Output:
“Very well then,” said the little devil. “We patrollers are divided into ten companies of forty each, which makes four hundred in all. We’re all known by our ages, appearances, names and descriptions. Because Their Majesties want to keep the organization neat and roll-calls convenient they’ve given us all passes. Have you got one?” Monkey, who had seen what the devil looked like and heard what he had said, had been able to turn himself into the devil’s double. But not having seen the devil’s pass he was not carrying one himself. Instead of saying that he did not have one the splendid Great Sage claimed that he had.

“Of course I’ve got one,” he said. “But it’s a new one that’s only just been issued to me. Show me yours.”


Output:
Not realizing what Monkey was up to, the little devil lifted his clothes to reveal a gold-lacquered pass with a silken cord through it fastened next to his skin that he lifted out to show Monkey. Monkey saw that on the back of it were the words “Demon-suppresser,” while on the front was handwritten “Junior Wind-piercer.”

“Goes without saying,” Brother Monkey thought, “all the ones in mountain patrols have ‘Wind’ at the end of their names. Put your clothes down now,” he said, “and come over here while I show you my pass.” With that he turned away, put a hand down to pull a little hair from the tip of his tail, rubbed it between his fingers, called “Change!” and turned it into another gold-lacquered pass on a green silken cord on which were handwritten the words “Senior Wind-piercer.”


Output:
With his liking for taking things to extremes and his gift of finding the right thing to say, Monkey remarked, “There’s something you don’t know. When Their Majesties promoted me to patrolling for doing so well in the kitchen they gave me a new pass as a Senior Patroller and put me in charge of you forty lads in this company.”

At this the demon at once gave a “na-a-aw” of respect and said, “Sir, I didn’t recognize you as you’ve only just been appointed. Please forgive me if anything I said offended you.”

“I’m not angry with you,” said Monkey, returning his courtesy. “There’s just one thing. I want some money from you all to mark our first meeting: five ounces of silver each.”

“Please be patient, sir,” the little devil replied. “When I get back to the Southern end of the ridge to meet the rest of our company we’ll all give it to your together.”

“In that case I’m coming with you,” said Monkey, and he followed behind as the demon led the way.


Output:
After a mile or two a writing-brush peak was seen. Why was it called a writing-brush peak? Because on the top of the mountain there was a pinnacle about forty or fifty feet high that looked just like a writing brush standing upright on a brush stand.

Going up to it Monkey lifted his tail, jumped to the top of the pinnacle, sat down and called, “Come here, all of you.”

The young Wind-piercers all bowed low beneath him and said, “We’re at your service, sir.”

“Do you know why Their Majesties appointed me?” Monkey asked.

“No,” they replied.

“Their Majesties want to eat the Tang Priest,” said Monkey, “but they’re worried about Sun the Novice’s tremendous magic powers. They’ve heard that he can do transformations and are worried that he might turn himself into a young Wind-piercer and come along the path here to find out what’s going on. That’s why they’re made me Senior Wind-piercer to check up on you and find out if there are any impostors among you.”


Output:
“We’re all genuine, sir,” the junior Wind-piercers all replied at once.

“If you’re all genuine do you know what powers His Senior Majesty has?” Monkey asked.

“Yes,” one of the young Wind-piercers said.

“In that case,” said Monkey, “tell me about them at once. If what you say matches what I know, you’re genuine. If it’s at all wrong you’re impostors, and I’ll take you to Their Majesties for punishment.”

Seeing him sitting up on high, playing wise and cunning as he shouted at them, the young devils had nothing for it but to tell him the truth. “His Majesty has vast magical abilities and enormous powers,” one of the young devils replied. “He once devoured a hundred thousand heavenly warriors in a single mouthful.”

“You’re an impostor,” Monkey spat out when he heard this.

“Sir, Your Honour,” said the young devil in panic, “I’m real. How can you call me an impostor?”


Output:
“If you’re genuine why did you talk such nonsense?” Monkey replied. “No matter how big he is His Majesty couldn’t have swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers in a single mouthful.”

“This is something you don’t know about, sir,” the young devil replied. “His Majesty can do transformations. He can make himself tall enough to hold up the sky or as small as a cabbage seed. Some years ago when the Queen Mother invited all the immortals to a peach banquet she didn’t send him an invitation, so His Majesty wanted to fight Heaven. The Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers to subdue His Majesty, gave himself a magical body and opened his mouth that was as big as a city gate. He made as if to swallow hard, which frightened the heavenly soldiers so much that they dared not give battle, and the Southern Gate of Heaven was shut. That’s how he could have swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers at a single mouthful.”


Output:
Monkey grinned to himself and thought, “Frankly, I’ve done that too. What powers does His Second Majesty have?” he asked.

“His Second Majesty is thirty feet tall with brows like sleeping silkworms, phoenix eyes, a voice like a beautiful woman, tusks like carrying-poles and a nose like a dragon. If he’s in a fight he only needs to wrinkle his nose for his enemy to be scared witless even if he’s covered in bronze and iron.”

“Evil spirits who get people with their noses are easy enough to catch,” said Monkey, who then asked, “and what powers does His Third Majesty have?”

“He’s no monster from the mortal world,” the young devil replied. “His name is Ten Thousand Miles of Cloud Roc. When he moves he rolls up the wind and shifts the waves, shaking the North as he heads for the South. He carries a treasure about with him called the Male and Female Vital Principles Jar. Anyone who’s put in that jar is turned liquid in a few moments.”


Output:
That news gave Monkey something to worry about. “I’m not scared of the monsters,” he thought, “but I’ll have to watch out for his jar.” Then he said aloud, “Your account of Their Majesties’ powers isn’t bad—it fits exactly with what I know. But which of them wants to eat the Tang Priest?”

“Don’t you know, sir?” said the young Wind-piercer.

“As if I didn’t know better than you!” shouted Monkey. “I was told to come and question you because they’re worried that you don’t know all the details.”


Output: “Our Senior King and Second King have long lived in Lion Cave on Lion Mountain,” the young devil replied, “but the Third King doesn’t live here. He used to live over a hundred miles to the West of here in the capital of a country called Leonia. Five hundred years ago he ate the king of the country, his civil and military officials, and everybody else in the city, young and old, male and female. So he seized their country, and now all the people there are evil monsters. I don’t know which year it was in which he heard that the Tang court has sent a priest to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. They say this priest is a good man who has cultivated his conduct for ten incarnations, and anyone who eats a piece of his flesh will live for ever and never grow old. But the Third King is worried about the priest’s disciple Sun the Novice who’s a real terror, so he’s come to swear brotherhood with our two kings, all three are now working together to catch the Tang Priest.”


Output: “Damn this thoroughly ill-behaved monster,” thought Brother Monkey with great fury. “I’m protecting the Tang Priest while he works for the true achievement. How dare they plot to eat my man?” With a snort of fury he ground his steel teeth and brandished his iron cudgel as he leapt down from the high pinnacle and smashed the poor young devil’s head into a lump of meat. When he saw what he had done Monkey felt sorry.


Output:
“Oh dear,” he thought, “he meant well, telling me all about the house. Why did I finish him off all of a sudden like that? Oh well! Oh well! That’s that.” The splendid Great Sage had been forced to do this because his master’s way ahead had been blocked. He took the little devil’s pass off him, tied it round his own waist, put the “By order” flag over his shoulder, hung the bell from his waist and sounded the clappers with his hand. Then he made a hand-spell into the wind, said a spell, shook himself, turned into the exact likeness of the junior Wind-piercer, and went straight back the way he had come, looking for the cave to find out about the three demon chieftains. Indeed:

The Handsome Monkey King had a thousand transformations

And the true power of magic to make ten thousand changes.


Output:
Monkey was rushing deep into the mountains along the way he had come when suddenly he heard shouts and whinnies. As he looked up he saw tens of thousands of little devils drawn up outside the entrance to the Lion Cave with their spears, sabers, swords, halberds, flags and banners. Monkey was delighted.

“Li Changgeng, the planet, was telling the truth,” he thought. “He wasn’t lying at all.” The devils were drawn up in a systematic way, each 250 forming a company, so that from the forty standards in many colours that were dancing in the wind he could tell that there were ten thousand infantry and cavalry there.


Output: “If I go into the cave disguised as a junior Wind-piercer and one of the demon chiefs questions me about my mountain patrol,” Monkey thought, “I’ll have to make up answers on the spur of the moment. The moment I say anything at all wrong he’ll realize who I am and I won’t be able to get away. That army on the gates would stop me and I’d never get out. If I’m going to catch the demon kings I’ll have to get rid of the devils on the gates first.”


Output:
Do you know how he was going to do that? “The old demons have never seen me,” he thought, “they’ve only heard of my reputation. I’ll talk big and scare them with my fame and prestige. If it’s true that all living beings in the middle land are destined to have the scriptures brought to them, then all I need do is talk like a hero and scare those monsters on the gate away. But if they’re not destined to have the scriptures brought to them I’ll never get rid of the spirits from the gates of this cave in the West even if I talk till lotus flowers appear.” Thus he thought about his plans, his mind questioning his mouth and his mouth questioning his mind, as he sounded the clappers and rang the bell.

Before he could rush in through the entrance to Lion Cave he was stopped by the junior devils of the forward camp, who said, “You’re back, young Wind-piercer.” Monkey said nothing but kept going with his head down.


Output:
When he reached the second encampment more young devils grabbed hold of him and said, “You’re back, young Wind-piercer.”

“Yes,” Monkey replied. “On your patrol this morning did you meet a Sun the Novice?” they asked.

“I did,” Monkey replied. “He was polishing his pole.”

“What’s he like?” the terrified devils asked. “What sort of pole was he polishing?”

“He was squatting beside a stream,” Monkey replied. “He looked like one of those gods that clear the way. If he’d stood up I’m sure he’d have been hundreds of feet tall, and the iron cudgel he was holding was a huge bar as thick as a rice-bowl. He’d put a handful of water on a rocky scar and was polishing the cudgel on it muttering, ‘Pole, it’s ages since I got you out to show your magic powers: This time you can kill all the demons for me, even if there are a hundred thousand of them. Then I’ll kill the three demon chiefs as a sacrificial offering to you.’ He’s going to polish it till it shines then start by killing the ten thousand of you on the gates.”


Output:
On hearing this the little devils were all terror-struck and their souls all scattered in panic. “Gentlemen,” Monkey continued, “that Tang Priest has only got a few pounds of flesh on him. We won’t get a share. So why should we have to carry the can for them? We’d do much better to scatter.”

