Output:
“What outrageous nonsense, you ape,” said Lord Lao Zi. “A thousand? Two thousand? Do you want to make a meal of them? They’re not just pellets of dirt. Clear off! I’ve none left.”

“What about a hundred or thereabouts?” asked Monkey.

“Not even that,” said Lord Lao Zi. “Ten or so?” asked Monkey. “Stop pestering me, you wretched ape,” said Lord Lao Zi. “None at all. Clear off!”

“If you really haven’t got any,” said Monkey with a laugh, “I’ll have to ask for help elsewhere.”

“Get out! Get out! Get out!” roared Lord Lao Zi, at which Monkey turned away and went.

It then suddenly occurred to Lord Lao Zi that Monkey was so wicked that even after he had announced his departure and gone, he might slip back and steal some. So he sent some immortal boys to call Monkey back. “You’re so light-fingered, you monkey,” he said, “that I’d better give you a Soul-returning Pill.”


Output:
“Since you know my powers, old man,” said Brother Monkey, “bring out all your golden elixir and split it forty-sixty with me. You can consider yourself lucky. I might have taken the lot of them, like scooping up water in a leather sieve.” The patriarch produced the gourd and turned it upside-down. A solitary golden pill fell out. “It’s the only one I have,” said Lord Lao Zi, handing it to Monkey. “Take it. I’m giving it to you to revive the king with and you can take the credit for it.”

“Just a moment,” thought Monkey as he accepted it. “Let me taste it. He might be trying to fool me with a fake.” He popped it into his mouth, to the consternation of the patriarch, who grabbed him by the skullcap with one hand and seized his fist with the other. “Damned ape,” roared Lord Lao Zi, “if you’ve swallowed that I’ll have had you killed.”


Output:
“What a face,” laughed Monkey. “How petty you look. I wouldn’t want to eat your pill. It’s not worth tuppence, and it’s nothing like it’s cracked up to be. Here it is.” Monkey had a pouch under his chin in which he had been keeping the pill.

Lord Lao Zi felt it, then said, “Clear off, and never come back here to pester me again.” The Great Sage then thanked the patriarch and left the Tushita Palace.

Watch him as he leaves the jade gates in a thousand beams of light and comes down to earth amid ten thousand auspicious clouds. In an instant he was out through the Southern Gate of Heaven and back to the land in the East, where the sun was now rising. He brought his cloud straight down to land outside the gate of the Precious Wood Monastery, where Pig could still be heard wailing. He approached and called, “Master.”

“You’re back, Wukong,” said Sanzang with delight. “Have you got the pill?”

“Yes,” said Monkey.

“Of course he would,” said Pig, “even if he had to steal it.”


Output: “Brother,” said Monkey, “you can go away now. We don’t need you to do that any more. Dry your tears or go and weep somewhere else.” Monkey then asked Friar Sand to fetch him some water. Friar Sand hurried to the well at the back where there was a convenient bucket and fetched Monkey half a bowlful of water. Monkey took the water, spat the pill out, and placed it between the king’s lips. Then he prized the body’s teeth apart with both hands and spurted the pill with a mouthful of clean water down into the king’s stomach. For the next hour wild noises could be heard from the stomach, but still the body could not move. “Master,” said Monkey, “not even fetching my golden elixir is going to save him. Are you really going to torture me to death?”


Output: “Of course he will come back to life,” said Sanzang. “How else could a body so long dead swallow the water? This shows the miraculous power of the golden elixir. Once the golden elixir is in the stomach, the stomach starts singing; and when the stomach sings the blood-pulses move in harmony with it. The only thing is that the vital breath has been cut off and cannot extend itself. Iron would rust if it had been in a well for three years—how do you expect a human body to react? Now that his own vital breath has gone someone has to give him a mouthful of air.” Pig stepped forward to do this, only to be grabbed by Sanzang, who said, “You won’t do. Get Wukong to come.”


Output:
Why did the master insist on this? It was because Pig had been a vicious man-eater since childhood, which meant that his breath was impure; whereas Monkey had cultivated his conduct since he was young and lived off the fruits of pine, cypress and peach trees, which gave him pure breath. So the Great Sage stepped forward, made a terrible thunder-god face, put his mouth to the king’s lips, and blew in. The breath went down the kings mouth, through the High Tower, round the Bright Hall and straight to the Cinnabar Field, then flowed back from the Bubbling Springs to the Mud-pill Palace. With a noisy rush of air the king’s vital breath came together and his spirit refunded.

He sat up flexed his hands and feet, and called out, “Master.” Then he knelt in the dust and said, “I remember visiting you last night as a ghost, but I never expected to return to the world of the living today.”

Sanzang hastened to raise him to his feet and said, “Your Majesty, it was none of my doing. You should thank my disciple.”


Output:
“What a thing to say, Master,” laughed Monkey. “As the saying goes, ‘A house can’t have two masters.’ It’s quite right that you should accept his thanks.”

Sanzang, still uncomfortable about accepting this courtesy, helped the king to his feet and took him into the meditation hall. Here the king bowed in greeting to Pig, Monkey and Friar Sand before taking his seat. By now the monks of the monastery had prepared breakfast, and they were going to bring it in when they saw the dripping wet king to their general alarm and suspicion.


Output:
Monkey leap out to say, “Don’t worry, monks. This is the king of Wuji, your true sovereign. Three years ago he was murdered by a demon, and I brought him back to life last night. Today we’ll be going to the capital to sort right from wrong. If you have any food, bring it in. We’ll eat and then we’ll be on our way.” The monks then brought in hot water for the king to wash with and a change of clothes. They took off the king’s yellow ochre robe and gave him two of the abbot’s cloth habits, with a yellow silk cord to tie around the waist instead of the belt of Lantian jade. They slipped off his no-worry shoes and put a pair of old monastic sandals on his feet instead. Then they all ate breakfast and the horse was saddled up.

“How heavy’s the luggage, Pig?” Monkey asked.

“I’ve been carrying it for so long that I don’t know any more,” Pig replied.

“Divide the stuff into two loads,” said Monkey, “and give one to the king to carry. We must be in town early to get on with the job.”


Output:
“I’m in luck,” said Pig. “It took me one heck of an effort to carry him here, but now that he’s alive again he’s doing my work for me.”

The idiot asked the monastery for a carrying-pole and divided the luggage unfairly. He put all the light things into his load and the heavier ones into the king’s. “Your Majesty,” laughed Monkey, “don’t you feel hard done by, dressed like that and having to walk with us carrying a load?” The monarch fell straight to his knees and replied, “Master, you’re the father and mother who have given me a second life. Never mind carrying the baggage—I’d be your groom to serve you on your journey to the Western Heaven.”

“No need for you to go there,” said Sanzang. “We are bound to by fate. You’ll just have to carry the stuff the fifteen miles into town. Once we’ve captured the fiend you must go back to ruling again and we’ll go on to fetch our scriptures.”


Output:
Pig’s comment on this was, “That means he’ll only carry it for those fifteen miles, and I’ll have to continue as the permanent porter.”

“That’s enough of that nonsense, brother,” said Monkey. “Hurry out and lead the way.” Pig then led the way forward with the king while Friar Sand helped the master mount and Monkey brought up the rear. The five hundred monks of the monastery drew themselves up in an orderly procession to see them off to the accompaniment of music. “There’s no need for you to come any further to see us on our way,” said Monkey with a smile. “It would be disastrous if any official heard about it and news of what we are going to do leaked out. Please please go straight back. I’d just like you to get His Majesty’s clothes clean and tidy then send them into the capital this evening or tomorrow morning. I’ll see to it that you’re properly rewarded.” The monks obediently returned, and Monkey hastened his pace to catch up with his master as they pressed ahead. Indeed:


Output:
In the West there was a magic spell to yield the truth;

Metal and Wood together refined the spirit.

The Mother of Cinnabar had a mysterious dream,

The boy grieved over the useless body.

The true ruler had to be found at the bottom of a well,

And a visit to Lord Lao Zi in Heaven was required.

Realizing that matter is void, he regained his nature;

The Buddha indeed saves those who are so predestined.

It took master and disciples less than a morning to make their journey, and they were soon near the city. “Wukong,” said Sanzang, “I think that must be the capital of Wuji ahead of us.”

“You’re right,” said Monkey. “Let’s get there soon and do our job.” As they entered the city they saw that the people in the streets were well dressed and that there was an air of busy prosperity. The phoenix pavilions and dragon towers of the palace looked most magnificent, and there is a poem to prove it:

These palaces resemble those of a great state;

The singing and dancing here are like in Tang.


Output:
The singing and dancing here are like in Tang.

Flowers face precious fans, and red clouds sail above;

Robes shine emerald in the sun.

The peacock gates open on clouds of incense,

Coloured flags fly over the curtains of pearl.

Truly an admirable picture of prosperity:

The officials stand silent with nothing to report.

Sanzang dismounted and said, “Disciple, I think we should go to the palace and submit our travel document so as to avoid trouble from petty officials.”

“You’re right,” said Monkey. “My brothers and I will all go in together. It’ll be much easier to manage if there are several of us.”

“If you all go in,” said Sanzang, “don’t talk rough. Pay your respects to him as a subject would to his sovereign before you say anything.”

“Does that mean kowtowing?” Monkey asked.

“Yes,” said Sanzang, “the full obeisance with five bows and three kowtows.”


Output:
“You’re useless, Master,” laughed Brother Monkey. “It would be really stupid to do obeisance to him. You’d better let me go in first and sort things out. I’ll see what he has to say before deciding how to reply. If I bow, you all bow; and if I squat, you all squat.”

Watch as the trouble-making Monkey King leads them to the palace gates and says to the official on duty there, “We are pilgrims sent by the Great Tang Emperor in the East to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures from the Western Heaven. Today we have come to present our credentials and I would trouble you, distinguished sir, to pass them on for us. In this way you will not hinder our excellent achievement.”


Output:
The gate officer then went in through the Southern gates of the palace, knelt on the steps, and reported, “There are five monks outside the gates who say that they are pilgrims sent by the Great Tang to worship the Buddha and fetch scriptures from the Western Heaven. They are now here to present their credentials, and rather than intrude uninvited they are awaiting they royal summons outside the gates.”

The fiend-monarch sent for them at once. As he went in through the palace gates with the Tang Priest, the king who had been brought back to life could not hold back his tears, which flowed down his cheeks. “How awful it is,” he thought, “that my kingdom, which is as strong as bronze and iron, has been secretly stolen from me.”


Output:
“Don’t upset yourself, Your Majesty,” said Monkey, “or you’ll give the game away. My cudgel is dancing in my ear and it’s absolutely bound to succeed. I guarantee that I’ll kill the fiend and sweep away all his filth. The kingdom will soon be yours again.” The king dared not disobey, so wiping away his tears with his clothes he took his life in his hands and followed them as they went into the main audience hall of the palace.

