啃桃留核 The Peach Gnawed to the Pit
唐僧道：「徒弟啊，又來猜了。」行者道：「放心，等我再去看看。」又嚶的一聲，飛將去，還從板縫兒鑽進去，見是一個桃子，正合他意。即現了原身，坐在櫃裡，將桃子一頓口啃得乾乾淨淨，連兩邊腮凹兒都啃淨了，將核兒安在裡面。仍變蟭蟟蟲，飛將出去，釘在唐僧耳朵上道：「師父，只猜是個桃核子。」長老道：「徒弟啊，休要弄我。先前不是口快，幾乎拿去典刑。這番須猜寶貝方好。桃核子是甚寶貝？」行者道：「休怕，只管贏他便了。」唐僧道：「徒弟啊，又来猜了。」行者道：「放心，等我再去看看。」又嘤的一声，飞将去，还从板缝儿钻进去，见是一个桃子，正合他意。即现了原身，坐在柜里，将桃子一顿口啃得干干净净，连两边腮凹儿都啃净了，将核儿安在里面。仍变蟭蟟虫，飞将出去，钉在唐僧耳朵上道：「师父，只猜是个桃核子。」长老道：「徒弟啊，休要弄我。先前不是口快，几乎拿去典刑。这番须猜宝贝方好。桃核子是甚宝贝？」行者道：「休怕，只管赢他便了。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Tang Monk said: "Disciple, ah — here's another guess to make."
又來猜了 — here we go again. The weariness in the line is the whole joke: for Tripitaka this is a second brush with the executioner, and for Wukong it is a second helping.
The Pilgrim said: "Rest easy; let me go and look once more."
等我再去看看: 看 = kàn, doubled to keep it casual. He is enjoying this.
Again with a thin droning buzz he flew off, bored back in through the chink in the boards, and saw it was a peach — which suited his fancy exactly.
又嚶的一聲 — the same thin hum as before, the chapter's audio cue for a gnat on the move. 飛將去: 將 = jiāng, pointing the flight. 還從板縫兒: 還 = hái, back through the same chink, with the small 兒 = er. And 正合他意 — it suited him exactly. Of all the objects in the palace, they have handed him a peach.
At once he showed his own true form, sat down inside the chest, and in one bout gnawed the peach clean away — even the flesh in the two cheek-hollows he gnawed off bare — and set the stone back inside.
He does not transform the peach; he eats it, which is neater and much more in character. 啃得乾乾淨淨 — gnawed clean away, with 得 = de joining verb to result. Note the 乾: here it is gān, "dry, clean," doubled up for emphasis — not the qián of 乾坤, heaven-and-earth, on the queen's skirt in the passage before. Same character, two worlds apart. 腮凹兒 are the two hollows in the fruit's cheeks, and he strips those too (都 = dōu, 兒 = er). Then the stone goes back in the box. Both 將 are jiāng.
He changed back into a gnat-fly, flew out, perched on the Tang Monk's ear, and said: "Master, just guess it to be a peach-stone."
飛將出去: 將 = jiāng. 桃核子 — a peach-stone, with the light 子 = zi. The instruction is delivered to the ear, as always, and is as bald as it could be.
The elder said: "Disciple, ah — don't make sport of me.
休要弄我 — don't make sport of me. The master thinks he is being teased, which after the last round is fair enough. 長老: 長 = zhǎng.
Just now, had I not been quick of tongue, I'd all but been hauled off to execution.
典刑 is the legal term for a capital sentence, not a beating — Tripitaka is quite right about how close it was. 不是口快 is "had I not been quick of tongue."
This time I must guess a treasure to come off well.
這番 is "this bout"; 須猜寶貝方好, I must guess a treasure and only then will it do. He has learned exactly the wrong lesson from surviving.
How is a peach-stone any treasure?"
是甚寶貝: 甚 = shén, "what treasure." 桃核子 again takes the light 子 = zi. The objection is unanswerable and completely irrelevant.
The Pilgrim said: "Never fear — only keep on winning against him, and that will do."
只管贏他便了 — just keep beating him and that's that. In 便了 the 了 is the light le that closes a sentence off, not the verb liǎo, "to finish." It is the most Wukong sentence in the passage: never mind the theory, win the round.
The third swap is the neatest of the lot, because it is not a transformation at all. Wukong simply eats the peach and leaves the stone, so that when Tripitaka guesses "a peach-stone" he is not lying, or being magically vindicated — he is just right. 啃得乾乾淨淨, gnawed clean away, down to the hollows in the fruit's cheeks: the storyteller is enjoying the monkey's greed even while it does honest work.
Underneath the farce the danger stays visible. Tripitaka remembers, in the same breath, how close he came to being 拿去典刑, hauled off for a capital sentence, and he is right to. Wukong's reply — 只管贏他便了, just keep winning and that's that — is the whole difference between them in seven characters. And there is a quiet emblem buried in the scene: the peach is the Daoist token of the immortality these three men claim to have achieved, and it is eaten down to nothing by the power they are trying to beat.