匣中小僧 The Little Monk in the Casket
行者道：「那太子不出城便罷，若真個應夢出城來，我定引他來見你。」三藏道：「見了我如何迎答？」行者道：「來到時，我先報知。你把那匣蓋兒扯開些，等我變作二寸長的一個小和尚，放在匣兒裡，你連我捧在手中。那太子進了寺來，必然拜佛。你盡他怎的下拜，只是不睬他。他見你不動身，一定教拿你。你憑他拿下去，打也由他，綁也由他，殺也由他。」行者道：「那太子不出城便罢，若真个应梦出城来，我定引他来见你。」三藏道：「见了我如何迎答？」行者道：「来到时，我先报知。你把那匣盖儿扯开些，等我变作二寸长的一个小和尚，放在匣儿里，你连我捧在手中。那太子进了寺来，必然拜佛。你尽他怎的下拜，只是不睬他。他见你不动身，一定教拿你。你凭他拿下去，打也由他，绑也由他，杀也由他。」
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim said, “If that crown prince does not come out of the city, let it rest; but if indeed, answering the dream, he does come out, I will surely bring him to see you.”
The plan is contingent on the prince actually riding out, and Wukong says so. 應夢 is to answer or fulfil the dream, with 應 as yìng; 那太子 takes the pointing nà and 子 as zǐ.
Tripitaka said, “When he has seen me, how am I to receive him?”
Tripitaka, ever the man of protocol, asks how he should greet a prince. The answer is going to horrify him. 迎答 is to receive and answer.
Pilgrim said, “When he comes, I will report to you first.
Wukong will signal first. 報知 is to give word.
You pull open the lid of that casket a little, and let me change into a little monk two cùn tall, set inside the casket, and you cradle me together with it in your hands.
The trick itself: a monk two 寸 tall, hidden in the box the master is holding. A cùn is a Chinese inch-length, a tenth of a chǐ — so about the size of a thumb. 那匣蓋兒 takes the pointing nà and the light er; 長 is cháng, in length; 手中 takes the locative zhōng.
When that crown prince enters the temple, he will surely bow to the Buddha.
The prediction the whole trap depends on: a prince entering a temple will bow to the Buddha. 佛 is always fó; 那太子 keeps 子 as zǐ.
Let him bow however he will — only, take no notice of him.
And the instruction that turns courtesy into a weapon: whatever he does, ignore him. 盡他怎的 is "let him do as he likes," the concessive sense — read jǐn. Worth knowing that the edition writes 盡 where later printing would distinguish 儘: in Ming usage the one character served both jìn "exhaust" and jǐn "to the utmost, no matter how." 不睬 is to take no notice.
Seeing you will not stir, he is certain to have you seized.
The consequence, forecast with complete calm. 一定教 has 教 as jiào, the causative; 不動身 takes 不 as bú.
Let him seize you as he pleases: beat you if he will, bind you if he will, kill you if he will.”
Three clauses, each worse than the last, all built on 由他 — as he pleases. Beat you as he pleases, bind you as he pleases, kill you as he pleases. Wukong is briefing his master on being arrested. 憑他 is the same idea; 綁 is to bind.
The stratagem is laid out in full: Wukong shrunk to two cùn inside the casket his master carries, and Tripitaka instructed to sit through the prince's obeisance without moving, so as to provoke his own arrest. The audacity of it is that the bait is the master.
Wukong's unruffled willingness to see Tripitaka beaten, bound or killed sets up both the comedy of the alarm coming in the next passage and the confidence of a disciple who knows he can pull any situation back. And the hinge of the whole trap is a single concessive phrase — let him bow however he likes — that converts a deliberate rudeness into a plan.