Next were to be seen the civil and military officials and the four hundred courtiers, all towering over them in majestic silence. Monkey led the Tang Priest to stand unmoving at the foot of the white jade steps. The officials below the steps all trembled with fear.

“What a stupid monk,” they said. “Fancy seeing our king without even bowing to him or saying anything polite. He hasn’t even made a respectful chant. What brazen effrontery.”

Before the words were out of their mouths the fiend-king asked, “Where is that monk from?”


Output:
To this Monkey boldly replied, “He is a pilgrim sent by imperial command from the land of Great Tang in the East of the Southern Jambu Continent to go to the Thunder Monastery in India in the West in order to worship the living Buddha and fetch the true scriptures. Now that he is here he does not wish to pass through your country without reporting his presence, which is why he has come today to submit his credentials.”

Hearing this, the fiend-king thought angrily, “What’s so special about your Eastern land? I don’t pay tribute to your court or have any dealings with your monarch. So how dare you be so rude and not bow to me?”

“We in the East have long had a Heavenly dynasty,” said Monkey with a smile, “and been regarded as a superior country, while yours is just an inferior frontier state. As the old saying has it,

The emperor of a greater land

Is the father and the superior,

The ruler of a lesser state

Is the son and the inferior.


Output:
Is the son and the inferior.

You didn’t even come out to meet us. How dare you complain about us not bowing!”

In a raging fury the fiend-king ordered his civil and military officials, “Arrest that uncouth monk.” At the word “Arrest” the officials all rushed at Monkey, who gave a shout, pointed at them, and told them to keep back. By pointing at them he made magic that immobilized them. None of the officials could now move. Indeed:

The colonels before the steps became wooden figurines;

The generals in the hall were statues of clay.

Seeing that all his civil and military officials had been turned to statues, the fiend-king leapt down from his dragon throne and was just about to seize Monkey, who thought gleefully, “Just what I want. Even if his head is made of iron, one touch of my cudgel will be enough to make a hole in it.” But as the fiend started to move a rescuer came forward from beside him.


Output:
Do you know who it was? It was the crown prince of Wuji, who rushed forward to grab the fiend’s court robes, kneel before him, and say, “Please don’t be angry, Your Majesty.”

“Why, my boy?” asked the fiend.


Output: “Let me tell you, father. Three years ago I heard tell that a holy monk had been sent by the Tang Emperor to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures from the Western Heaven. I never thought that he would be here in our country today. Your Majesty has a fiery temper, and I’m afraid that you will have the monk beheaded, and that the Great Tang Emperor will be furious when he eventually hears the news. Since making himself ruler the Tang Emperor Li Shimin has unified the country, but he isn’t satisfied yet. He has sent military expeditions overseas already. If he learns, sir, that you have killed this holy priest who is his sworn brother he’s bound to raise an army to wage war on you. Our forces are much too weak to cope, but by then it will be too late for regrets. If Your Majesty will accept your son’s suggestion you should have the four monks arrested and thoroughly questioned. Hold them on the charge of not paying obeisance to the royal presence; sentence can be passed later.”


Output:
All these suggestion to hold the fiend back were made because the crown prince was worried that the fiend would harm the Tang Priest. He did not realize that Monkey had deliberately done things in that way in order to get a crack at the fiend.

The fiend accepted the prince’s advice, stood before his throne, and roared, “Monk, when did you leave the East? Why did the Tang monarch send you to fetch scriptures?”


Output: Monkey stood proud as he replied, “My master is the Tang Emperor’s sworn brother, and his title is Sanzang. The Tang Emperor has a minister called Wei Zheng who beheaded the old dragon of the Jing River in a dream because Heaven ordered him to. When the Tang Emperor came back to life after dreaming that he had toured the Underworld, he held a Great Water and Land Mass to save the souls of all those who had been unjustly slain. Because my master preached on the scriptures with such broad compassion the Bodhisattva Guanyin instructed him to travel West. My master made a solemn vow volunteering gladly to do this in order to express his full loyalty to his country, and was given a letter of credence by the Tang Emperor. This was three days before the full moon in the ninth month of the thirteenth year of the reign-period Tien Guan. After leaving the lands of the East he came to the Double-boundary Mountain, where he took me to be his senior disciple; my name is Sun Wukong, Sun the Novice, or Brother Monkey. Then


Output: Wukong, Sun the Novice, or Brother Monkey. Then he came to Gao Village in the Land of Stubet, where he took his second disciple, called Zhu Bajie, Zhu Wuneng, or Pig. At the Flowing Sands River he took his third disciple, Sha Wujing, or Friar Sand. Then the day before yesterday he took on a lay brother at the Precious Wood Monastery to be our porter.”


Output:
On hearing all this the fiend, who had no way of searching the Tang Priest, or of using a crafty approach to questioning Monkey, glared angrily and said, “When you left the East you were travelling alone. Of the four followers you picked up the three regular monks are no problem. But I won’t stand for your taking that lay brother. I’m sure the fellow was kidnapped. What’s he called? Does he have an official ordination license? Bring him forward to make a statement.”

At this the real king began to tremble as the asked, “Master, what shall I say?”

“Don’t be afraid,” said Monkey, giving him a pinch. “I’ll speak for you.”

The splendid Great Sage hurried forward and yelled to the fiend at the top of his voice, “Your Majesty, this old lay brother is dumb, and a bit deaf too. But when he was young he once went to the Western Heaven, so he knows the way. I’m very familiar with his background, so I beg Your Majesty in your mercy to allow me to speak on his behalf.”


Output:
“Unless you want to be punished you’d better make a full and frank statement at once,” said the fiend.

To this Monkey said,

“The brother now confessing is getting on in years,

Struck both deaf and dumb, and bankrupt too.

Long have his family lived in this region

Till five years ago catastrophe struck.

No rain fell, and the people suffered drought;

Monarch and commoners all kept and fast.

Incense was burned amid their prayers to Heaven,

But for hundreds of miles no clouds could be seen.

When all of the people were in agonies of hunger,

A wizard from Zhongshan suddenly arrived.

He showed his great powers to bring the wind and rain,

Then secretly murdered the ruler of the country,

Pushed him down the well in the palace’s garden,

Took the throne himself in the king’s own likeness.

Luckily I came and did a great good deed,

Raising the dead and restoring him to life.

Then he volunteered to act as our porter

And go to the West together with us monks.

The false king is really a very evil wizard;


Output:
The false king is really a very evil wizard;

The lay brother is in fact the true king in disguise.”

Hearing this as he sat in his palace’s throne hall, the fiend was so frightened that his heart leapt like a little deer, and his face flushed. He drew away at once and was just about to flee, but he was unarmed. He turned round to see that one of the officers of the palace guard who had a sword at his waist was standing stock-still

like an idiot because Monkey’s magic had immobilized him.

The fiend grabbed the sword and rose into the air on a cloud, to the thunderous fury of Friar Sand and loud complaints from Pig about Monkey’s impatience: “If you’d taken it a bit more gently you could have calmed him down and got him. If he gets away on his cloud now, where ever will you find him?”


Output:
“Stop that awful din, brothers,” laughed Monkey. “Let’s ask the prince to come down and pay his respects to his father, and invite the queen and the consorts to bow to their husband.” He then recited the words to lift the immobilizing spell, and said, “When the officials come to, tell them all to come and pay homage to their sovereign. Then it will be known who is the real king. Tell everyone what has happened so that the truth can be known. I’m off to find the demon.” The splendid Great Sage then gave Pig and Friar Sand his parting instructions: “Look after them all—king and ministers, father and son, queen and consorts, and our master.” By the time he had finished speaking he had already disappeared.

He was already up in the ninth layer of cloud, looking all around for the fiend. He saw that the wretch had got away with his life and was fleeing back to the East. Monkey was soon close behind him and shouting, “Where do you think you’re going, monster? Monkey’s after you.”


Output:
The fiend turned to look, raised his sword, and shouted, “You scoundrel, Monkey. It was none of your business that I was sitting on someone else’s throne. Why did you have to come here righting wrongs and giving my secret away?”

“I’ll get you, you cheeky monster,” chuckled Monkey. “Don’t imagine you’ll ever be a king again. As you knew who I was you should have made yourself scarce instead of giving my master a bad time. What sort of confession were you trying to extort from him? The one you got just now? If you won’t go, tough guy, try a taste of my cudgel.” The fiend dodged the blow then struck back at Monkey’s face with his sword. Once the two of them were in action it was a splendid fight. Indeed:

Fierce was the Monkey king, and strong the demon monarch,

As cudgel parried sword while they fought against each other.

For one whole day the Three Worlds are in cloud

Just because a monarch recovered his throne.”


Output:
Just because a monarch recovered his throne.”

After a few rounds the fiend realized that he was no match for Monkey and fled back to the city by the way he had come. He rushed through the two lines of civil and military officials before the white jade steps, turned himself into the likeness of the Tang Priest with a shake of his body, and stood holding his hands together before the steps of the throne hall.

When the Great Sage caught the monster up and had raised his cudgel to strike him down the monster said, “Disciple, it’s me, don’t hit me.” Monkey then raised his cudgel to strike the real Tang Priest, who also said, “Disciple, it’s me, don’t hit me.” Both Tang Priests were so alike as to be indistinguishable.


Output:
“If I kill the Tang Priest who is really the demon in disguise, that will be a great achievement,” thought Monkey. “But if I killed my real master that would be terrible.” So he had to stay his hand while he asked Pig and Friar Sand, “Which one is the fiend and which is our master? Point the fiend out to me and I’ll kill him.”

“You made such a noise when you were fighting up there,” said Pig, “that I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again there were two masters. I don’t know which is the real one.”


Output: As soon as he heard this Monkey made magic with his hands, said the words of the spell, and called on all the devas who guard the dharma, the Six Dings, the Six Jias, the Protectors of the Four Quarters and the Centre, the Four Duty Gods, and the Eighteen Guardians of the Faith, as well as the local deities and mountain gods: “I’m here to subdue a demon, but the demon has turned himself into my master. They’re so alike I can’t tell them apart. As you have secret understanding, please invite my master to enter the throne hall so that I can capture the fiend.”


Output:
Now the fiend was good at cloud-jumping, and the moment he heard what Monkey was saying he got out by leaping on the roof of the throne hall, so that when Monkey raised his cudgel he struck at the Tang Priest. Oh dear! Had he not called in those gods he would have beaten twenty Tang Priests to pulp there and then. Luckily the gods blocked his cudgel and said, “Great Sage, the fiend is a cloud-jumper. He’s got up on the roof.” But as soon as Monkey went up on the roof after him the fiend jumped down again, grabbed hold of the real Tang Priest, and got the two of them muddled up again in the crowds. They were once again indistinguishable.

