原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
掘地見井
Digging Down, He Finds the Well
行者道：「八戒，動手麼，寶貝在芭蕉樹下埋著哩。」那獃子雙手舉鈀，築倒了芭蕉。然後用嘴一拱，拱了有三四尺深，見一塊石板蓋著。獃子歡喜道：「哥呀，造化了，果有寶貝，是一片石板蓋著哩。不知是罈兒盛著，是櫃兒裝著哩。」行者道：「你掀起來看看。」那獃子果又一嘴拱開，看處，又見霞光灼灼，白氣明明。八戒笑道：「造化，造化，寶貝放光哩。」又近前細看時，呀！原來是星月之光，映得那井中水亮。行者道：「八戒，动手么，宝贝在芭蕉树下埋著哩。」那呆子双手举钯，筑倒了芭蕉。然后用嘴一拱，拱了有三四尺深，见一块石板盖著。呆子欢喜道：「哥呀，造化了，果有宝贝，是一片石板盖著哩。不知是坛儿盛著，是柜儿装著哩。」行者道：「你掀起来看看。」那呆子果又一嘴拱开，看处，又见霞光灼灼，白气明明。八戒笑道：「造化，造化，宝贝放光哩。」又近前细看时，呀！原来是星月之光，映得那井中水亮。
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「八戒，動手麼，寶貝在芭蕉樹下埋著哩。」
行者道：「八戒，动手么，宝贝在芭蕉树下埋著哩。」
The Pilgrim said: 'Bajie, set to — the treasure lies buried beneath the plantain tree.'
埋著: lies buried (著 = zhe, durative). 行 = xíng. Wukong keeps up the fiction of a 'treasure.'
那獃子雙手舉鈀，築倒了芭蕉。
那呆子双手举钯，筑倒了芭蕉。
The blockhead raised his rake in both hands and struck the plantain down.
築倒了芭蕉: struck the plantain down (倒 = dǎo, topple). 那 = nà; the much-praised plant of the preceding poem is felled at a blow — a comic deflation.
然後用嘴一拱，拱了有三四尺深，見一塊石板蓋著。
然后用嘴一拱，拱了有三四尺深，见一块石板盖著。
Then, rooting with his snout, he dug down some three or four chi deep and came upon a stone slab covering something.
用嘴一拱: rooting with his snout (Bajie's porcine method). 三四尺: three or four chǐ (retained untranslated). 蓋著: covering (著 = zhe).
獃子歡喜道：「哥呀，造化了，果有寶貝，是一片石板蓋著哩。
呆子欢喜道：「哥呀，造化了，果有宝贝，是一片石板盖著哩。
The blockhead said gleefully: 'Brother! Our luck's in — there really is treasure; it's covered over with a stone slab.'
造化了: 'our luck's in.' 蓋著 = zhe. Bajie takes the slab for treasure's covering.
不知是罈兒盛著，是櫃兒裝著哩。」
不知是坛儿盛著，是柜儿装著哩。」
'Who knows whether it's held in a jar or packed in a chest.'
罈兒盛著…櫃兒裝著: held in a jar or packed in a chest (兒 = er, suffix ×2; 著 = zhe, durative ×2). Bajie speculates on the container.
行者道：「你掀起來看看。」
行者道：「你掀起来看看。」
The Pilgrim said: 'Lift it up and have a look.'
掀起來看看: lift it and take a look. 行 = xíng.
那獃子果又一嘴拱開，看處，又見霞光灼灼，白氣明明。
那呆子果又一嘴拱开，看处，又见霞光灼灼，白气明明。
The blockhead indeed rooted it open again with his snout, looked, and saw a glow of rosy light and a clear white vapor.
一嘴拱開: rooted it open with a thrust of the snout. 霞光…白氣: rosy light and white vapor — the deceptive gleam. 那 = nà.
八戒笑道：「造化，造化，寶貝放光哩。」
八戒笑道：「造化，造化，宝贝放光哩。」
Bajie laughed: 'Luck, luck — the treasure is giving off light!'
Bajie, deceived by the glow, crows over the 'treasure.'
又近前細看時，呀！
又近前细看时，呀！
But looking closer — ah!
The narrator's 呀! marks the disappointment to come.
原來是星月之光，映得那井中水亮。
原来是星月之光，映得那井中水亮。
It turned out to be only the light of the stars and moon, reflected off the water shining in the well.
映得那井中水亮: reflected off the bright water in the well (得 = de; 那 = nà; 中 = zhōng). The 'treasure' is only starlight on well-water — and this is the well holding the king's body.
總評 Commentary
The comedy of the false treasure plays out at Bajie's expense. He fells the delicately celebrated plantain at a stroke — a deft deflation of the preceding poem — and roots down with his snout to a covering stone, certain the 'treasure' Wukong promised lies beneath. His greedy speculation (a jar? a chest?) and his crow of delight at the gleam below are the setup for the reveal.
The reveal is a small masterpiece of anticlimax: the 'rosy light and white vapor' that seem to signal treasure are only starlight and moonlight glancing off water — the water of a well. Wukong's fiction has led Bajie, step by greedy step, to the exact spot he needed: the well that holds the drowned king's body.
The passage turns the chapter's engine of benign deception to its climactic use. Every prior misdirection — the staged hunt, the 'business,' the invincible weapon — has been preparation for this moment, when the reluctant pig stands at the well's mouth believing he is about to be rich. The grim, protracted comedy of hauling up the king's body, which occupies the rest of the chapter, begins here.