一口曾吞 He Swallowed A Hundred Thousand
那小鑽風見他坐在高處,弄獐弄智,呼呼喝喝的,沒奈何,只得實說道:「我大王神通廣大,本事高強,一口曾吞了十萬天兵。」行者聞說,吐出一聲道:「你是假的。」那小钻风见他坐在高处,弄獐弄智,呼呼喝喝的,没奈何,只得实说道:「我大王神通广大,本事高强,一口曾吞了十万天兵。」行者闻说,吐出一声道:「你是假的。」
逐句解 Line by line
Seeing him sitting up there playing the grandee and shouting and blustering, the Little Borer of the Wind had no help for it and had to tell the truth. "Our great king's powers are vast and his abilities of the highest, and he once swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly troops at one gulp."
弄獐弄智 is putting on airs and playing clever. 呼呼喝喝 is bawling and shouting, and its second 喝 is hè — the base reads the first correctly and the second as the hē of drinking, inside a doubling that plainly means noise. 一口 is at one mouthful.
Hearing it, Pilgrim let out a sound. "You are a false one."
吐 is tǔ, deliberate utterance rather than the tù of being sick — the character whose plain reading happens to be the right one here, which is exactly why it is guarded. The accusation is instant and groundless and it is going to produce more information.
The first answer arrives under duress that is entirely theatrical — a monkey on a rock putting on airs — and the demon gives up the headline figure at once.
A hundred thousand heavenly troops at one gulp is precisely the number the Great White Planet offered Pilgrim a few passages back. The chapter has quietly established that heaven's entire relief force is one mouthful.
And Pilgrim's response is to call the man a liar, which is not scepticism. It is technique. He has learned that the fastest way to a full account is to reject the summary.