Monkey was most upset, and on hearing Pig’s mocking laughter from beside him he burst into a fury: “What’s wrong with you, cretin? You’ll have to be at the beck and call of two masters now, so why are you looking so pleased?”


Output:
“Call me stupid if you like, brother,” laughed Pig, “but you’re even sillier than me. If you can’t tell which is the master, don’t waste your effort trying. If you can bear the headache, ask our master to say the spell. Friar Sand and I will each stand by one of them and listen. The one who doesn’t know the words will be the fiend. What’s the problem?”

“Good for you, brother,” said Monkey. “Only three people know the words of that spell. They came from the heart of Lord Buddha and were taught to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, who passed them on to our master. Nobody else knows them. Very well then. Say the spell, Master.” The Tang Priest then really did begin to recite it. The fiend, who could not possibly have known the words, could only mumble some gibberish.

“This one here who’s mumbling is the fiend,” said Pig. Letting go of the monster and raising his rake to strike him with, the fiend leapt up into the air and flew away on a cloud.


Output:
With a great shout the splendid Pig mounted another cloud and went after him. Friar Sand too was so excited that he abandoned the Tang Priest and brandished his own staff for battle. Only then did the Tang Priest stop saying the spell. The Great Sage Monkey grabbed his cudgel and joined in the aerial chase despite his headache. In this fight three ferocious monks had one wretched fiend surrounded. As the fiend was held in check by Pig’s rake and Friar Sand’s staff, Monkey laughed and said, “I can’t go straight up to him and hit him head-on because he’s so scared of me that he’d run away. I’ll go up higher, turn myself upside-down, and hit him that way.”

The Great Sage then sprang up in auspicious light to the ninth layer of cloud, and was just about to deliver his blow when a multicolored cloud appeared to the Northwest and a voice shouted loudly, “Don’t hit him, Sun Wukong.” Monkey turned round to see that this was the Bodhisattva Manjusri checked his blow at once, and did obeisance.


Output:
“Where are you going, Bodhisattva?” he asked.

“I’m here to collect that fiend for you,” Manjusri replied. Monkey thanked him for his trouble. Manjusri produced the demon-revealing mirror from his sleeve to reveal the fiend’s true form, then Monkey called Pig and Friar Sand to come to greet the Bodhisattva. When they all looked in the mirror they saw that the monster was quite appallingly ugly:

Eyes like glazed dishes,

A head like a steel cauldron.

His whole body blue as indigo in summer,

His claws as white as autumn frosts.

Two floppy ears,

A tail as long as a broom.

Blue hairs bristling with courage,

Red eyes shining with gold.

Flat teeth like jade flagstones,

Round whiskers sticking out like spears.

When his true image is shown in the mirror

He is Manjusri’s Lion King.

“Bodhisattva,” said Monkey, “he’s the blue-haired lion from under your throne. Why did he run away here to be an evil spirit, and why didn’t you subdue him before?”


Output:
“Wukong,” replied the Bodhisattva, “he didn’t run away. He was sent here by the Lord Buddha.”

“How could the Lord Buddha possibly have sent this beast here to become a spirit and usurp a throne? I could have done with some of his edicts to help me to put up with the misery of escorting the Tang Priest.”


Output:
“There are some things you don’t know,” said Manjusri. “That king of Wuji was a benevolent man and used to feast monks. The Lord Buddha sent me here to bring him to the West, where he might become a golden arhat. Because I could not appear to him in my real form I turned into an ordinary monk and asked him for some vegetarian food. When he was unable to answer some questions I asked he took me for an evildoer, had me tied up, and immersed me in the palace moat for three days. Luckily the Six Jias saved me with their golden bodies and took me back to the West, where I reported to the Tathagata Buddha. It was he who ordered that the king be pushed into the well and soaked for three years as punishment for my three-day soaking. ‘Every mouthful we eat or drink is predestined.’ By coming here you have now won a great merit.”

“You may have repaid your private grudge, like repaying every mouthful, but goodness only knows how many people that monster murdered,” replied Monkey.


Output:
“He never killed anyone,” the Bodhisattva replied. “In the three years since his arrival the winds and rains have come at the right time, the state has been strong and the people have known peace. He did nobody any harm.”

“Even if all that is granted,” said Monkey, “he’s been sleeping with the queen and the consorts in the harem. Surely this has sullied them and been an affront to morality.”

“He has not sullied them at all,” the Bodhisattva replied. “He’s a gelded lion.”

Hearing this Pig went up to the creature and had a feel. “This evil spirit’s got a bad reputation he doesn’t deserve,” he chuckled, “like a teetotaler with a red nose.”

“In that case,” said Monkey, “take him with you. If you hadn’t come, Bodhisattva, I’d never have spared his life.”


Output:
The Bodhisattva then said a spell and shouted, “Return to the Truth, beast. What are you waiting for?” Only then did the fiend-king return to his original form, Manjusri placed a lotus-blossom over the monster to tame him, sat on his back, and left Monkey amid golden light. Ah!

Manjusri returned to Wutai Mountain

To hear the scriptures taught beneath the lotus throne.

If you don’t know how the Tang Priest and his disciples left the city, listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Chapter Fourty

The Boy Fools with Transformations, Disturbing the Dhyana Heart

Ape and Horse Return with a Knife; the Mother of Wood Is Empty

The story goes on to tell how the Great Sage Monkey and his two fellow-disciples landed their clouds and went straight into the palace. Here monarch, ministers, queen and prince bowed to them in thanks, a group at a time, and Monkey told everyone the story of how Manjusri had recovered the demon. They all knelt and bowed to the ground repeatedly.


Output:
Amid all the congratulations the gatekeeper came to report, “My lord, there are four more monks at the gates.” This news threw Pig into a panic.

“Brother,” he said, “has the fiend used his magic to make a false Manjusri to fool us? Perhaps he’s turned into a monk now for another battle of wits with us.”

“Nonsense,” said Monkey, ordering that they be summoned inside.

The civil and military officials passed on the order and the monks were sent in. Monkey saw that they were monks from the Precious Wood Monastery bringing the king’s crown, jade belt, yellow ochre robe and no-worry shoes.


Output: “Splendid,” said Monkey with delight, “splendid.” He then asked the lay brothers to step forward, and made the king take off his monastic headcloth and put on his crown, remove his cotton habit and don his robe of yellow ochre, replace his silk belt with the jade belt, and kick off his monastic sandals for his no-worry shoes. Monkey then told the crown prince to fetch the white jade scepter for his father to hold, and invited the king to enter the throne-hall to rule once more.


Output: As the old saying has it, “The court cannot be without a monarch for a single day.” The king refused to sit on the throne, but knelt in the middle of the steps weeping and saying, “Now that you have brought me back to life after I was dead for three years, Master, I can’t possibly go on acting as king. Please ask your master to be king. It will be enough for me to take my wives and children to live as a commoner outside the city.” Sanzang absolutely refused to take the throne, his heart being utterly set on worshipping the Buddha and fetching the scriptures.


Output: The king then offered the throne to Monkey, who said with a laugh, “I tell you frankly, gentlemen, if I’d wanted to be a king I could have been the king of every country on earth. But we’re all used to being monks now—it’s an easy life. If I were a king I’d have to grow my hair and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at dusk or when the drum is beaten for the fifth watch. Whenever there was a report from the frontier I’d be worried, and I’d be distressed and helpless at reports of famine and disaster. I’d never get used to it. No, you go back to being a king, and I’ll carry on and win merit as a monk.”


Output:
No matter how hard the king tried to refuse he finally had to enter the throne-hall, sit facing South on the throne, and call himself king. He issued a general amnesty, sent the monks of the Precious Wood Monastery back with rich presents, and opened up the Eastern hall of the palace to give a banquet for the Tang Priest. He also sent for painters to paint portraits of the Tang patriarch and his three disciples to hang in the throne hall.

Now that they had restored the country to peace the master and his disciples did not want to stay long; they were eager to take their leave of the king and carry on towards the West. The king, his queen and consorts, the crown prince and the ministers presented the country’s greatest treasures as well as gold, silver, silk and satin to the patriarch as tokens of their thanks.


Output:
Sanzang accepted none of these gifts but only the return of his passport and urged Monkey and the other two to saddle the horse up and be on their way as soon as possible. The king was most upset. He ordered the state carriage brought out and invited the Tang Priest to ride in it. The two groups of civil and military officials led the way, while the king, his queen and consorts, and the crown prince pushed the wheels of the carriage. Only when they had passed through the outer walls of the city did Sanzang get down from the dragon carriage to take his leave of them all.

“Master,” said the king, “please visit our country on your way back after collecting the scriptures in the Western Heaven.”

“I hear and obey,” replied Sanzang. The king then returned with his ministers, weeping. The Tang Priest and his three disciples made their way along a twisting road, single-minded in their determination to worship at the Vulture Peak. By now autumn was just giving way to winter.


Output:
Bare stand the woods as frost carves out red leaves;

Ample the yellow millet ripened after rain.

Sun-warmed plum trees blossom in the dawn;

Cold sounds the bamboo shaken by the wind.

Master and disciples had now left the kingdom of Wuji. Resting at night and travelling by day, they had been going for the best part of a month when they saw a mountain in front of them that touched the sky and blotted out the sun. Sanzang was alarmed. Reining in the horse he called urgently for Monkey, who asked, “What are your orders, Master?”

“Do you see that big mountain in front of us?” said Sanzang. “It’s so sheer that I’m sure there must be evil creatures lurking on it to catch us, so be on your guard.”

“Just keep going and don’t worry,” said Monkey with a laugh. “I’ll protect you.” With that the venerable elder relaxed and spurred his horse on. When they reached the craggy mountain they saw that it was indeed precipitous:

Is it high?

It touches the azure firmament.

It is deep?

Its chasms open down to hell.


Output:
It is deep?

Its chasms open down to hell.

Before the mountain white clouds always billow.

Swirling black mists,

Red-blossoming plums, emerald bamboo,

Green cypresses and bluish pines.

Behind the mountain is a lofty soul-gripping pillar,

Concealing the fantastic caves of monsters.

Springs flow from the caves with cheerful voice,

And down ravines that twist and wind.

Apes swing from the sky to offer fruit;

Stags carry many-branching antlers,

While river deer shyly watch the strangers.

At duck the tigers climb to seek their dens;

Dragons emerge at dawn from out of the waters.

A sudden mighty roar at a cave’s mouth

Sends birds noisily aloft with fright.

See how the woodland beasts skulk off.

At the sight of all these birds and beasts

The human heart beats hard in terror.

Spacious as halls are the caves,

All lined up along the peaks;

The granite rocks are coloured like pieces of jade;

Mist covers all as if with greenish gauze.


Output:
Mist covers all as if with greenish gauze.

