原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
變化不成
The Transformation That Would Not Take
這獃子念動咒語，把頭搖了幾搖，叫：「變！」真個變過頭來，就也像女孩兒面目，只是肚子胖大，郎伉不像。行者笑道：「再變變。」八戒道：「憑你打了罷，變不過來，奈何？」行者道：「莫成是丫頭的頭，和尚的身子？弄的這等不男不女，卻怎生是好？你可佈起罡來。」他就吹他一口仙氣，果然即時把身子變過，與那孩兒一般。便教：「二位老者，帶你寶眷與令郎、令愛進去，不要錯了。一會家，我兄弟躲懶討乖，走進去，轉難識認。你將好果子與他吃，不可教他哭叫，恐大王一時知覺，走了風汛。等我兩人耍子去也。」这呆子念动咒语，把头摇了几摇，叫：「变！」真个变过头来，就也像女孩儿面目，只是肚子胖大，郎伉不像。行者笑道：「再变变。」八戒道：「凭你打了罢，变不过来，奈何？」行者道：「莫成是丫头的头，和尚的身子？弄的这等不男不女，却怎生是好？你可布起罡来。」他就吹他一口仙气，果然即时把身子变过，与那孩儿一般。便教：「二位老者，带你宝眷与令郎、令爱进去，不要错了。一会家，我兄弟躲懒讨乖，走进去，转难识认。你将好果子与他吃，不可教他哭叫，恐大王一时知觉，走了风汛。等我两人耍子去也。」
逐句解 Line by line
這獃子念動咒語，把頭搖了幾搖，叫：「變！」
这呆子念动咒语，把头摇了几摇，叫：「变！」
The blockhead recited his spell, gave his head a shake or two, and cried: "Change!"
念動咒語 = "set the spell going"; 搖了幾搖 = "gave it several shakes."
真個變過頭來，就也像女孩兒面目，只是肚子胖大，郎伉不像。
真个变过头来，就也像女孩儿面目，只是肚子胖大，郎伉不像。
Sure enough his head came over changed, and looked for all the world like the little girl's face — only his belly stayed fat and gross, ungainly and all wrong.
女孩兒: 兒 = ér (child-morpheme). 郎伉 (láng kàng) = "lumbering, unwieldy"; 不像 = "not the likeness at all."
行者笑道：「再變變。」
行者笑道：「再变变。」
Pilgrim laughed: "Change again."
再變變 = "transform once more."
八戒道：「憑你打了罷，變不過來，奈何？」
八戒道：「凭你打了罢，变不过来，奈何？」
Eight Rules said: "Beat me if you like, then — it will not come over. What is to be done?"
Hortative 憑你打了罷: 罷 = ba. 變不過來 = "cannot be changed over"; 奈何 = "what help is there."
行者道：「莫成是丫頭的頭，和尚的身子？
行者道：「莫成是丫头的头，和尚的身子？
Pilgrim said: "You surely don't mean a maidservant's head on a monk's body?
莫成 = "surely it cannot be"; 丫頭 = a girl-servant.
弄的這等不男不女，卻怎生是好？
弄的这等不男不女，却怎生是好？
To have made yourself neither man nor woman like this — how will that serve?
弄的這等: 的 here stands for the complement-marker 得. 不男不女 = "neither male nor female."
你可佈起罡來。」
你可布起罡来。」
Set out the Dipper-stance and hold it."
佈起罡來: 罡 (gāng) is the Dipper's handle-star; 佈罡 = to tread the ritual pattern of the Big Dipper, a Daoist adept's stance.
他就吹他一口仙氣，果然即時把身子變過，與那孩兒一般。
他就吹他一口仙气，果然即时把身子变过，与那孩儿一般。
Then he blew a breath of immortal air upon him, and at once, sure enough, the body came over changed, exactly like that child's.
Deictic 那孩兒: 那 = nà, 兒 = ér. 仙氣 = the transforming breath of an immortal.
便教：「二位老者，帶你寶眷與令郎、令愛進去，不要錯了。
便教：「二位老者，带你宝眷与令郎、令爱进去，不要错了。
Then he directed them: "You two elders, take your households in with your son and your daughter, and do not get them mixed up.
Causative 便教: 教 = jiào. 寶眷 = "your honored family"; 令郎、令愛 = your son, your daughter.
一會家，我兄弟躲懶討乖，走進去，轉難識認。
一会家，我兄弟躲懒讨乖，走进去，转难识认。
In a little while, should my brother and I shirk and play sly and come walking in, it will be the harder to tell us apart.
一會家 = "presently, in a little while." 躲懶討乖 = "to dodge the work and play clever"; 轉難識認: 轉 = zhuǎn ("the more, all the more").
你將好果子與他吃，不可教他哭叫，恐大王一時知覺，走了風汛。
你将好果子与他吃，不可教他哭叫，恐大王一时知觉，走了风汛。
Give them good fruit to eat, and do not let them cry out, lest the Great King get wind of it in the moment and the secret leak.
Coverb 你將好果子: 將 = jiāng. Causative 不可教他哭叫: 教 = jiào. 走了風汛 = "to let the wind out," i.e. give the game away.
等我兩人耍子去也。」
等我两人耍子去也。」
Wait while we two go and have our sport."
耍子 = "to play, amuse oneself" — Wukong's habitual way of naming a demon-fight.
總評 Commentary
Bajie's transformation fails in exactly the way the last passage promised. He gets the head over — a passable little girl's face — but the belly stays as it was, fat and gross, and the result is 郎伉不像, lumbering and all wrong: a maidservant's head on a monk's body, as Wukong puts it, "neither man nor woman." The joke is precise about the limits of his art, since his repertoire runs to mountains, buffaloes, and fat men, and delicacy is beyond it.
What completes the change is not Bajie's own power but Wukong's breath. Told to set out the 罡-stance — the Daoist adept's tread of the Dipper — he holds still while Wukong blows a breath of immortal air on him, and the body comes over at once. The transfer of potency is quietly characteristic of the pair. Wukong's closing instructions are equally in character: keep the real children fed with fruit and quiet, lest the secret leak, and "wait while we two go and have our sport" — the demon-fight named, as always, as a game.