舉鈀試冰 The Rake Tests the Ice
八戒跳下馬來：「你們且休講閑口，等老豬試看有多少厚薄。」行者道：「獃子，前夜試水，能去拋石；如今冰凍重漫，怎生試得？」八戒道：「師兄不知。等我舉釘鈀鈀他一下。假若築破，就是冰薄，且不敢行；若築不動，便是冰厚，如何不行？」三藏道：「正是，說得有理。」那獃子撩衣拽步，走上河邊，雙手舉鈀，盡力一築，只聽撲的一聲，築了九個白跡，手也振得生疼。獃子笑道：「去得，去得，連底都錮住了。」八戒跳下马来：「你们且休讲闲口，等老猪试看有多少厚薄。」行者道：「呆子，前夜试水，能去抛石；如今冰冻重漫，怎生试得？」八戒道：「师兄不知。等我举钉钯钯他一下。假若筑破，就是冰薄，且不敢行；若筑不动，便是冰厚，如何不行？」三藏道：「正是，说得有理。」那呆子撩衣拽步，走上河边，双手举钯，尽力一筑，只听扑的一声，筑了九个白迹，手也振得生疼。呆子笑道：「去得，去得，连底都锢住了。」
逐句解 Line by line
Eight Rules jumped down from his horse: 「Stop your idle talk, the lot of you, and let old Hog try how thick or thin it is.」
厚薄: 薄 is bó here, the abstract half of a paired noun — thickness as a quantity, thick-or-thin. Five segments below it will be báo, physically thin. One character, two readings, inside one short scene.
Pilgrim said: 「Idiot, the other night you tested the water by throwing a stone in;
拋石: 石 is shí, "stone." Eight Rules had sounded this river a couple of nights earlier by throwing a stone in and listening, which is what Wukong is referring to.
but now the ice is frozen and lies thick over it — how will you test it?」
重漫: 重 is zhòng, "heavily," matching the 慘霧重浸 of the snow showpiece — not the chóng of 重疊. 試得: 得 is dé, ability.
Eight Rules said: 「Elder brother does not understand.
The Idiot is about to be right, and the novel signals it by letting him say this first.
Let me raise my muckrake and give it one stroke.
鈀 is pá, a reading fixed across this edition, and it comes twice — the second is the verb, to rake at. 一下 lifts 一 to yí before a falling tone.
If it breaks through, then the ice is thin and we dare not go;
冰薄: 薄 is báo, physically thin. 行 is xíng.
and if it will not stir, then the ice is thick — why should we not go?」
Two negatives in one line take different values, purely mechanically: 築不動 lifts to bú because a falling tone follows, and 不行 stays bù because a rising one does.
Tripitaka said: 「Just so — there is sense in what you say.」
說得有理: 得 is the light de hooking a verb to its result. And 正是 here is agreement in conversation, not the tag that announces a poem.
The Idiot hitched up his robe and strode out, went down to the riverside, raised the rake in both hands and struck with all his strength — and there was only a thud, and nine white marks were left, and his hands were jarred till they ached.
那獃子 is nà. 拽步: 拽 is zhuài, the reading this edition keeps, rather than zhuāi — nothing in the line gives it away, so it has to be checked at the word itself. 盡力: 盡 is jìn, a reading fixed across this edition. 振得生疼: 得 is the light de. The nine white marks are the nine teeth of the rake, and marks are all they are.
The Idiot laughed: 「It will do, it will do — it is frozen fast clear to the bottom.」
去得: 得 is dé, marking can or cannot — "it will do to go," on the pattern of 去不得, it won't do. 都 is dōu. 錮 is to be sealed shut, the word for molten metal run into a joint.
Eight Rules devises a genuine experiment and carries it out, which is rarer in his career than one might wish. The logic is clean: hit the ice as hard as you can; if it breaks, it is too thin to cross, and if it does not, it is thick enough. Wukong's objection — that the stone-dropping trick used to sound the river will not serve on a frozen one — is met on its merits.
And the test is passed. The rake comes down with the Idiot's full weight behind it, leaves nine white scratches, one for each tooth, and jars his hands until they ache. Nothing about the result is false. The ice really is frozen to the bottom, exactly as reported, and it really will bear them the whole way across.
This is the chapter's most quietly frightening move. The pilgrims do not fail to take precautions. They take an intelligent one, and it returns the true answer, and the true answer is useless. What a rake cannot test is whether the ice will still be there when they are in the middle of it. Every check available to them has now been made, and they are as securely trapped as if they had made none.