遍體如舊 He Takes The Cape Back
真人走向前,對娘娘用手一指,即脫下那件棕衣。那娘娘遍體如舊。真人將衣抖一抖,披在身上,對行者道:「大聖勿罪,小仙告辭。」行者道:「且住,待君王謝謝。」真人走向前,对娘娘用手一指,即脱下那件棕衣。那娘娘遍体如旧。真人将衣抖一抖,披在身上,对行者道:「大圣勿罪,小仙告辞。」行者道:「且住,待君王谢谢。」
逐句解 Line by line
The Perfected Man stepped forward, pointed once at the queen with his hand, and the palm-fibre cape came off.
One gesture and it is over. 一 takes yì before the rising tone of 指. 脫下 is simply to take a garment off.
The queen's whole body was as it had been.
Seven characters to reverse three years. 如舊 is as before, as it used to be — the same phrase you would use of a repaired roof.
The Perfected Man shook the cape out, threw it over his own shoulders, and said to Pilgrim, "No offence, Great Sage — this humble immortal takes his leave."
He puts it back on. 抖一抖 is the same gesture Wukong used to recall his vermin and to shed the maid disguise. 勿罪 is a politeness — do not hold it against me.
Pilgrim said, "Wait a moment — let the king thank you."
Ten characters, and it carries its own attribution and closing quotation, so it stands alone. 且住 is hold on, wait — the same two characters the fiend used to stop the fight and ask for breakfast.
The undoing takes one gesture and seven characters. He points, the cape comes off, 遍體如舊 — her whole body as it was. Three years of a decree, an abduction, a war, a Bodhisattva and a stolen set of bells, and the physical damage is reversed by a man pointing at it.
Then he shakes the cape out and puts it on. It is his, after all — he took it out of his own wardrobe, made it look like silk, and lent it to a monster for three years. Getting it back and wearing it home is the most ordinary thing anyone does in this chapter.
且住 is a small echo. The fiend used exactly those two characters to stop the fight and ask for his breakfast; Wukong uses them here to stop an immortal from leaving before he has been thanked. Both times it works.