原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
蟭蟟蟲 A Gnat On His Ear
即捻訣念起真言，搖身一變，即變做個蟭蟟蟲，飛將去，釘在八戒耳朵根上，同那妖精到了洞裡。二魔帥三千小怪，大吹大打的至洞口屯下。即捻诀念起真言，摇身一变，即变做个蟭蟟虫，飞将去，钉在八戒耳朵根上，同那妖精到了洞里。二魔帅三千小怪，大吹大打的至洞口屯下。
逐句解 Line by line
即捻訣念起真言，搖身一變，即變做個蟭蟟蟲，飛將去，釘在八戒耳朵根上，同那妖精到了洞裡。
即捻诀念起真言，摇身一变，即变做个蟭蟟虫，飞将去，钉在八戒耳朵根上，同那妖精到了洞里。
So he made the sign, spoke the true words, shook himself and changed into a gnat, flew across and settled at the root of Bajie's ear, and went with the monsters into the cave.
捻訣 is the hand-sign, 真言 the spell said with it. 將 reads jiāng, carrying the verb toward its direction.
二魔帥三千小怪，大吹大打的至洞口屯下。
二魔帅三千小怪，大吹大打的至洞口屯下。
The second fiend led his three thousand lesser monsters, with a great blowing and beating, and camped at the cave mouth.
大吹大打 — horns and drums, the noise of a force coming home in victory. 屯 is to encamp.
The gnat is Wukong's standard shape for going where he is not wanted, and the choice of landing spot is the joke: the root of Bajie's ear. He has appointed himself observer of his brother's suffering and taken the best seat in the house.
This also sets up the whole of what follows. Everything in the next several passages is watched from that ear, which means the reader sees Bajie's humiliation from about an inch away and hears every word he says while believing himself alone. It is an unusually cruel piece of staging, and the novel plainly enjoys it.