蜂競採 Bees Compete and Birds Contend
長老對妖精道：「娘子，你這苑內花香，枝頭果熟。苑內花香蜂競採，枝頭果熟鳥爭啣。怎麼這桃樹上果子青紅不一，何也？」长老对妖精道：「娘子，你这苑内花香，枝头果熟。苑内花香蜂竞采，枝头果熟鸟争啣。怎么这桃树上果子青红不一，何也？」
逐句解 Line by line
The elder said to the fiend, "Madam, the flowers in this garden of yours are fragrant, and the fruit on the branches is ripe."
He opens the conversation himself, which he has not done once in the chapter without a plan behind it. 苑 is a walled park or garden, a slightly grander word than the ordinary one.
"The flowers in the garden are fragrant, and the bees compete to gather them; the fruit on the branches is ripe, and the birds contend to carry it off."
A matched pair of seven-character lines, and Tripitaka has dropped into verse in the middle of a conversation. 競 and 爭 are both to compete, set in the same slot in each half. He is making small talk in couplets, which is what an educated man did.
"Why is it that the fruit on this peach tree is not all one colour, green and red together? How is that?"
And there is the question the whole plan needs. It is a perfectly natural thing to ask, it flatters her by inviting an explanation, and it directs her attention at the tree. 何也 is a bookish how so, the register of a student asking a teacher.
This is Tripitaka running a deception properly, and it is startling to watch. He compliments the garden, produces a couplet, and then asks a question that puts her in the position of instructing him. Every step invites her closer to the tree.
The couplet is the giveaway that he knows what he is doing. Nobody improvises balanced seven-character lines by accident. He is performing the part of a cultivated guest who has begun to enjoy himself, which is exactly the man she has been hoping he would turn into.
And the question he chooses is the cleverest possible one. He does not point at the red peach. He asks why there are two colours, which obliges her to look at both.