Master and disciples were already frightened enough when a red cloud emerged from a fold in the mountain and rose straight up into the sky, where it formed a ball of fire. Monkey was horrified. As he went to take a closer look he pushed the master’s leg to get him off the horse and said, “Brothers, stay here. An evil spirit’s coming.” In their alarm Pig grabbed his iron rake and Friar Sand his staff as they stood guard on either side of the Tang Priest.


Output: Here the story divides into two. The red light was indeed from an evil spirit who had heard tell some years earlier that a Tang Priest from the East, a reincarnation of the Venerable Golden Cicada and a holy man who had cultivated his conduct through ten successive lives, was going to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. Anyone who ate a piece of his flesh would live as long as heaven and earth. The evil spirit had been longing day in and day out for him to arrive, and now he was here. As the evil spirit looked at them from mid-air he saw the three disciples ready for action as they guarded the Tang Priest on his horse. The spirit was full of admiration.


Output:
“Now there’s a monk for you,” he said to himself. “I can just make out a fat, white-faced monk riding a horse. That must be the holy Tang Priest. But why is he surrounded by those three hideous monks? They’ve all clenched their fists, their sleeves are rolled up, and they’re armed. They look as if they’re ready for a fight. I wonder if any of them is sharp-eyed enough to see what I am? Looking the way that I do I haven’t a hope of eating the Tang Priest’s flesh.”

After he had been arguing it over for some time he said to himself, “If I try swooping down to grab him I won’t get anywhere near him. I’ll only get him if I trick him through cunning. Once I’ve hoodwinked him I can think of some crafty scheme that’s bound to catch him. So I’ll go down and try a few games with him.”


Output:
The splendid evil monster then dispersed his red light and brought his cloud down to land on the mountainside, where he turned himself with a shake of his body into a naughty boy of six, stark naked, tied hand and foot to the top of a pine tree, and shouting, “Help, help!”

When the Great Sage Monkey looked up again and saw that the red cloud and the fire had completely disappeared he told the master to remount and be on his way again.

“But you said an evil spirit was here; I don’t dare move,” replied Sanzang.

“Just now I saw a red cloud rise up from the ground,” said Monkey, “and turn into a ball of fire in mid-air. It was certainly an evil spirit. As the fire and the cloud have now gone I think it must just have been passing by and wasn’t going to do us any harm. Let’s go.”

“You make it sound all very convincing,” said Pig, “but who ever heard of an evil spirit that just passed by?”


Output:
“You wouldn’t know,” replied Monkey. “If the demon king of some mountain cave has invited the spirits from all the other caves in the mountains to a banquet, then the spirits from all around would be heading there. They’d be much more interested in the feast than in doing anyone any harm. That must have been a passing spirit.”

Sanzang was only half-convinced, but he remounted and continued along the path up the mountain. On his way he heard a shout of “Help!” and said to his disciple with shock, “Disciple, what’s that cheer in the middle of these mountains?”

“You just keep going, Master,” said Monkey, coming up to him. “Stop worrying about chairs, whether they’re carried by people or mules, or whether they’re open-topped or litters. Even if there were a chair here there’d be nobody to carry it for you.”

“I’m not talking about chairs for carrying but about cheers,” said Sanzang. “I know,” said Monkey, “but it’s no concern of yours. You just keep going.”


Output:
Sanzang did as he was told and whipped his horse forward. About a quarter of a mile later he heard another shout of “Help!”

“Disciple,” he said, “that’s no goblin or demon shouting. If it were there’d be no echo. Listen to those shouts, one after another. I’m sure it’s someone in trouble. We must go to the rescue.”


Output: “Master,” said Monkey, “let’s have a bit less of that compassion until we’ve crossed the mountain. Then you can be as compassionate as you like. This is an evil place. You must have heard how things can become spirits just as creepers attach themselves to trees. Most of them are no trouble, but there’s one kind of python that’s developed its powers for so long that it’s become a spirit. It’s got an amazing knowledge of the names people had as children. If you don’t reply when it calls your name out from the undergrowth or from a mountain hollow you’ll be fine; but if you answer a single word it’ll grab your soul and will surely come and kill you the next night. Move! If you get away you can thank you lucky stars, as the saying goes. Whatever you do, ignore it.”


Output:
The venerable elder still had no choice but to obey and whip his horse on. “I don’t know where that damned monster is,” thought Monkey. “He just keeps on shouting. I’ll have to use separating magic to keep him and the master apart.” The splendid Great Sage then called Friar Sand to him and said, “Lead the horse on slowly while I take a piss.” Watch Monkey as he lets the Tang Priest get several paces ahead, says a spell to move mountains and make land shrink, and points behind him with his cudgel. Once master and disciples were over the peak they would have left this demon behind. He then hurried to catch up with the Tang Priest and press on up the mountain. But Sanzang heard another cry of “Help!” from the other side of the mountain.

“Disciple,” he said, “that poor person is very unlucky to have missed us. We’ve passed him now. Can’t you hear him shouting on the other side of the mountain?”

“If he’s around he must still be on this side,” said Pig. “It’s just that the wind has changed.”


Output:
“Never you mind about whether the wind has changed or not,” said Monkey. “Keep moving.” From then on they all stopped talking and wished they could step over the mountain with a single stride.

The story switches back to the evil spirit, whose three or four shouts had found no response. “I’ve been waiting for the Tang Priest here,” he thought, “and I saw that he was only about a mile away. I wonder why he’s still not here after all this time. He must have taken a short cut.” He then braced himself, slipped out of his bonds, and went up into the air again in his red light to take another look. He did not notice when the Great Sage looked up at him, recognized him as an evil spirit, and pushed the Tang Priest by his foot off the horse once more. “Brothers,” said Monkey, “be very careful. The evil spirit’s coming back.” Again Pig and Friar Sand placed themselves on either side of the Tang Priest to protect him with their rake and staff.


Output:
The spirit was full of praise for all this as he noticed it from mid-air: “What fine monks! I saw the fat, white-faced one on the horse before: why have the other three hidden him? I’d better take a closer look to find out. I’ll have to get rid of the sharp-eyed one first before I can catch the Tang Priest. Otherwise I’ll have

Wasted my worry without any gain,

Been to that trouble, and yet all in vain.”

Once more he brought the cloud down, made the same transformation that he had the previous time, and waited at the top of a pine tree. This time he was only a few hundred yards away from them.

When the Great Sage Sun looked up yet again and saw that the red cloud had dispersed he once more asked the master to remount and press on. “But you told me the evil spirit was back,” said Sanzang, “so why do you want me to keep going?”

“It was another passing one, and it won’t dare try to harm us,” Monkey replied. At this the venerable elder lost his temper.


Output:
“Damned monkey. You keep trying to make a fool of me. When there really are evil monsters you say there’s no problem, but in a quiet, peaceful place like this you keep giving me terrible frights by shouting about evil spirits. If I were to fall and injure myself I would certainly not forgive you. It’s outrageous.”

“Don’t be cross with me, Master,” said Monkey. “Even if you did hurt a hand or a foot in a fall it could be cured easy enough. But if an evil spirit got you I wouldn’t know where to look for you.” Sanzang, who was by now in a raging fury, was only dissuaded from saying the Band-tightening Spell by Friar Sand’s entreaties. Yet again he remounted to carry on with his journey.


Output: He was not even settled in the saddle when he heard another call of “Help, master!” He looked up to see a little boy hanging naked in a tree. Reining in his horse he started to abuse Monkey again: “You damned scoundrel, ape. There’s not a shred of kindness in you. All you can think of is wickedness and murder. I told you it was a human voice, but you kept yelling over and over again that it was a monster. Can’t you see the boy in the tree?” As the master was so angry Monkey sneaked a glance at him and saw what sort of expression he was wearing. Then he bowed his head and made no reply, firstly because there was nothing he could do, and secondly because he was afraid that the master might say the spell.


Output: When the Tang Priest reached the foot of the tree he pointed at the boy with his riding crop and asked, “Who are your parents? Why are you hanging up there? Tell me and I will save you.” Oh dear! He was truly an evil spirit to make himself look like that, but the master only had mortal, fleshly eyes and could not see what he was.


Output: The evil spirit put on even more of an act on hearing these question. “Master,” he called, tears pouring down, “I live in the village by Withered Pine Ravine to the West of the mountain. My grandfather was known as Millionaire Hong because he had such a huge fortune. He died a long time ago and left everything to my father. Nowadays we throw our money around and we’re not nearly as rich any more. That’s why my father’s called Hundred Thousand Hong. All he likes doing is making friends with all the big shots around and lending his gold and silver out at interest. But they were crooks who swindled him out of the lot, and he lost both capital and interest. My father swore never to lend out another penny. Then the people who borrowed from him became so desperate with poverty that they formed a gang. They attacked us in broad daylight with fire and weapons, stole all our goods, and killed my father. Because my mother is so beautiful they carried her off to be the bandit chief’s woman. She couldn’t bear to leave


Output: bandit chief’s woman. She couldn’t bear to leave me behind, so she hid me in her clothes and went weeping and trembling with the bandits. When they got to this mountain the bandits wanted to kill me. They only spared me from the sword because of my mother’s desperate pleas. Instead they tied me to this tree to die of cold and hunger. I don’t know where the bandits have taken my mother. I’ve been hanging up here for three days and nights, and you’re the first people to come past. I must have earned merit in a previous life to have met you in this one, Master. If in your great compassion you can rescue me and take me home I’d gladly sell myself into slavery in order to repay you. I won’t forget what you’ve done for me even when I’m buried.”


Output:
Taking all this for the truth, Sanzang told Pig to undo the ropes and bring the boy down. The idiot, not realizing who he was, was just about to start doing it. This was more than Monkey could bear.

“Damned beast,” he shouted, “there’s someone here who can see what you are. Cut out all that nonsense, and stop trying to fool us. If all your family’s goods have been stolen, your father has been murdered and your mother kidnapped, then who are we going to hand you to after we rescue you? What sort of reward will you give us? It doesn’t hang together. It’s a pack of lies.”

This frightened the evil spirit, who realized now that Monkey was an able opponent and was keeping an eye on him. So he trembled and wept as he continued, “Although I’ve lost both my parents and all my family’s goods I’ve still got all our land and my other relations.”

“What relations?” Monkey asked.


Output:
“What relations?” Monkey asked.

“My other grandfather lives to the South of the mountain,” the evil spirit replied, “and my aunt’s home is North of the ridge. Li the Fourth from the head of the ravine is married to my aunt, and Hong the Third in the woods is a distant uncle. I’ve also got cousins living around the village. If the venerable master will save me and take me back to the village and my relations I’ll tell them all about the venerable master’s kindness in rescuing me. I’ll mortgage or sell some land, and reward you richly.”


