原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
倒有買賣 The Idiot Has a Trade Now
行者大笑道：「獃子倒有買賣，師父照顧你牽馬哩。」三藏道：「這猴頭又胡說了。行者大笑道：「呆子倒有买卖，师父照顾你牵马哩。」三藏道：「这猴头又胡说了。
逐句解 Line by line
行者大笑道：「獃子倒有買賣，師父照顧你牽馬哩。」
行者大笑道：「呆子倒有买卖，师父照顾你牵马哩。」
Pilgrim laughed loudly and said, "The Idiot has a trade after all — the master has found you a place leading the horse."
買賣, buying and selling, is the same word Pilgrim used for demon work when he told his master that recognising a man-eater was business he had been in. Here it means a job, and the joke is that leading an empty horse is the least of all possible jobs.
三藏道：「這猴頭又胡說了。
三藏道：「这猴头又胡说了。
Tripitaka said, "This monkey head is talking nonsense again."
猴頭, monkey head, for the third and last time in the chapter. It is what his master calls him when he is being an obstacle rather than a disciple.
Pilgrim cannot stop needling. He has lost, the party has rearranged itself around a demon, and all he has left is the pleasure of watching his brother get handed the reins.
The exchange also quietly restores the ordinary temperature of the group. Twelve passages ago these three were shouting about fornication charges and frame-ups; now they are back to teasing each other about who has to lead the horse. The book is very good at letting a quarrel subside without resolving anything.