阿彌陀佛 The Buddha Preserve Us
那公公聞說道：「阿彌陀佛！這和尚說了這過頭話，莫想再長得大了。」行者道：「官兒，似我這般大也夠了。」那公公闻说道：「阿弥陀佛！这和尚说了这过头话，莫想再长得大了。」行者道：「官儿，似我这般大也够了。」
逐句解 Line by line
The old man heard him out and said, "Amitabha!
阿彌陀佛 is the name of the Buddha of Infinite Light, and by the Ming it had become what it still is: a thing you say when startled, the exact equivalent of heaven help us. The first character is read ē in this name rather than its everyday ā — the whole four-character transcription is treated as one word.
This monk has said something so far over the mark that he will never grow up at all."
過頭話 is talk that has gone past its own head — overreaching, more than the speaker can back. And 莫想再長得大了 is a folk curse rather than a prediction: say a thing that outrageous and you stop growing. 得 is the unstressed de hooking the verb to how far it goes.
Pilgrim said, "Officer, big as I am is big enough for me."
官兒 is cheerfully over-familiar — sir, officer, guv. The old man has just cursed him with permanent childhood and Pilgrim treats it as a remark about his height.
The invocation is doing real work here and not just decorating the sentence. The old man is a lay Buddhist, on a mountain, being told by a small monk that the kings of hell signed him a written undertaking. Reaching for the Buddha's name is what you do when a conversation stops making sense.
His curse is a village one. Children who tell outrageous lies do not grow — every culture has a version, and this one is aimed at somebody the old man still believes is about seven.
Pilgrim's reply refuses the frame entirely. He does not argue that he told the truth; he simply accepts being called short and says he is happy with it. It is the most relaxed thing he has said since he walked up the slope.