第八十回
姹女育陽求配偶
心猿護主識妖邪
The Fair Girl, Nursing the Yang, Seeks a Mate · The Mind-Ape, Guarding His Master, Knows a Fiend
原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
取了缽盂
The Begging Bowl Handed Over
行者道：「師父請下馬，老孫化齋去來。」那長老果然下了馬，八戒將馬拴在樹上。沙僧歇下行李，取了缽盂，遞與行者。行者道：「师父请下马，老孙化斋去来。」那长老果然下了马，八戒将马拴在树上。沙僧歇下行李，取了钵盂，递与行者。
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「師父請下馬，老孫化齋去來。」
行者道：「师父请下马，老孙化斋去来。」
Pilgrim said, "Please dismount, Master. Old Monkey will go and beg some food."
老孫, "Old Sun," is what Pilgrim calls himself — affectionate self-importance, and untranslatable without sounding either grand or absurd, which is about right for him.
那長老果然下了馬，八戒將馬拴在樹上。
那长老果然下了马，八戒将马拴在树上。
The elder did indeed get down from the horse, and Bajie tied the horse to a tree.
果然, "sure enough," is the narrator confirming that Tripitaka did as he was told, with a faint note of surprise.
沙僧歇下行李，取了缽盂，遞與行者。
沙僧歇下行李，取了钵盂，递与行者。
Sha Monk set down the luggage, took out the alms bowl, and handed it to Pilgrim.
The 缽盂 is the monk's begging bowl, one of the few possessions the rule allows. Sha Monk carries it, which tells you who in this party actually keeps track of things.
總評 Commentary
Three sentences, three men doing small jobs, and the effect is of a machine coming quietly to a stop. Horse down, horse tied, bowl out, bowl handed over. The novel spends its attention here rather than on anything dramatic, and the slowness is the tension.
Sha Monk producing the bowl is a lovely small piece of characterisation. Nobody asks him for it. He has been carrying it, he knows what is needed, and he hands it over without a line of dialogue.