山中土地 The Local Gods Are Summoned
孫大聖徑至正南方那座山上尋找。原來那妖邪敗了陣，到此山，鑽入窩中，將門兒使石塊擋塞，虛怯怯藏隱不出。行者尋一會，不見動靜，心甚焦惱，捻著訣，念動真言，喚出那山中土地、山神審問。少時，二神至了，叩頭道：「不知，不知，知當遠接，萬望恕罪。」行者道：「我且不打你。我問你：這山叫做甚麼名字？此處有多少妖精？從實說來，饒你罪過。」孙大圣径至正南方那座山上寻找。原来那妖邪败了阵，到此山，钻入窝中，将门儿使石块挡塞，虚怯怯藏隐不出。行者寻一会，不见动静，心甚焦恼，捻着诀，念动真言，唤出那山中土地、山神审问。少时，二神至了，叩头道：「不知，不知，知当远接，万望恕罪。」行者道：「我且不打你。我问你：这山叫做甚么名字？此处有多少妖精？从实说来，饶你罪过。」
逐句解 Line by line
Sun the Great Sage went straight to that mountain in the due south to search. Now the fiend, having lost the fight, had come to this mountain, bored into her hole, blocked the door of it with a lump of stone, and was hiding there in a fright and not coming out.
The narrator cuts to what she has been doing, and it is not impressive: she is in a burrow with a rock pulled across the entrance. 虛怯怯 — hollow with fear — is a doubled describing word for someone whose nerve has gone. Two hundred characters ago she was claiming to predate Chaos. 藏 here is cáng, to hide, not the zàng of Tripitaka's name. And 兒 in 門兒 is one of this chapter's eighteen, all of which this project reads at the full tone.
Pilgrim searched a while and could see no sign of movement, and grew very irritable. He made the finger sign, recited the true words, and called out the local earth god and the mountain god of that mountain to be questioned. In a little while the two gods arrived and knocked their heads on the ground, saying: "We did not know, we did not know! Had we known we should have come out to meet you a long way off. We beg you to forgive the offence."
The most reliable joke in the book: Wukong is annoyed, so he summons the local management and they arrive terrified. 土地 and 山神 are the two lowest ranks of the celestial civil service — the earth god of a patch of ground and the god of a particular hill. They are bureaucrats, they know their paperwork, and they are frightened of this monkey because five hundred years ago he beat up their superiors. 甚 in 心甚焦惱 is shèn, very — the plain intensifier, and the machinery gets this one right. It is 甚麼 that it gets wrong, three times in this chapter.
Pilgrim said: "I will not beat you this time. Let me ask you: what is this mountain called? How many fiends are there hereabouts? Tell me the truth and I will let you off."
He opens by promising not to hit them, which tells you what these interviews are usually like. 甚麼 reads shèn me — the older pronunciation this project keeps throughout. There are three of these in the chapter and the bare chain gives the modern reading at every one. The two questions are exactly the right ones and they are asked in the right order: what is this place, and what lives here. He is doing local research, which is not something he was capable of in the early chapters.
Wukong's method has changed and this passage is where you can see it. He does not dig the mountain up. He searches, fails, gets annoyed, and then does the sensible thing: he calls in the two officials who know the ground and asks them what is here.
The comedy of the local gods never gets old in this book. They arrive knocking their heads on the floor and apologising for not having come sooner, before they have any idea what he wants. Their opening line is an apology for an offence they have not committed, which is exactly how a minor official talks to a superior who has a reputation.
And notice what he is not doing. Fifteen hundred characters ago he settled the question of the false princess by grabbing her in front of a royal wedding. Here he has a burrow with a rock in front of it and he stops to ask for directions.