妖精定計 The Demon Lays His Scheme
話分兩頭。卻說紅光裡，真是個妖精。他數年前聞得人講：東土唐僧往西天取經，乃是金蟬長老轉生，十世修行的好人，有人吃他一塊肉，延生長壽，與天地同休。他朝朝在山間等候，不期今日到了。他在那半空裡正然觀看，只見三個徒弟把唐僧圍護在馬上，各各準備。這精靈誇讚不盡道：「好和尚！我才看著一個白面胖和尚騎了馬，真是那唐朝聖僧，卻怎麼被三個醜和尚護持住了？一個個伸拳斂袖，各執兵器，似乎要與人打的一般。噫！不知是那個有眼力的，想應認得我了。似此模樣，莫想得那唐僧的肉吃。」沉吟半晌，以心問心的自家商量道：「若要倚勢而擒，莫能得近；或者以善迷他，卻到得手。但哄得他心迷惑，待我在善內生機，斷然拿了。且下去戲他一戲。」话分两头。却说红光里，真是个妖精。他数年前闻得人讲：东土唐僧往西天取经，乃是金蝉长老转生，十世修行的好人，有人吃他一块肉，延生长寿，与天地同休。他朝朝在山间等候，不期今日到了。他在那半空里正然观看，只见三个徒弟把唐僧围护在马上，各各准备。这精灵夸赞不尽道：「好和尚！我才看着一个白面胖和尚骑了马，真是那唐朝圣僧，却怎么被三个丑和尚护持住了？一个个伸拳敛袖，各执兵器，似乎要与人打的一般。噫！不知是那个有眼力的，想应认得我了。似此模样，莫想得那唐僧的肉吃。」沉吟半晌，以心问心的自家商量道：「若要倚势而擒，莫能得近；或者以善迷他，却到得手。但哄得他心迷惑，待我在善内生机，断然拿了。且下去戏他一戏。」
逐句解 Line by line
The tale divides in two.
話分兩頭, "the tale divides in two," is the storyteller's formula for cutting away to a second thread — here, to the demon's own point of view. 分 is fēn.
Now within that red glow there was indeed a demon.
Confirmation, flatly given. 真是 here is plain "was indeed," not a cue for verse.
Years before, he had heard people tell that the Tang Monk journeying west from the Eastern Land to fetch the scriptures was the reincarnation of the Elder Golden Cicada, a good man of ten lifetimes' cultivation, and that whoever ate a single morsel of his flesh would have his years prolonged and his life extended, enduring as long as Heaven and earth.
The motive, and it is the standard one: eating Tripitaka confers immortality, because he is the tenth incarnation of a soul that has kept its vows through every one of them. That is what draws every demon in the book toward him. 數年前 — 數 is shù, "several, a number of." 聞得 takes the full-weight 得, dé, "came to hear." Then the same character twice with different readings in one sentence: 金蟬長老 has 長 as zhǎng, "elder," while 延生長壽 has it as cháng, "long." In 修行, 行 is xíng.
Day after day he had lain in wait among the mountains, and did not expect that this very day the Tang Monk had come.
He has been waiting for years, and today it simply happens. 朝朝, "morning after morning," takes zhāo, the dawn word, not the cháo that means a royal court. 了 in 到了 is the light le that marks the thing as done.
He was up in the middle air, watching intently, and saw the three disciples hemming the Tang Priest round upon his horse, each of them at the ready.
He is watching from mid-air, and what he sees is a problem. 那半空裡 takes the pointing nà; 觀看 has 觀 as guān.
This sprite, praising them without end, said: "Fine monks!
A villain admiring the opposition — the book enjoys this. 誇讚不盡 has 盡 as jìn, and here 不 correctly stays bù: the shift only happens before a falling fourth tone, and 盡 is not one.
Just now I watched a white-faced, plump monk astride a horse — truly that holy monk of the Tang court; but how has he come to be guarded so close by three ugly monks?
The demon's eye for a face is good — he has picked out the plump, pale one on the horse as the prize. 看著 uses the in-progress 著, zhe; 騎了馬 and 住了 both use the completed 了, le. 那唐朝聖僧 takes the pointing nà, and in 唐朝 the 朝 is cháo, "dynasty, court" — the opposite reading to the 朝朝 of a moment ago.
Every one of them flexing his fists and rolling back his sleeves, each gripping a weapon, as though they meant to fight somebody.
Sleeves rolled, fists flexed. 似乎 has 似 as sì, fixed that way across the project. In 打的一般 the linking 的 is de, where the automatic tool wanted dī; and 一 shifts to yì before the level tone of 般.
Ah!
噫 (yī) — the sound of something dawning on you.
I don't know which of them has the sharp eyes — one that must have recognized me.
He has worked out that one of them can see through him, which is exactly right. 那個有眼力的 is the questioning 那, nǎ gè, "which one" — not the pointing nà. 想應 has 應 as yīng, "surely, must." 認得 takes the full-weight 得, dé, "to recognise."
In this guise, there'll be no thinking of eating that Tang Monk's flesh."
Frontal assault is off. 似此模樣 has 似 as sì, "like this" — the automatic tool wanted shì and was overruled, since this is not the 似的 pairing. 想得 uses the light hinge 得, de, and 那唐僧 the pointing nà.
Musing a good while, he took counsel with himself, heart questioning heart: "If I would seize him by force, there is no getting near;
以心問心, "heart questioning heart," is how classical Chinese describes talking yourself through a problem. The linking 的 is de. 莫能得近 takes the full-weight 得, dé, "able to get near."
but if by some show of goodness I beguile him, then he may yet come into my hands.
And here is the plan. 以善迷他 — beguile him by way of goodness. In 卻到得手, 得 is dé: 到得手 is "comes within reach."
Only let me lure his heart into confusion, and while I work my goodness upon him, I'll seize him for certain.
Two different 得 in two lines. This one, in 但哄得他, is the light hinge de — lure him into a state. 拿了 takes the completed 了, le.
Now let me go down and play him a little game."
戲他一戲, "play him a game" — the doubled verb makes it sound like sport, which is the tone the false child will keep up throughout. 一 shifts to yí before the falling tone of 戲.
The story cuts away, with the formula 話分兩頭, to the demon's side — something the novel does sparingly and to great effect. We get his motive, which is the usual one, and then something much more interesting: we watch him think. The inner monologue is a small study in tactics. Brute force is ruled out, because the disciples are packed too closely round the Master. Someone among them, he suspects, has already recognised him for what he is — and he is right. So he settles on 以善迷他, to beguile through a show of goodness.
That solution is aimed with real precision, because Tripitaka's compassion is the one crack in the party's defences and the demon has found it on his first look. The whole Red Boy sequence turns on this insight: the Master's defining virtue, his readiness to pity and rescue anything helpless, is also the way in. The plan he lands on — appear as a bound, weeping child — turns mercy itself into the weapon, and the chapter title, 嬰兒戲化禪心亂, names the strategy before it happens. His parting phrase, 戲他一戲, "play him a little game," sets the tone of mock-innocence the disguise will keep up for the next several passages.