Output: At this Pig blocked Monkey’s way and said, “Brother, you can’t interrogate a little boy like that. He told you that the bandits only took his moveable goods—how could they have possibly taken his houses and land? If he tells his relations all about it the most we’ll eat will be an acre and a half’s worth, no matter how big our appetites are. Let’s save him.” All the idiot could think about was his stomach. He did not care at all whether he was acting wisely as he cut through the ropes with his monk’s knife and let the demon down from the tree. The demon then kept kowtowing and weeping copiously in front of the Tang Priest’s horse. The tenderhearted priest said, “Come up on the horse, boy, and I’ll carry you with me.”


Output:
“Master,” said the boy, “my hands and feet are numb after hanging by them for so long, and my back is hurting too. Besides, we villagers don’t know how to ride.” The Tang Priest then told Pig to carry the evil spirit, who stole a quick look at Pig and said, “Master, my skin is so tender after being frozen that I couldn’t bear to have this gentleman carrying me. His long snout, big ears and the bristles on the back of his head would stick into me something terrible.”

“Friar Sand,” said the Tang Priest, “you carry him.”


Output:
The boy then took a glance at Friar Sand and said, “Master, when the bandits raided our house they gave me a terrible fright. They were all made up like actors, wore false beards, and carried sticks and swords. The sight of that evil-looking reverend gentleman scares the wits out of me. I wouldn’t dare let him carry me.” The Tang Priest then told Monkey to carry the boy, to which Monkey agreed with a chuckle. The monster concealed his delight as he docilely let Monkey carry him. Monkey pulled him over to the side of the path and tried him for weight.

The boy was only about three pounds ten ounces heavy. “Damn you, you demon,” said Monkey, “you die today. How dare you try your tricks on me! I know that you’re one of those.”

“I’m the son of a good family who’s had the bad luck to meet with disaster,” protested the demon. “What do you mean by calling me ‘one of those?’”

“If you’re the son of a good family,” said Monkey, “then why are your bones so light?”

“I have very small bones,” said the demon.


Output:
“I have very small bones,” said the demon.

“How old are you?” Monkey asked.

“Six this year,” the demon replied.

“You still ought to put on at least a pound a year,” said Monkey with a smile. “You should weigh at least six pounds: how come you’re less than four?”

“I wasn’t breastfed as a baby,” said the demon.

“Very well then,” said Monkey, “I’ll carry you. But mind you warn me if you need to piss or shit.” Sanzang then pressed ahead with Pig and Friar Sand while Monkey brought up the rear with the demon on his back. They carried on towards the West, as this poem proves:

High fiendish dangers face high virtue;

The stillness of meditation gives rise to evil spirits.

When the Heart Lord is upright and takes the middle way,

Wood’s mother foolishly treads the wrong path.

The Thought-horse silently nurses desires,

The Yellow Wife wordlessly worries and grieves.

When the stranger prospers he rejoices in vain;

From just this place must one vanish.


Output:
From just this place must one vanish.

As the Great Sage Monkey carried the evil spirit he felt very resentful of the Tang Priest for not realizing how hard the going was for him. “It would be bad enough to cross these high mountains empty-handed, but he has to make me carry someone else too. Even if this wretch is a good boy and not an evil spirit, he’s lost his parents and I don’t know who I should take him to. Best thing would be to dash him to the ground and finish him off.”

The demon knew what Monkey was thinking, so he drew in four deep breaths from all around then blew them out again on Monkey’s back, which made Monkey feel he weighed a thousand pounds.


Output: “You’re using extra-weight magic to weigh me down, my lad,” laughed Monkey. This made the monster afraid that Monkey was going to kill him, so he got his spirit out of his body and sprang up into the ninth layer of cloud. Now that Monkey was finding the load on his back even heavier he grabbed the boy and smashed him so hard against a rock by the path that the boy’s body looked like minced pork. Then, just to make sure that the boy would give no more trouble, Monkey tore off all four of his limbs and ripped them into little pieces that he scattered on both sides of the path.


Output:
At this the demon, who was watching from mid-air, could hold back his fiery temper no longer. “This ape of a monk is thoroughly vicious,” he said. “Evil spirit wanting to kill your master I may be, but I’ve not yet laid my hands on him. How could you butcher me so atrociously? If I hadn’t anticipated and got my spirit out you’d have slaughtered me in cold blood. I’m going to catch the Tang Priest here and now. If I delay any longer, he will become too clever.”

The splendid evil spirit then conjured up a whirlwind in mid-air. It was a terrible one that sent stones and dust flying. What a splendid wind:

The bowling whirlwind carried a stench over clouds and water;

The sun and moon were blacked out by its pall.

The trees along the ridge were soon uprooted;

The flowering plums were flattened, trunks and all.

Sand-blinded travelers could barely walk along;

The paths were blocked by many a crashing rock.

Its swirling mass made all the earth seem dark;


Output:
Its swirling mass made all the earth seem dark;

The mountain creatures screamed and howled from shock.

It blew so hard that Sanzang could barely stay on his horse, Pig could not look straight ahead, and Friar Sand had to bend and cover his face. Realizing that this was a devil’s wind, the Great Sage rushed forward to catch them up, but the demon had already scooped the Tang Priest up in his wind. Sanzang had disappeared without a trace. Nobody could tell where he had been taken or where to start looking for him.

Before long the wind fell and the sun was shining again. Monkey went up and saw that the white dragon horse was trembling and neighing. The luggage had been thrown into the path, Pig was hiding under a crag and whimpering, and Friar Sand was squatting howling on the mountainside.

“Pig!” shouted Monkey, and recognizing his voice the idiot looked up to see that the storm was over.

He climbed to his feet, grabbed hold of Monkey, and said, “What a wind.”


Output:
Friar Sand came forward too and said, “That was a twister, brother. But where’s the master?”

“The wind blew so hard,” said Pig, “that we all had to hide our heads, close our eyes and take cover. The master lay down on the horse’s back.”

“But where’s he gone now?” Monkey asked.

“He must have been blown away by the wind as if he were made of rushes,” replied Friar Sand.

“Well, brothers, we might as well split up here and now,” said Monkey.

“Yes,” said Pig, “the sooner the better. It would be a very good idea if we all went our separate ways. This journey to the Western Heaven is endless. We’ll never get there.” Hearing them saying this made Friar Sand shudder and turn numb.


Output: “Brothers, what terrible things to say,” he said. “We all committed crimes in our earlier lives and were converted by the Bodhisattva Guanyin who administered the vows to us and gave us our Buddhist names. We all adopted the Buddhist faith and volunteered to protect the Tang Priest on his journey to the West to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures. This is how we are going to atone for our crimes. If we give up here and talk about going our separate ways we’ll fail to do the good deeds the Bodhisattva asked of us and we’ll disgrace ourselves. People will jeer at us and say that we’ve got no staying power.”


Output: “You’re right, brother,” said Monkey. “But why wouldn’t the master do as he was told? My fiery eyes and golden pupils can tell good from evil. The whirlwind just now was caused by the boy who was hanging in the tree. I could see he was an evil spirit, but neither of you nor the master could. He thought the boy was the son of a good family and made me carry him. Just when I’d decided to get rid of him he used his magic to make himself heavier and weigh me right down, so I smashed him to bits. I reckon he must have used his powers to escape from his body, call up the whirlwind and carry the master off. If only the master hadn’t always ignored my advice. That’s why I was so discouraged and said that we ought to split up. I accept your sincere advice, brother, but I don’t know what to do. What do you suggest, Pig?”


Output:
“What I said just now was nonsense,” said Pig. “I was talking off the top of my head. Of course we shouldn’t split up. Brother, we’ll just have to do as Friar Sand says, find the monster and save our master.”

“Yes, brother,” said Monkey cheerfully, his anger now gone, “let’s all pull together. Get the baggage and the horse ready, and we’ll go up the mountain to find the demon and save our master.”


Output:
The three of them pulled themselves up the mountainside and across ravines with the help of creepers, covering about twenty miles without finding any trace of the demon. The mountain was completely without birds and beasts, but there was many a tall pine. By now Monkey was really anxious, so he sprang up on a craggy peak, shouted, “Change!” and gave himself three heads and six arms, so that he looked just as he had when he made havoc in Heaven. Then he shook his gold-banded cudgel so that there were three of that too. With much whacking and thwacking he lashed out wildly to the East and to the West, clearing paths both ways.

“This is terrible, brother,” said Pig to Friar Sand. “Monkey’ll never find the master this way—he’s just in a furious temper.”


Output:
Monkey’s lashing about flushed out a whole crowd of poverty-stricken local gods dressed in rags and tatters, with no seats to their breeches or legs to their trousers. They all knelt on the mountain slope and said, “Great Sage, we mountain gods and local deities pay our respects.”

“Why are there so many of you?” Monkey asked.

“Great Sage,” they replied, kowtowing, “this mountain is known as Mount Hao. It measures two hundred miles around. As there is a mountain god and a local deity every three miles or so that makes thirty mountain gods and thirty local deities. We heard yesterday that you were coming, Great Sage, but we have been late greeting you because we could not all assemble quickly enough. That is why the Great Sage has been so angry. We beg him to forgive us.”

“I’ll let you off this time,” said Monkey, “but I’ve got something to ask you: how many evil spirits are there on this mountain?”


Output:
“Just one, lord and master,” they replied, “but he’s really beggared us. We get hardly any incense or paper offerings burnt for us now, and no food or blood at all. We have to go hungry and naked. How many evil spirits could we possibly support?”

“Which side of the mountain does he live on?” Monkey asked.

“Neither,” they said. “In the middle of the mountain there’s a ravine called the Withered Pine Ravine, and beside it there’s a cave called the Fire-cloud Cave. In the cave lives a demon king who has tremendous magic powers. He’s always capturing us mountain gods and local deities to tend his kitchen fire and watch his door, or to make us carry bells and shout to clear the way for him at night. And the little devils expect us to make regular payments to them too.”

“You are all gods from the spirit world, so where can you get money from?” Monkey asked.


Output:
“We haven’t any,” the gods replied, “we have to muster all of us spirits morning and evening to catch a few deer, and if we haven’t anything to offer, they’ll come to tear down our shrines and take off our own clothes. He’s made life impossible for us. We beg and beseech you to rid us of this monster and save all the spirits of these mountains.”

“As he controls you and you are always going to his cave you must know where he’s from and what he’s called,” said Brother Monkey.

“When we tell you we’re sure you will have heard of him, Great Sage,” they replied. “He’s the son of the Bull Demon King by Raksasi. He cultivated his conduct for three hundred years in the Fiery Mountains and developed True Samadhi Fire. His powers are tremendous. The Bull Demon King sent him here to hold this mountain. His name is Red Boy, and his title is Boy Sage King.”


