一條草龍 A Dragon Made Of Grass
行者將菩薩降妖並拆鳳原由備說了一遍。尋些軟草,扎了一條草龍,教:「娘娘跨上,合著眼,莫怕,我帶你回朝見主也。」那娘娘謹遵吩咐,行者使起神通,只聽得耳內風響。行者将菩萨降妖并拆凤原由备说了一遍。寻些软草,扎了一条草龙,教:「娘娘跨上,合着眼,莫怕,我带你回朝见主也。」那娘娘谨遵吩咐,行者使起神通,只听得耳内风响。
逐句解 Line by line
Pilgrim told her the whole story of the Bodhisattva's subduing of the fiend and of the parting of the phoenixes.
降 is xiáng, to subdue — the reading in this chapter's own title. 拆鳳 is the third of five in the chapter; the queen sang it, the Bodhisattva pronounced it, and now Wukong repeats it back to her as an explanation.
He found some soft grass and bound it into a grass dragon,
Ten characters, and the transport problem is solved with what is lying about. 一 takes yì before the level tone of 條.
and said, "My lady, get astride, close your eyes, do not be afraid, and I will carry you back to court to see your lord."
著 is zhe, the durative — keep the eyes closed for the duration. Four short instructions in a row, the last of them the reason for the other three.
The Queen obeyed the instructions carefully; Pilgrim called up his powers, and there was nothing to be heard but wind in her ears.
得 is dé, the fixed ending on a verb of hearing. 謹遵 is to follow scrupulously — she does exactly as she is told, which is what she has been doing since the first night.
拆鳳 appears here for the third of five times in the chapter, and these three uses trace its whole shape. The queen sang it in her lament without knowing it was a sentence; the Bodhisattva pronounced it as the sentence itself; and now Wukong repeats it to her as an explanation of the last three years.
The grass dragon is a lovely piece of practical magic. Having settled a Bodhisattva's escaped mount and cleared a cave, he needs to move one passenger, so he picks up some soft grass and ties it into a dragon. No ceremony, no spell named, no description of what it looks like.
合著眼,莫怕 — close your eyes, do not be afraid — is the only kindness anybody offers her in the chapter, and it is an instruction. 謹遵吩咐, she followed the instructions carefully, is the last thing the text says about her here, and it is what it has been saying about her throughout.