盤詰行童 The Fiend Presses for the Acolyte's Testimony
這一篇，原來是太子小心，恐怕來傷了唐僧，故意留住妖魔，更不知行者安排著要打。那魔王果信其言，立在龍床前面，大喝一聲道：「那和尚是幾時離了東土？唐王因甚事著你求經？」行者昂然而答道：「我師父乃唐王御弟，號曰三藏。因唐王駕下有一丞相，姓魏名徵，奉天條夢斬涇河老龍。大唐王夢遊陰司地府，復得回生之後，大開水陸道場，普度冤魂孽鬼。因我師父敷演經文，廣運慈悲，忽得南海觀世音菩薩指教來西。我師父大發弘願，情忻意美，報國盡忠，蒙唐王賜與文牒。那時正是大唐貞觀十三年九月望前三日，離了東土。前至兩界山，收了我做大徒弟，姓孫，名悟空行者；又到烏斯國界高家莊，收了二徒弟，姓豬，名悟能八戒；流沙河界，又收了三徒弟，姓沙，名悟淨和尚；前日在敕建寶林寺，又新收個挑擔的行童道人。」魔王聞說，又沒法搜檢那唐僧，弄巧語盤詰行者，怒目問道：「那和尚，你起初時，一個人離東土，又收了四眾，那三僧可讓，這一道難容。那行童斷然是拐來的。他叫做甚麼名字？有度牒是無度牒？拿他上來取供。」諕得那皇帝戰戰兢兢道：「師父啊！我卻怎的供？」孫行者捻他一把道：「你休怕，等我替你供。」这一篇，原来是太子小心，恐怕来伤了唐僧，故意留住妖魔，更不知行者安排着要打。那魔王果信其言，立在龙床前面，大喝一声道：「那和尚是几时离了东土？唐王因甚事着你求经？」行者昂然而答道：「我师父乃唐王御弟，号曰三藏。因唐王驾下有一丞相，姓魏名征，奉天条梦斩泾河老龙。大唐王梦游阴司地府，复得回生之后，大开水陆道场，普度冤魂孽鬼。因我师父敷演经文，广运慈悲，忽得南海观世音菩萨指教来西。我师父大发弘愿，情忻意美，报国尽忠，蒙唐王赐与文牒。那时正是大唐贞观十三年九月望前三日，离了东土。前至两界山，收了我做大徒弟，姓孙，名悟空行者；又到乌斯国界高家庄，收了二徒弟，姓猪，名悟能八戒；流沙河界，又收了三徒弟，姓沙，名悟净和尚；前日在敕建宝林寺，又新收个挑担的行童道人。」魔王闻说，又没法搜检那唐僧，弄巧语盘诘行者，怒目问道：「那和尚，你起初时，一个人离东土，又收了四众，那三僧可让，这一道难容。那行童断然是拐来的。他叫做甚么名字？有度牒是无度牒？拿他上来取供。」諕得那皇帝战战兢兢道：「师父啊！我却怎的供？」孙行者捻他一把道：「你休怕，等我替你供。」
逐句解 Line by line
This whole speech, you see, was the prince's careful device — fearing harm might come to the Tang Monk, he deliberately held the fiend back, never knowing that Pilgrim was arranging things and meaning to strike.
太子: 子 = zǐ. 安排著: 著 = zhe. 更不知: 更 = gèng. The narrator steps in to make sure nobody misses the irony: the prince's kindness has just saved the wrong man from a beating.
That demon-king, taking his word for it, stood before the dragon-couch and cried out: "That monk — when did he leave the Eastern Land?
Two 那 point (那魔王, 那和尚) = nà. 大喝一聲, gave a great shout.
For what cause did the Tang king have you seek scriptures?"
因甚事: 甚 = shén, "what." 著你求經: 著 = zhuó, having somebody do a thing.
Pilgrim answered proudly: "My master is the Tang king's imperial younger brother, styled Tripitaka.
號曰: 號 = hào, styled. 三藏: 藏 = zàng.
Because under the Tang king there was a chancellor, surnamed Wei and named Zheng, who by Heaven's decree beheaded the old dragon of the Jing River in a dream.
丞相: 相 = xiàng, chancellor — not the xiāng of "mutually." 夢斬涇河老龍, the beheading of the old dragon of the Jing River in a dream, is the event that set the whole pilgrimage going, back in Chapter 10.
The Great Tang king dreamed his spirit roamed the dark courts of the underworld, and after he regained life, he opened a grand Land-and-Water Mass to deliver in full the wronged souls and orphaned ghosts.
復得回生: 得 = dé. 普度: 度 = dù. A 水陸道場 is a Land-and-Water Mass, the great Buddhist rite for delivering the dead of both elements — the ceremony at which Tripitaka was chosen.
