原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
丹盤試坐
Rehearsing on the Lacquer Trays
好大聖，吩咐沙僧保護唐僧：「我變作陳關保，八戒變作一秤金。」二人俱停當了，卻問：「怎麼供獻？還是綑了去，是綁了去？蒸熟了去，是剁碎了去？」八戒道：「哥哥，莫要弄我，我沒這個手段。」老者道：「不敢，不敢。只是用兩個紅漆丹盤，請二位坐在盤內，放在桌上，著兩個後生擡一張桌子，把你們擡上廟去。」行者道：「好好好，拿盤子出來，我們試試。」那老者即取出兩個丹盤，行者與八戒坐上。四個後生擡起兩張桌子，往天井裡走走兒，又擡回放在堂上。行者歡喜道：「八戒，像這般子走走耍耍，我們也是上臺盤的和尚了。」八戒道：「若是擡了去，還擡回來，兩頭擡到天明，我也不怕。只是擡到廟裡，就要吃哩，這個卻不是耍子！」行者道：「你只看著我，剗著吃我時，你就走了罷。」八戒道：「知他怎麼吃哩？如先吃童男，我便好跑；如先吃童女，我卻如何？」老者道：「常年祭賽時，我這裡有膽大的鑽在廟後，或在供桌底下，看見他先吃童男，後吃童女。」八戒道：「造化，造化。」好大圣，吩咐沙僧保护唐僧：「我变作陈关保，八戒变作一秤金。」二人俱停当了，却问：「怎么供献？还是捆了去，是绑了去？蒸熟了去，是剁碎了去？」八戒道：「哥哥，莫要弄我，我没这个手段。」老者道：「不敢，不敢。只是用两个红漆丹盘，请二位坐在盘内，放在桌上，着两个后生抬一张桌子，把你们抬上庙去。」行者道：「好好好，拿盘子出来，我们试试。」那老者即取出两个丹盘，行者与八戒坐上。四个后生抬起两张桌子，往天井里走走儿，又抬回放在堂上。行者欢喜道：「八戒，像这般子走走耍耍，我们也是上台盘的和尚了。」八戒道：「若是抬了去，还抬回来，两头抬到天明，我也不怕。只是抬到庙里，就要吃哩，这个却不是耍子！」行者道：「你只看着我，刬着吃我时，你就走了罢。」八戒道：「知他怎么吃哩？如先吃童男，我便好跑；如先吃童女，我却如何？」老者道：「常年祭赛时，我这里有胆大的钻在庙后，或在供桌底下，看见他先吃童男，后吃童女。」八戒道：「造化，造化。」
逐句解 Line by line
好大聖，吩咐沙僧保護唐僧：「我變作陳關保，八戒變作一秤金。」
好大圣，吩咐沙僧保护唐僧：「我变作陈关保，八戒变作一秤金。」
The Great Sage then charged Sha Monk to guard the Tang Monk: "I have become Chen Guanbao, and Eight Rules has become One-Steelyard-of-Gold."
吩咐 = "to charge, instruct"; the two disciples now wear the children's shapes.
二人俱停當了，卻問：「怎麼供獻？
二人俱停当了，却问：「怎么供献？
The two of them being now in readiness, he asked: "How are we to be presented?
停當了 ("settled, in readiness"): 當 = dàng ("apt, in order"), not the modal dāng. 供獻 = "to offer up."
還是綑了去，是綁了去？
还是捆了去，是绑了去？
Are we to go bound, or go trussed?
還是: 還 = hái. 綑 / 綁 = to bind with rope, to tie up.
蒸熟了去，是剁碎了去？」
蒸熟了去，是剁碎了去？」
Steamed through first, or chopped into bits?"
蒸熟 = "steamed done"; 剁碎 = "chopped to pieces" — Wukong's grisly deadpan.
八戒道：「哥哥，莫要弄我，我沒這個手段。」
八戒道：「哥哥，莫要弄我，我没这个手段。」
Eight Rules said: "Brother, don't play with me — I have no stomach for that."
莫要弄我 = "don't make sport of me"; 手段 here = "the nerve, the capacity" for such usage.
老者道：「不敢，不敢。
老者道：「不敢，不敢。
The old man said: "We should not presume, we should not presume.
不敢 = "we would not dare [treat you so]."
只是用兩個紅漆丹盤，請二位坐在盤內，放在桌上，著兩個後生擡一張桌子，把你們擡上廟去。」
只是用两个红漆丹盘，请二位坐在盘内，放在桌上，着两个后生抬一张桌子，把你们抬上庙去。」
Only we use two red-lacquered cinnabar trays: we ask the two of you to sit within them, set them on a table, and have two young men carry the table up to the shrine with you on it."
