積雷山路 He Does Not Know The Road
八戒道:「今日天晚,我想著要去接他,但只是不認得積雷山路。」土地道:「小神認得,且教捲簾將軍與你師父做伴,我與你去來。」三藏大喜道:「有勞尊神,功成再謝。」八戒道:「今日天晚,我想着要去接他,但只是不认得积雷山路。」土地道:「小神认得,且教卷帘将军与你师父做伴,我与你去来。」三藏大喜道:「有劳尊神,功成再谢。」
逐句解 Line by line
Eight Rules said: "It is late in the day. I have been thinking I ought to go and fetch him, only I do not know the road to Mount Piled Thunder."
He volunteers before he is chosen, and he volunteers with an excuse already prepared, which is entirely characteristic. This is the first sign of the 助力, the lending of strength, that the chapter title credits him with. 想著 takes the zhe that keeps an action going, against the zhù the bare character supplies at every one of its sites; 認得 again takes dé.
The local god said: "This small spirit knows it. Let General Curtain-Roller keep your master company, and I shall go along with you."
The local god removes the excuse in a sentence, and in doing so quietly settles which disciple goes. 捲簾將軍, General Curtain-Roller, is Sha Wujing's title from his time in heaven, 將 taking jiāng in the word for a general. 教 is jiào, "let, have someone do".
Tripitaka was greatly pleased. "I put you to trouble, honoured spirit. When the thing is done I shall thank you again."
功成再謝 defers the thanks until the outcome — a courteous formula that also quietly concedes the outcome is not yet certain. 三藏 again takes zàng.
Eight Rules volunteers, and the manner of it is perfectly in character: he had been meaning to go, it is late, and unfortunately he does not know the way. The offer and the excuse arrive in the same breath, which leaves him credited with willingness and excused from setting out, both at once.
The local god closes the loophole in one sentence, and thereby answers the question Tripitaka had left open between two disciples. Sha Wujing stays to keep the master company; Eight Rules goes because his objection has been met and he has no other. The title's 助力 is secured by a guide plugging a gap.
三藏大喜 ends on relief rather than resolution, and the relief is premature by the whole length of the chapter. 功成再謝 defers thanks to a success the poem has just spent thirteen lines showing to be genuinely uncertain.