖不怎的，好道也賺他兩個頭兒。」
行者听得，暗喜道：「造化，也轮到我为人了。我先变小妖，去请老怪，磕了他一个头；这番来，我变老怪，是他母亲，定行四拜之礼，虽不怎的，好道也赚他两个头儿。」
Pilgrim heard it and thought with secret glee: “What luck — it's come round to my turn to be honored as somebody. First I changed into a little imp to invite the old fiend, and knocked her one kowtow; this time I come changed into the old fiend, as their mother, so they must perform the rite of four bows — no great matter, but I do come out two heads ahead.”
輪到我為人了 (lún dào wǒ wéi rén le), "come round to my turn to be somebody" — 為 the verb wéi, "to be, to act as." 定行四拜之禮 (dìng xíng sì bài zhī lǐ), "must perform the rite of four bows" — 行 read xíng, to carry out. 賺他兩個頭兒 (zhuàn tā liǎng gè tóu er), "come out two bows ahead" — diminutive er.
好大聖，下了轎子，抖抖衣服，把那四根毫毛收在身上。那把門的小妖把空轎擡入門裡。他卻隨後徐行，那般嬌嬌啻啻，扭扭捏捏，就像那老怪的行動，徑自進去。
好大圣，下了轿子，抖抖衣服，把那四根毫毛收在身上。那把门的小妖把空轿抬入门里。他却随后徐行，那般娇娇啻啻，扭扭捏捏，就像那老怪的行动，径自进去。
Good Great Sage! He got down from the sedan, shook out his clothes, and took the four hairs back onto his body. The gate-keeping imp carried the empty sedan in through the gate, while he followed slowly behind — all mincing and coy, wriggling and swaying, moving just like that old fiend — and went straight in. And there he saw the whole crowd of demons, great and small, come forward to kneel in welcome.
徐行 (xú xíng), "walking slowly" — 行 read xíng; 那老怪的行動 (nà lǎo guài de xíng dòng), "that old fiend's gait" — deictic 那, and 行動, xíng. 嬌嬌啻啻，扭扭捏捏 (jiāo jiāo chì chì, niǔ niǔ niē niē), "mincing and coy, wriggling and swaying" — Wukong's mimicry of a matron's carriage.
又只見大小群妖，都來跪接。鼓樂簫韶，一派響喨；博山爐裡，靄靄香煙。他到正廳中，南面坐下。兩個魔頭，雙膝跪倒，朝上叩頭，叫道：「母親，孩兒拜揖。」行者道：「我兒起來。」
又只见大小群妖，都来跪接。鼓乐箫韶，一派响喨；博山炉里，霭霭香烟。他到正厅中，南面坐下。两个魔头，双膝跪倒，朝上叩头，叫道：「母亲，孩儿拜揖。」行者道：「我儿起来。」
Drums and pipes struck up a swell of sound; from the Boshan censer curled a soft incense-smoke. He came to the main hall and seated himself facing south. The two demon lords knelt on both knees, knocked their heads toward the seat, and cried: “Mother, your children make obeisance.” Pilgrim said: “My children, get up.”
鼓樂簫韶 (gǔ yuè xiāo sháo), "drums and pipes, a courtly music." 南面坐下 (nán miàn zuò xià), "seated facing south" — the honored elder's orientation. 雙膝跪倒 (shuāng xī guì dǎo), "knelt on both knees" — 倒 read dǎo, to fall/prostrate; 孩兒拜揖 (hái ér bài yī), "your children make obeisance.”
總評 Commentary
Wukong's glee is the running joke made explicit: having grudgingly given the demon-mother one kowtow, he now collects four in return, and reckons himself “two heads ahead” in a private ledger of bows. The pun on 為人 — first to play the man who bows, now his turn to be the somebody bowed to — closes the loop with the earlier soliloquy, converting the indignity of the kowtow into a comic profit. Pride, wounded before, is here repaid with interest.
The impersonation is carried to its triumphant, absurd conclusion: the Great Sage minces and sways in matronly mimicry, ascends to the seat of honor facing south, and receives from the two fiends the full four bows of filial reverence — 母親，孩兒拜揖. The whole hall of demons kneels to a monkey wearing their dead mother's shape, drums and incense honoring a fraud. It is the apex of the chapter's method, 騰挪 in its purest form: not force but sheer effrontery, seating the enemy at the head of his own table.