賺哄群妖 Gulling the Pack of Imps
那一夥廝拖廝扯正行時，忽然看見牛魔王坐在中間，慌得興烘掀、掀烘興撲的跪下道：「老大王爺爺在這裡也。」那雲裡霧、霧裡雲、急如火、快如風都是肉眼凡胎，那裡認得真假，也就一同跪倒，磕頭道：「爺爺，小的們是火雲洞聖嬰大王處差來，請老大王爺爺去吃唐僧肉，壽延千紀哩。」行者借口答道：「孩兒們起來，同我回家去，換了衣服來也。」小妖叩頭道：「望爺爺方便，不消回府罷。路程遙遠，恐我大王見責，小的們就此請行。」行者笑道：「好乖兒女。也罷，也罷，向前開路，我和你去來。」六怪抖擻精神，向前喝路。大聖隨後而來。那一伙厮拖厮扯正行时，忽然看见牛魔王坐在中间，慌得兴烘掀、掀烘兴扑的跪下道：「老大王爷爷在这里也。」那云里雾、雾里云、急如火、快如风都是肉眼凡胎，那里认得真假，也就一同跪倒，磕头道：「爷爷，小的们是火云洞圣婴大王处差来，请老大王爷爷去吃唐僧肉，寿延千纪哩。」行者借口答道：「孩儿们起来，同我回家去，换了衣服来也。」小妖叩头道：「望爷爷方便，不消回府罢。路程遥远，恐我大王见责，小的们就此请行。」行者笑道：「好乖儿女。也罢，也罢，向前开路，我和你去来。」六怪抖擞精神，向前喝路。大圣随后而来。
逐句解 Line by line
That pack, hauling and jostling one another as they went, of a sudden caught sight of the Bull Demon King seated in their midst, and in a flurry of fluster flung themselves down on their knees, crying: "Old Great King, Your Lordship — here you are!"
The four running names are worth savouring: Cloud-in-Mist, Mist-in-Cloud, Swift-as-Fire, Fast-as-Wind. 興烘掀 and 掀烘興 are a nonsense-pair for panic — the sound of six imps falling over each other — and both instances of 興 read xīng, settled that way across this project, not the xìng of 高興, "in good spirits." 廝拖廝扯 is "pulling and jostling one another." In 中間, 中 is zhōng and 間 is jiān, "in the midst"; 得 in 慌得 is the light de.
Now Cloud-in-Mist, Mist-in-Cloud, Swift-as-Fire, and Fast-as-Wind were every one of them of fleshly eye and mortal frame — how were they to tell the true from the false? They too knelt down together and, knocking their heads, said: "Grandsire, we little ones were sent from the Fire-Cloud Cave, from the quarters of the Sage-Boy Great King, to invite Your Lordship the Old Great King to come and eat the Tang Monk's flesh, that your years be lengthened by a thousand cycles."
The line names the reason the trick works: the four runners are 肉眼凡胎, of fleshly eye and mortal frame, and mortal eyes cannot tell a true shape from a made one. The first 那 points at the imps, so nà; the 那 in 那裡認得 is the questioning one, nǎ — "how were they to tell?" 都 is dōu; 得 in 認得 is dé, to make out or recognize; 倒 in 跪倒 is dǎo, to drop to the knees; 差 in 差來 is chāi, dispatched on an errand, not chà, "amiss"; 處 in 大王處 is chù, quarters.
Pilgrim, making his excuse, answered: "Rise up, my children; come home with me first, that I may change my clothes and come."
Wukong's first move is a stall: come home with me, let me change my clothes. Getting them onto his ground would let him test them at leisure — and it is about to fail. In 孩兒, 兒 is ér, standing on its own as "children."
The imps knocked their heads and said: "We beg Your Lordship's indulgence — there is no need to return to the mansion.
The imps refuse, politely and fatally. 不消 is "no need to," and the 罷 here is the soft ba that turns a statement into a suggestion — "no need, then" — not the verb bà, "have done."
The road is long, and we fear our Great King's reproof; we little ones beg to set out from here."
Their reason is fear of their own master, which is exactly what makes them immovable. 見責 is to incur a scolding; 行 in 就此請行 is xíng, to set out.
Pilgrim laughed: "Good, obedient children!
He calls them good children while they are quietly wrecking his plan. 乖 is well-behaved, dutiful; 兒 in 兒女 is ér.
Well then, well then — lead on ahead, and I'll go along with you."
也罷, twice — the sound of a man giving in. 罷 is ba, "well then"; 開路 is to clear the way ahead, to lead on.
The six monsters mustered their spirits and shouted the road clear ahead,
抖擻精神 is to shake one's spirits awake; 喝路 is to cry the road clear, the shout that goes before a great man's carriage.
and the Great Sage followed on behind.
And there is the reversal, in six characters. He meant to lead them home; instead he trails them back to the demon's own front door, where the whole false-father scene will have to be played out on ground he does not control.
The comedy here is a failed stall. Wukong, wearing the Bull King, tries to draw the messengers back home with him — he needs to change his clothes, he says — a pretext that would give him time and the advantage of ground. But the imps are dutiful and frightened of Red Boy's temper, and they insist on pressing straight on. The Great Sage is swept back to the Fire-Cloud Cave, onto the demon's territory instead of his own. The trickster is out-maneuvered by nothing cleverer than obedience.
The four named runners — Cloud-in-Mist, Mist-in-Cloud, Swift-as-Fire, Fast-as-Wind — are of fleshly eye and mortal frame, and so cannot see through the counterfeit. That phrase recurs throughout the book: a changed shape fools ordinary sight and gives way only to the enlightened kind. The imps kneel to a false father precisely because they see with ordinary eyes, and the reader, who can see further, watches all that reverence land on the wrong man.