原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
湯鍋盡冷 The Cauldron Stone Cold
三個魔頭都下殿，近鍋前仔細看時，果見那籠格子亂丟在地下，湯鍋盡冷，火腳俱無。那燒火的俱呼呼鼾睡如泥。三个魔头都下殿，近锅前仔细看时，果见那笼格子乱丢在地下，汤锅尽冷，火脚俱无。那烧火的俱呼呼鼾睡如泥。
逐句解 Line by line
三個魔頭都下殿，近鍋前仔細看時，果見那籠格子亂丟在地下，湯鍋盡冷，火腳俱無。
三个魔头都下殿，近锅前仔细看时，果见那笼格子乱丢在地下，汤锅尽冷，火脚俱无。
The three fiend chiefs all came down from the hall, and when they looked carefully in front of the cauldron, sure enough there were the steamer trays flung about on the ground, the water in the cauldron stone cold, and not a trace of fire beneath.
仔細 takes zǐ on its first character — the careful reading, not zǎi. 火腳, the feet of the fire, is the embers and ash that a fire leaves; 俱無 means there are none, which is stranger than the fire being out.
那燒火的俱呼呼鼾睡如泥。
那烧火的俱呼呼鼾睡如泥。
The fire-tenders were all snoring away like mud.
鼾睡如泥, sleeping like mud, is the Chinese for dead to the world — the same picture as our out cold but heavier and wetter.
The chiefs look carefully and see three impossible things: trays out, water cold, no ash. Any one of them would be odd. Together they describe a fire that burned all night without heating anything, which is exactly what happened.
Nobody draws the conclusion. The evidence of the dragon is lying there in the cold ashes and the demons read it as an escape, which it also is. They are not being stupid; they are seeing what they came out expecting to see.