細數前情 Recounting the Past
行者道：「殿下且莫忙，等我說與你聽。你本是烏雞國王的太子。你那裡五年前，年程荒旱，萬民遭苦，你家皇帝共臣子秉心祈禱。正無點雨之時，鍾南山來了一個道士，他善呼風喚雨，點石為金。君王忒也愛小，就與他拜為兄弟。這樁事有麼？」太子道：「有有有，你再說說。」行者道：「殿下且莫忙，等我说与你听。你本是乌鸡国王的太子。你那里五年前，年程荒旱，万民遭苦，你家皇帝共臣子秉心祈祷。正无点雨之时，钟南山来了一个道士，他善呼风唤雨，点石为金。君王忒也爱小，就与他拜为兄弟。这桩事有么？」太子道：「有有有，你再说说。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said, “Your Highness, be not in haste; let me tell you and you shall hear.
Wukong drops the act. 且莫忙 — hold on, do not rush — is the tone of someone about to produce evidence.
You are at root the crown prince of the king of the Black-Rooster Kingdom.
He starts from the one fact the prince cannot dispute: who he is. 本是 is "at root, by origin"; 太子 keeps 子 as zǐ.
There in your land, five years ago, the seasons brought drought and dearth, the myriad people suffered, and your royal father, with his ministers, prayed with all their hearts.
Then the drought, five years back — the same figure the ghost gave in the night audience, and the chapter states it three times in all. 年程荒旱 is a season of drought and dearth; 秉心祈禱 is to pray with a steadied heart; 臣子 keeps 子 as zǐ; 你那裡 takes the pointing nà.
Just when there was not a drop of rain, there came from Mount Zhongnan a Daoist who was skilled at summoning wind and calling rain, and at turning stone to gold.
Note the word he uses: the intruder is a 道士, a Daoist priest — the only time in the chapter he is called that, against thirteen occurrences of 全真. The phrasing shifts too: 點石為金 here where the ghost said 點石成金, the same trick reported by a different mouth. 為 is wéi, to make into; 鍾南山 is again this edition's spelling of 終南.
The king, too fond of petty gain, then bowed with him to become sworn brothers.
And here is the judgement the ghost was too proud to make about himself. 愛小 is being over-fond of small gain — grasping at a bargain. The gold-making was the bait, and Wukong names the weakness plainly: the king was had. 忒也 is "far too"; 拜為兄弟 has 為 as wéi, to become.
Was there such a matter?”
The question is put like a lawyer's: was there such a matter? 這樁事 is "this item."
The prince said, “There was, there was, there was — say on, say more.”
Three yeses in a row and a request for more — the moment the boy stops arguing and starts listening. 再說說 doubles the verb: go on, tell it.
The trickster theatre is put away. Wukong simply recounts the prince's own history — the drought, the Daoist's arrival, the sworn brotherhood — which are the facts the murdered king supplied in the dream, now aimed at the son. It is accurate in every particular, and there is nothing the boy can call nonsense.
His startled triple assent marks the turn. Worth noting is the one word Wukong adds that the ghost never used about himself: 愛小, too fond of petty gain. The king told his story as a tragedy of trust; Wukong names it as a man taken in by the promise of gold. It is a small, unsentimental judgement, and it identifies the flaw underneath the whole disaster.