號山石碣 The Stone Tablet on Roaring Mountain
將近行到門前，見有一座石碣，上鐫八個大字，乃是「號山枯松澗火雲洞」。那壁廂一群小妖，在那裡掄槍舞劍的跳風頑耍。将近行到门前，见有一座石碣，上镌八个大字，乃是「号山枯松涧火云洞」。那壁厢一群小妖，在那里抡枪舞剑的跳风顽耍。
逐句解 Line by line
Drawing near, they walked up to the gate, where a stone tablet stood, and graven upon it were eight great characters: ‘The Fire-Cloud Cave of the Withered-Pine Torrent on Roaring Mountain.’
The address, carved in stone, and worth pausing on because the novel rarely bothers. Eight characters: 號山枯松澗火雲洞, the Fire-Cloud Cave of the Withered-Pine Torrent on Roaring Mountain. 號 is hào, "named, styled," the settled reading for place-names. 將 in 將近 is jiāng, "about to, drawing near." 石碣 is an upright stone slab with an inscription cut into it.
Off to one side a troop of little imps were whirling spears and flourishing blades, capering in the wind at their play.
那 twice, both just pointing -- over on that side, and there. 掄 lūn is to whirl something around your head; 跳風頑耍 is capering about in the wind at play. The little demons are, in effect, messing around in the yard.
A short passage doing one job: fixing the address. The tablet gathers the scattered place-names into a single eight-character line, 號山枯松澗火雲洞, which is the form the story will use from here on. It is the sort of concrete, checkable detail the novel drops into its wildest geography to make it feel surveyed.
The imps whirling spears in the yard do the second job, which is tonal. A moment ago the poetry was all cranes and phoenixes; now there are small monsters playing at soldiers outside the gate. The grandeur deflates on contact, and Wukong is about to start shouting.