This demon king turned back inside once more and, facing Pilgrim, made his bow again.

The bow is repeated, and it is now a feint. 當 in 當面 is dāng, face to face.

Pilgrim said: "My child, at home there's no need of constant ceremony — you needn't bow.

The "father's" easy indulgence, keeping the part up. 兒 in 孩兒 is ér.

But whatever you have to say, say it out."

Say it out — and he is walking straight into it. 甚 in 但有甚話 is shén, "whatever you have to say."

The demon king prostrated himself on the ground and said: "Your foolish son, for one thing, invited you to receive the offering of the Tang Monk's flesh; and for another, has a word to lay before you. Some days ago I was strolling idly, riding an auspicious light, and had gone straight up into the ninth empyrean when of a sudden I met with Master Zhang Daoling of the Patriarchal Court."

The bait is elaborate. The demon claims he met a Daoist celebrity in the upper air: Zhang Daoling, first of the Celestial Masters, the founder of the organized Daoist church. (The 世德堂本 writes his name 張道齡, where the usual form has líng written with a different character; the reading is unchanged and the edition's spelling is kept.) 祖庭 is the Patriarchal Court, the school's mother house. 兒 in 話兒 is the light er ending; 行 in 閑行 is xíng, strolled; 著 in 忽逢著 is zháo, met with.

Pilgrim said: "Would that be Zhang Daoling who is the Celestial Master?"

Wukong recognizes the name and plays along.

The demon king said: "The very same."

The plain confirmation again — 正是 used as everyday speech, not as a verse-tag; this block carries no verse marking.

Pilgrim asked: "What did he have to say?"

甚 in 有甚話說 is shén, "what did he say."

The demon king said: "Seeing that your son was born with the five features regular and the three zones evenly set, he asked me in what year, which month, which day, and which hour I came into the world.

And the snare closes. 五官周正 (the five features regular) and 三停平等 (the three zones of the face evenly proportioned) are the standard vocabulary of face-reading — the flattery is a physiognomist's compliment. Then comes the real question: in what year, month, day and hour were you born? No father alive forgets that. 兒 in 孩兒 is ér; 得 in 生得 is the light de, born with; the three 那 of 那月, 那日 and 那時 are all the questioning nǎ.

Being young, your son could not recall it exactly.

He feigns not to know his own birth-data, which is what makes the question innocent. 兒 is ér, your son; 得 in 記得 is dé, to recall.

The Master is deeply versed in the Ziping art, and would reckon out my five stars for me.

The 子平 method of fate-calculation is named after Xu Ziping, who systematised it — so the 子 is zǐ, part of a personal name, not the light ending. The 五星 are the five planets. 看 in 推看五星 is kàn, to read them off.

Now, in inviting you, Father King, it is just this I wished to ask.

Laid out plainly: this is why I sent for you.

Should I chance to meet him again next time, I might trouble him to work out my fate."

And a reason for wanting it now. 得 in 再得會他 is dé, manage to meet him again.

Pilgrim, hearing this, sat above and laughed to himself: "What a demon this is!

Wukong sees the trap the instant it is laid, and admires it.

Ever since old Sun turned to the Buddha-fruit and guarded the Tang master, I've caught a fair few fiends along the way, but none so grasping and sly as this fellow.

剋剝 (kè bō) is "grasping, sharp-dealing" — a merchant's word, and high praise from a professional. 佛 in 佛果 is fó; 似 in 不似這廝 is sì, unlike this fellow.

He asks me all this household this-and-that — short of rice, out of firewood, and the like — and I can well enough answer him off the cuff with any patched-up nonsense;

Here is the distinction Wukong draws, and it is exactly right: household small talk can be improvised, because nobody can check it. 家長禮短 is domestic this-and-that; 少米無柴 is short of rice and out of firewood; 信口捏膿 is to blurt out patched-up nonsense. 甚 in 甚麼 is shén; 長 in 家長禮短 is cháng.

but now he asks me my year, month, and day of birth — how am I to know that?"

But a birth-hour is a fact, and facts cannot be bluffed.

The worthy Monkey King, cunning to a fault, sat majestic in the midst without the least trace of fear, and, his face on the contrary all beaming with smiles, said: "Worthy son, rise.

The composure is the performance. Not a flicker of fear, and a face positively beaming. 分 in 十分乖巧 is fēn, exceedingly; 中 and 間 in 端坐中間 are zhōng and jiān, in the midst; 兒 in 些兒 is the light er ending, "a bit."

I've grown old, and these last days, with matters not going as I'd wish, I clean forgot the hour of your birth; let us wait till tomorrow, when I go home, and ask your mother, and then I'll know."

And he escapes with the same tool as before: postponement. I am old, I have had a trying week, I have simply forgotten — ask your mother tomorrow.