割取首級 The Head of the Yellow-Robed Man
三藏在馬上見打倒許多人，慌的放馬奔西。豬八戒與沙和尚緊隨鞭鐙而去。行者問那不死帶傷的賊人道：「那個是那楊老兒的兒子？」那賊哼哼的告道：「爺爺，那穿黃的是。」行者上前，奪過刀來，把個穿黃的割下頭來，血淋淋提在手中，收了鐵棒，拽開雲步，趕到唐僧馬前，提著頭道：「師父，這是楊老兒的逆子，被老孫取將首級來也。」三藏見了，大驚失色，慌得跌下馬來，罵道：「這潑猢猻諕殺我也！快拿過，快拿過。」八戒上前，將人頭一腳踢下路傍，使釘鈀築些土蓋了。三藏在马上见打倒许多人，慌的放马奔西。猪八戒与沙和尚紧随鞭镫而去。行者问那不死带伤的贼人道：「那个是那杨老儿的儿子？」那贼哼哼的告道：「爷爷，那穿黄的是。」行者上前，夺过刀来，把个穿黄的割下头来，血淋淋提在手中，收了铁棒，拽开云步，赶到唐僧马前，提着头道：「师父，这是杨老儿的逆子，被老孙取将首级来也。」三藏见了，大惊失色，慌得跌下马来，骂道：「这泼猢狲諕杀我也！快拿过，快拿过。」八戒上前，将人头一脚踢下路傍，使钉钯筑些土盖了。
逐句解 Line by line
Tripitaka, from his horse, saw so many men struck down that in his alarm he gave the horse its head and fled west.
The 藏 of 三藏 is zàng, a storehouse of scripture, not cáng, to hide. 慌的 writes 的 where the manner-marking 地 would be standard. The master's response to the rout is to ride away from it, which is the third time in this chapter he has left before the worst of it.
Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk followed hard at whip and stirrup and were gone.
鞭鐙 — whip and stirrup — stands in for the horse's pace. Both the other disciples go too, and Pilgrim is left alone with the wounded.
Pilgrim questioned those robbers who were wounded but not dead: “Which of you is old Yang’s son?”
The same character three times in one clause. 那不死帶傷的賊人 and 那楊老兒 are both the pointing nà; 那個 is the questioning nǎ. And 兒 does two jobs in five characters: in 老兒 it is a suffix, er, and in 兒子 it is part of the word for a person, ér.
The robbers groaned out, “Sir — the one in yellow is he.”
哼哼的 writes 的 for the manner-marking 地. They are dying men, and they answer him.
Pilgrim went up, snatched a blade from them and cut the head off the man in yellow; took it up dripping with blood in his hand, put away the iron staff, opened his cloud-stride, overtook the Tang Monk’s horse, and held out the head. “Master, this is old Yang’s unfilial son. Old Monkey has fetched you his head.”
血淋淋 keeps the vernacular xiě, its second and last appearance in the chapter. 拽 keeps zhuài. 取將首級 puts 將 to work marking the direction of the action, so jiāng. Sixty-one characters in one unbroken unit, second in length only to Wukong's roll call of divine acquaintances at the grave — and unlike that one, it does not pause once.
Tripitaka saw it, and the colour went out of his face; in his fright he fell from the horse, and he cried, “You wretched ape, you have frightened me to death! Take it away, take it away!”
諕 keeps xià, and 慌得 puts 得 in its hooking-up use, so de. Note what the master says and does not say: take it away, take it away. Nothing about the man.
Bajie came forward, kicked the head off to the side of the road, and used the muckrake to heap a little earth over it.
將人頭 uses 將 to put the head in front of the verb, so jiāng. 傍 keeps páng. The 一 of 一腳 stays at yì before the dipping tone of 腳. 築些土蓋了 is the chapter's second burial and takes five characters.
Wukong stops to ask a question, and the question is the worst thing in the chapter. He has already routed the band; nothing requires him to identify anybody. He goes among the wounded, finds out which of them is old Yang's son, kills that one specifically, and carries the head up the road to show his master. This is not the heat of a fight. It is an errand.
And he expects to be thanked. 這是楊老兒的逆子，被老孫取將首級來也 is offered as a service rendered — the old man had a wicked son, the son has been dealt with, here is the proof. Wukong made exactly this offer in the thatched hall the night before, 等我替你尋他來打殺了罷, and was refused. He has now done it anyway, unasked, to a household that saved his master's life.
Bajie's last act closes the chapter's pattern with a kick. He put a rake three 尺 — three chǐ, about a metre — down before it jammed on bedrock, finished the grave with his snout, and now he boots a head into the ditch and scrapes some earth over it. The novel spends five characters on it, and it is the last of the chapter's burials — none of which anybody mourned.