“You’re right,” the demons said. “Let’s all run for our lives.” If they had been civilized soldiers they would have stayed and fought to the death, but as they were all really wolves, tigers and leopards, running beasts and flying birds, they all disappeared with a great whoosh. Indeed, it wasn’t as if the Great Sage Sun had merely talked big: it was like the time when Xiang Yu’s army of eight thousand soldiers disappeared, surrounded by foes who were former comrades.


Output:
“Splendid,” said monkey to himself with self-congratulation, “the old devils are as good as dead now. If this lot run away at the sound of me they’ll never dare look me in the face. I’ll use the same story when I go in there. If I said anything different and one or two of the young devils had got inside and heard me that would give the game away.” Watch him as he carefully approaches the ancient cave and boldly goes deep inside.

If you don’t know what of good or ill was to come from the demon chieftains listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Chapter Seventy-Five

The Mind-Ape Bores a Hole in the Male and Female Jar

The Demon King Returns and the Way Is Preserved

The story tells how the Great Sage Sun went in through the entrance of the cave and looked to either side. This is what he saw:

Hills of skeletons,

Forests of bones,

Human heads and hair trampled into felt,

Human skin and flesh rotted into mud,

Sinews twisted round trees,

Dried and shining like silver.


Output:
Dried and shining like silver.

Truly there was a mountain of corpses, a sea of blood,

An unbearable stench of corruption.

The little devils to the East

Sliced the living flesh off human victims;

The evil demons to the West

Boiled and fried fresh human meat.

Apart from the heroic Handsome Monkey King

No common mortal would have dared go in.

He was soon inside the second gates, and when he looked around here he saw that things were different from outside. Here was purity, quiet elegance, beauty and calm. To left and right were rare and wonderful plants; all around were tall pines and jade-green bamboo. After another two or three miles he reached the third gates, slipped inside for a peep, and saw the three old demons sitting on high. They looked thoroughly evil. The one in the middle

Had teeth like chisels and saws,

A round head and a square face.

His voice roared like thunder;

His eyes flashed like lightning.

Upturned nostrils faced the sky;

Red eyebrows blazed with fire.

Wherever he walked


Output:
Wherever he walked

The animals were terrified;

If he sat down

The demons all trembled.

He was the king among the beasts,

The Blue-haired Lion Monster.

The one sitting on his left was like this:

Phoenix eyes with golden pupils,

Yellow tusks and powerful thighs.

Silver hair sprouting from a long nose,

Making his head look like a tail.

His brow was rounded and wrinkled,

His body massively heavy.

His voice as delicate as a beautiful woman’s,

But his face was as fiendish as an ox-headed demon’s.

He treasured his tusks and cultivated his person for many years,

The Ancient Yellow-tusked Elephant.

The one on the right had

Golden wings and a leviathan’s head,

Leopard eyes with starry pupils.

He shook the North when he headed South,

Fierce, strong and brave.

When he turned to soaring

Quails laughed but dragons were terrified.

When he beat his phoenix wings the birds all hid their heads,

And the beasts all lost their nerve when he spread his talons.


Output:
He could fly thirty thousand miles through the clouds,

The Mighty Roc.

Beneath these two were ranged a hundred and ten commanders high and low, all in full armor and looking most imposing and murderous. The sight delighted Brother Monkey, who strode inside, quite unafraid, put down his clappers and bell, and called, “Your Majesties.”

The three old demons chuckled and replied, “So you’re back, young Wind-piercer.”

“Yes,” Monkey replied. “When you were patrolling what did you find out about where Sun the Novice is?”

“Your Majesties,” Monkey replied, “I don’t dare tell you.”

“Why not?” the senior demon chief asked.


Output:
“Why not?” the senior demon chief asked.

“I was walking along sounding my clappers and ringing my bell following Your Majesties’ orders,” Monkey said, “when all of a sudden I looked up and saw someone squatting and polishing a pole there. He looked like one of the gods that clear the way. If he’d stood up he’d have been well over a hundred feet tall. He’d scooped up some water in his hand and was polishing his iron bar on the rocky scar. He was saying to himself that his cudgel still hadn’t the chance to show its magical powers here and that when he’d shined it up he was coming to attack Your Majesties. That’s how I realized he was Sun the Novice and came here to report.”

On hearing this the senior demon chief broke into a sweat all over and shivered so that his teeth chattered as he said, “Brothers, I don’t think we should start any trouble with the Tang Priest. His disciple has tremendous magical powers and he’s polishing his cudgel to attack us. Whatever are we to do?”


Output:
“Little ones,” he shouted, “call everybody, high and low, who’s outside the cave to come inside and shut the gates. Let them pass.”

“Your Majesty,” said one of the subordinate officers who knew what had happened, “the little devils outside have all scattered.”

“Why?” the senior demon asked.

“They must have heard about his terrible reputation. Shut the gates at once! At once!” The hosts of demons noisily bolted all the front and back gates firmly.

“Now they’ve shut the gates they might ask me all sorts of questions about things in here,” Monkey thought with alarm “If I don’t know the right answers I’ll give the game away and they’ll catch me. I’d better give them another scare and get them to open the gates to let me out.”

“Your Majesty,” he said, stepping forward, “there were some other wicked things he said.”

“What else?” the senior demon chief asked.


Output:
“What else?” the senior demon chief asked.

“He said he was going to skin Your Senior Majesty,” replied Brother Monkey, “slice up the bones of His Second Majesty, and rip out His Third Majesty’s sinews. If you shut the gates and refuse to go out he can do transformations. He might turn himself into a fly, get in through a crack between the gates and catch us all. Then we’ll be done for.”

“Be very careful, brothers,” said the senior demon. “We haven’t had a fly here for years, so any fly that gets in will be Sun the Novice.”

“So I’ll change into a fly and frighten them into opening the gates,” thought Monkey, smiling to himself. The splendid Great Sage then slipped aside, reached up to pull a hair from the back of his head, blew on it with a magic breath, called “Change!” and turned it into a golden fly that flew straight into the old demon’s face.


Output:
“Brothers,” said the old demon in a panic, “this is terrible! He’s inside!” All the demons great and small were so alarmed that they rushed forward to swat the fly with their rakes and brooms.

The Great Sage could not help giggling aloud, which was just what he should not have done as it revealed his true face. The third demon chief leapt forward, grabbed him and said, “Brothers, he almost had us fooled.”

“Who had who fooled?” the senior demon asked.

“The young devil who reported just now was no junior Wind-piercer,” the third chief replied, “but Sun the Novice himself. He must have run into a junior Wind-piercer and somehow or other murdered him and done this transformation to trick us.”

“He’s rumbled me,” thought Monkey with alarm, rubbing his face.

“What do you mean, I’m Sun the Novice?” Monkey said to the senior demon chief. “I’m a junior Wind-piercer. His Majesty’s mistaken.”


Output:
“Brother,” said the senior demon, “he really is a junior Wind-piercer. He’s in the roll-call out front three times a day. I know him. Do you have a pass?” he went on to ask Monkey.

“Yes,” Monkey replied, pulling his clothes apart to produce it. Seeing that it looked genuine the senior demon said, “Brother, don’t mistreat him.”

“Elder brother,” the third demon chief replied, “didn’t you see him slip aside just now and giggle? I saw him show his face: it’s like a thunder god’s. When I grabbed hold of him he turned back into what he looks like now. Little ones,” he called, “fetch ropes!” The officers then fetched ropes.


Output:
The third demon chief knocked Monkey over and tied his hands and feet together. When his clothes were stripped off he was most evidently the Protector of the Horses. Now of the seventy-two transformations that Monkey could perform, when he turned himself into a bird, a beast, a plant, a tree, a vessel or an insect he changed his whole body. When he turned into another person, however, he could only change his head and face but not his body, and indeed he was still covered with brown hair and had red thighs and a tail.

“That’s Sun the Novice’s body,” the senior demon chief said when he saw this, “and a junior Wind-piercer’s face. It’s him! Little ones,” he ordered, “bring wine and give His Third Majesty a cup of it to congratulate him. Now that we’ve captured Sun the Novice the Tang Priest is as good as a meal in our mouths.”


Output:
“We mustn’t drink now,” said the third demon chief. “Sun the Novice is a slippery customer and is good at escaping by magic. I’m worried he might get away. Tell the juniors to bring the jar out and put him inside. Then we can drink.”

“Yes, yes,” said the senior demon chief with a smile, who then chose thirty-six little demons to go inside, open the storerooms, and carry the jar out. Do you know how big the jar was? It was only two feet four inches high. So why were thirty-six people needed to carry it? It was because the jar was a treasure of the two vital forces, male and female, and contained the seven precious things, the eight trigrams and the twenty-four periods of the year that thirty-six carriers were required to match the number of the stars of the Dipper. Before long the precious jar had been carried out, set down outside the third pair of gates, cleaned up and opened. Monkey was untied, stripped bare and sucked inside the jar with a hiss by magical vapor that came out of it.


Output:
The lid was then put back on and sealed on with a label, after which the demons went off to drink, saying, “Now that he’s in our jar that monkey can forget all about his journey West. The only way he’ll be able to pay his respects to the Buddha and fetch the scriptures now will be by pushing the wheel of destiny backwards and being reborn.” Watch how all the demons great and small go laughing off to celebrate. But of that no more.

Once inside the jar the Great Sage, who was very cramped, decided to transform himself and squat down in the middle, where he found it very cool. “Those evil spirits don’t live up to their reputation,” he said to himself, laughing aloud. “Why ever do they tell people that anyone put in this jar will be turned to pus and blood in a few moments. It’s so cool that spending seven or eight years here would be no problem.”


Output:
Alas! The Great Sage did not know about this treasure. Anyone put inside it who said nothing for a year would stay cool for a year; but the moment a voice was heard fires began to turn. Before Monkey had finished speaking the whole jar was full of flame. Luckily he could use the knack of making fire-averting magic with his hands as he sat in the middle of the jar completely unafraid. When he had endured the flames for an hour forty snakes emerged from all around to bite him. Swinging his arms about him Monkey grabbed hold of all of them, twisted with all his strength, and broke them into eighty pieces. A little later three fire dragons

appeared to circle above and below Monkey, which was really unbearable.


Output:
It drove Monkey into a helpless desperation of which he was only too conscious, “The other things were no trouble,” he said, “but these three fire dragons are a real problem. If I don’t get out soon the fire will attack my heart, and what then? I’ll make myself grow,” he went on to think, “and push my way out.” The splendid Great Sage made a spell with his hands, said the words of a spell and called out, “Grow!” He made himself over a dozen feet tall, but as he grew the jar grew with him, enclosing him tightly. When he made himself smaller, the jar shrank too.

