原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
此物是那裡 Heart and Gall Both Split
妖精戰戰兢兢，摟住唐僧道：「長老哥哥，此物是那裡來的？」三藏道：「貧僧不知。」妖精战战兢兢，搂住唐僧道：「长老哥哥，此物是那里来的？」三藏道：「贫僧不知。」
逐句解 Line by line
妖精戰戰兢兢，摟住唐僧道：「長老哥哥，此物是那裡來的？」
妖精战战兢兢，搂住唐僧道：「长老哥哥，此物是那里来的？」
Trembling all over, the fiend clung to the Tang Monk and said, "Elder brother, where did this thing come from?"
The reaction is not what a monster's ought to be: she grabs hold of the man she has kidnapped for comfort. Here 那 is nǎ, the questioning reading — where — and the endearment is still in place. She is frightened and she is still calling him elder brother.
三藏道：「貧僧不知。」
三藏道：「贫僧不知。」
Tripitaka said, "This poor monk does not know."
Seven characters, perfectly true in form and entirely a lie in substance. He knows exactly what it was.
The fiend clings to her hostage. It is the single most humanising moment she gets, and the novel places it immediately after the most violent thing in the chapter so far.
Tripitaka's reply is his first outright deception, and it is worth noticing how the novel handles it: no comment at all. The man who a page ago petitioned heaven about whether a cup of wine was permissible now lies to a fiend without a flicker, and nobody, narrator included, raises it.