Output:
This was good news for Monkey, who dismissed the local deities and mountain gods, resumed his original form, and jumped down from the peak. “Relax, brothers,” he said to Pig and Friar Sand, “no need to worry any more. The master won’t possibly be killed. The evil spirit is a relation of mine.”

“Stop lying, brother,” said Pig. “This is the Western Continent of Cattle-gift, and you come from the Eastern Continent of Superior Body. They’re a very long way apart, with thousands of mountains and rivers between them, to say nothing of a couple of oceans. So how could he possibly be a relation of yours?”


Output: “The crowd that turned up just now were the local deities and mountain gods from round here. When I asked them for some background on the demon they told me he is Red Boy, the son of the Bull Demon King by Raksasi, and he’s also known as the Boy Sage King. When I made havoc in Heaven five hundred years ago I visited all the famous mountains and people of distinction in the world. The Bull Demon King took me as his seventh sworn younger brother. There were six demon kings altogether, and the only reason why I was prepared to call the Bull Demon King my elder brother was because I was a bit smaller than him. So as this devil is the Bull Demon King’s son and I know his father, I’m his uncle. That means he couldn’t possibly harm my master. I must be off straight away.”


Output:
“But, brother,” said Pig with a laugh, “three years without paying a visit and relations are no longer relations, as the saying goes. You haven’t seen him for five or six hundred years. You haven’t even had a drink together or invited him over on holidays. There’s no way he’ll still treat you as a relation.”

“What a way to judge people,” said Brother Monkey. “As another saying goes,

Every piece of duckweed floats down to the sea;

People will always meet each other somewhere.

Even if he doesn’t regard me as a relation any more, at any rate he won’t harm the master. I don’t expect him to treat me to a slap-up meal, but he’s bound to give me the Tang Priest back in one piece.” The three brother-disciples, their minds once more turned to pious thoughts, led the white horse loaded with the luggage along the path.


Output:
Without caring whether it was day or night they had covered some forty miles when they saw a pine woods through which a stream flowed in a twisting ravine. The water was green and pure, and at the head of the ravine was a stone bridge leading to a cave. “Brother,” said Monkey, “I’m sure the evil spirit must live in that rock-face over there. Let’s have a council of war to decide who looks after the luggage and the horse and who comes with me to subdue the demon.”

“Brother,” said Pig, “I’m no good at hanging around. I’ll come with you.”

“Fine,” said Monkey, continuing, “Friar Sand, hide the horse and the luggage deep in the woods and guard them carefully while we two go there to look for the master.” Friar Sand did as he was told, while Monkey and Pig went fully armed to the cave. Indeed:

The vicious fire of a raw child won;

Mind-ape and Mother of Wood both helped.

If you don’t know whether things turned out for good or for ill, listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Chapter Fourty-One


Output:
Chapter Fourty-One

The Mind-Ape Is Defeated by Fire

The Mother of Wood Is Captured by a Demon

Good and evil are quickly forgotten,

Flowering and fading are of no concern.

When perception is half-revealed it may sink or swim;

Follow fate and take your food and drink when they come.

Divine peace is still and solitary;

Stupidity is open to devilish attack.

The Five Elements smash the woods of contemplation;

When the wind blows it is bound to be cold.

The story tells how the Great Sage Monkey took his leave of Friar Sand and led Pig with him as he sprang across the Withered Pine Creek and headed straight for the demon’s crag. There was indeed a cave in it, and it was no ordinary sight.

When returning along one’s old route in mysterious silence,

The call of the crane is heard in the wind and moonlight.

White clouds bathe the river in brightness;

The waters under the bridge make one think of immortals.

Apes and birds cry out amid exotic plants;


Output:
Apes and birds cry out amid exotic plants;

Creepers cover the steps; magic mushrooms flourish.

Dark green floats among crags as mists disperse;

Turquoise touches the pines when a phoenix alights.

The distant line of peaks looks just like a screen;

In the folds of the mountain an immortal’s cave is formed.

In this branch of the Kunlun Range are dragons born;

Only those fated to do so can enjoy this beauty.


Output:
Only those fated to do so can enjoy this beauty.

As they approached the gate they saw a stone tablet on which was carved in big letters, FIRE-WIND CAVE, WITHERED PINE RAVINE, MOUNT HAO. To the other side a crowd of little demons were sparring with sword and spear, leaping through the air, and generally enjoying themselves. “Little ones,” shouted Monkey at the top of his voice, “tell your ruler at once that if he brings my master the Tang Priest out I’ll spare all your lives, but that if so much as a hint of a ‘no’ comes out between his teeth I’ll turn your mountain upside-down and trample your cave flat.” Hearing this, the little demons all scurried back into the cave, shut the doors, and went in to report, “Trouble, Your Majesty.”


Output:
The monster had carried Sanzang into the cave, stripped him, tied his hands and feet together, and sent little devils to fetch clean water to wash him with. He was going to put Sanzang into a steaming tray to cook, but when the alarm was raised he forgot about washing Sanzang, rushed into the main hall, and asked, “What trouble?”

“There’s a monk with a hairy face as ugly as a thunder-god. He’s got another monk with a long snout and big ears. He’s demanding their master, who’s called the Tang Priest or something, and he says that if there’s so much as a hint of a ‘no’ he’ll turn the mountain upside-down and trample the cave flat.”

“They must be Sun the Novice and Pig,” said the demon king with a cruel laugh. “They were bound to come looking for their master. But I carried their master fifty miles from the middle of the mountains to here. How did they find their way here?” The monster then told his carters to push the carts out, and the little devils responsible did so, opening up the front gates.


Output:
“Brother,” said Pig when he saw them, “I think they’re so scared of us that they’ve brought their carts out and are going to move away.”

“No,” said Monkey. “Look—they’re leaving them there.” The little devils set the carts out in the order of the Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire and earth—checked them over, and went back inside to report.

“Ready?” the demon king asked.

“Ready,” they replied.

“Fetch my spear,” said the demon king, and two of the little devils from the armory carried in an eighteen-foot long fire-tipped spear that they handed to their king. The king tried out a few swings and thrusts with the spear. He wore no helmet or armor, just a battle-kilt of embroidered brocade around his waist, as he went out barefoot through the gates. When Monkey and Pig looked up at him they saw that the monster had:

A face as pale as if powdered,

Lips as red as from lipstick.

Hair in two tufts looking darker than indigo,

A clear-cut brow like a crescent moon.


Output:
A clear-cut brow like a crescent moon.

His kilt was embroidered with phoenix and dragon,

He looked like Nezha, but a little plumper.

In his hands he wielded an awe-inspiring spear,

As he came out through the gates, protected by his aura.

When he roared it echoed like thunder,

And the glare of his eyes flashed like lightning.

If you would know this demon’s true name,

He was the Red Boy of undying renown.

The Red Boy came out shouting, “Who’s making that row?”

Monkey went closer, smiled and said, “Don’t put on such an act, dear nephew. At the top of that pine tree this morning you were a skinny, jaundiced little baby, and you fooled my master. I carried you in all kindness, but you made a whirlwind and took my master off. Now you’re putting on this big show, but I know who you are. Bring my master out at once if you don’t want me to forget our kinship and turn nasty. I wouldn’t like your respected father to think of me as a disgraceful bully.” These words threw the demon into, a fury.


Output:
“Vicious ape,” he roared, “you’re no relation of mine. You’re talking a load of nonsense. You’ve got no reason to claim that I’m your nephew.”

“You wouldn’t know about it, lad,” said Monkey. “When your respected father and I were sworn brothers you hadn’t even been thought of.”

“Rubbish, you baboon,” said the demon. “Think where you come from and where I come from. How could you ever have been my father’s sworn brother?”


Output: “You’d know nothing about it,” said Monkey. “I’m Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who made havoc in Heaven five hundred years ago. Before that I roamed all over the seas and the sky and visited all of the four continents. In those days I was a great admirer of true heroes. Your respected father, the Bull Demon King, had the tide of Great Sage Matching Heaven. He took me as his seventh brother, and I let him be the eldest brother. There were also the Salamander Demon King, the Great Sage Overturning the Sea, who was our second brother. The Roc Demon King was the Great Sage Throwing Heaven into Confusion and third brother. Fourth brother was the Camel King, the Great Sage Who Moves Mountains. The Macaque King, our fifth brother, was the Great Sage Who Travels with the Wind; and the sixth brother was the Lion King—his title was Great Sage Who Drives the Gods Away. As I was the smallest I was the seventh brother, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. When we brothers were having a fine old time back in those


Output: were having a fine old time back in those days you hadn’t even been born.”


Output:
The demon, refusing to believe a word of this, raised his fire-tipped spear to thrust at Monkey. With the unhurried ease of a true expert Monkey avoided the spear-thrust, swung his iron cudgel, and insulted him: “You don’t know when you’re out-classed, you little demon. Take this!”

The evil spirit also moved out of the way and said, “Times have changed and you’ve been left behind, vicious ape. Take this!” There was no more talk of their kinship as the pair of them showed their magic powers in great anger. They leapt into mid-air, and it was a fine duel:

Monkey was very famous,

The demon king was powerful.

One held a gold-banded cudgel before him,

The other thrust with a fire-tipped spear.

The fogs they breathed out darkened the three worlds;

They snorted out clouds that covered the four quarters.

It was a day of terror and of murderous shouts,

When sun, moon and stars could not be seen.

In speech neither yielded an inch;

Both were unreasonable by nature.

One was a discourteous bully,


Output:
One was a discourteous bully,

The other forgot the obligations of kinship.

The parrying cudgel made one mightier;

The thrusting spear showed the other’s savagery.

One was a true Great Sage from Primal Chaos,

The other was the page Sudhana.

The pair of them strove for supremacy,

All because the Tang Priest would worship the Buddha.

While the evil spirit fought twenty rounds with Monkey without result Pig could see clearly from the sidelines that although the demon had not been defeated he was only holding Monkey at bay and had no hope of making an attack on him. And although Monkey had not yet beaten the demon, he was wielding his cudgel with such consummate skill that he kept striking at the demon’s head without ever missing his aim.


Output:
“This is no good,” thought Pig. “Monkey’s a slippery customer, and if he shows the monster an opening and gets the demon to charge, Monkey’ll finish him off with one blow of his cudgel and there’ll be no glory for me.” Watch Pig as he summons up his spirit, raises the nine-pronged rake, and brings it down from mid-air towards the demon’s head. This gave the demon so bad a fright that he fled in defeat.

“After him,” shouted Monkey, “after him.”

The pair of them chased him to the mouth of the cave, where the demon stood on the middle one of the five little carts, brandishing his fire-tipped spear with one hand, and clenching the other into a fist with which he punched himself twice on the nose. “Shameless thing,” laughed Pig, “punching yourself on the nose to make it bleed, then wiping the blood all over your face. Are you going to bring a lawsuit against us?”


