原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
原來還在
“Still Here, After All”
那國王道：「國師，朕未曾奉請，今日如何肯降？」老道士云：「有一事奉告，故來也。那四個和尚是那國來的？」國王道：「是東土大唐差去西天取經的，來此倒換關文。」那三道士鼓掌大笑道：「我說他走了，原來還在這裡。」那国王道：「国师，朕未曾奉请，今日如何肯降？」老道士云：「有一事奉告，故来也。那四个和尚是那国来的？」国王道：「是东土大唐差去西天取经的，来此倒换关文。」那三道士鼓掌大笑道：「我说他走了，原来还在这里。」
逐句解 Line by line
那國王道：「國師，朕未曾奉請，今日如何肯降？」
那国王道：「国师，朕未曾奉请，今日如何肯降？」
The king said, “Preceptors, I had not sent to invite you — how is it you have deigned to come today?”
Deictic 那國王: 那 = nà. 未曾奉請 “had not invited.” 肯降: 降 = jiàng, “deign to come down” — court deference to the immortals.
老道士云：「有一事奉告，故來也。
老道士云：「有一事奉告，故来也。
The old Daoist said, “There is a matter we come to report, and so we are here.
有一事: 一 = yí before 事 (4th tone). 奉告 “to report respectfully.”
那四個和尚是那國來的？」
那四个和尚是那国来的？」
Those four monks — what country are they from?”
那四個: deictic 那 = nà (“those four”). 那國: interrogative 那 = nǎ (“which country?”) — the two senses of 那 side by side.
國王道：「是東土大唐差去西天取經的，來此倒換關文。」
国王道：「是东土大唐差去西天取经的，来此倒换关文。」
The king said, “They are ones dispatched from the Great Tang in the east to fetch scriptures from the Western Heaven, come here to have their rescript re-stamped.”
差去: 差 = chāi, “to dispatch, send on a mission.” 倒換: 倒 = dào.
那三道士鼓掌大笑道：「我說他走了，原來還在這裡。」
那三道士鼓掌大笑道：「我说他走了，原来还在这里。」
The three Daoists clapped their hands and laughed aloud, saying, “We said he had run off — so he was here all along!”
Deictic 那三道士: 那 = nà. 還在這裡: 還 = hái, “still (here).” 原來 “as it turns out.”
總評 Commentary
Recognition snaps the two plot-lines together: the immortals, come to court on a grievance, discover that the very culprits of the night's outrage stand before the throne. The clapping laughter is triumphant — the enemy has walked into their hands — and turns the audience from a routine document-stamping into the trial of strength the chapter has been building toward. Note the tidy pairing in the old Daoist's question, where 那 carries first its deictic sense (nà, “those four”) and then its interrogative one (nǎ, “which country”).