“This is terrible,” Brother Monkey thought with alarm, “terrible. It grows when I grow and shrinks when I get smaller. Why? What am I to do?” Before he had finished speaking his ankle began to hurt. Putting his hand down at once to feel it he found that it had been burnt so badly it had gone soft. “I don’t know what to do,” he said with anxiety, “My ankle’s been cooked tender. I’m a cripple now.” He could not stop the tears from flowing. Indeed:


Output:
When suffering at the demons’ hands he thought of his master;

In facing deadly peril he worried about the Tang Priest.

“Master,” he exclaimed, “since I was converted by the Bodhisattva Guanyin and delivered from my heavenly punishment you and I have toiled over many a mountain. I’ve beaten and wiped out a lot of monsters, subdued Pig and Friar Sand, and gone through no end of suffering. All this was done in the hope of reaching the West and completing the true achievement together. Never did I expect to meet these vicious demons today. Now I’ve been stupid enough to get myself killed in here I’ve left you stuck in the middle of the mountains. What a mess to be in for someone who used to be as famous as I was!”


Output: Just when he was feeling thoroughly miserable he suddenly remembered, “Years ago the Bodhisattva gave me three life-saving hairs on the Coiled Snake Mountain. I wonder if I’ve still got them. I’d better look for them.” He felt all over his body and found three very rigid hairs on the back of his head.


Output: “All the other hair on my body is soft except for these three that are as hard as spears,” he said with delight. “They must be my lifesavers.” Gritting his teeth against the pain, he pulled the three hairs out, blew on them with magic breath and called, “Change!” One of them turned into a steel drill, one into a strip of bamboo, and one into a silken cord. He made the bamboo strip into a bow to which he fixed the drill. After a noisy spell of drilling at the bottom of the jar he made a hole through which the light came in. “I’m in luck,” he said with glee, “I’m in luck. Now I can get out.” No sooner had he transformed himself ready to escape than the jar became cool again. Why was that? It cooled because the hole he had bored in it let the male and female vital forces escape.


Output:
The splendid Great Sage put his hairs back, made himself small by turning into the tiniest of insects, a very delicate creature as thin as a whisker and as long as an eyebrow hair, and slipped out through the hole. Instead of making his escape Monkey flew straight to the senior demon chief’s head and landed on it. The senior demon, who was drinking, slammed his goblet down and asked, “Third brother, has Sun the Novice been liquefied yet?”

“Is the time up?” the third demon chief asked. The senior demon told his messengers to carry the jar in. When the thirty-six young devils picked the jar up they found that it was far lighter.

“Your Majesty,” they reported with alarm, “the jar’s lighter.”

“Nonsense!” the senior demon shouted. “It has the full powers of the male and female vital forces. It couldn’t possibly get lighter.”


Output:
One of the junior demons who liked showing off picked the jar up and said, “Look. It is lighter, isn’t it?” When the senior demon took the lid off to look in he saw that it was bright inside.

“It’s empty,” he could not help shouting aloud, “it’s leaked.” And Monkey, sitting on his head, could not help shouting, “Search, my lads! He’s escaped.”

“He’s escaped,” all the monsters shouted, “he’s escaped!” The order was then given to shut the gates.

With that Monkey shook himself, took back the clothes that had been taken off him, turned back into himself and leapt out of the cave. “Behave yourselves, evil spirits,” he flung back insultingly. “I’ve bored through the jar and you can’t keep anyone in it any more. You’ll have to take it outside and shit in it.”


Output:
Shouting and yelling with glee he went straight back on his cloud to where the Tang Priest was. Here he found the venerable gentleman making symbolic incense with a pinch of earth and praying to the sky. Monkey stopped his cloud to listen to what he was saying. Sanzang had his hands together in front of his chest and was saying to Heaven,

“All you immortals up there in the clouds,

The Dings and the Jias and each god and goddess,

Protect my disciple, whose powers are enormous,

And magic is boundless, the good Sun the Novice.”

When the Great Sage heard this he decided to redouble his efforts. Putting his cloud away he went up to Sanzang and called, “Master, I’m back.”

Sanzang held him as he said, “Wukong, you have been to great trouble. I was very concerned because you had gone so far into these high mountains and not come back for so long a time. How dangerous is the mountain in fact?”


Output:
“Master,” Monkey replied with a smile, “that trip just now depended in the first place on the good destiny of all the living beings in the East, secondly on your boundless achievement and great virtue, and thirdly on your disciple’s magical powers.” Then he told the whole story of how he had pretended to be a Wind-piercer, been drawn into the jar and escaped.

“Now I’ve seen your face again, Master, It’s like having a second life.”

Sanzang expressed endless thanks then asked, “Did you not fight the evil spirits this time?”

“No, I didn’t,” replied Brother Monkey.

“Then you won’t be able to escort me safely across this mountain,” Sanzang said, at which Monkey, who hated to admit he was beaten, shouted, “What do you mean, I won’t be able to escort you?”

“If you and they have not yet had it out and you can only give me evasive answers I will never dare press ahead,” the venerable elder replied.


Output:
“Master,” laughed the Great Sage, “you really don’t understand. As the saying goes, you can’t spin a thread from a single strand of silk, and you can’t clap one-handed. There are three demon chiefs and thousands of the little devils. How could I fight them all single-handed?”

“If you are that outnumbered you would indeed find it hard by yourself,” Sanzang replied. “Pig and Friar Sand also have their talents. I shall tell them to go with you to help you clean up the path across the mountain and escort me over it.”

“What you say is completely right, Master,” replied Monkey with a smile. “Tell Friar Sand to protect you while Pig comes with me.”

“Brother,” said Pig in alarm, “you’re a poor judge. I’m rough and I can’t do anything much. I’d just get in the way as I walked along. What use would I be to you?”

“You may not be up to much, brother,” Monkey replied, “but you’re someone. As the saying goes, even a fart can swell the wind. You’d make me feel a bit braver.”


Output:
“All right,” Pig said, “all right. You can take me with you. But don’t play any of your tricks on me when the going gets tough.”

“Don’t forget that Friar Sand and I will be waiting here,” said Sanzang.

The idiot braced himself and set off a gale with Monkey that carried them by cloud up to the top of the mountain where the entrance to the cave was. They saw at once that the gates were shut tight. There was nobody in sight anywhere around. Monkey went forward, his iron cudgel in his hands, to shout at the top of his voice, “Open up, evil monsters! Come out right now and fight Monkey!” When the young devils in the cave went inside to report the senior demon shook with terror as he commented,

“I’ve heard tell for years of that monkey’s ferocity;

Now I can vouch for the story’s veracity.”

“What do you mean, elder brother?” the second demon chief asked.


Output: “When that Sun the Novice first turned himself into a fly to sneak in here none of us realized who he was except our Third Brother, who put him in the jar. He used his skills to drill a hole in the jar, pick up his clothes and get out. Now he’s outside challenging us to battle. Who’s brave enough to be the first to take him on?” Nobody replied. The senior demon asked again; again there was no response. Everyone was pretending to be deaf and dumb.


Output:
“We’ve got ourselves a lousy reputation in the West already,” the senior demon chief said in fury. “Now that Sun the Novice has treated us with such contempt today our reputation will stand even lower if we don’t fight him. I’m going out there to chance my old life on three rounds with him. If I can hold out for those three rounds the Tang Priest will still be a meal in our mouths. If I can’t then shut the gates and let them pass.” He then kitted himself out in his armor, had the gates opened and went out. As Monkey and Pig watched from beside the gates they saw that he was a fine monster:

On iron brow and brazen head a precious helmet

With tassels dancing brightly in the wind.

His eyes both flashed as if with lightning,

And ruddy glowed the hair at his temples.

Pointed and sharp were his silvery claws,

And his saw-like teeth were set close and neat.

His armor was golden, without any seam,

Bound with a dragon sash that could foresee the future.

In his hand flashed a cutlass of steel.


Output:
In his hand flashed a cutlass of steel.

Such martial might is rare in the world.

With a voice that roared like thunder he asked,

“Who is that knocking at my gates?”

“Your grandfather, Lord Sun, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven,” said Monkey, turning to face the gate.

“Are you Sun the Novice?” asked the demon with a laugh. “You’ve got a cheek, ape. I never gave you any trouble, so why are you here challenging me to battle?”

”‘No waves come without a wind; without the tide the waters are still,’” Monkey replied. “Would I have come looking for you if you hadn’t given me trouble? The reason why I’m here to fight is because your gang of foxes and dogs is plotting to eat my master.”

“From the way you’re acting so fierce and shouting at our gates you must want a fight,” the old demon replied.


Output:
“Yes,” Monkey said. “Stop all that ranting and raving then,” said the demon. “It would be most unfair if I brought out my devil soldiers and drew them up in battle order with flags flying and drums beating to fight you as I’m on my own territory. I’ll fight you single-handed with no helpers for either side.”

When Monkey heard this he shouted, “Keep out of the way, Pig, and let’s see how he copes with me.” The idiot did indeed get out of the way.

“Come over here,” the senior demon shouted, “and be a chopping block for me. Let me hack you three times as hard as I can with sword on your bare head. After that I’ll let your Tang Priest pass. If you can’t take it then hand your Tang Priest over at once. He’ll be a tasty morsel to help our rice down.”

“Bring out a brush and some paper if you have them in your cave and I’ll give you a bond. You can hack at me from today till next year, but it’ll be nothing to me.”


Output:
The old demon then summoned up all his might, took up a stance with his feet apart, lifted his sword with both hands and hacked at the top of the Great Sage’s head. The Great Sage raised his head, and though there was a mighty crash his scalp did not even go red.

“That monkey really does have a hard head,” exclaimed the old demon with shock.

“You wouldn’t know about it,” said Monkey with a laugh. “I was

Born with a skull of bronze and iron,

Like nobody else’s in all the world.

Hammer and axe will never smash me;

I went in Lord Lao Zi’s furnace when I was a boy.

The Star Lords of the Four Dippers helped mould me,

The twenty-eight constellations all used their skill.

I’ve often been soaked in water but never come to harm,

And all over my body the sinews are knotty.

The Tang Priest, fearing I would not stand firm,

Placed a golden band around my head.”

“Cut out that insolence, ape,” the senior demon said, “and take these two blows from my sword. I’m most certainly not going to spare your life.”


Output:
“It’s nothing,” Monkey replied. “Have another cut like that if you like.”

“You monkey,” the old demon said, “you don’t know about this sword,”

Created in furnaces of metal and fire,

A hundred times tempered by divine craftsmanship.

Its sharp blade follows the Three Strategies,

And it is as strong as described in the Six Plans.

The point is as fine as a housefly’s tail,

And supple as the body of a white dragon.

When it goes to the mountains dense clouds arise;

If it plunges into the sea the great waves roll.

It has been burnished times beyond number,

Heated and tempered many hundred times over.

Deep in the mountains it is kept in the caves;

Great is the glory it has won when in battle.

