原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
這般狼狽 Why Come Back in Such a State
長老見了，驚訝道：「八戒，你去打馬草的，怎麼這般狼狽回來？想是山上人家有人看護，不容你打草麼？」长老见了，惊讶道：「八戒，你去打马草的，怎么这般狼狈回来？想是山上人家有人看护，不容你打草么？」
逐句解 Line by line
長老見了，驚訝道：「八戒，你去打馬草的，怎麼這般狼狽回來？
长老见了，惊讶道：「八戒，你去打马草的，怎么这般狼狈回来？
The elder saw him and said in astonishment, "Bajie, you went to cut grass for the horse. Why have you come back in such a state?
狼狽 pairs two legendary animals said to travel one atop the other and to collapse if separated; the word means dishevelled, in a wretched fix, and it is still everyday Chinese. Tripitaka has believed the grass story completely.
想是山上人家有人看護，不容你打草麼？」
想是山上人家有人看护，不容你打草么？」
I suppose the mountain households have someone keeping watch, and would not let you cut any?"
He supplies an explanation himself, and it is a considerate one — a property dispute, nobody's fault. He has spent this chapter being handed lies and helping to improve them.
Tripitaka's guess is wrong and kind, which is his register throughout. He assumes his disciple met a landowner rather than an ambush.
There were never any mountain households. He is inventing a plausible cause for an injury sustained inside a lie he was told an hour ago, by the disciple standing next to him.