發課噩傳 Casting Lots; Ill News Spreads
他拿著葫蘆，說著話，不覺的到了洞口，把那葫蘆搖搖，一發響了。他道：「這個像發課的筩子響，倒好發課。等老孫發一課，看師父甚麼時才得出門。」你看他手裡不住的搖，口裡不住的念道：「周易文王、孔子聖人、桃花女先生、鬼谷子先生。」那洞裡小妖看見道：「大王，禍事了，行者孫把二大王爺爺裝在葫蘆裡發課哩。」那老魔聞得此言，諕得魂飛魄散，骨軟觔麻，撲的跌倒在地，放聲大哭道：「賢弟呀！我和你私離上界，轉託塵凡，指望同享榮華，永為山洞之主。怎知為這和尚，傷了你的性命，斷吾手足之情。」滿洞群妖，一齊痛哭。他拿著葫芦，说著话，不觉的到了洞口，把那葫芦摇摇，一发响了。他道：「这个像发课的筩子响，倒好发课。等老孙发一课，看师父甚么时才得出门。」你看他手里不住的摇，口里不住的念道：「周易文王、孔子圣人、桃花女先生、鬼谷子先生。」那洞里小妖看见道：「大王，祸事了，行者孙把二大王爷爷装在葫芦里发课哩。」那老魔闻得此言，諕得魂飞魄散，骨软觔麻，扑的跌倒在地，放声大哭道：「贤弟呀！我和你私离上界，转托尘凡，指望同享荣华，永为山洞之主。怎知为这和尚，伤了你的性命，断吾手足之情。」满洞群妖，一齐痛哭。
逐句解 Line by line
Gourd in hand and talking as he went, before he knew it he had reached the cave-mouth; he gave the gourd a shake, and it rattled all the more.
拿著 / 說著 — durative 著 (zhe). 不覺的, "without noticing." The rattle recurs, now a prop for the divination gag.
He said: “This sounds like the shake of a fortune-teller’s lot-tube — rather good for casting a lot.”
發課 (fā kè) — "to cast lots, work a divination"; 筩子 (tǒngzi), the bamboo tube of divining-sticks. 倒好, "rather good," 倒 the adversative dào.
“Let Old Sun cast a lot, and see when the master will get free.”
甚麼時 — "at what time," 甚 = shén. 才得出門, "only then manage to get out," 得 = dé. Wukong plays the diviner in jest.
See him: shaking without pause in his hand, reciting without pause on his lips — “King Wen of the Zhou Changes; Confucius the Sage; Mistress Peach-Blossom; Master Guiguzi!”
不住的 — "without ceasing" (不 read bú before 住). The invoked names are the patrons of divination: 文王 (author of the hexagram-judgments), 孔子 (traditional expositor of the 易), 桃花女 (a folkloric diviner-heroine), and 鬼谷子 (the arch-strategist and master of the occult arts).
An imp within the cave saw it and cried: “Great King — disaster! Xingzhe Sun has bottled His Lordship the Second King in his gourd and is casting lots with him!”
禍事了 — "calamity!" 二大王爺爺, "His Lordship the Second King," the imp’s deferential piling-up of honorifics. The news reaches the elder fiend.
When the old fiend heard these words, he was so terrified his soul flew and spirit scattered, his bones went soft and sinews numb, and he dropped with a thud to the ground, wailing aloud: “Worthy brother!”
諕得 (xià de) — "frightened until"; 諕 = 嚇, "to frighten," the loan-graph read xià. 魂飛魄散 / 骨軟觔麻 are set four-character formulas for abject terror; 跌倒, "fell over," with 倒 = dǎo, "to topple."
“You and I slipped from the upper realm together and took rebirth in the dusty world, hoping to share glory and be lords of this mountain-cave forever.”
私離上界 — "left the upper world by stealth." 轉託塵凡, "took rebirth in the mortal dust." 永為 (yǒng wéi), "to be forever," 為 the verb "to be / serve as," read wéi. The lament discloses the brothers’ celestial origin — the thread the chapter’s end will resolve.
“Who could have known that, for the sake of this monk, your life would be lost and the bond of us brothers cut?”
為這和尚 (wèi zhè héshàng) — "on account of this monk," 為 the preposition "for / because of," read wèi. 手足之情, "the affection of brothers." Note the two readings of 為 in adjacent lines — wéi ("to be") above, wèi ("because of") here.
The whole cave of goblins wept bitterly with one voice.
一齊 (yìqí) — "all together, in unison." The scene closes on collective grief, setting up the elder’s turn to vengeance.
The divination gag runs its course. Taking the rattling gourd for a diviner’s lot-tube, Wukong plays fortune-teller at the cave-mouth, invoking the patrons of the art — King Wen, Confucius, Peach-Blossom, Guiguzi — to "cast a lot" on when Tripitaka will be freed. The comedy is entirely at the demon’s expense, sealed in the vessel that rattles like a divining-tube.
Then the report reaches the elder fiend, and the register shifts abruptly from farce to lament. He collapses in terror and grief, and his weeping discloses what has lain latent: that the two "demons" are exiles from the upper realm who came down together hoping to reign. That revelation — and the vengeance it implies — points ahead to the arc’s resolution, when Lord Lao will arrive to reclaim his furnace-boys. Note the deft pairing of 為 (wéi "to be" / wèi "because of") across the elder’s two lines.