那裡支鍋 Where Would You Set The Pot
三魔道:「哥啊,吃了雜碎也罷,不知在那裡支鍋?」行者道:「三叉骨上好支鍋。」三魔道:「不好了,假若支起鍋,燒動火煙,煼到鼻孔裡,打嚏噴麼?」三魔道:「哥啊,吃了杂碎也罢,不知在那里支锅?」行者道:「三叉骨上好支锅。」三魔道:「不好了,假若支起锅,烧动火烟,煼到鼻孔里,打嚏喷么?」
逐句解 Line by line
The third monster said, "Elder brother, eating the offal is one thing — but where would he set up the pot?"
那 is nǎ here, the question word — where — not the nà of pointing at something. This chapter has exactly three 那裡 and this is the only one that asks a question; the other two, squatting there and praying there, are both the demonstrative.
Wukong said, "The three-forked bone is a good place to set a pot."
三叉骨 is the forked bone at the base of the breastbone, where the ribs come together — the exact spot where a tripod would sit level. He answers the question as though it were a practical one, which is what makes it horrible.
The third monster said, "This is bad — if he sets a pot up and gets a fire smoking, and the smoke rises into the nostrils, would he not sneeze?"
煼 is a rare character for a fire drawing or scorching upward, and 打嚏噴 is to sneeze. The third chief, who has been the clever one all chapter, is now working out the ventilation.
The third chief remains the only one thinking, and the thing he is thinking about is smoke. He has accepted that a monkey may be cooking in his brother's chest and moved straight to the consequences, which is both admirable and completely unhinged.
This is the chapter's only interrogative 那裡, and it is worth flagging because the sealed chapters have historically read this word as a pointer even when it is asking a question. Ch.75 carries three and gets the mix right — two demonstrative, one question.