廟門詰問 Questions at the Temple Gate
那怪物攔住廟門問道：「今年祭祀的是那家？」行者笑吟吟的答道：「承下問，莊頭是陳澄、陳清家。」那怪聞答，心中疑似道：「這童男膽大，言談伶俐。常來供養受用的，問一聲不言語；再問聲，諕了魂；用手去捉，已是死人。怎麼今日這童男善能應對？」怪物不敢來拿，又問：「童男女叫甚名字？」行者笑道：「童男陳關保，童女一秤金。」怪物道：「這祭賽乃上年舊規，如今供獻我，當吃你。」行者道：「不敢抗拒，請自在受用。」怪物聽說，又不敢動手，攔住門喝道：「你莫頂嘴。我常年先吃童男，今年倒要先吃童女。」八戒慌了道：「大王還照舊罷，不要吃壞例子。」那怪物拦住庙门问道：「今年祭祀的是那家？」行者笑吟吟的答道：「承下问，庄头是陈澄、陈清家。」那怪闻答，心中疑似道：「这童男胆大，言谈伶俐。常来供养受用的，问一声不言语；再问声，諕了魂；用手去捉，已是死人。怎么今日这童男善能应对？」怪物不敢来拿，又问：「童男女叫甚名字？」行者笑道：「童男陈关保，童女一秤金。」怪物道：「这祭赛乃上年旧规，如今供献我，当吃你。」行者道：「不敢抗拒，请自在受用。」怪物听说，又不敢动手，拦住门喝道：「你莫顶嘴。我常年先吃童男，今年倒要先吃童女。」八戒慌了道：「大王还照旧罢，不要吃坏例子。」
逐句解 Line by line
The monster stopped in the temple gateway and asked: 「Whose household makes the sacrifice this year?」
Two readings of 那 in one short line, and only the sense of the sentence separates them: 那怪物 is nà, "that monster," pointing; 那家 is nǎ, "which household," asking. The demon's opening question is pure administration — whose turn is it this year.
Pilgrim answered him with a smiling face: 「Since you are good enough to ask — the village heads are the households of Chen Cheng and Chen Qing.」
承下問 is a courteous formula, "in receipt of your enquiry," the sort of phrase a junior clerk uses to a superior. Wukong is playing the well-brought-up child, and playing it a shade too well.
Hearing the answer, the monster misdoubted in his heart and said to himself: 「This boy is bold, and nimble in his talk.
那怪 is nà; 中 in 心中 is zhōng. 疑似 takes 似 as sì, a reading fixed across this edition. The demon has begun to worry, and worry is not something these dinners have ever caused him before.
The ones regularly brought here as my offering and my meat — ask them once, and they will not speak;
供養 here is gòng, the sacrificial sense — food set before a god — and not gōng, "to provide for," which is the reading the very same word takes later in this chapter when Old Chen offers to feed the pilgrims out of his granary. 一聲 keeps 一 at yì before the level tone of 聲.
ask a second time, and the soul is frightened out of them;
諕 is xià, "to frighten," and it holds that reading throughout this edition — a long way from the háo a reader might guess at from the shape of it.
put out a hand to take them, and they are dead already.
The three clauses run a graded test of terror: ask once, ask twice, put out a hand. The demon is applying his ordinary screening to a victim who is nothing like ordinary.
How is it that this boy today is so ready with his answers?」
應對: 應 is yìng again, "to respond" — the second time this reading turns up at the temple gate.
Not daring to lay hold of him, the monster asked again: 「What are the boy's and the girl's names?」
甚 in 甚名字 is shén, "what" — not shèn, "extremely," which is the reading the same character takes elsewhere in this chapter.
Pilgrim said, laughing: 「The boy is Chen Guanbao, the girl One Steelyard of Gold.」
秤 is chèng, the steelyard, and 一 lifts to yí in front of it. Wukong hands over both real names without a flicker, which is exactly what a child who had been told them would do.
The monster said: 「This sacrifice is the old rule of former years. Now that you are offered up to me, I ought to eat you.」
供獻: 供 is gòng. 當吃你 takes 當 as dāng, "ought, properly should" — a different reading again from the dàng of 停當 at the shrine. Note what he is doing: citing precedent at his own dinner table, which is a strange thing to find yourself having to do.
Pilgrim said: 「I would not presume to resist. Take your enjoyment at your ease.」
The politeness is the weapon. 請自在受用 invites the demon to begin, which is now the last thing on earth he wants to do.
Hearing him, the monster still dared not put out a hand, but blocked the doorway and shouted: 「Don't be pert with me.
頂嘴 is to answer back — the word a parent uses to a child. The demon has been reduced to telling his own dinner off for cheek.
In ordinary years I eat the boy first; this year I shall eat the girl first.」
倒 is dào, "on the contrary," marking a break with custom. He switches the order because he cannot face the boy, and dresses the retreat up as a decision.
Eight Rules took fright and said: 「Great King, keep to the old way, do — don't go spoiling the precedent.」
還 is hái, "as before." The 罷 at the end is the soft ba, "do." 吃壞例子 — to eat the precedent into ruin. Eight Rules, lying on the altar under the knife, is arguing for procedural consistency.
This is one of the finest comic scenes in the middle stretch of the journey, and it runs on a single reversal held steady for a page: the sacrifice interviews the god. The demon's opening question is administrative — whose household is it this year — and Wukong answers with the manners of a well-taught child, 承下問, in receipt of your enquiry. Nothing said is hostile. What unnerves the creature is that anything is being said at all.
The demon's private calculation deserves attention, because it tells us what these annual sacrifices have actually been. Ask them once and they cannot speak; ask twice and the soul goes out of them; put out a hand and they are dead already. That is a description of children dying of fright before they are touched, and the novel delivers it as a connoisseur's checklist, in the demon's own untroubled voice. The comedy of the scene is built directly on top of it.
Eight Rules gets the last word and the best joke. Told that the girl will be eaten first — which is to say, told that he will be eaten first — the pig neither fights nor threatens. He appeals to precedent: 大王還照舊罷, Great King, do keep to the old way. Cowardice dressed as respect for institutions is the purest Eight Rules manoeuvre in the book, and it is also the moment the standoff snaps.