Because my master expounded the scripture-texts and spread abroad his compassion, he was suddenly granted the guidance of the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin of the Southern Sea, sent to come west.
忽得: 得 = dé. 觀世音: 觀 = guān — the name means "she who contemplates the sounds of the world." 指教: 教 = jiào.
My master made a great vow, glad in feeling and fair in intent, repaying the state with utmost loyalty, and received from the Tang king a written rescript.
報國盡忠: 盡 = jìn, to the utmost. 情忻意美, glad in feeling and fair in intent.
That was in the thirteenth year of Zhenguan of Great Tang, three days before the fifteenth of the ninth month, when he left the Eastern Land.
Pointing 那時: 那 = nà. 貞觀 is the reign-name Zhēnguàn, where 觀 is guàn — a different reading from the guān of 觀世音 one line above. Wukong dates his departure to the day, which is the sort of detail an interrogator finds hard to argue with.
Coming first to Twin-Frontier Mountain, he took me as his eldest disciple, surnamed Sun, named Wukong the Pilgrim;
兩界山, the Mountain of Two Frontiers, is where Wukong was dug out from under his rock in Chapter 14. 行者: 行 = xíng.
coming again to the Gao Farmstead on the border of Wusi, he took a second disciple, surnamed Zhu, named Wuneng the Eight Rules;
烏斯國界 is the marches of Wusi. 悟能八戒 gives Bajie's two religious names: Wuneng, "awakened to ability," and Bajie, the Eight Prohibitions he is supposed to observe and mostly does not.
at the River of Flowing Sand, he took a third disciple, surnamed Sha, named Wujing the monk;
流沙河 is the River of Flowing Sands, where Sha Monk was recruited in Chapter 22. 悟淨, "awakened to purity," is his religious name — the three disciples' names all share their first character, marking them as one generation of the same lineage.
and just the other day, at the imperially-built Precious-Grove Monastery, he newly took on this load-carrying acolyte, a Daoist novice."
挑擔的行童: 擔 = dàn, the load; 行童 takes 行 = xíng, an acolyte. And there it is — the king slipped into the recital as a routine new hire, in the same breath as three genuine disciples.
The demon-king, hearing this, and having no way to search out the Tang Monk, spun clever words to cross-question Pilgrim, and asked with glaring eyes: "That monk — when you first set out, one man left the Eastern Land, and you took on four followers; the three monks may pass, but this one Daoist won't do.
Three 那 point (那唐僧, 那和尚, 那三僧) = nà. 沒法: 沒 = méi. 難容: 難 = nán. The fiend cannot fault the story, so he counts heads — and one of the five does not fit the pattern.
That acolyte is surely one you've kidnapped.
Pointing 那行童: 那 = nà; 行 = xíng. 斷然是拐來的, is certainly one you have abducted.
What is his name?
甚麼名字: 甚 = shén.
Has he an ordination-certificate or not?
度牒: 度 = dù — the ordination certificate, the state-issued licence proving a monk is legally a monk. Asking for papers is a bureaucrat's weapon, and here a lethal one.
Bring him up here and take his testimony."
取供: 供 = gòng, testimony taken down as a formal deposition.
That frightened the emperor into trembling and shaking: "Master!
諕得: 諕 = xià, to frighten; hinging 得 = de. Pointing 那皇帝: 那 = nà. His terror is entirely reasonable — one question about his name and the disguise is over.
How ever am I to testify?"
怎的供: 供 = gòng. Four characters, whispered, from a man who cannot give his name, his age, or his native place without hanging everyone in the room.
Sun Pilgrim gave him a pinch: "Don't be afraid — let me testify for you."
捻他一把, gave him a pinch — a whole rescue conducted by touch, under four hundred pairs of eyes. 替你供: 供 = gòng.
Wukong meets the interrogation with a bravura recital of the pilgrimage's entire prehistory: Wei Zheng's dream-beheading of the Jing River dragon, Taizong's tour of the underworld and the Land-and-Water Mass, Guanyin's commission, the vow, the rescript of the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, and the taking of the three disciples at Twin-Frontier Mountain, the Gao Farmstead and the River of Flowing Sand. It is the novel recapping its own opening chapters through a character's mouth, and it is also a performance — fluent, dated, specific, and calculated to leave the impostor nowhere to put a question.
But the fiend finds the one seam: a party that set out with four now has five. He fixes on the load-carrying acolyte and demands his name, his ordination papers and his sworn testimony. The danger is sharp, because the acolyte is the revived king, who could not survive one question — and the shaking that seizes him is not acting. Wukong's whispered 等我替你供, "let me testify for you," sets up the chapter's cleverest set-piece: a deposition in rhyme that will tell the whole truth of the usurpation while passing for the routine statement of a mute servant. The scene ends poised on that pinch and that promise.