If I use it to strike at your monkish pate

I’ll cut it into a pair of gourd ladles.”

“You’re blind, evil spirit,” laughed the Great Sage, “if you think my head is just gourd ladles. I’ll let you hack at me if you’re silly enough to want to. Have another go and see what happens.”


Output:
The senior demon raised his sword for another hack, which the Great Sage moved his head forward to meet. With a loud band his head was split into two, whereupon the Great Sage rolled on the ground and gave himself a second body. The sight so alarmed the demon that he lowered his sword.

Watching all this from a distance Pig said with a laugh, “Give him a couple more hacks, old devil, then there’ll be four of him.”

Pointing at Brother Monkey the senior demon said, “I’d heard that you can use self-dividing magic. Why are you showing it off to me now?”

“What self-dividing magic?” Monkey asked.

“Why was it that the first time I hacked you it made no impact, but this time I cut you in two?” the senior demon asked. “Don’t worry, evil spirit,” said the Great Sage with a smile. “If you cut me ten thousand times there’ll be twenty thousand of me.”

“You ape,” the demon said, “you may be able to divide yourself but you can’t put yourself together again. If you can, hit me with your cudgel.”


Output:
“Don’t talk nonsense,” said the Great Sage. “You asked to take three cuts at me but only took two. Now you’ve invited me to hit you once. I’m not Monkey if I hit you one and a half times.”

“Very well,” said the senior demon.

The splendid Great Sage hugged his two bodies together, rolled, became one body again and struck with his cudgel at the demon’s head. The old demon raised his sword to parry the blow. “Damned ape,” he said, “you’ve got a cheek! How dare you come here attacking me with a mourner’s staff like that?”

“If you ask about this cudgel of mine,” shouted the Great Sage, “everybody in heaven and earth has heard of it.”

“What’s it famous for?” the senior demon asked. To this Monkey replied:

“The cudgel is made of nine-cycled wrought iron

Tempered by Lord Lao Zi himself in his furnace.

King Yu called it a divine treasure when he obtained it

To hold the eight rivers and four oceans in place.

In its middle the constellations are secretly set out,

And each end is banded with yellow gold.


Output:
And each end is banded with yellow gold.

Ghosts and gods are amazed at its intricate decorations,

Dragon patterns and phoenix signs.

Known as the Divine Male Cudgel,

It was inaccessibly deep in the bed of the sea.

Its shape can change and it knows how to fly,

Sending clouds of many colours drifting through the air.

Once it was mine I took it back to my mountain,

Where I discovered how its infinite changes.

When I want size it’s as thick as a vat,

Or it can be as thin as an iron wire,

Huge as a mountain or small as a needle,

Adapting its length to the wishes of my heart.

Lightly I lift it and coloured clouds spring up,

Or it flies through the sky and flashes like lightning.

The cold air it gives off chills all who feel it,

And ominous mists appear in the sky.

I have carried it with me to beat dragons and tigers,

Travelling to all of the ends of the earth.

Once with this cudgel I made havoc in heaven,

And used its great might to wreck the peach banquet.


Output:
The heavenly kings were unable to beat me,

And Nezha was hard pressed to match me in combat.

With this cudgel against them the gods had no safe refuge;

A hundred thousand heavenly troops all scattered and fled.

The gods of thunder guarded the Hall of Miraculous Mist

When the cudgel attacked the Palace of Universal Brightness

All of the angels at court were flustered

And the Jade Emperor’s ministers were thrown into panic.

I raised my cudgel to overturn the Palace of the Dipper,

Then turned back to shake up the South Pole Compound.

Seeing my dread cudgel at his golden gates

The Jade Emperor invited the Buddha to see me.

The soldier takes defeat and victory in his stride;

There is nothing to choose between suffering and disaster.

I stuck it out for full five hundred years

Until I was converted by the Bodhisattva Guanyin.

Then a holy monk appeared in Tang

Who swore a mighty oath to heaven,

To save the souls in the City of the Unjustly Slain


Output:
And fetch the sutras at an assembly on Vulture Mountain.

On the journey to the West are many evil monsters

Whose actions would be a great obstacle to him.

So, knowing that my cudgel is matchless in the world,

He begged me to be his companion on the journey.

When it struck down evil spirits they were sent to the Underworld,

Their flesh turned to red dust and their bones all to powder.

Evil spirits everywhere were killed by the cudgel,

In thousands upon thousands too numerous to count.

Up above it wrecked the Dipper and Bull Palace,

And below it ruined the Senluo Court in Hell.

Of the heavenly generals it routed the Nine Bright Shiners,

And it wounded all of the Underworld’s judges.

Dropped from mid-air it shakes mountains and rivers;

It is stronger than the sword of an evil star.

With this cudgel alone I protect the Tang Priest

And kill all the evil monsters in the world.”


Output:
And kill all the evil monsters in the world.”

When the monster heard this he trembled, lifted his sword and struck with all his strength. Chuckling, Monkey blocked the blow with his iron cudgel. At first the two of them struggled in front of the cave, but then they both sprang up and fought in mid-air. It was a splendid battle.

The divine rod had once secured the bed of Heaven’s River:

The As-You-Will cudgel is the finest in the world,

Praise of its powers enraged the demon chief,

Whose mighty cutlass was full of great magic.

When they fought outside the gates they were still open to reason,

But no mercy was shown in their battle in the sky.

One could change his appearance at will;

The other could make himself grow on the spot.

The fight was so intense that the sky filled with clouds,

And all of the plains were enveloped in mist.

One had often determined to devour the monk Sanzang;

The other used his magic to protect the Tang Priest.

All because the Lord Buddha transmitted the scriptures


Output:
Evil and good were opposed in harsh conflict.

The senior demon and the Great Sage fought over twenty rounds without either emerging the victor while Pig admired their magnificent battle from down below until, unable to restrain himself, he grabbed his rake and leapt up into the air, riding on the wind to strike at the evil monster’s face. The demon panicked, not realizing that Pig had no staying power, but could only rush recklessly in and give people a fright. All the demon could see was that Pig had a long snout, big ears and a vicious way with his rake, so he abandoned the struggle, threw his sword away, turned and fled.


Output: “After him,” the Great Sage shouted, “after him!” The idiot raised his rake and went down in all his ferocious might straight after the monster. Seeing how close Pig was to him the old demon stood still in front of the mountainside, faced the wind, shook himself, resumed his real appearance and opened his mouth to devour Pig. This so terrified Pig that he fled as fast as he could into the undergrowth, not caring that brambles and thorns were tearing his head. He sat there trembling and listening out for the sound of the cudgel. When Monkey caught up with him the monster opened his jaws to eat Monkey up too. This was just what Monkey intended. Putting his cudgel away he went straight towards the demon, who swallowed him in a single gulp.


Output:
This gave the idiot such a fright as he was hiding in the undergrowth that he grumbled to himself, “You’ve got no common sense, Protector of the Horses. Why did you go towards the monster when he wanted to eat you up instead of running away? Now he’s swallowed you. Today you’re still a monk, but tomorrow you’ll be a turd.” Only when the monster had departed in triumph did Pig emerge from the undergrowth and slip back by the way he had come.

Sanzang and Friar Sand were still waiting for Pig at the foot of the mountain when they saw him come running breathless towards them. “Pig,” said Sanzang with horror, “why are you in this terrible state? Why is Wukong not here?”


Output:
“My brother was swallowed up by the evil spirit in a single gulp,” Pig replied amid sobs, at which Sanzang collapsed in terror. A little later he stamped and beat his chest, saying, “Disciple, I thought you were good at subduing demons and were going to take me to see the Buddha in the Western Heaven. Who would have thought that you would die at this demon’s hand today? Alas! Alas! All the efforts of my disciples have now

turned to dust.” The master was thoroughly miserable.

Just look at the idiot. Instead of coming over to comfort his master he calls, “Friar Sand, fetch the luggage. Let’s split it between us.”

“Why, brother?” Friar Sand asked. “Divide it up,” Pig replied, “and all of us can go our separate ways. You can go back to the River of Flowing Sand and carry on eating people. I’ll go back to Gao Village and see my wife. We can sell the white horse to buy the master a coffin to be buried in.” The master was so upset when he heard this that he wept aloud to Heaven.


Output:
We shall leave them and return to the senior demon chief.

When he had swallowed Monkey he thought he had won, so he went straight back to his cave, where all the other demons came out to ask him how the fight had gone.

“I’ve got one of them,” the senior demon said.

“Which one is that?” asked the second demon with delight.

“Sun the Novice,” the senior demon replied.

“Where have you got him?” the second demon chief said.

“In my stomach,” said the senior demon, “I swallowed him.”

“Elder brother,” said the third demon chief with horror, “I forgot to tell you that Sun the Novice wasn’t worth eating.”

“I’m delicious,” said the Great Sage from inside the demon’s stomach, “and I’ll stop you from ever feeling hungry again.”

This caused the junior devils such a shock that they reported, “This is terrible, Your Senior Majesty. Sun the Novice is talking inside your stomach.”


Output:
“That doesn’t frighten me,” said the senior demon. “If I’m clever enough to catch him do you think I’m not clever enough to deal with him? Make me some hot salty water at once. I’ll pour it into my stomach, vomit him out, and have him fried at my leisure to eat as a snack with some drinks.”

The junior devils soon had ready half a bowl of hot salty water that the old demon drained in one, filling his mouth. He then really did vomit, but the Great Sage, who had taken root in his stomach, did not even move. The monster then pressed his throat and vomited again till his head was spinning, his eyes in a daze and his gallbladder split, but still Monkey would not be shifted. By now the senior demon was gasping for breath.

“Sun the Novice,” he called, “won’t you come out?”

“Not yet,” Monkey replied. “I don’t want to come out now.”

“Why not?” the old demon asked.


Output:
“Why not?” the old demon asked.

“You really don’t understand, evil spirit,” said Monkey. “Ever since I’ve been a monk I’ve had scant food and clothing. Although it’s autumn now and getting cool I’m still only wearing a thin tunic. But it’s warm in your stomach and there are no drafts down here. I think I’ll spend the winter here before coming out.”

When the evil spirits heard this they all said, “Your Majesty, Sun the Novice wants to spend the winter in your stomach.”

“If he wants to spend the winter there I’ll take to meditation and use magic to shift him,” the senior demon said. “I won’t eat anything all winter. The Protector of the Horses will starve to death.”

“You just don’t understand, my boy,” the Great Sage said. “I came via Guangzhou when I started escorting the Tang Priest and I’ve got a folding cooking pan with me that I brought in here to cook myself a mixed grill. I’ll take my time enjoying your liver, bowels, stomach and lungs. They’ll be enough to keep me going till spring.”


Output:
“Brother,” said the second demon chief with shock, “that ape would do it too.”

