打著個和尚了 They Have Hit a Monk
那樓八窗玲瓏，公主轉睛觀看，見唐僧來得至近，將繡毬取過來，親手拋在唐僧頭上。唐僧著了一驚，把個毘盧帽子打歪，雙手忙扶著那毬。那毬轂轆的滾在他衣袖之內。那樓上齊聲發喊道：「打著個和尚了，打著個和尚了。」噫！十字街頭，那些客商人等濟濟哄哄，都來奔搶繡毬。被行者喝一聲，把牙傞一傞，把腰躬一躬，長了有三丈高的個神威，弄出醜臉。那楼八窗玲珑，公主转睛观看，见唐僧来得至近，将绣毬取过来，亲手抛在唐僧头上。唐僧着了一惊，把个毘卢帽子打歪，双手忙扶着那毬。那毬毂辘的滚在他衣袖之内。那楼上齐声发喊道：「打着个和尚了，打着个和尚了。」噫！十字街头，那些客商人等济济哄哄，都来奔抢绣毬。被行者喝一声，把牙傞一傞，把腰躬一躬，长了有三丈高的个神威，弄出丑脸。
逐句解 Line by line
That tower had eight windows finely wrought, and the princess, turning her eyes about, saw the Tang Monk come very close; she took up the embroidered ball and with her own hand threw it down on the Tang Monk's head. The Tang Monk got such a start that his Vairocana cap was knocked askew, and with both hands he hurriedly steadied the ball.
來得至近 — came very close. The middle character links the coming to how close it got, which is its lighter job. The chapter uses the same character in its heavier sense four lines later.
著了一驚 — got a start. Here the busy character marks the fright landing on him, not a state going on. This chapter uses the character twenty-two times and this is the sense that dominates the ball-throwing scene: things arriving on their target.
毘盧帽 — the Vairocana cap, the tall five-panelled hat a monk wears for ceremonies, each panel bearing a Buddha. It is knocked crooked, which is both funny and a small indignity to the office rather than the man.
The ball went rolling into his sleeve. From the tower they all cried out together, "They have hit a monk! They have hit a monk!" Alas!
轂轆的 — with a trundling roll, the sound of a wheel. The ball does not drop into his sleeve; it rolls in, taking its time, while he stands there.
打著 — have hit. The same busy character again, twice in one shout, and it is landing on its target both times.
噫 — Alas. One character standing alone as a whole sentence, the narrator putting his head in his hands. The chapter did this once already, with a different sound, a few hundred characters back.
At the crossroads those merchants and the rest, in a great press and hubbub, all came rushing to snatch the embroidered ball. Pilgrim gave a shout, bared his teeth, bent his back, and grew to a fearsome height of three zhang, pulling a hideous face.
三丈 — three zhàng. ⚠ This is the chapter's only genuine measurement in this character; its other three uses are all 方丈, the abbot's quarters. A {em('zhàng')} is ten Chinese feet, so three of them is roughly ten metres.
把牙傞一傞，把腰躬一躬 — bared his teeth, bent his back, with each verb doubled around a single beat. It is the standard rhythm for Pilgrim changing size, and the novel uses it whenever he grows.
Note what he is doing. Not fighting — crowd control. The danger is that a hundred merchants will tear his master apart trying to get at the ball.
The single most consequential event in the last stretch of the novel is a ball rolling into a sleeve, and the chapter gives it eleven characters. There is no flash, no wind, no fiendish laughter. A young woman on a tower looks down, picks her moment, throws, and it lands.
What follows is pure crowd. Everyone on the tower shouts the same sentence twice; everyone in the street runs at the monk to grab the ball. The novel is very good at this — the disaster is not frightening, it is embarrassing and loud and physically dangerous in the way a football crowd is dangerous.
And Pilgrim's response is exactly right and completely useless. He makes himself ten metres tall and pulls a face, which scatters the crowd and does nothing whatever about the actual problem, because the actual problem is now sitting in his master's sleeve with fifty court women coming down the stairs to collect it.