老魔生疑 The Old Fiend Grows Suspicious
那小妖急入裡報道：「大王，門外有個甚麼行者孫來了。」老魔大驚道：「賢弟，不好了，惹動他一窩風了。幌金繩現拴著孫行者，葫蘆裡現裝著者行孫，怎麼又有個甚麼行者孫？想是他幾個兄弟都來了。」二魔道：「兄長放心。我這葫蘆裝下一千人哩，我才裝了者行孫一個，又怕那甚麼行者孫？等我出去看看，一發裝來。」老魔道：「兄弟仔細。」那小妖急入里报道：「大王，门外有个甚么行者孙来了。」老魔大惊道：「贤弟，不好了，惹动他一窝风了。幌金绳现拴著孙行者，葫芦里现装著者行孙，怎么又有个甚么行者孙？想是他几个兄弟都来了。」二魔道：「兄长放心。我这葫芦装下一千人哩，我才装了者行孙一个，又怕那甚么行者孙？等我出去看看，一发装来。」老魔道：「兄弟仔细。」
逐句解 Line by line
The little imp hurried inside to report: “Great King, there’s some Xingzhe Sun or other arrived outside the door.”
甚麼 (shénme) here carries its dismissive, indefinite sense — "some… or other" — registering the imp’s inability to make sense of yet another Sun at the gate.
The old fiend started in alarm: “Worthy brother, this is bad — we’ve stirred up his whole nest of them!
賢弟 (xiándì), "worthy younger brother," is the courteous address between the two demon chiefs. 一窩風 (yī wō fēng) — literally "a nestful [blown up] at once" — is an idiom for a whole swarm descending together.
The Golden Cord has Sun Xingzhe bound fast this moment, and the gourd has Zhe Xingsun packed inside it right now — how is it there’s yet another Xingzhe Sun?
The three names stand side by side, exactly the point of the joke: 孫行者 tied on the 幌金繩 (huǎng-jīn shéng), the Glittering Golden Cord; 者行孫 sealed in the gourd; and now 行者孫 at the door. 現拴著 / 現裝著 ("has [him] presently bound / bottled") stress that two are already held — so how a third?
It must be that several of his brothers have all come.”
想是 ("it must be that") shows the old fiend reaching for the only explanation he can frame — that the names belong to a crowd of kin rather than to one shape-shifter.
The second fiend said: “Set your mind at ease, elder brother.
兄長 (xiōngzhǎ ng) is the reciprocal courtesy to 賢弟 above — "elder brother," with 長 read zhǎng, "senior."
This gourd of mine can hold a thousand men; I’ve only just bottled the one Zhe Xingsun — why should I fear that so-called Xingzhe Sun?
The second fiend’s boast — 裝下一千人 ("can bottle a thousand") — is heavy with dramatic irony, since the gourd he trusts is precisely what Wukong is angling to turn against him. 那甚麼 ("that so-called") is dismissive.
Let me go out and take a look, and bottle him up along with the rest.”
一發 (yīfā) — "all in one go, along with it" — has the demon proposing to add this third Sun to the tally at a single stroke.
The old fiend said: “Have a care, brother.”
仔細 (zǐxì) — "careful, cautious" — takes 仔 in its reading zǐ (not the zǎi of 牛仔); the old fiend’s wariness quietly foreshadows the trap.
The name-comedy tightens as the two demons try to square three "Suns" against the two they hold: one bound to the Golden Cord, one sealed in the gourd, and a third bawling at the gate. The old fiend’s guess — that these are several brothers — is the wrong reading the joke depends on; the audience knows all three are the single shape-shifter.
Character is drawn in the contrast of the brothers. The elder is uneasy and superstitious (一窩風, 想是, and finally the cautioning 仔細); the younger is brash, staking everything on a gourd he believes can "hold a thousand." That confidence is the irony the arc will collect on, when the vessel he boasts of becomes the instrument of his own undoing.