“Brother,” said the third demon, “perhaps he can eat up some bits and pieces, but I don’t know where is he going to set up his pan.”

“The collar bone is an ideal stand,” replied Monkey.

“This is terrible,” said the third demon. “If he sets up his pan and lights a fire won’t the smoke get into your nose and make you sneeze?”

“That’ll be no problem,” said Monkey with a laugh. “I’ll use my gold-banded cudgel to push a hole through his skull. That’ll be a skylight for me and serve as a chimney too.”

The old demon heard this and was most alarmed despite saying that he was not afraid. All he could do was to summon up his courage and call, “Don’t be scared, brothers. Bring me some of that drugged wine. When I down a few goblets of that the drugs will kill the monkey.”


Output:
At this Monkey smiled to himself and thought, “When I made havoc in Heaven five hundred years ago I drank the Jade Emperor’s wine and ate Lord Lao Zi’s elixir, the Queen Mother’s peaches, the marrow of phoenix bones and dragon livers. I’ve eaten everything. What kind of drugged wine could do me any harm?”

By then the junior devils had strained two jugfuls of drugged wine, a goblet of which they handed to the senior demon chief, who took it in his hands.

Monkey, who could smell it from inside the demon’s belly, called out, “Don’t give it to him!” The splendid Great Sage then tipped his head back and turned it into the bell of a trumpet that he placed wide open below the demon’s throat. The demon gulped the wine down noisily and Monkey noisily received it. The demon swallowed the second cupful and Monkey noisily drank that too. This went on till Monkey had drunk all of the seven or eight cupfuls that the demon downed.


Output:
“That’s enough,” the demon said, putting the goblet down. “Normally my stomach feels as if it’s on fire after a couple of cups of this wine,” he said, “but this time my face hasn’t even gone red after seven or eight.”

Now the Great Sage was not a heavy drinker, so after taking these seven or eight cupfuls he started to act drunk in the demon’s stomach, propping himself up, falling flat on his face, kicking about him, swinging on the demon’s liver, doing headstands and somersaults, and dancing wildly. This caused the monster such unbearable pain that he collapsed.

If you don’t know whether he lived or died listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Chapter Seventy-Six

When the Heart Spirit Stays in the Home the Demons Submit

The Mother of Wood Helps Bring Monsters to the Truth


Output:
The story tells how after the Great Sage had struggled in his stomach for a while the senior demon collapsed in the dust. He made no sound and was not breathing either. As he said nothing Monkey thought the demon was dead, so he stopped hitting him. When the demon chief recovered his breath he called out, “Most merciful and most compassionate Bodhisattva, Great Sage Equaling Heaven.”

“My boy,” said Monkey when he heard this, “don’t waste your effort. You could save yourself a few words by simply calling me Grandpa Sun.”

Desperate to save his skin, the evil monster really did call out, “Grandpa! Grandpa! I was wrong. I shouldn’t have eaten you, and now you’re destroying me. I beg you, Great Sage, in your mercy and compassion take pity on my antlike greed for life and spare me. If you do I’ll escort your master across the mountain.”


Output:
Although the Great Sage was a tough hero he was most eager to help the Tang Priest in his journey, so on hearing the evil monster’s pathetic pleas and flattery he decided once more to be kind.

“Evil monster,” he shouted, “I’ll spare your life. How are you going to escort my master?”

“We don’t have any gold, silver, pearls, jade, agate, coral, crystal, amber, tortoiseshell or other such treasures here to give him, but my two brothers and I will carry him in a rattan chair across the mountain.”

“If you could carry him in a chair that would be better than treasure,” said Monkey with a smile. “Open your mouth: I’m coming out.”

The demon then opened his mouth, whereupon the third chief went over to him and whispered in his ear, “Bite him as he comes out, brother. Chew the monkey to bits and swallow him. Then he won’t be able to hurt you.”


Output:
Now Monkey could hear all this from inside, so instead of coming straight out he thrust his gold-banded cudgel out first as a test. The demon did indeed take a bite at it, noisily smashing one of his front teeth in the process.

“You’re a nice monster, aren’t you!” exclaimed Monkey, pulling his cudgel back. “I spare your life and agree to come out, but you try to murder me by biting me. I’m not coming out now. I’m going to kill you. I won’t come out! I won’t!”

“Brother,” the senior demon chief complained to the third one, “what you’ve done is destroy one of your own kind. I’d persuaded him to come out but you would have to tell me to bite him. Now I’m in agony from my broken tooth. What are we to do?”

In the face of the senior demon chief’s complaints the third demon chief tried the method of making the enemy lose his temper.


Output:
“Sun the Novice,” he yelled at the top of his voice, “you have a thundering reputation. They tell of how mighty you were outside the Southern Gate of Heaven and at the Hall of Miraculous Mist. I’d heard that you’ve been capturing demons along your way to the Western Heaven. But now I see that you’re only a very small-time ape.”

“What makes me small-time?” Monkey asked.

“A hero who only roams three hundred miles around will go three thousand miles to make his fame resound,” the third chief replied. “Come out and fight me if you’re a real tough guy. What do you mean by messing about in someone else’s stomach? If you’re not small-time what are you?”


Output: “Yes, yes, yes,” thought Monkey when he heard this. “It wouldn’t be at all difficult for me to tear this demon’s bowels to bits, rip up his liver, and kill him,” the Great Sage shouted. “But I’d destroy my own reputation in the process. I’ll have to forget about it. Open your mouth and I’ll come out and fight you. The only problem is that this cave of yours is much too cramped for me to use my weapons. We’ll have to go somewhere where there’s more room.”


Output: On hearing this the third demon chief mustered all the demons young and old from all around. There were over thirty thousand of them armed with the finest and sharpest weapons who came out of the cave to form a line of battle symbolizing heaven, earth and mankind. They were all waiting for Monkey to come out of the senior demon’s mouth before rushing him. The second demon chief then helped the senior demon out through the entrance of the cave, where he shouted, “Sun the Novice! If you’re such a tough guy, come out. There’s good battlefield here for us to fight on.”


Output: The Great Sage could tell that this was an open area from the calls of crows, magpies and cranes that he could hear in the monster’s belly. “If I don’t come out I’ll be breaking faith with them,” he thought. “But if I do these demons are beasts at heart behind their human faces. They tried to lure me out and bite me when they promised to carry the master across the ridge. Now they’ve got their army here. Oh well! I’ll let them have it both ways. I’ll go out but I’ll leave a root in his stomach too.”


Output: With that he put his hand behind him to pluck a tiny hair from his tail, blew on it with magic breath, called “Change!” and made it into a string as fine as a hair but some four hundred feet long. As the string came outside it grew thicker in the wind. One end Monkey fastened round the evil monster’s heart in a slip-knot that he did not tighten—if he had it would have caused great pain. The other end he held in his hand as he said to himself, “If they agree to escort my master across the ridge when I come out this time I’ll leave it at that. But if they refuse and go for me with their weapons so hard that I can’t cope with them I’ll just need to pull this rope. I’ll get the same results as if I were still inside.”


Output: He then made himself tiny and crawled up as far as the throat, from where he could see that the evil spirit had opened his mouth wide. Rows of steel teeth were set above and below like sharp knives. “This is no good,” he thought at once, “no good at all. If I take this rope out through his mouth and he can’t stand the pain he’ll be able to cut through it with a single bite. I’ll have to go out where there aren’t any teeth.” The splendid Great Sage paid out the string as he crawled up the demon’s upper palate and into his nostril, which made his nose itch. The demon sneezed with a loud “atchoo,” blowing Monkey out.


Output: As he felt the wind blowing him Monkey bowed and grew over thirty feet long, keeping the string in one hand and holding the iron cudgel in the other. The wicked monster raised his steel sword as soon as he saw Monkey appear and hacked at his face. The Great Sage met the blow one-handed with his cudgel. Then the second demon chief with his spear and the third chief with his halberd went for him furiously. The Great Sage relaxed his pull on the rope, put his iron cudgel away and made off at speed by cloud, afraid that he would be unable to fight properly when surrounded by so many young devils. Once he had leapt out of the demons’ camp he brought his cloud down on a spacious and empty mountain top and pulled with both hands on the rope as hard as he could. This gave the senior demon a pain in the heart. The demon struggled upwards in agony, whereupon the Great Sage pulled him down again.


Output:
As they all watched from afar the junior demons all shouted: “Don’t provoke him, Your Majesty! Let him go. That ape has no sense of when things ought to be done. He’s flying a kite before the beginning of April.” When the Great Sage heard this he gave a mighty stamp, at which the senior demon came whistling down out of the sky like a spinning-wheel to crash into the dust, making a crater some two feet deep in the hard earth at the foot of the mountain.

This gave the second and third demon chiefs such a fright that they landed their clouds together and rushed forward to grab hold of the rope and kneel at the foot of the mountain. “Great Sage,” they pleaded, “we thought you were an immortal of vast and boundless generosity. We’d never dreamed that you would be as small-minded as a rat or a snail. It’s true that we lured you out to give battle, but we never expected that you would tie a rope round our eldest brother’s heart”


Output:
“You’re a thorough disgrace, you damned gang of demons,” said Monkey with a laugh. “Last time you tried to trick me into coming out so you could bite me and this time you’ve lured me out to face an army ready for battle. It’s obvious that you’ve got tens of thousands of soldiers here to tackle me when I’m alone. Most unreasonable. I’ll pull him away. I’m going to drag him off to see my master.”

“If in your mercy and compassion you spare our lives, Great Sage,” the demons said, all kowtowing together, “we vow to escort your master across this mountain.”

“If you want to live all you have to do is cut the rope with your sword,” said Monkey with a laugh.

“My lord,” the senior monster said, “I can cut the rope outside, but it’s no good having the length inside that’s tied round my heart. It sticks in my throat so uncomfortably that it makes me feel sick.”


Output:
“In that case,” said Monkey, “open your mouth and I’ll go back inside to undo the rope.” This alarmed the senior demon, who said, “If you don’t come out when you go in this time I’ll be in a mess, a real mess.”

“I know how to undo the end of the rope that’s in you from the outside,” Monkey replied. “But when I’ve undone it will you really escort my master across?”

“We will as soon as you’ve undone it,” the senior demon chief replied. “I wouldn’t dare lie about this.” Now that he had satisfied himself the demon was telling the truth Monkey shook himself and put the hair back on his body, whereupon the monster’s heart pains stopped. It was the Great Sage Sun’s transforming magic that had tied the hair round his heart in the first place, which was why the pain ended as soon as the hair was put back on Monkey.


Output:
The three demon chiefs then rose up into the air to thank him with the words, “Please go back now, Great Sage, and pack your luggage. We will carry a chair down to fetch him.” The demon horde then all put their weapons down and went back into the cave.

