原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
軟柄槍 A Soft Shafted Spear
行者道：「獃子莫胡說。那裡有個甚麼軟柄槍？」八戒道：「你看他使出槍尖來架住我們，不見槍柄，不知收在何處。」行者道：「呆子莫胡说。那里有个甚么软柄枪？」八戒道：「你看他使出枪尖来架住我们，不见枪柄，不知收在何处。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「獃子莫胡說。
行者道：「呆子莫胡说。
Pilgrim said, "Idiot, don't talk nonsense.
胡說 is to talk at random, without knowledge.
那裡有個甚麼軟柄槍？」
那里有个甚么软柄枪？」
"Where is there any such thing as a soft-shafted spear?"
那 is the open-ended nǎ — "where," in the sense of nowhere. 甚 is the question-word shén. Nine characters, which is over the threshold for folding a closing tail backward, so the unit stands.
八戒道：「你看他使出槍尖來架住我們，不見槍柄，不知收在何處。」
八戒道：「你看他使出枪尖来架住我们，不见枪柄，不知收在何处。」
Eight Rules said, "Look at him. He brings the spear-point out to fend us off and there is no shaft to be seen — no telling where he keeps it."
處 is chù, a place. The observation is exact, and it is the reason the whole reading of the weapon is about to change.
Pilgrim dismisses the term as invented and Eight Rules answers with evidence. There is a point but no shaft; the point comes out and goes back; nobody can see where it goes. Every word of it is accurate.
It is one of the few moments in the chapter when Eight Rules is right and Pilgrim is not. He was wrong about the lanterns and wrong about the demon's manners, and now, looking at the same object, he is the one who has noticed what matters about it.