二童歸天 The Boys Return to Heaven
那老君收得五件寶貝,揭開葫蘆與淨瓶蓋口,倒出兩股仙氣。用手一指,仍化為金、銀二童子,相隨左右。只見那霞光萬道,咦!那老君收得五件宝贝,揭开葫芦与净瓶盖口,倒出两股仙气。用手一指,仍化为金、银二童子,相随左右。只见那霞光万道,咦!
畢竟不知此後又有甚事,孫大聖怎生保護唐僧,幾時得到西天,且聽下回分解。毕竟不知此后又有甚事,孙大圣怎生保护唐僧,几时得到西天,且听下回分解。
逐句解 Line by line
Lord Lao took back the five treasures, uncapped the mouths of the gourd and the Pure Vase, and poured out two streams of immortal vapor.
收得五件寶貝 is "gathered up the five treasures," 得 the complement de; 倒出兩股仙氣 is "poured out two streams of immortal vapour," 倒 read dào, to tip out. What was dissolved comes out of the bottle as breath.
With a point of his hand, they changed again into the Gold and Silver acolyte-boys, attending on his left and right.
化為 is "changed into," 為 read wéi; 相隨左右 is "attending on either side," 相 read xiāng. One gesture undoes the deaths of two chapters, which is the privilege of gods and the frustration of everyone else.
Then were seen ten thousand shafts of rosy light — lo!
霞光萬道 is "ten thousand shafts of rosy light," the standard aureole of a divine ascent; 咦 (yí) — "lo" — turns the prose over to the closing couplet, the same exclamation that opened the first battle-verse.
Wreathed in mist, together they return to the Tuṣita court; free and unfettered, straight up to the Great Canopy Heaven.
兜率院 (Dōushuài Yuàn) is the Tuṣita court, Lord Lao's heaven, with 率 read shuài in this Buddhist name rather than lǜ. 大羅天 is the Great Canopy Heaven, highest of the Daoist heavens — and having both in one couplet is the chapter signing off in two theologies at once. 逍遙 returns here from the head-verse, where it described the liberated adept; it now describes two servants going home.
In the end, there is no knowing what further matters there were after this, nor how Sun the Great Sage would guard the Tang Monk, nor when they would reach the Western Heaven; let it be heard in the telling of the next chapter.
且聽下回分解 — "let it be heard in the next chapter's telling," 解 read jiě; 又有甚事 has 甚 read shén, and 得到 has 得 read dé. The storyteller's standard sign-off, inherited from the days when the next instalment cost another coin.
The chapter closes the circle it opened. Lord Lao uncaps the vessels, pours out the two streams of vapour that were the melted fiends, and with one pointed finger restores them to shape as the Gold and Silver boys, obedient at his left and right. A whole demonic career dissolves back into the servants they were the entire time.
The closing couplet sends the three of them up together, and it is worth noticing where they go: the Tuṣita court is a Buddhist heaven and the Great Canopy Heaven a Daoist one, held in a single pair of lines without apology. The word 逍遙 comes back too, having opened the chapter as an emblem of the liberated adept and closing it on two furnace-boys drifting home. Then the storyteller's formula, and the road west continues.