Having put his rope away the Great Sage went straight back to the Eastern side of the ridge, and when he was still a long way away he saw the Tang Priest lying on the ground, rolling around and howling. Pig and Friar Sand had opened the bundles of luggage and were dividing it up.

“Don’t tell me,” thought Monkey with a quiet sigh. “No doubt Pig has told the master that I’ve been eaten up by evil spirits. The master’s sobbing his heart out because he can’t bear to be without me and the idiot’s dividing the things ready for us all to split up. Oh dear! I can’t be sure, so I’d better go down and give the

master a shout.”

Bringing his cloud down, Monkey shouted, “Master!” As soon as Friar Sand heard this he started complaining to Pig.


Output:
“All you want is to see people dead, just like a coffin stand,” he said. “Our elder brother wasn’t killed but you said he was and started this business here. Of course he’s bound to kick up a row.”

“But I saw him with my own eyes being eaten up by the evil spirit in one mouthful,” Pig replied. “I’m sure we’re just seeing that ape’s spirit because it’s an unlucky day.”

Monkey then went up to Pig and hit him in the face with a slap that sent him staggering. “Cretin!” he said. “Is this my spirit you can see?”

Rubbing his face, the idiot replied, “But the monster really did eat you up, brother. How can you—how can you have come back to life?”

“Useless gumboil!” said Monkey. “After he ate me I grabbed his bowels, twisted his lungs, tied a rope round his heart and tore at him till he was in horrible agony. Then they all kowtowed and pleaded with me, so I spared his life. Now they’re bringing a carrying-chair here to take the master over the mountain.”


Output:
As soon as Sanzang heard this he scrambled to his feet, bowed to Monkey and said, “Disciple, I’ve put you to enormous trouble. If I had believed what Wuneng said we would have been finished.”

“Chaff-guzzling idiot,” Monkey said abusively, taking a swing at Pig with his fist, “you’re thoroughly lazy and barely human. But don’t get upset, Master. The monsters are coming to take you across the mountain.” Friar Sand too felt deeply ashamed, and quickly trying to cover it up he packed up the luggage and loaded the horse to wait on the road.


Output:
The story returns to the three demon chiefs, who led their devilish hosts back into the cave. “Elder brother,” said the second demon, “I’d imagined that Sun the Novice had nine heads and eight tails, but he turns out to be nothing but that pipsqueak of a monkey. You shouldn’t have swallowed him. You should have fought him. He’d have been no match for us. With our tens of thousands of goblins we could have drowned him in our spit. But by swallowing him you let him use his magic and cause you agony, so that you didn’t dare have it out with him. When I said we’d take the Tang Priest across the mountains just now I didn’t mean it. It was only a way of luring him out because your life was in danger. I most certainly won’t escort the Tang Priest.”

“Why not, good brother?” the senior demon chief asked.

“If you and I draw up three thousand junior devils ready for battle I can capture that ape,” the second demon replied.


Output:
“Never mind about three thousand,” the senior demon chief said. “You can have our whole force. If we capture him it’ll be a credit to us all.”

The second demon chief then mustered three thousand junior demons whom he led to a place beside the main road, where they were put into battle formation. He sent a herald with a blue flag to carry a message.

“Sun the Novice,” the herald said, “come out at once and fight His Second Majesty.”

When Pig heard this he said with a laugh, “As the saying goes, brother, liars don’t fool the people at home. You lied to us when you came back, you trickster. You said you’d beaten the evil spirits and that they’d be bringing a carrying-chair to take the master across. But here they are challenging you to battle. Why?”


Output:
“The senior demon did surrender to me,” Monkey replied, “and he wouldn’t dare show his face. The sound of my name alone is enough to give him a headache. The second demon chief must be challenging me to battle because he can’t bring himself to escort us across. I tell you, brother, those three evil spirits are brothers and they have a sense of honour. We’re three brothers but we don’t. I’ve beaten the senior demon, so the second demon’s come out. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t fight him.”

“I’m not scared of him,” Pig said. “I’ll go and give him a fight.”

“If you want to, go ahead,” Monkey replied.

“Brother,” said Pig with a laugh, “I’ll go, but lend me that rope.”

“What do you want it for?” Monkey asked. “You don’t know how to get into his belly or tie it to his heart, so what use would it be to you?”


Output:
“I want it tied round my waist as a lifeline,” replied Pig. “You and Friar Sand are to hold on to it and let it out for me to fight him. If you think I’m beating him pay more rope out and I’ll capture him, but if he’s beating me, pull me back. Don’t let him drag me off.”

At this Monkey smiled to himself and thought, “Another chance to make a fool of the idiot.” Monkey then tied the rope round Pig’s waist and sent him off into battle.


Output: The idiot lifted his rake and rushed up the steep slope shouting. “Come out, evil spirit! Come and fight your ancestor Pig!” The herald with the blue flag rushed back to report, “Your Majesty, there’s a monk with a long snout and big ears here.” The second demon chief came out of the encampment, saw Pig, and without a word thrust his spear straight at Pig’s face. The idiot raised his rake and went forward to parry the blow. The two of them joined battle in front of the mountainside, and before they had fought seven or eight rounds the idiot began to weaken. He was no longer able to hold the evil spirit off.


Output: “Brother,” he shouted, turning back in a hurry, “pull in the lifeline, pull in the lifeline!” When the Great Sage heard this from where he stood he loosened his hold on the rope and dropped it. The idiot started to run back now that he was defeated. At first he had not noticed the rope trailing behind him, but after he turned back, relaxing the tension on it, it started to get tangled round his legs. He tripped himself over, climbed to his feet and tripped over again. At first he only staggered, but then he fell facedown into the dust. The evil spirit caught up with him, unwound his trunk that was like a python, wrapped it round Pig and carried him back in triumph to the cave. The devilish host chorused a paean of victory as they swarmed back.


Output:
When Sanzang saw all this from the foot of the slope he became angry with Monkey. “Wukong,” he said, “no wonder Wuneng wishes you were dead. You brother-disciples don’t love each other at all. All you feel is jealousy. He told you to pull in his lifeline, so why didn’t you? Why did you drop the rope instead? What are we to do now you have got him killed?”

“You’re covering up for him again, Master,” said Monkey, “and showing favoritism too. I’m fed up. When I was captured it didn’t bother you at all. I was dispensable. But when that idiot gets himself caught you blame me for it. Let him suffer. It’ll teach him how hard it is to fetch the scriptures.”

“Disciple,” said Sanzang, “was I not worried when you went? I remembered that you could change into other things, so I was sure you would come to no harm. But the idiot was born clumsy and can’t transform himself, which makes this a very dangerous business. You must go and rescue him.”

“Stop complaining, Master,” said Brother Monkey. “I’ll go and save him.”


Output:
Monkey rushed up the mountain thinking resentfully, “I’m not going to make life easy for that idiot if he wishes me dead. I’ll go and see what the evil spirits are doing with him. Before I rescue him I’ll let him suffer a bit.” He then made magic with his hands, said the words of a spell, shook himself, turned into the tiniest of insects and flew into the cave, where he landed at the bottom of one of Pig’s ears to be taken inside with the evil spirit. The second demon chief had led his three thousand junior devils trumpeting and drumming loudly to the cave, where they stopped.

He now took Pig inside and said, “I’ve got one, elder brother.”

“Show me,” the senior demon replied.

Unwinding his trunk the second demon chief flung Pig to the ground and said, “There he is.”

“That one’s useless,” said the senior demon.

“Your Majesty,” put in Pig when he heard this, “if I’m no use let me go and find a more useful one to capture.”


Output:
“He may not be any use,” said the third demon chief, “but he is the Tang Priest’s disciple Zhu Bajie. Tie him up and put him to soak in the pool at the back. When his bristles have been soaked off we can open his belly up, salt him and dry him in the sun. He’ll go down well with some wine on a rainy day.”

“That’s that then,” exclaimed Pig in horror. “I’ve fallen into the clutches of a demon who’s a salt-pork peddler.” The demon hordes fell on him, tied his hands and feet together, carried him to the pool at the back, pushed him in and went back.

When the Great Sage flew there to have a look he saw the idiot with his four limbs pointing upwards and his snout downwards as he half floated and was half sinking, grunting through his snout. He really was a ridiculous sight, like a big blackened frost-bitten lotus pod that has shed its seeds in September or October. Seeing his face the Great Sage felt both loathing and pity for him.


Output:
“What shall I do?” he wondered. “After all, he is another member of the Dragon Flower Assembly. I just wish he wouldn’t keep trying to divide up the luggage, split our band, and incite the master to say the Band-tightening Spell. The other day I heard Friar Sand say that he’d stashed some money away for himself. I wonder if it’s true. I’ll give him a scare and find out.”

The splendid Great Sage flew down to his ear and called in a disguised voice, “Zhu Wuneng, Zhu Wuneng.”

“This is terrible,” thought Pig in alarm, “Wuneng is the name the Bodhisattva Guanyin gave me. I’ve been called Zhu Bajie all the time I’ve been with the Tang Priest. How can there be anyone here who knows my name is Wuneng?” So he could not restrain himself from asking, “Who’s that calling my Buddhist name?”

“Me,” said Monkey.

“Who are you?” the idiot asked.

“I’m a catcher,” Monkey replied.

“Where from, sir?” asked Pig in terror.

“From the Fifth King of the Underworld, and he’s sent me to fetch you,” said Monkey.


Output:
“Then please go back and ask the Fifth King as he’s such a good friend of my senior fellow-disciple Sun Wukong to give me a day’s grace. You can come for me tomorrow.”

“You’re talking nonsense,” Monkey replied. “If King Yama of Hell decides you’re to die in the third watch nobody will keep you till the fourth. Come with me at once if you don’t want me to put a rope round your neck and drag you off.”

“Do me a favour,” said the idiot. “Even with a face like mine still want to go on living. I’ll certainly die if I have to, but give me a day till these evil spirits have captured my master and the rest of us, so I can see them again before we’re all done for.”

“Very well then,” said Monkey, grinning to himself. “I’ve got about thirty people to capture around here in this batch. When I’ve caught them I’ll come back for you. That’ll give you a day’s grace. Give me some money. I’m sure you’ve got some.”

“Oh dear,” said Pig, “we monks don’t have money.”


Output:
“If you haven’t then I’m dragging you off,” said Brother Monkey. “Come with me.”

“Don’t be so impatient, sir,” said the idiot, panicking. “I know that rope of yours is what they call the life-taking rope. Once It’s round you you’re dead. Yes, I have got some money. I’ve got a bit, but not much.”

“Where is it?” Monkey demanded. “Give it me at once.”

