原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
不犯紅沙
No Red Sand Today
老怪遂帥眾至大路傍高叫道：「唐老爺，今日不犯紅沙，請老爺早早過山。」三藏聞之道：「悟空，是甚人叫我？」行者指定道：「那廂是老孫降伏的妖精擡轎來送你哩。」老怪遂帅众至大路傍高叫道：「唐老爷，今日不犯红沙，请老爷早早过山。」三藏闻之道：「悟空，是甚人叫我？」行者指定道：「那厢是老孙降伏的妖精抬轿来送你哩。」
逐句解 Line by line
老怪遂帥眾至大路傍高叫道：「唐老爺，今日不犯紅沙，請老爺早早過山。」
老怪遂帅众至大路傍高叫道：「唐老爷，今日不犯红沙，请老爷早早过山。」
So the old fiend led his people to the side of the high road and called out: "Venerable Tang, today falls on no Red Sand. Pray cross the mountain early, sir."
傍 reads páng — the side of the road. 紅沙 names an inauspicious day in the almanac, one on which journeys were not begun.
三藏聞之道：「悟空，是甚人叫我？」
三藏闻之道：「悟空，是甚人叫我？」
Tripitaka heard it and said: "Wukong, who is that calling me?"
甚 reads shén — which person, the questioning band. The other reading, shèn, means very, and would make nonsense of the question.
行者指定道：「那廂是老孫降伏的妖精擡轎來送你哩。」
行者指定道：「那厢是老孙降伏的妖精抬轿来送你哩。」
Wukong pointed and said: "Over there are the monsters I subdued, come with a chair to carry you."
降 reads xiáng, to subdue — not the jiàng that means to descend.
總評 Commentary
The demon opens with the almanac, and it is a beautifully judged first line. Red Sand days were marked in the printed calendars every household consulted, and you did not set out on one. Telling a traveller that today is clear of it is the sort of thing a considerate neighbour says.
It is also aimed precisely at Tripitaka, who checks such things and who has spent this chapter reading his disciples' fortunes rather than their faces. The third fiend has worked out not only how to trap Wukong but which register will reassure the master, and he has given the eldest the right words to say.
Wukong's reply is the sound of a man who thinks the job is finished. Over there are the monsters I subdued. He is presenting the escort as his own achievement, which it is, and as a safe one, which it is not.