驛丞恕罪 The Warden Begs Pardon
女官引路，請他們都進驛內，正廳坐下，即喚看茶。又見那手下人盡是三綹梳頭，兩截穿衣之類。你看他拿茶的也笑。少頃，茶罷。女官欠身問曰：「使客何來？」行者道：「我等乃東土大唐王駕下欽差上西天拜佛求經者。我師父便是唐王御弟，號曰唐三藏。我乃他大徒弟孫悟空。這兩個是我師弟豬悟能、沙悟淨。一行連馬五口。隨身有通關文牒，乞為照驗放行。」那女官執筆寫罷，下來叩頭道：「老爺恕罪。下官乃迎陽驛驛丞，實不知上邦老爺，知當遠接。」拜畢起身，即令管事的安排飲饌。道：「爺爺們寬坐一時，待下官進城啟奏我王，倒換關文，打發領給，送老爺們西進。」三藏欣然而坐不題。女官引路，请他们都进驿内，正厅坐下，即唤看茶。又见那手下人尽是三绺梳头，两截穿衣之类。你看他拿茶的也笑。少顷，茶罢。女官欠身问曰：「使客何来？」行者道：「我等乃东土大唐王驾下钦差上西天拜佛求经者。我师父便是唐王御弟，号曰唐三藏。我乃他大徒弟孙悟空。这两个是我师弟猪悟能、沙悟净。一行连马五口。随身有通关文牒，乞为照验放行。」那女官执笔写罢，下来叩头道：「老爷恕罪。下官乃迎阳驿驿丞，实不知上邦老爷，知当远接。」拜毕起身，即令管事的安排饮馔。道：「爷爷们宽坐一时，待下官进城启奏我王，倒换关文，打发领给，送老爷们西进。」三藏欣然而坐不题。
逐句解 Line by line
The woman official led the way and invited them all into the posthouse, where they were seated in the main hall, and she at once called for tea to be brought.
都 is dōu. 看茶 takes 看 as kàn — in Ming vernacular the phrase means to have tea served, not to look at it. 正廳 is the principal hall of an official residence, where a guest of rank is received.
They saw further that the attendants were all of the sort that comb their hair in three braids and wear their garments in two pieces.
三綹梳頭，兩截穿衣 is a fixed descriptive formula for a woman's appearance — the hair parted and plaited in three, the dress made as separate jacket and skirt rather than as a single robe. The pilgrims register the country a second time, and again by clothing.
Look at them — even the ones bringing the tea were laughing.
你看他 is the storyteller's direct address to his audience, retained here rather than smoothed away. 拿茶的 closes on the particle de, and 看 is kàn.
In a little while the tea was done.
少頃 takes 少 as shǎo, 'a little'. 茶罷 takes 罷 as the verb bà, to have finished — not the sentence-final particle ba. Position decides.
The woman official bowed slightly and asked, 「Whence come the envoys?」
欠身 is the small forward inclination of courtesy, less than a full bow. 問曰 rather than 問道 is a shade more formal, and the whole exchange that follows is conducted in the register of official reception.
Pilgrim said, 「We are envoys commissioned by the Tang emperor of the Land of the East, bound west to worship Buddha and seek the scriptures.
欽差 takes 差 as chāi, to dispatch on commission; pypinyin gives chà, which belongs to the 'differ, be amiss' sense. 佛 is fó. Pilgrim answers as a herald would, giving authority before identity.
My master is none other than the Tang emperor's own brother, styled Tripitaka Tang.
號曰 takes 號 as hào, the noun 'style, title'. 御弟 — the imperial younger brother — is the standing formula for Tripitaka's rank, and it is the phrase the whole chapter will turn on.
I am his eldest disciple, Sun Wukong.
大徒弟 is the senior disciple, first in order of taking rather than in age.
These two are my younger fellow-disciples, Zhu Wuneng and Sha Wujing.
師弟 are disciples junior in the same line, not younger brothers; the English keeps the relation explicit because the party is a monastic order, not a family.
Our party, counting the horse, is five mouths in all.
連馬五口 counts the dragon-horse among the persons of the party. 口 as a classifier for people is standard in a census or travel document, and the phrase will be repeated verbatim in the warden's report to the throne.
We carry a passport upon our persons, and beg that it may be inspected and we let through.」
乞為 takes 為 as wèi, the purposive 'for the sake of'. 通關文牒 is the travel document the Tang court issued and every kingdom on the route countersigns — the physical object around which this chapter's plot is built.
When the woman official had taken up her brush and finished writing, she came down and knocked her head upon the ground, saying, 「Forgive my offence, Your Reverences. This humble officer is warden of the Posthouse of Welcomed Yang. Truly I did not know that Your Reverences came from a superior realm; had I known, I should have gone far out to meet you.」
寫罷 takes 罷 as bà, done. 知當 takes 當 as dāng, the modal 'ought'. 驛丞 is the warden or superintendent of a post station, a minor but real office. The J2 join takes her attribution and the four-graph 老爺恕罪 onto the sentence that completes the speech.
Her obeisance done, she rose and at once ordered the steward to lay out food and drink, saying, 「Sit at your ease a while, sirs, while this humble officer goes into the city to lay the matter before our sovereign, has the passport countersigned and your travelling provisions issued, and sends Your Reverences on westward.」
管事的 closes on de. 領給 takes 給 as jǐ: in classical administrative and military usage 給 means to provide or supply (供給, 補給), and 領給 is the formal issue of travel provisions, rations and funds — not a document. 倒換 takes 倒 as dǎo — the formal act of a kingdom endorsing a passport. The 世德堂本 punctuates 安排飲饌。道：「, which strands a bare attribution at the head of the next unit; the two are joined here (J2) so that no segment opens on 道：「.
Tripitaka sat down well pleased, and of him we say no more.
不題 is the storyteller's formula for setting a thread aside — 'of this we speak no further' — and it marks the switch of scene to the court that follows.
The whole passage is an exercise in protocol, and the joke is that the protocol works perfectly. A guest is led in, seated in the principal hall, given tea; his credentials are asked for in formal language and supplied in formal language; a clerk writes the names down; the clerk then discovers she has under-received a person of rank and performs the appropriate self-abasement. Nothing about this sequence would be out of place in any kingdom on the pilgrims' route.
Pilgrim's recitation is the closest thing the novel has to a party manifest, and the order is diplomatic rather than personal: authority first (commissioned by the Tang emperor), then purpose, then the master's rank, then his own name, then the juniors, then the count. 連馬五口 — five mouths counting the horse — is the detail that gives it away as a customs declaration, and the warden will repeat the phrase word for word when she reports to the throne.
Two small things puncture the formality. The attendants are laughing — the narrator breaks his own frame to point it out, 你看他, look at them — and the reader knows why, though nobody in the room says so. And the warden addresses the pilgrims throughout as 老爺 and 爺爺們 — sirs, venerable gentlemen — a form of respect that in this country carries an edge the pilgrims cannot hear. The scene is entirely courteous and entirely a trap, and the two facts do not conflict.