橫擔而行 Staves Carried Crosswise
別陳老離河邊，行有三四里遠近，八戒把九環錫杖遞與唐僧道：「師父，你橫此在馬上。」行者道：「這獃子奸詐。錫杖原是你挑的，如何又叫師父拿著？」八戒道：「你不曾走過冰凌，不曉得。凡是冰凍之上，必有凌眼；倘或屣著凌眼，脫將下去，若沒橫擔之物，骨都的落水，就如一個大鍋蓋蓋住，如何鑽得上來？須是如此架住方可。」行者暗笑道：「這獃子倒是個積年走冰的。」果然都依了他：長老橫擔著錫杖，行者橫擔著鐵棒，沙僧橫擔著降妖寶杖，八戒肩挑著行李，腰橫著釘鈀，師徒們放心前進。這一直行到天晚，吃了些乾糧。卻又不敢久停，對著星月光華，觀的冰凍上亮灼灼，白茫茫，只情奔走，果然是馬不停蹄。師徒們莫能合眼，走了一夜。天明又吃些乾糧，望西又進。别陈老离河边，行有三四里远近，八戒把九环锡杖递与唐僧道：「师父，你横此在马上。」行者道：「这呆子奸诈。锡杖原是你挑的，如何又叫师父拿着？」八戒道：「你不曾走过冰凌，不晓得。凡是冰冻之上，必有凌眼；倘或屣着凌眼，脱将下去，若没横担之物，骨都的落水，就如一个大锅盖盖住，如何钻得上来？须是如此架住方可。」行者暗笑道：「这呆子倒是个积年走冰的。」果然都依了他：长老横担着锡杖，行者横担着铁棒，沙僧横担着降妖宝杖，八戒肩挑着行李，腰横着钉钯，师徒们放心前进。这一直行到天晚，吃了些干粮。却又不敢久停，对着星月光华，观的冰冻上亮灼灼，白茫茫，只情奔走，果然是马不停蹄。师徒们莫能合眼，走了一夜。天明又吃些干粮，望西又进。
逐句解 Line by line
They parted from Old Chen and left the riverside, and when they had gone three or four li Eight Rules handed the nine-ringed pilgrim staff to the Tang Monk, saying: 「Master, carry this crosswise on the horse.」
行有三四里: 行 is xíng. 橫 is héng, "crosswise" — the character the whole passage turns on.
Pilgrim said: 「This idiot is a sly one.
子 is the light zi. Wukong assumes the pig is shirking the load, which is the natural reading of the request and the wrong one.
The staff was yours to carry in the first place — how is it you now have the master hold it?」
拿著: 著 is zhe, a state that goes on.
Eight Rules said: 「You have never walked on river-ice; you don't know.
曉得: 得 is dé.
Wherever there is ice frozen over, there are bound to be ice-eyes;
凌眼, an "ice-eye" — a thin or open patch in the sheet. This is the working vocabulary of people who cross frozen rivers for a living, and Eight Rules has it.
and should you tread on an ice-eye and slip down through it, then with nothing laid crosswise you go under with a gulp, and it is as if a great pot-lid had been clapped over you — how would you bore your way up again?
屣著: 著 is zháo, the reading for treading on a thing and striking it. 脫將下去: 將 is jiāng, marking direction. 橫擔之物: 擔 is dān, the verb, to bear crosswise. 骨都的: 都 is dū, part of a sound-word for going under with a gulp, and not dōu, "all." 落水: 落 is luò. 鑽得上來: 得 is the light de, marking what is or is not possible.
It must be propped across like this, and then it will serve.」
架住, to bridge or brace. The staff spans the hole and holds the body up.
Pilgrim laughed to himself and said: 「This idiot turns out to be an old hand at walking on ice.」
倒 is dào, "on the contrary, as it turns out" — not dǎo, "to topple," which this chapter also uses. 積年, of many years' standing.
And indeed they all did as he said: the Elder bore the pilgrim staff crosswise, Pilgrim bore his iron rod crosswise, Sha Monk bore his demon-quelling staff crosswise, and Eight Rules shouldered the baggage on his pole and laid the muckrake across his waist; and so master and disciples went forward with easy minds.
降妖寶杖: 降 is xiáng, "to subdue" — the only xiáng in the chapter, against six occurrences of jiàng, "to send down." Three 擔 are the verb dān; five 著 are zhe, the continuing state; 長老: 長 is zhǎng.
They went straight on until nightfall, and ate a little of the dry provisions.
乾糧: 乾 is gān, the third of four. 一直 keeps 一 at yì before a rising tone.
But they did not dare halt long, and by the light of the stars and the moon they saw the frozen ice glittering bright, a white blankness, and they pressed on with a will; and truly the horse's hooves never stopped.
對著: 著 is zhe. 觀 is guān. 只情 is everyday speech for "with a will, without let-up." And 馬不停蹄, the horse's hooves never stopping, is still the phrase Chinese reaches for when someone is working flat out — here it happens to be literally true.
Master and disciples could not close their eyes, and walked the whole night through.
一夜 lifts 一 to yí before a falling tone. They are now well out over eight hundred li of the demon's ice.
At daybreak they ate a little more of the dry provisions, and pressed on westward again.
乾糧: 乾 is gān, the fourth and last. Eleven characters of pure momentum, and the next passage breaks it.
Eight Rules' second technical contribution is better than his first, and it comes from real knowledge. On a frozen river there are 凌眼, ice-eyes — thin places that give way — and a man who drops through one with nothing across his shoulders goes under a lid he cannot find the edge of. Carry a staff crosswise and it bridges the hole and holds you up. Wukong, who had assumed the pig was dodging a load, laughs at himself and calls him an old hand.
The image that follows is one of the most memorable in the novel and one of the most ominous: four figures strung out on eight hundred li of ice by starlight, each with a weapon held level across the body, moving without stopping. They are equipped precisely against the danger they are in, and the equipment is beside the point, because this ice will not open under one man's foot. It will be opened deliberately, from below, at the moment the demon chooses.
The last four segments are pure motion — walk till dark, eat, do not stop, walk all night, eat at dawn, go on west. The prose accelerates with them. It is the fastest writing in the chapter, and it is running straight at the break.