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01 Water Curtain Cave

The stone drew in the pure breath of heaven and earth and drank the essence of sun and moon, till little by little it gained a spirit's nature. Then one day the earth shook and the mountains rocked; with a great crash the stone burst asunder, and from it sprang a stone egg. The egg spun round and round, and meeting the wind it was transformed, becoming a stone monkey. The stone monkey bowed in thanks for the creative work of heaven and earth. All at once two beams of golden light shot from his eyes and pierced straight to the vault of heaven. Beyond the ninth heaven, in the Hall of Divine Mists, the Jade Emperor, sovereign of the celestial court, was holding audience. Seeing two beams of golden light shoot past the Southern Gate of Heaven, he was much astonished, and sent the Thousand-Mile Eye and the Wind-Following Ear to discover the cause. Receiving the command, the Thousand-Mile Eye and the Wind-Following Ear went out beyond the Southern Gate of Heaven, and each plied his own art: one fixed his gaze and watched, the other inclined his head and listened. The two returned to the celestial palace and reported, ‘Your Majesty, it is a stone monkey born of heaven on Flower-Fruit Mountain in the kingdom of Aolai, blinking his eyes. Now that he has eaten mortal food, the golden light is nearly spent.’ The Jade Emperor made light of it. ‘It is only a small hairy ape,’ he said. ‘Nothing to marvel at. Let it live and die as it will.’ With that he shook his sleeves and departed. As for the stone monkey, from the hour of his birth he could walk and leap. He gathered wild fruit in Flower-Fruit Mountain and drank from its springs; he made friends of tiger and leopard, companions of wolf and insect, and lived a life of perfect ease. One day the stone monkey was playing in a mountain ravine with a troop of apes. Wishing to find the source of the stream, they made their way upstream until they came upon a flying cataract. An old ape pointed at the falls. ‘Whoever dares plunge through it — in and out again, his body unhurt — him we shall crown as our king.’ At this the stone monkey cried aloud, ‘I will go in! I will go in!’ He climbed to the cliff top, shut his eyes, crouched, and leapt into the cataract. His feet touched ground, and opening his eyes he saw that he stood firm upon an iron-plate bridge. Looking ahead he beheld a cave dwelling, and before it a stone tablet on which were cut ten great characters: ‘Blessed Land of Flower-Fruit Mountain, Heavenly Grotto of the Water Curtain Cave.’ He walked into the cave and found it wondrously roomy: stone pots and stone stoves, stone stools and stone beds, vessels of every kind — all complete and in good order. The stone monkey was beside himself with joy. He turned back to the iron bridge, crouched, and sprang out of the cave to tell the other apes all he had seen. The apes were delighted and cried, ‘Take us in, quickly!’ So the stone monkey called out, ‘Follow me, all of you!’ and led the whole troop leaping through the cataract. Once inside the Water Curtain Cave the apes scrambled for basins and bowls, fought over stoves and beds, and all was chaos. But the stone monkey sat upright upon the stone seat in their midst and cried aloud, ‘You said that whoever had the skill to go in and come out again should be crowned your king. Why then do you not bow to me?’

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