“Oh dear, what a pity!” said Pig. “From when I became a monk right up till now the kind people who feed monks have given me a bit more alms than the others because my belly’s so big. I saved all the little bits of silver till I had about half an ounce. They were awkward to keep, so when we were in a city some time ago I asked a silversmith to melt them all together. The wicked man stole a few grains of it, so the ingot he made only weighed forty-six hundredths of an ounce. Take it.”

“The idiot hasn’t even got his trousers on,” grinned Monkey to himself, “so where can he have hidden it? Hey, where’s your silver?”


Output:
“It’s stuffed inside my left ear,” Pig replied. “I can’t get it myself because I’m tied up, so take it out yourself.” When Monkey heard this he put his hand out and took the silver from inside Pig’s ear. It was indeed an ingot shaped like a saddle that weighed only forty-five or forty-six hundredths of an ounce. As he held it in his hands Monkey could not help roaring with laughter.

Recognizing Monkey’s voice the idiot started cursing him wildly from the water: “Damn and blast you, Protector of the Horses, for coming to extort money from me when I’m in such misery.”

“I’ve got you now, you dreg-guzzler!” said Monkey. “Goodness only knows what I’ve had to suffer for the sake of protecting the master, while you’ve been making your fortune.”

“Nonsense!” Pig retorted. “Call this a fortune? It’s just what I’ve scraped off my teeth. I resisted spending it on my stomach, so I saved it to buy myself some cloth to get a tunic made. You’ve got it out of me by intimidation. You ought to share it with me.”


Output:
“You won’t get a cent of it,” Monkey replied.

“I’ve paid you to spare my life,” said Pig, “so now you damn well ought to rescue me.”

“Don’t be so impatient,” said Monkey. “I’ll rescue you all in good time.” Putting the silver away he turned back into himself and used his cudgel to bring Pig close enough to grab him by his feet, drag him ashore and untie him. Pig then sprang up, took off his clothes, wrung them out, shook them, and draped them still dripping wet over his shoulders.

“Brother,” he said, “open the back gates. Let’s go.”

“There’s no glory in sneaking out the back way,” replied Monkey. “We’ll leave by the front gates.”

“My feet are still numb after being tied up,” said Pig. “I can’t run.”

“Buck up and come with me,” said Monkey.


Output:
“Buck up and come with me,” said Monkey.

The splendid Great Sage charged out, clearing his way by swinging his cudgel. The idiot had no choice but to endure the pain and keep close to him. When he saw the rake propped up by the second pair of gates he went over to it, pushed the junior devils aside, retrieved it and rushed forward, lashing out wildly. He and Brother Monkey charged through three or four pairs of gates, and goodness only knows how many junior devils they killed.

When the senior demon chief heard all this he said to the second chief, “You captured a fine one! A fine one indeed! Look! Sun the Novice has rescued Pig and they’ve wounded or killed the juniors on the gates.” The second demon at once sprang to his feet and rushed out through the gates brandishing his spear.


Output:
“Damned macaque,” he shouted at the top of his voice. “What a nerve! How dare you treat us with such contempt!” As soon as the Great Sage heard this he stopped still. The monster thrust his spear straight at him without allowing any argument. With the unhurried skill of the expert Monkey raised his iron cudgel to hit back at the demon’s face. The two of them fought a splendid battle outside the entrance to the cave:

The yellow-tusked elephant in human form

Had sworn brotherhood with the Lion King.

Persuaded by the senior monster

They plotted together to eat the Tang Priest.

Huge were the powers of the Great Sage, Heaven’s equal,

Who helped the good against the bad and killed off demons,

The incompetent Pig had met with disaster,

So Monkey saved him and led him outside.

When the demon king pursued them with great ferocity

The spear and the cudgel each showed off its powers.

The spear moved like a snake in the woods;

The cudgel arose like a dragon from the sea.


Output:
The cudgel arose like a dragon from the sea.

Where the dragon emerged the clouds were thick;

Dense hung the mist where the snake went through the woods.

It was all for the sake of the Tang Priest

That they fought each other with ferocity and hatred.

When he saw the Great Sage start fighting the evil spirit, Pig stood on the spur, his rake upright. Instead of joining in to help, he watched with stupefied amazement. Monkey’s cudgel was so powerful and his martial skills so faultless the evil spirit used his spear to parry Monkey’s blows while unrolling his trunk to wrap round him. As Monkey knew about this trick he held his gold-banded cudgel out horizontally in both hands and raised them. The evil spirit’s trunk caught Monkey round the waist but missed his hands. Just watch how Monkey belabors the evil spirit’s trunk with his cudgel.


Output:
When Pig saw this he beat his chest and said, “Oh dear! That monster’s got lousy luck. When he caught me he got my arms too because I’m so clumsy, but he didn’t when he caught that slippery character. He’s got his cudgel in both hands, and all he needs to do is shove it up the monster’s trunk to give him such a pain in the nostrils that it’ll make the snot run. The monster’ll never be able to hold him.”

Monkey had not thought of this before Pig gave him the idea, but now he waved his cudgel to make it as thick as a hen’s egg and over ten feet long and actually did shove it hard up the monster’s trunk. This gave the evil spirit such a shock that he unraveled his trunk with a swishing noise. Monkey brought his hand round to grab the trunk and drag it forcefully towards him. To spare himself any more agony the monster stepped out and moved with Monkey’s hand. Only then did Pig dare approach, raising his rake to hit wildly at the monster’s flanks.


Output:
“No,” said Brother Monkey, “that’s no good. The prongs of your rake are so sharp they might break his skin. If he starts bleeding heavily and the master sees it he’ll say we’ve been killing again. You’d better turn it round and hit him with the handle.”

The idiot then raised the handle of his rake and struck the monster at every step while Monkey dragged him by the trunk. They looked like a pair of elephant boys as they led him down to the foot of the mountain, where Sanzang could be seen gazing with concentration at the two of them coming noisily towards him.

“Wujing,” he said to Friar Sand, “what is it Wukong is leading?”

“Master,” replied Friar Sand when he saw them, “big brother is dragging an evil spirit here by the nose. He really enjoys slaughter.”

“Splendid, splendid,” said Sanzang. “What a big evil spirit, and what a long nose! Go and ask him if he’s happy and willing to escort us over the-mountain. If he is he must be spared and not be killed.”


Output:
Friar Sand at once rushed straight towards them shouting, “The master says you mustn’t kill the monster if he’s really willing to escort him across the mountain.” As soon as he heard this the demon fell to his knees and promised to do so in a very nasal voice. His voice was like this because Monkey was pinching his nostrils shut, making it sound as though he had a heavy cold.

“Lord Tang,” he said, “I’ll carry you across by chair if you spare my life.”

“My master and we disciples are good people.” Monkey replied. “As you’ve said this we’ll spare your life. Fetch the chair at once. If you break your word again we most certainly won’t spare your life when we catch you next time.” The freed monster kowtowed and left. Monkey and Pig went to report to the Tang Priest on everything that had happened to them. Pig was overcome with shame as he spread his clothes out to dry in the sun while they waited.


Output:
The second demon chief returned trembling and shaking to the cave. Even before his return some junior devils had reported to the senior and the third demon chiefs that Monkey had dragged him off by the trunk. In his anxiety the senior demon had led his hosts out with the third demon when they saw the second chief coming back alone. As they brought him inside and asked him why he had been released the second chief told them all about Sanzang’s words of mercy and goodness. They looked at each other, at a loss for words.

“Elder brother,” said the second demon chief, “shall we take Sanzang across?”


Output:
“What a thing to say, brother,” replied the senior chief. “Sun the Novice is a monkey who shows the greatest benevolence and sense of justice. If he had wanted to kill me when he was in my stomach he could most certainly have done so. He only grabbed your trunk. He might have dragged you off and not let you go. All he did was to pinch your trunk and break its skin, and that’s given you a scare. Get ready at once to take them across.”

The third demon chief smiled and said, “Yes, yes, yes!”

“From the way you’re talking, my good brother,” said the senior demon, “it sounds as though you’re reluctant to let the Tang Priest go. If you don’t, we’ll take him across.”

The third demon chief smiled again and said, “Elder brothers, it would have been luckier for those monks if they hadn’t asked us to escort them but had slipped quietly across instead. By asking us to escort them they’ve fallen in with our plan to lure the tiger down from the mountain.”


Output:
“What do you mean by ‘luring the tiger from the mountain?’” the senior demon asked.

“Summon all the demons in our cave,” the third demon chief continued. “Choose one thousand from the ten thousand of them, then a hundred from the thousand, then sixteen and thirty from the hundred.”

“Why do you want sixteen and thirty?” the senior demon asked.

“The thirty must be good cooks,” the third demon chief replied. “Give them the best rice and flour, bamboo shoots, tea, gill fungus, button mushrooms, beancurd and wheat gluten. Send them to put up a shelter seven to ten miles along the way and lay on a meal for the Tang Priest.”

“And what do you want the sixteen for?” the senior demon asked.


Output:
“Eight to carry the chair and eight to shout and clear the way,” the third demon replied. “We brothers will accompany them for a stage of their journey. About 150 miles West of here is my city, and I’ve plenty of troops there to greet them. When they get to the city we’ll do such and such and so on… The Tang Priest and his disciples won’t be able to see what’s happening to them. Whether we catch the Tang Priest or not depends completely on those sixteen demons.”

The senior demon was beside himself with delight on hearing this. It was as if he had recovered from a drunken stupor or woken up from a dream. “Excellent, excellent,” he said, whereupon he mustered the demons, chose thirty to whom he gave the food and another sixteen to carry a rattan chair. As they set out the senior demon gave the following instructions to the rest of the demons: “None of you are to go out on the mountain. Sun the Novice is a very cautious ape, and if he sees any of you around he’ll be suspicious and see through our plan.”


Output:
The senior demon then led his underlings to a place beside the main road, where he called aloud, “Lord Tang, today’s not an unlucky one, so please come across the mountain straight away.”

“Who is that calling me, Wukong?” Sanzang asked when he heard this.

“It’s the demons I beat,” Monkey replied. “They’re bringing a chair to carry you.”

Putting his hands together in front of his chest Sanzang looked up to the sky and said, “Splendid, splendid! But for my worthy disciple’s great abilities I could not proceed on my journey.” He then walked forward to greet the demons with the words, “I am most grateful for the consideration you gentlemen are showing. When my disciples and I return to Chang’an we will praise your admirable achievements.”


