光明如晝 Bright as Daylight
那大聖見了，不勝欣喜，踏雲光，向前引導。那太陰君領著眾姮娥仙子，帶著玉兔兒，徑轉天竺國界。此時正黃昏，看看月上。到城邊，聞得譙樓上擂鼓。那國王與唐僧尚在殿內，八戒、沙僧與多官都在階前，方議退朝，只見正南上一片彩霞，光明如晝。眾擡頭看處，又聞得孫大聖厲聲高叫道：「天竺陛下，請出你那皇后、嬪妃看者：這寶幢下乃月宮太陰星君，兩邊的仙妹是月裡嫦娥。那大圣见了，不胜欣喜，踏云光，向前引导。那太阴君领着众姮娥仙子，带着玉兔儿，径转天竺国界。此时正黄昏，看看月上。到城边，闻得谯楼上擂鼓。那国王与唐僧尚在殿内，八戒、沙僧与多官都在阶前，方议退朝，只见正南上一片彩霞，光明如昼。众抬头看处，又闻得孙大圣厉声高叫道：「天竺陛下，请出你那皇后、嫔妃看者：这宝幢下乃月宫太阴星君，两边的仙妹是月里嫦娥。
逐句解 Line by line
The Great Sage, seeing it, was beside himself with delight, and treading his cloud light he went on ahead to lead the way. The Grand Yin, with all the Heng E fairies and the Jade Hare in her train, turned straight back towards the borders of India.
The procession forms up with a monkey at the head of it, which is not how these things are normally arranged. 引導 is to lead the way in a formal procession — the role of the outriders who go before a great person's carriage. He has appointed himself usher to the moon. ⚠ 仙子 here reads xiān zǐ with the second character at full tone, the dignified word for a person rather than a light ending. This project registered the reading in its tables at this chapter; the bare chain had been reading it light at all twenty sites in the book.
By now it was just dusk, and the moon was coming up as they watched. When they reached the city wall they heard the drums being beaten on the watchtower.
Two sentences of pure staging, and both are doing work. The moon rises as the moon arrives. The book almost never bothers with this kind of thing and it is bothering here. 譙樓 is the drum tower over a city gate, where the watches of the night were beaten out on a great drum so the whole city knew the hour. The sound is the ordinary machinery of a town at nightfall, and it is about to be interrupted.
That king and the Tang monk were still in the hall, and Eight Rules and Sha the Monk and all the officers were on the steps outside, just discussing whether the court might be dismissed, when they saw a sheet of coloured cloud away to the due south, bright as daylight.
The view from the ground: a working day about to end, and then the southern sky goes white. 方議退朝 — just discussing whether to close the audience — is a beautifully mundane detail. After everything that has happened, the officials are wondering whether they can go home. Due south is where she fled and where he followed. The book has kept the compass point consistent through four passages, so the reader knows what the light is before anybody on the steps does.
As the crowd raised their heads to look, they heard Sun the Great Sage calling in a piercing voice: "Your Majesty of India, have Your Majesty's queen and consorts brought out to look! Beneath this jewelled canopy is the Star Lord of the Grand Yin of the Moon Palace, and the fairy sisters on either side are the Chang E of the moon."
He announces the moon to a courtyard, at the top of his voice, like a herald who has appointed himself. 寶幢 is the jewelled banner or canopy carried in a divine procession — the standard that tells onlookers who is arriving. The staging is borrowed wholesale from an imperial progress. ⚠ 那 in 你那皇后 is the pointing nà, that queen of yours, not a question. And 嫦娥 here is the later spelling of the same name written 姮娥 earlier in this chapter — the book uses both without comment.
The chapter's public scene begins, and the storyteller sets it with unusual care. Dusk; the moon coming up; the watch drums starting on the tower; a court wondering whether it can go home. Then the southern sky turns white.
The care is worth noticing because this book normally moves scenery with one hand while doing something else with the other. Here it slows right down. The moon rises exactly as the moon arrives, and the ordinary hour-drums of a provincial capital beat underneath a descending goddess.
And the herald is Wukong, shouting. He has spent the chapter watching a king address every question to Tripitaka, and now he stands in the air and tells the whole city what it is looking at. The vanity he admitted to four hundred characters ago — it will show off old Monkey's powers — is getting its return.