鳳閣龍樓 Open Your Eyes My Lady
半個時辰,帶進城,按落雲頭,叫:「娘娘開眼。」那皇后睜開眼看,認得是鳳閣龍樓,心中歡喜,撇了草龍,與行者同登寶殿。半个时辰,带进城,按落云头,叫:「娘娘开眼。」那皇后睁开眼看,认得是凤阁龙楼,心中欢喜,撇了草龙,与行者同登宝殿。
逐句解 Line by line
In half a double-hour he had brought her into the city, set the cloud down, and called, "My lady, open your eyes."
時辰 is a DOUBLE hour, one twelfth of a day, so half of one is about an hour of ours. 按落雲頭 is to press the cloud down and land — a stock phrase for arriving by air.
The queen opened her eyes and looked, recognised the phoenix towers and dragon halls, and was glad at heart,
得 is dé, the fixed ending on 認, to recognise. 鳳閣龍樓 is a set four-character phrase for a royal palace — she knows where she is by the architecture.
cast the grass dragon aside and went up into the treasure hall with Pilgrim.
撇 is to fling away without looking. The dragon that carried her three years' journey home is discarded in two characters.
半個時辰 is the whole return journey. A 時辰 is a double hour, so half of one is roughly sixty minutes — and it has taken her three years to be brought back over a distance Wukong crosses in an hour on a bundle of grass.
She recognises the place by its buildings. 鳳閣龍樓, phoenix towers and dragon halls, is a fixed phrase for a palace, and it is the first thing she has seen since the abduction that she knows. The narration gives her one clause of gladness and then moves on.
撇了草龍 — she flings the grass dragon aside. It is a small, careless, entirely human gesture, and it is the last free action anybody lets her take in the chapter.