Causative-dispatch 著兩個後生擡: here 著 = zhuó ("to order, set [someone] to do"), distinct from the durative zhe. 丹盤 = a cinnabar-lacquered tray; 後生 = a young fellow.
行者道：「好好好，拿盤子出來，我們試試。」
行者道：「好好好，拿盘子出来，我们试试。」
Pilgrim said: "Good, good, good — fetch out the trays and let us try them."
試試 = "give it a trial."
那老者即取出兩個丹盤，行者與八戒坐上。
那老者即取出两个丹盘，行者与八戒坐上。
The old man at once brought out two cinnabar trays, and Pilgrim and Eight Rules sat up on them.
Deictic 那老者: 那 = nà. 坐上 = "took their seats upon them."
四個後生擡起兩張桌子，往天井裡走走兒，又擡回放在堂上。
四个后生抬起两张桌子，往天井里走走儿，又抬回放在堂上。
Four young men lifted the two tables and took a turn out into the courtyard, then carried them back and set them down in the hall.
In 走走兒 the 兒 = er (suffix on the reduplicated verb, "a little walk"). 天井 = the courtyard well.
行者歡喜道：「八戒，像這般子走走耍耍，我們也是上臺盤的和尚了。」
行者欢喜道：「八戒，像这般子走走耍耍，我们也是上台盘的和尚了。」
Pilgrim said gleefully: "Eight Rules, with a bit of walking and playing about like this, we are monks who have come up on the banquet-tray!"
上臺盤 = "to come up onto the ceremonial tray," a colloquialism for rising in the world — Wukong's pun on their literal position.
八戒道：「若是擡了去，還擡回來，兩頭擡到天明，我也不怕。
八戒道：「若是抬了去，还抬回来，两头抬到天明，我也不怕。
Eight Rules said: "If we were carried out and carried back again, carried to and fro till daybreak, I should not mind.
還擡回來: 還 = hái ("back again"). 兩頭 = "both ends, to and fro."
只是擡到廟裡，就要吃哩，這個卻不是耍子！」
只是抬到庙里，就要吃哩，这个却不是耍子！」
But being carried into the shrine, where we are straightway to be eaten — that is no sport at all!"
The sentence-final 哩 = li. 不是耍子 = "is no game."
行者道：「你只看著我，剗著吃我時，你就走了罷。」
行者道：「你只看着我，刬着吃我时，你就走了罢。」
Pilgrim said: "Just keep your eye on me: if it comes to his eating me, then off you go."
Two 著, both zhe: durative 看著我, and 剗著 — 剗 (chǎn) is the vernacular "if, supposing that," with 著 as its subordinating particle. Hortative 走了罷: 罷 = ba.
八戒道：「知他怎麼吃哩？
八戒道：「知他怎么吃哩？
Eight Rules said: "Who knows how he eats them?
知他怎麼吃 = "who knows how he goes about eating."
如先吃童男，我便好跑；
如先吃童男，我便好跑；
If he eats the boy first, then I can make a good run for it;
童男 = the boy-offering; 好跑 = "can readily bolt."
如先吃童女，我卻如何？」
如先吃童女，我却如何？」
but if he eats the girl first, what then becomes of me?"
我卻如何 = "and what of me then?"
老者道：「常年祭賽時，我這裡有膽大的鑽在廟後，或在供桌底下，看見他先吃童男，後吃童女。」
老者道：「常年祭赛时，我这里有胆大的钻在庙后，或在供桌底下，看见他先吃童男，后吃童女。」
The old man said: "In the years of the sacrifice, some bold fellows among us have crept in behind the shrine, or under the offering-table, and seen that he eats the boy first and the girl after."
常年 = "in the usual years"; 膽大的 = "the bold ones"; 供桌 = the offering-table.
八戒道：「造化，造化。」
八戒道：「造化，造化。」
Eight Rules said: "My luck, my luck!"
造化 = "good fortune" — Bajie relieved that, as the girl, he is to be eaten second.
總評 Commentary
The chapter's last comic movement turns the machinery of human sacrifice into a rehearsal. Wukong's opening questions — bound or trussed, steamed through or chopped to bits? — are deadpan horror played for laughs, and the old man's flustered courtesy in answering (only two red-lacquered trays, carried up on a table by four young men) makes the arrangement sound like a banquet-service. The trial run in the courtyard, and Wukong's pun that they are now monks who have "come up on the banquet-tray," complete the inversion: the victims are enjoying the procession.
Bajie, as always, keeps the fear honest. He would not mind being carried to and fro till daybreak, he says, if only the destination were not a shrine where they are to be eaten. Wukong's laconic assurance — keep your eye on me, and if it comes to his eating me, run — and the old man's grim item of local knowledge, that the boy is always eaten first and the girl after, draw from Bajie the chapter's last laugh: "My luck, my luck!" He is, for once, glad to be the girl. The comedy is perfectly poised against the dread it postpones.