真君佈陣 The True Lord Lays His Snare
真君笑道：「小聖來此，必須與他鬥個變化。列公將天羅地網不要幔了頂上，只四圍緊密，讓我賭鬥。若我輸與他，不必列公相助，我自有兄弟扶持；若贏了他，也不必列公綁縛，我自有兄弟動手。只請托塔天王與我使個照妖鏡，住立空中。恐他一時敗陣，逃竄他方，切須與我照耀明白，勿走了他。」天王各居四維，眾天兵各挨排列陣去訖。這真君領著四太尉、二將軍，連本身七兄弟，出營挑戰；吩咐眾將緊守營盤，收全了鷹犬。眾草頭神得令。真君只到那水簾洞外，見那一群猴齊齊整整，排作個蟠龍陣勢。中軍裡立一竿旗，上書「齊天大聖」四字。真君道：「那潑妖，怎麼稱得起齊天之職？」梅山六弟道：「且休讚嘆，叫戰去來。」那營口小猴見了真君，急走去報知。真君笑道：「小圣来此，必须与他斗个变化。列公将天罗地网不要幔了顶上，只四围紧密，让我赌斗。若我输与他，不必列公相助，我自有兄弟扶持；若赢了他，也不必列公绑缚，我自有兄弟动手。只请托塔天王与我使个照妖镜，住立空中。恐他一时败阵，逃窜他方，切须与我照耀明白，勿走了他。」天王各居四维，众天兵各挨排列阵去讫。这真君领着四太尉、二将军，连本身七兄弟，出营挑战；吩咐众将紧守营盘，收全了鹰犬。众草头神得令。真君只到那水帘洞外，见那一群猴齐齐整整，排作个蟠龙阵势。中军里立一竿旗，上书「齐天大圣」四字。真君道：「那泼妖，怎么称得起齐天之职？」梅山六弟道：「且休赞叹，叫战去来。」那营口小猴见了真君，急走去报知。
逐句解 Line by line
The True Lord laughed and said, "Since I, the Lesser Sage, have come, I must contend with him in a match of transformations.
小聖, the Lesser Sage, is Erlang's own modest title for himself, and it sits deliberately opposite the monkey's 大聖, Great Sage — the pairing the chapter heading advertises. 鬥變化, to contest in transformations, quietly announces the shape-shifting duel that will fill the chapter's second half.
My lords, do not curtain the tops of the Heaven-and-Earth nets — keep only the four sides close-drawn, and leave the fighting to me.
列公, my lords, gentlemen — a courteous address to the assembled commanders. And then a genuinely shrewd instruction: leave the top of the nets uncovered. Erlang expects this fight to go into the air, and he wants room to follow.
If I lose to him, you need not help — I have my brothers to support me;
Erlang insists on fighting his own fight. The pride his portrait will name in the next passage — 心高, the high heart — will not borrow Heaven's host even to win.
and if I beat him, you need not bind him either — I have my brothers to do that too.
綁縛 is to bind, to truss up. He reserves even the arrest for his own brothers. The whole arrangement recasts a cosmic war as a private match with agreed rules.
I ask only that the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King work the demon-revealing mirror for me, and stand watch in the sky.
The 照妖鏡, the demon-revealing mirror, strips away disguises and shows a creature's true form. It is the one outside help Erlang will accept, and asking for it turns out to be the single most important decision anybody in Heaven makes this chapter.
For fear that he break and flee elsewhere, you must light him up clearly for me, and not let him get away."
逃竄 is to flee, to bolt. Erlang has already worked out how the duel will end — the monkey running, the mirror tracking him — and says so out loud. Every clause of this plan comes true.
The Heavenly Kings took up the four quarters, and the heavenly soldiers ranged themselves in their ranks accordingly.
四維, the four corners or quarters. The host redeploys to seal the sides and leaves the sky to Erlang, exactly as asked.
The True Lord then led out the four Marshals and two Generals — with himself, seven brothers all told — and marched from camp to give challenge;
連本身七兄弟, counting himself, seven brothers all told — the 梅山七聖, the Seven Sages of Mei Mountain. 挑戰 (tiǎo zhàn) is to give challenge.
He bade his generals hold the camp fast and gather in all the hawks and hounds. The plant-headed gods received their orders.
The 草頭神, the grass-headed gods, hold the rear while the seven go forward. 收全了鷹犬: the hunting animals are gathered in and kept leashed. He is saving them for the chase he already knows is coming.
The True Lord came right up to the Water-Curtain Cave, and saw the troop of monkeys drawn up neat and trim in a Coiling-Dragon battle array.
The 水簾洞, the Water-Curtain Cave, is the monkey's stronghold, discovered by him in Chapter 1. And here is a nice touch of comic dignity: his rabble of monkeys is drawn up in a 蟠龍陣, a Coiling-Dragon formation — a real battle array, properly executed, by monkeys.
In the center of their ranks stood a banner, inscribed with the four words "Great Sage Equal to Heaven."
He flies the title he awarded himself as a battle standard: 齊天大聖, the very rank this whole campaign exists to take away from him.
Said the True Lord, "That insolent fiend — how does he merit a rank 'Equal to Heaven'?"
潑妖 is an insolent fiend, a brazen monster. Erlang's contempt for the banner opens the war of words that fills the next passage.
His six Mei Mountain brothers said, "Spare your wonder — let us cry the challenge and have at him!"
且休讚嘆, hold off your admiring. The brothers, impatient, cut short Erlang's musing on the banner — and their impatience is itself a compliment to the enemy.
A little monkey at the camp mouth, seeing the True Lord, ran off quickly to carry the word.
A sentry monkey bolts off to warn his king, and the next scene is set in motion: the Great Sage will now arm himself and come out.
This passage is given over almost entirely to Erlang's battle plan, and it repays attention as a study in character. Where Heaven's earlier efforts were a matter of mass — a hundred thousand soldiers, eighteen frames of net — Erlang reduces the problem to a single combat and stakes everything on his own prowess and his band of brothers. His one concession is shrewd and specific: leave the top of the nets uncurtained, because he expects an aerial fight, and let the Pagoda-Bearing King work the demon-revealing mirror from above, because he expects the monkey, once beaten, to run in disguise. Every clause of the plan will be borne out by the chase to come. Wú Chéng'ēn is laying his foreshadowing in plain sight and trusting the reader not to notice until afterwards.
The plan also defines Erlang by his pride. Twice he waves off Heaven's help — if I lose, you need not aid me; if I win, you need not bind him — reserving both the fight and the capture for himself and his sworn seven. This is the 心高, the high heart, that his portrait-rhapsody will name in the next passage, and it is exactly the quality that makes him the monkey's true counterpart. Heaven's docile, ranked host could not master the 心猿; only another free and self-willed spirit, fighting on his own terms, has a chance. The two forces facing off here — the Seven Sages with their hawks and hounds against the monkey troop in its Coiling-Dragon array — are evenly grand, and evenly proud.
There is comedy in the staging, too. The monkey rabble draws itself up neat and trim in a proper battle formation and flies the banner of its self-bestowed title, 齊天大聖 — the very rank the campaign exists to revoke. Erlang's curt question, how does he merit a rank Equal to Heaven, and his brothers' impatient spare your wonder, let us cry the challenge, set the tone of mockery that the coming duel of words will keep up. The little sentinel monkey scampering off to warn his king is the last beat before the two Sages, Great and Lesser, finally come face to face. (For the Water-Curtain Cave and the monkey's kingdom, see Chapter 1.)