Output:
But when the demon hit his nose twice he also said a spell and breathed out fire, while he snorted thick clouds of smoke from his nose. In the wink of an eye flames were everywhere. Fire poured from the five carts. After the demon had blown a few more times a great fire was leaping up to the sky, blotting out the Fire-cloud Cave. Heaven and earth were both engulfed in the blaze. “Brother,” said Pig in horror, “this is terrible. Once in that fire that would be the end of you. I’d be baked, and he’d only need to add a few spices to make a meal of me. Let’s get out of here.” At that he fled back across the ravine, ignoring Monkey.

Monkey’s magical powers really were very great. Making a fire avoidance spell with his fingers he plunged into the flames in pursuit of the demon. Seeing Monkey coming after him the demon breathed out yet more fire, which was even worse than ever. That fire

Fiercely blazing filled the sky,

Covered the earth with a terrible red,

Flew up and down like a fire-wheel,


Output:
Flew up and down like a fire-wheel,

Danced East and West like sparks.

This was not the fire of the Firemaker rubbing wood,

Or of Lao Zi heating his elixir furnace,

Not a heavenly fire,

Or a prairie fire,

But the True Samadhi Fire the demon had refined.

The five carts combined the Five Elements,

And the fire was formed from their transformations.

The wood of the liver can make the heart fire blaze;

The fire of the heart can settle the spleen’s earth.

Spleen’s earth gives rise to metal, which turns to water,

And water gives birth to wood, completing the magic cycle.

To fire are due all births and transformations;

It makes all things to flourish throughout space.

The evil spirit had long learned to breathe Samadhi Fire;

He was for ever the first lord of the West.


Output:
He was for ever the first lord of the West.

Monkey could not find the monster amid the raging flames, or even see the way to the mouth of the cave, so he sprang back out of the fire. The demon, who could see all this clearly from the entrance to the cave, put his fire-making equipment away when he knew Monkey had gone, led his devilish horde back inside the cave, and shut the stone doors. He felt he had won a victory, so he told his underlings to lay on a banquet. There was music and much rejoicing, of which we will not speak.

Instead we return to Monkey, who had leapt back across the Withered Pine Ravine and brought his cloud down to land where he could hear Pig and Friar Sand talking loudly and clearly among the pines.

He went up to them and shouted at Pig, “You’re no man, you cretin. You were so scared of the demon’s fire that you ditched me and fled for your life. But I’ve long had a trick or two up my sleeve.”


Output:
“Brother,” laughed Pig, “that monster was quite right when he said that you’re not up to it any more. As the old saying goes,

Only the man who can meet today’s need

May be acclaimed as a hero Indeed:

That demon was no relation of yours, but you tried to force him to take you for one; and when it came to a fight he set off all that terrible fire. Instead of running away are you going to get stuck into another fight with him?”

“How do the monster’s fighting powers compare with mine?” Monkey asked.

“He’s no match for you,” said Pig.

“What’s he like with his spear?”

“No good either,” replied Pig. “When I saw that he was barely holding out I took a swipe at him to help you. He wouldn’t play and ran away. Then he cheated and set that fire going.”


Output:
“You shouldn’t have come,” said Monkey. “It would be best if I had a few more rounds with him and caught him a crafty one with my cudgel!” The two of them then fell to discussing the demon’s skill and his terrible fire while Friar Sand leaned against a pine trunk, grinning broadly.

“What are you grinning at, brother,” asked Monkey when he noticed. “Don’t tell me you’ve got some power with which to capture the demon and defeat his magic fire. If you had, you’d be helping all of us. As the saying goes, ‘many hands make light work.’ If you can capture the demon and rescue the master you’ll have something very fine to your credit.”

“I’ve got no magic powers,” said Friar Sand, “and I can’t subdue demons. I was just smiling at the way you two were getting so desperate.”

“What do you mean?” Monkey asked.


Output:
“What do you mean?” Monkey asked.

“The demon’s no match for either you in magic or at fighting,” said Friar Sand. “The only reason you can’t beat him is because of his fire. If you took my advice you could catch him easily by using the principle of the elements overcoming each other.”

At this Monkey chuckled aloud and said, “You’re right. We were so desperate we forgot about that. On the principle of the elements overcoming each other we’ll have to beat fire with water. The question is, where do we get the water to put that fire out and rescue the master?”

“Yes,” said Friar Sand, “and we mustn’t waste any time.”

“You two stay here,” said Monkey, “but don’t get into a fight with him. I’ll go and borrow some dragon soldiers from the Eastern Ocean to bring water to douse the devil fire.”

“Off you go, brother,” said Pig, “and don’t worry. We know what to do.”


Output: The splendid Great Sage took his cloud far away. In a moment he was at the Eastern Ocean, but he had no interest in admiring the seascape as he parted the waves with water-repelling magic. As he was going through the water he met a patrolling yaksha, who hurried back into the water-crystal palace to report to the Senior Dragon King Ao Guang. Ao Guang came out to welcome Monkey at the head of his dragon sons and grandsons and his shrimp and crab soldiers. The dragon king invited Monkey to come in and sit down. When the courtesies were over the king offered Monkey some tea.


Output:
“Please don’t bother,” said Monkey. “But there is something else I’ve come to trouble you with. My master the Tang Priest has been captured on his way to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures. He’s been caught by an evil spirit called the Red Boy, the Boy Sage King, from the Fire-cloud Cave by Withered Pine Ravine on Mount Hao. I went into the cave to look for my master and fight the demon, but the demon started a great fire. It was too much for me. I thought that as water overcomes fire I’d come here to ask you for some water. Could you make a torrential downpour for me that would put the fire out and save the Tang Priest?”

“You’ve come to the wrong place,” said the dragon king. “I’m not the person to ask for rain.”

“But you’re the dragon king of the four oceans,” said Monkey, “the lord of rain. If I don’t ask you who else should I ask?”


Output:
“I am in charge of rain,” replied the dragon king, “but I can’t do anything without authorization. I must have permission from the Jade Emperor as to where and when and how many inches of rain I should pour down, and I’ve to get a lot of official signatures before I can ask the help of Grandpa Thunder, Mother Lightning, Uncle Wind and the Cloud Boys. As the saying goes, dragons can’t travel without cloud.”

“But I don’t need wind, clouds, thunder or lightning,” said Monkey. “All I want is some rain to put the fire out.”

“You may not need wind, clouds, thunder or lightning, Great Sage,” said the dragon king, “but I can’t help you alone. What would you say if I asked my younger brothers too?”

“Where are they?” Monkey asked. “Ao Qin is Dragon King of the Southern Sea, Ao Run is Dragon King of the Northern Sea, and Ao Shun is Dragon King of the Western Sea.”


Output:
“It’d be easier to go up to Heaven and ask the Jade Emperor for an edict than to trek round all three seas,” replied Monkey with a laugh. “No need for you to go, Great Sage,” said the dragon king. “If I beat my iron drum and bronze bell they’ll be here this instant.”

“Please sound them at once, Senior Dragon King,” said Monkey.

A moment later the three other dragon kings came crowding in. “Elder brother,” they asked, “what orders do you have for us?”

“The Great Sage Monkey is here to borrow some rain to help him subdue a demon,” said the Senior Dragon King. After the greetings were over Monkey explained why he needed water. The dragons were all delighted to comply. They mustered the following:

The brave Shark as the vanguard,

With big-mouthed Hemibagrus to the fore;

Marshal Carp who plunges through the waves,

Commander Bream who spews out mists.

Colonel Mackerel to patrol the East,

Major Culler to advance to the West.

The Cavalryman Red Eye gallops to the South,


Output:
The Cavalryman Red Eye gallops to the South,

While General Black-shell breaks through in the North.

Brigadier Croaker commands the central force;

Every unit is a crack force of heroes.

A master of strategy is Chief of Staff Turtle;

Lord Tortoise excels in subtle predictions.

Prime Minister Alligator is full of wisdom,

Garrison Commander Terrapin has great ability.

Advancing sideways, crab soldiers wield their swords,

While leaping shrimp amazons draw their bows.

Secretary Catfish looks after the paperwork,

And calls the rolls of the dragon army.

There is a poem about this that goes:

The four ocean dragons were glad to give their help

When Monkey the Sage to seek assistance came.

As the priest Sanzang was in trouble on his journey

They all carried water to put out the flame.


Output:
They all carried water to put out the flame.

Monkey was soon back at the Withered Pine Ravine on Mount Hao with his dragon army. “Worthy brothers of the Ao clan,” he said, “I have brought you a long way. This is where the demon lives. Will you please stay up here in mid-air and not show your faces while I have it out with him. If I can beat him, I won’t need to trouble you gentlemen to capture him for me. If he beats me, there’ll be no need for you gentlemen to join in the fray. The only thing I’d like you to do is all to spurt out rain together when I call if he starts his fire.” The dragon kings did as they had been told.

Monkey then brought his cloud down to land in the pine wood, saw Pig and Friar Sand, and called to them. “You were quick,” said Pig. “Did you get the dragon king to come?”

“They’re all here,” Brother Monkey replied. “You’d both better be very careful not to let the baggage get wet if it rains hard. I’m off to fight the demon.”


Output:
“Off you go, and don’t worry,” said Friar Sand. “We can cope.”

Monkey leapt across the ravine to the cave entrance and shouted, “Open up!” The little devils ran back in to report, “Sun the Novice is here again.”

The Red Boy looked up with a smile and said, “The monkey thinks no fire can burn him, because none ever has. That’s why he’s here again. But this time we won’t let him off: we’ll burn him to cinders.” He sprang up, grasped his spear, and ordered the little demons to wheel the fire carts out. Then he went out in front of the gates and asked Monkey, “Why are you here again?”

“Give me back my master,” Monkey replied.

“Keep up with the times, ape,” said the demon. “He may be a master to you, but to me he’s something to eat with my drinks. You might as well forget about him.” These words threw Monkey into a fury. He raised his gold-banded cudgel and struck at the monster’s head. The demon quickly parried the blow with his fire-tipped spear. This fight was not like the one before:


Output:
A furious evil demon,

An enraged Monkey King.

One set on saving the pilgrim priest,

Whom the other intended to devour.

When the heart changes kinship disappears;

No concessions are made in the absence of feeling.

One would gladly have skinned his foe alive;

The other wanted his enemy pickled in sauce.

Such heroism,

What ferocity!

Spear parried cudgel in the struggle for mastery;

Cudgel blocked spear in the battle to win.

After twenty rounds of combat

Both sides were on equal terms.