Output:
“Please get into the carrying-chair, my lord,” the demons said, kowtowing. Having mortal eyes and body Sanzang did not realize that this was a trick. The Great Sage Sun, a golden immortal of the Supreme Monad with a loyal nature, thought that because he had captured and released the demons they were now won over. He never imagined that they had other plots in mind, so he did not investigate closely but went along with his master’s ideas. He told Pig to tie the luggage on the horse and keep close to the master with Friar Sand while he cleared the way with his iron cudgel, watching out to see if all was well. While eight devils carried the chair and eight shouted in turn to clear the way the three demon chiefs steadied the poles of the chair. The master was delighted to sit upright in it and go up the high mountain by the main track, little realizing that

Great grief would return in the midst of rejoicing;

“Extremes,” says the classic, “create their negation.”

Fated they were to meet with disaster,


Output:
Fated they were to meet with disaster,

A star of ill-omen to mark desolation.

The band of demons worked with one mind to escort them and serve them diligently at all times. After ten miles there was a vegetarian meal and after fifteen more miles another one. They were invited to rest before it grew late, and everything along their way was neat and tidy. Each day they had three most satisfactory and delightful meals and spent a comfortable night where they were able to sleep well.

When they had traveled about 150 miles West they found themselves near a walled city. Raising his iron cudgel the Great Sage, who was only a third of a mile ahead of the carrying-chair, was so alarmed by the sight of the city that he fell over and was unable to rise to his feet. Do you know why someone of his great courage was so frightened by what he saw? It was because he saw a very evil atmosphere hanging over the town.

Crowds of evil demons and monsters,

Wolf spirits at all four gates.

Striped tigers are the commanders;


Output:
Striped tigers are the commanders;

White-faced tiger-cats are senior officers.

Antlered stags carry documents around;

Cunning foxes walk along the streets.

Thousand-foot pythons slither round the walls;

Twenty-mile serpents occupy the roads.

At the base of high towers gray wolves shout commands;

Leopards speak in human voices by pavilions.

Standard-bearers and drummers—all are monsters;

Mountain spirits patrol and stand sentry;

Crafty hares open shops to trade;

Wild boars carry their loads to do business.

What used to be the capital of a heavenly dynasty

Has now become a city of wolves and tigers.


Output:
Has now become a city of wolves and tigers.

Just as he was being overcome by terror the Great Sage heard a wind from behind him and turned quickly to see the third demon chief raising a heaven-square halberd with a patterned handle to strike at his head. Springing to his feet, the Great Sage struck back at the monster’s face with his gold-banded cudgel. Both of them were snorting with rage and fury as they ground their teeth and fought a wordless struggle. Monkey then saw the senior demon chief giving out orders as he lifted his steel saber to hack at Pig. Pig was in such a rush that he had to let the horse go as he swung his rake around to hit wildly back. Meanwhile the second demon chief was thrusting with his spear at Friar Sand, who parried with his demon-quelling staff.


Output:
The three demon chiefs and the three monks were now all fighting in single combat, ready to throw away their lives. The sixteen junior devils obeyed their orders, each giving play to his talents as they grabbed hold of the white horse and the luggage and crowded round Sanzang, lifting up his chair and carrying him straight to the city.

“Your Senior Majesty, please decide what to do now we’ve captured the Tang Priest,” they shouted. All the demons of every rank on the city walls came rushing down to throw the city gates wide open. Every battalion was ordered to furl its flag, silence its drums, and on no account shout war-cries or strike gongs.


Output:
“His Senior Majesty has given orders that the Tang Priest is not to be frightened. He can’t endure being scared. If he is, his flesh will turn sour and be inedible.” The demons were all delighted to welcome Sanzang, bowing and carrying him into the throne hall of the palace, where he was invited to sit in the place of honour. They offered him tea and food as they bustled around him in attendance. The venerable elder felt dizzy and confused as he looked about and saw no familiar faces.

If you don’t know whether he was to escape with his life listen to the explanation in the next installment.

Chapter Seventy-Seven

The Demon Host Mistreats the Fundamental Nature

The One Body Pays His Respects to the Buddha

We will tell now not of the sufferings of the venerable Tang Elder but of the three demon chiefs in strenuous combat with the Great Sage and his two brother disciples in the low hills to the East outside the city. It was indeed a good hard battle, like an iron brush against a copper pan:


Output:
Six types of body, six types of weapon,

Six physical forms, six feelings.

The six evils arise from the six sense organs and the six desires;

The six gates to nirvana and the six ways of rebirth are struggling for victory.

In the thirty-six divine palaces spring comes of itself;

The six times six forms do not want to be named.

This one holding a gold-banded cudgel

Performs a thousand movements;

That one wielding a heaven-square halberd

Is exceptional in every way.

Pig is even more ferocious with his rake;

The second demon’s spear-play is superb and effective.

There is nothing commonplace about young Friar Sand’s staff

As he tries to inflict a blow that is fatal;

Sharp is the senior demon’s saber

Which he raises without mercy.

These three are the true priest’s invincible escorts;

The other three are evil and rebellious spirits.

At first the fight is not so bad,

But later it becomes more murderous.

All six weapons rise up by magic

To twist and turn in the clouds above.


Output:
To twist and turn in the clouds above.

They belch out in an instant clouds that darken the sky,

And the only sounds to be heard are roars and bellows.

After the six of them had been fighting for a long time evening was drawing in, and as the wind was also bringing clouds it became dark very quickly. Pig was finding it harder and harder to see as his big ears were covering his eyelids. His hands and feet were besides too slow for him to be able to hold off his opponent, so he fled from the fight, dragging his rake behind him. The senior demon chief took a swing at him with his sword that almost killed him. Luckily Pig moved his head out of the way, so that the blade only cut off a few of his bristles. The monster then caught up with Pig, opened his jaws, picked Pig up by the collar, carried him into the city and threw him to the junior demons to tie up and take to the throne hall. The senior demon chief then rose back into the air by cloud to help the other two.


Output:
Seeing that things were going badly Friar Sand feinted with his staff and turned to flee only to be caught, hands and all, when the second demon unraveled his trunk and noisily wrapped it round him. The demon took him too into the city, ordering the junior demons to tie him up in the palace before rising up into the sky again to tell the others how to catch Monkey. Seeing that both his brother disciples had been captured Monkey realized that it was going to be impossible for him to hold out single-handed. Indeed:

A couple of fists can defeat a good hand,

But cannot a competent foursome withstand.


Output: With a shout Brother Monkey pushed the three demons’ weapons aside, set off his somersault cloud and fled. When the third demon chief saw Monkey ride off by somersault he shook himself, resumed his real form, spread his wings and caught up with the Great Sage. You may well ask how the demon could possibly catch up with him. When Monkey made havoc in heaven all that time ago a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers had failed to capture him. Because he could cover 36,000 miles in a single somersault of his cloud, none of the gods had been able to catch up with him. But this evil spirit could cover 30,000 miles with one beat of his wings, so that with two beats he caught up with Monkey and seized him. Monkey could not get out of the demon’s talons no matter how hard he struggled or how desperately he longed to escape. Even when he used his transformation magic he still could not move. If he made himself grow the demon opened his grip but still held firmly to him; and if he shrank the demon tightened his clutch.


Output: and if he shrank the demon tightened his clutch. The demon took him back inside the city, released his talons, dropped him into the dust, and told the fiendish hordes to tie him up and put him with Pig and Friar Sand. The senior and the second demon chiefs both came out to greet the third chief, who went back up into the throne hall with them. Alas! This time they were not tying Monkey up but sending him on his way.


Output:
It was now the second watch of the night, and after all the demons had exchanged greetings the Tang Priest was pushed out of the throne hall. When he suddenly caught sight in the lamplight of his three disciples all lying tied up on the ground the venerable master leaned down beside Brother Monkey and said through his tears, “Disciple, when we meet with trouble you normally go off and use your magic powers to subdue the monsters causing it. Now that you too have been captured can I survive, poor monk that I am?” As soon as Pig and Friar Sand heard their master’s distress they too began to howl together.

“Don’t worry, Master,” said Monkey with a hint of a smile, “and don’t cry, brothers. No matter what they do they won’t be able to hurt us. When the demon chiefs have settled and are asleep we can be on our way.”


Output:
“You’re just making trouble again, brother,” replied Pig. “We’re trussed up with hempen ropes. If we do manage to work them a bit loose they spurt water on them to shrink them again. You might be too skinny to notice, but fat old me’s having a terrible time. If you don’t believe me take a look at my arms. The rope’s cut two inches deep into them. I’d never get away.”

“Never mind hempen ropes,” said Monkey with a laugh, “even if they were coconut cables as thick as a rice-bowl they’d be no more than an autumn breeze to me. What’s there to make a fuss about?”

As master and disciples were talking the senior demon could be heard saying, “Third brother, you really are strong and wise. Your plan to capture the Tang Priest was brilliant and it worked.”


Output:
“Little ones,” he called, “Five of you carry water, seven scrub the pans, ten get the fire burning and twenty fetch the iron steamer. When we’ve steamed the four monks tender for my brothers and me to enjoy we’ll give you juniors a piece so that you can all live for ever.”

“Brother,” said Pig, trembling, when he this, “listen. That evil spirit’s planning to steam and eat us.”

“Don’t be afraid,” said Monkey. “I’m going to find out whether he’s an evil spirit still wet behind the ears or an old hand.”

“Brother,” said Friar Sand, sobbing, “don’t talk so big. We’re next door to the king of Hell. How can you talk about whether he’s wet behind the ears or an old hand at a time like this?” The words were not all out of his mouth before the second demon chief was heard to say, “Pig won’t steam well.”

“Amitabha Buddha!” said Pig with delight. “I wonder who’s building up good karma by saying I won’t steam well.”


Output:
“If he won’t steam well,” the third chief said, “skin him before steaming him.” This panicked Pig, who screamed at the top of his voice, “Don’t skin me. I may be coarse but I’ll go tender if you boil me.”

“If he won’t steam well,” the senior demon chief said, “put him on the bottom tray of the steamer.”

“Don’t worry, Pig,” said Monkey with a laugh, “he’s wet behind the ears. He’s no old hand.”

“How can you tell?” Friar Sand asked.

“Generally speaking you should start from the top when steaming,” Monkey replied. “Whatever’s hardest to steam should be put on the top tray. Add a bit of extra fuel to the fire, get up a good steam and it’ll be done. But put it at the bottom and lower the steam and you won’t get the steam up even if you cook it for six months. He must be wet behind the ears if he says that Pig should be put on the bottom tray because he’s hard to cook.”


Output:
“Brother,” Pig replied, “if he followed your advice I’d be slaughtered alive. When he can’t see the steam rising he’ll take the lid off, turn me over and make the fire burn hotter. I’ll be cooked on both sides and half done in the middle.”

As they were talking a junior devil came in to report that the water was boiling. The senior chief ordered that the monks be carried in, and all the demons acted together to carry Pig to the lowest shelf of the steamer and Friar Sand to the second shelf.