玉陛陳奏，前倨後恭 The Memorial at the Jade Steps: Arrogant First, Respectful After
當時四天師傳奏靈霄，引見玉陛。行者朝上唱個大喏道：「老官兒，累你，累你。我老孫保護唐僧往西天取經，一路凶多吉少，也不消說。於今來在金兜山，金兜洞，有一兕怪，把唐僧拿在洞裡，不知是要蒸，要煮，要晒。是老孫尋上他門，與他交戰，那怪卻就有些認得老孫，卓是神通廣大，把老孫的金箍棒搶去，因此難縛妖魔。疑是上天兇星，思凡下界，為此老孫特來啟奏。伏乞天尊垂慈洞鑒，降旨查勘兇星，發兵收剿妖魔，老孫不勝戰慄屏營之至。」卻又打個深躬道：「以聞。」傍有葛仙翁笑道：「猴子是何前倨後恭？」行者道：「不敢，不敢。不是甚前倨後恭，老孫於今是沒棒弄了。」当时四天师传奏灵霄，引见玉陛。行者朝上唱个大喏道：「老官儿，累你，累你。我老孙保护唐僧往西天取经，一路凶多吉少，也不消说。于今来在金兜山，金兜洞，有一兕怪，把唐僧拿在洞里，不知是要蒸，要煮，要晒。是老孙寻上他门，与他交战，那怪却就有些认得老孙，卓是神通广大，把老孙的金箍棒抢去，因此难缚妖魔。疑是上天凶星，思凡下界，为此老孙特来启奏。伏乞天尊垂慈洞鉴，降旨查勘凶星，发兵收剿妖魔，老孙不胜战栗屏营之至。」却又打个深躬道：「以闻。」傍有葛仙翁笑道：「猴子是何前倨后恭？」行者道：「不敢，不敢。不是甚前倨后恭，老孙于今是没棒弄了。」
逐句解 Line by line
The four Celestial Masters then carried the memorial up to the Hall of Divine Mists and brought him in before the jade steps.
當時 is dāng, the time reading. 傳奏 and 引見 are both chancery verbs: to pass a memorial upward, and to conduct a petitioner into an audience. The paperwork is moving.
Pilgrim faced upward, sang out a great salute, and said, "Old official! I trouble you, I trouble you.
And here is the joke of the whole passage. 唱喏 is the Song and Ming courtesy — a bow made together with a spoken formula, so quite literally singing your greeting — and 喏 is read rě here, not nuò. 老官兒 ends in the light er. He is addressing the supreme ruler of Heaven as "old official," which is roughly like opening a submission to a head of state with "alright, boss." Everything that follows is going to be immaculate court prose.
Old Monkey has been guarding the Tang Monk on his road west to fetch the scriptures. All along that road the ill has outweighed the good, which needs no telling.
一路 gives yí. 凶多吉少 is a set four-character phrase, still in daily use — ill abundant and good scarce, the Chinese for "it doesn't look promising." 少 is shǎo, the adjective.
Now we have come to Golden Helm Mountain and the Golden Helm Cave, where a rhinoceros fiend has taken the Tang Monk into his cave — whether to steam him or boil him or dry him in the sun, there is no telling.
Steam him, boil him, dry him in the sun: the three verbs are the standard menu of what fiends intend for the monk. Their flatness here is deliberate. He is filing a report, not pleading for help.
Old Monkey sought him out at his door and gave him battle; but the fiend seemed to know old Monkey somewhat, and his powers are decidedly vast. He carried off old Monkey's gold-banded cudgel, and so the fiend is hard to bind.
卓是 uses 卓 to pile on emphasis — "decidedly." Some editions print 卻是 instead; the 世德堂本 reading is kept. 認得 is dé. Notice that this whole account repeats, almost word for word, what he told the Celestial Masters outside — that is the formal restatement a petitioner makes on entering the audience proper.
I suspect a baleful star of upper Heaven has come down out of a hankering after ordinary life. For this cause old Monkey has come expressly to lay the matter before you.
為此 takes wèi, the reading for cause and purpose — "for this reason" — against the wéi that means "to be" or "to act as," as in 為證 or 劃地為牢. 啟奏 is to open a memorial before the throne.
Prostrate, I beg the Heavenly Honoured One to bend down mercy and see clear through the matter, to send down an edict for the inspection of the baleful stars and despatch troops to gather up and destroy the fiend. Old Monkey is overcome with trembling and awe."
Every phrase here is boilerplate, and that is the point. 伏乞 ("prostrate, I beg"), 垂慈洞鑒 ("bend down mercy and see clear through"), 發兵收剿 ("despatch troops and destroy"), 戰慄屏營 ("trembling and in awe") are all fixed memorial formulae — the last is the standing self-abasement with which any petition to the throne signs off. 降旨 is jiàng, to send down. 不勝 gives bú before the falling tone.
Then he made a deep bow and added, "Thus it is reported."
以聞 is the formal tag that closes a memorial: "for your hearing." He has produced the entire document correctly, sign-off and all, having opened it by calling the Jade Emperor an old official.
At his side Ge the Immortal Duke laughed and said, "Why is the monkey arrogant first and respectful after?"
傍 is páng, at the side. 猴子 ends in the light zi. 前倨後恭 — arrogant first, respectful after — comes from the life of Su Qin in the 史記, where the relatives who despised him grovel once he is rich. The reversal runs the same way round here, and the phrase is still the one Chinese reaches for when somebody's manners suddenly improve.
Pilgrim said, "I dare not, I dare not. It is no arrogance first and respect after — old Monkey simply has no cudgel to play with now."
甚 is shén, "any," the reading it carries in 沒甚坐性 — not the shèn that means "extremely," as in 甚急 or 甚妙. 沒棒弄 takes méi. And the answer is the truest thing said in the passage: his manners rise and fall with his armament.
The memorial is delivered in full chancery form — prostrate begging, mercy bent down, troops despatched, trembling and awe, "thus it is reported" — and it opens with "old official." That gap between the two registers is the joke, and Ge the Immortal Duke names it out loud with a phrase every Chinese reader knows: 前倨後恭, arrogant first and respectful after.
Wukong's answer is better than the joke. He does not deny the charge; he explains it. The courtesy arrived at the same moment the cudgel left, and he says so plainly — a harder piece of self-knowledge than the mind-ape usually permits himself.
前倨後恭 comes from the Su Qin chapter of the 史記, where a man's relatives change their manners the instant his fortunes change. 卓是 in the fifth segment is a 世德堂本 reading where 卻是 might be expected, and it is kept as the main text.