When the demon king had fought twenty rounds with Monkey and could see that neither of them was going to win he feinted, pulled back, clenched his fist, punched himself twice on the nose, and started breathing out fire again. Flames roared from the carts in front of the entrance, and his mouth and eyes were full of the blaze. Monkey looked back to shout, “Where are you, dragon kings?” The dragon king brothers then led their watery hosts in spurting rain on the demon’s fire. It was a splendid rainstorm,

Mighty,


Output:
Mighty,

Heavy.

Mighty as stars falling from the heavens,

Heavy like waves crashing on the shore.

At first the drops are the size of fists,

Then each is a bowl of water upturned.

Flowing across the land, making duck’s necks green;

Washing the mountainside to show it deep blue.

The waters in the ravine are a thousand fathoms of jade,

The spring stream swells to a myriad strands of silver.

Soon the crossroads is flooded,

And the meandering river flows straight.

The dragons help the Tang Priest in his trouble,

Making the Heavenly River overflow.


Output: But heavy though it was, the downpour could not stop the demon’s fire. Dragon king’s private rain can only put out ordinary fires, not this demon’s Samadhi Fire. The rain was like oil poured on the flames: the more there was, the fiercer the blaze. “I’ll make a hand-spell and plunge into the fire,” said Monkey, who went after the demon, swinging his cudgel. Seeing Monkey coming, the demon blew a cloud of smoke straight into his face. Turn away though he did, Monkey’s eyes smarted terribly, and he could not stop the tears from pouring down. Although not bothered by fire, the Great Sage was vulnerable to smoke. Back at the time when he had made havoc in Heaven and been refined by Lord Lao Zi in the Eight Trigram Furnace he had saved himself from being burnt up by staying in the part of the furnace controlled by the Wind Trigram Xun. But the wind had blown smoke at him, and he had been so thoroughly cooked that his eyes turned fiery and his pupils golden. That was why he was still vulnerable to smoke. When the


Output: why he was still vulnerable to smoke. When the demon blew another cloud of smoke at him it was more than he could bear, and so he made off on his cloud. The demon king then had the fire-raising equipment put away and went back into the cave.


Output:
The flames and the smoke had made the Great Sage unbearably hot, so he plunged straight into the stream to put out the flames, not realizing that the shock of the cold water would make the fire attack his heart, driving his three souls out of him. Alas,

When breathing stopped, cold went his mouth and tongue;

All his souls scattered and his life was done.

In their horror the dragon kings of the four seas who were watching from mid-air stopped making rain and shouted, “Marshal Tian Peng, Curtain-raising General, stop hiding in the woods. Go and find your brother.”


Output:
Hearing their divine shouts Pig and Friar Sand immediately untied the horse, put the luggage-pole on their shoulders, and rushed out of the wood. They searched for Monkey along the stream, not caring about getting wet and muddy. Upstream they could see someone being carried by the rushing torrent and tossed around in the waves. The moment Friar Sand spotted this he leapt fully clothed into the water and hauled him to the bank. It was the body of the Great Sage. Alas! He was curled up, unable to stretch any of his limbs and as cold as ice all over. “Poor brother,” said Friar Sand. “You who were once going to be immortal are now had your life cut short as a traveler.”

“Stop crying, brother,” laughed Pig. “The ape’s just shamming dead to give us a fright. Feel his chest and see if it’s still warm.”

“He’s cold all over,” said Friar Sand, “with only a touch of warmth. How are we going to revive him?”


Output:
“He knows how to do seventy-two transformations,” said Pig, “and that means seventy-two lives. You grab his feet and I’ll manipulate him. So Friar Sand pulled at Monkey’s feet while Pig supported his head. They straightened him out, stood him up, then made him sit cross-legged. Pig warmed Monkey up by rubbing vigorously with the palms of his hands, covered his seven orifices, and gave him a dhyana massage. The shock of the cold water had blocked the breath in Monkey’s abdomen, leaving him unable to speak. Thanks to Pig’s massage and rubbing, the breath in Monkey’s body soon flowed through the Three Passes again, circulated in his Bright Hall, and came out through his orifices with a shout of “Master.”

“Brother,” said Friar Sand, “you live for the master, and his name is on your lips even when you’re dying. Wake up. We’re here.”

Monkey opened his eyes and asked, “Brothers, are you here? I’ve lost.”


Output:
“You passed out just now,” said Pig with a laugh, “and if I hadn’t saved you you’d have been done for. You owe me some thanks.”

Only then did Monkey get to his feet, look up and say, “Where are you, Ao brothers?”

“We humble dragons are in attendance up here,” the dragon kings of the four oceans replied from mid-air.

“I’ve given you the trouble of this long journey for nothing,” said Monkey. “Would you like to go back now? I’ll come to thank you another day.” We will say no more about the dragon kings as they led their watery tribes home in majesty.

Friar Sand helped Monkey back into the woods, where they both sat down. Before long Monkey had recovered and was breathing normally as the tears poured down his cheeks. “Master,” he cried,

“I remember when you left Great Tang,

And saved me from my torture in the cliff.

Demons have plagued you at each mount and stream;

Your heart was torn by countless pains and woes.

Sometimes you have eaten well and sometimes not;


Output:
Sometimes you have eaten well and sometimes not;

You’ve spent your nights in forests or in farms.

Your heart was always set on the Achievement;

Who knows what agonies you suffer now?”

“Don’t upset yourself so, brother,” said Friar Sand. “We’ll work out a plan to get reinforcements and rescue the master.”

“Where from?” Monkey asked.

“Long ago, when the Bodhisattva ordered us to protect the Tang Priest, she promised us that if we called on Heaven or earth for help there would always be a response,” replied Friar Sand. “Where shall we turn now?”


Output:
“I remember that when I made havoc in Heaven,” said Monkey, “the Heavenly soldiers were no match for me. That evil spirit has tremendous magic. Only someone with more powers than I have will be able to subdue him. As the gods of Heaven and earth are useless the only way to catch the monster will be by going to ask the Bodhisattva Guanyin for her help. But I can’t ride my somersault cloud: my skin is much too sore and my body is aching. How are we going to get her help?”

“Tell me what to say,” said Pig, “and I’ll go to ask her.”

“All right,” said Monkey with a laugh, “you go. If the Bodhisattva receives you, you mustn’t look her in the face. Keep your head down and bow to her respectfully. When she asks you, tell her what this place and the demon are called, then ask her to save the master. If she agrees to come she’ll certainly capture the demon.” Pig set off South on his cloud.


Output: Back in the cave the demon was saying with delight, “Sun the Novice is beaten, my little ones. I may not have killed him this time, but at any rate he passed out for a long time.” He sighed, then added, “The only thing is that he might send for reinforcements. Open up, and I’ll go out to see who he’s sending for.”


Output: The demons opened the gates for the evil spirit to spring out and look around from mid-air. Seeing Pig heading South the spirit reckoned that he must definitely be going to ask the Bodhisattva Guanyin to come as there was nowhere else to the South where he might be going. The demon brought his cloud down quickly and said to his followers, “Little ones, fetch my leather bag. The string at the mouth may not be any good now as I haven’t used it for ages, so please put a new string in it and leave it outside the inner gates. I’ll lure Pig back here and pop him in the bag. Then we can steam him nice and tender as a reward for all of you.” The little demons fetched their king’s As-You-Will leather bag, replaced the string in it, and put it inside the main gates.


Output:
As the demon king had lived there so long he was very familiar with the district, and knew which ways to the Southern Sea were quicker and which were longer. Riding his cloud by the quick route he overtook Pig and turned himself into an imitation Guanyin to sit on a crag and wait for him.

When the idiot suddenly saw Guanyin as he was hurtling along on his cloud he had no way of telling that this was a false one: it was a case of seeing the image and taking it for a Buddha. The idiot stopped his cloud, bowed down, and said, “Bodhisattva, your disciple Zhu Wuneng kowtows to you.”

“Why have you come to see me instead of escorting the Tang Priest to fetch the scriptures?” the Bodhisattva asked.


Output:
“I was travelling with master,” Pig replied, “when an evil spirit called the Red Boy carried my master off to the Fire-cloud Cave by Withered Pine Ravine on Mount Hao. Monkey and us two went to find the demon and fight him. Because he can make fire we couldn’t beat him the first time. The second time we asked the dragon kings to help out with rain, but even that couldn’t put it out. The flames have hurt Monkey so badly that he can’t move, which is why he’s sent me to ask for your help, Bodhisattva. I beg you in your mercy to save the master.”

“The lord of the Fire-cloud Cave is no killer,” said the evil spirit. “You must have offended him.”

“I never offended him,” said Pig. “It was my brother Monkey who did. The demon turned himself into a little boy hanging at the top of a tree to tempt my master. My master is so kind-hearted that he told me to untie the boy and made Monkey carry him. It was Monkey who smashed him to bits and made him carry the master off in a wind.”


Output:
“Get up,” said the evil spirit, “and come with me to the cave to see its lord. I shall ask him to be kind to you. You will just have to kowtow as an apology and ask for your master back.”

“Bodhisattva,” said Pig, “I’ll kowtow to him if I can get the master back that way.”

“Come with me,” said the demon king. Knowing no better, the idiot followed the demon back to the Fire-cloud Cave by the way he had come instead of going on to the Southern Sea. They were back at the entrance in an instant.

“Do not worry,” said the evil spirit as he went in, “he is an old acquaintance of mine. Come in.” As soon as the idiot raised his foot to go inside the demons all captured him with a great shout, knocked him over, and pushed him into the bag. Then the cord at the mouth was drawn tight and Pig was hung up from a rafter.


Output:
The evil spirit resumed his true form, took his seat in the midst of the demons, and said, “Pig, what powers do you think you have? How do you have the nerve to promise to protect the Tang Priest on his way to fetch the scriptures, or to ask the Bodhisattva here to subdue me? Take a good look. Can’t you see I’m the Sage Boy King? Now I’ve got you I’m going to hang you up for four or five days, steam you, and give you as a treat to the little devils to nibble with their drinks.”

Hearing this, Pig started cursing inside the bag: “Damn you, monster. It’s disgraceful behavior. You may have used all your tricks and devices to be able to eat me, but I guarantee I’ll give every one of you the head-swelling plague.” The idiot kept on cursing and yelling, but we will say no more of him.

Monkey meanwhile had felt a stinking wind rush past him as he sat with Friar Sand. “That’s bad,” he said with a sneeze. “That’s a thoroughly ill wind. I’m afraid Pig’s got lost.”


Output:
“But wouldn’t he ask the way if he got lost?” asked Friar Sand.

“He must have run into the demon,” said Monkey.

“But wouldn’t he have come rushing back here if he’d met a demon?” said Friar Sand.

“Can’t be sure,” said Monkey. “You sit here and look after the things while I go over the ravine and see what’s going on.”

“Let me go,” said Friar Sand. “Your back is still aching and he might fight you again.”

“You’d be useless,” said Monkey. “It’ll have to be me.”