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12 The Ginseng Fruit

Wukong used an invisibility spell and went to the boys' room. Finding them absent, he looked around and saw a two-foot-long piece of red gold hanging on the window lattice. Recognizing it as the gold mallet, he took it and left. Wukong made his way to the ginseng garden. Inside he saw a great tree in the center, over a thousand feet tall and seven or eight fathoms around, with lush green branches and dense foliage, and fruits like children showing among the branches. Wukong praised, "Such an immortal fruit is indeed rare!" Wukong climbed the tree with the gold mallet and knocked down a ginseng fruit. It fell to the ground with a thud and immediately disappeared. Wukong searched everywhere but found nothing, so he summoned the local earth god and demanded an explanation. The earth god cried out his innocence: "Great Sage, you wrong your humble god! The ginseng fruit is the spirit-root of an immortal tree; it bears only thirty fruits every ten thousand years. One smell can prolong life by three hundred and sixty years, one bite by forty-seven thousand. How could your humble god deserve such fortune?" Wukong asked where the fallen fruit had gone. The earth god said, "This fruit fears the five elements: it falls at metal, withers at wood, dissolves at water, scorches at fire, and sinks into earth. When the Great Sage knocked it to the ground, it naturally burrowed into the soil." Hearing this, Wukong climbed the tree again, gold mallet in one hand and his robe held up with the other. He knocked down three ginseng fruits, carried them in his robe, and returned to the kitchen. When Bajie saw Wukong return, he beamed. "Brother, did you get the fruit?" Wukong opened his robe to show him and told him to call Sandy to share it. Bajie fetched Sandy, and the three each ate one. Bajie had long been greedy; he swallowed his in one gulp. Seeing his brothers enjoying theirs, he begged Wukong to pick a few more so he could taste them properly. Wukong said, "Fool, you know no contentment. This is not rice or flour; it bears only thirty fruits in ten thousand years. To eat even one is great good fortune!" He tossed the gold mallet back into the boys' room. Qingfeng and Mingyue returned to their room for tea and happened to hear the conversation next door. Qingfeng grew suspicious: had he stolen our immortal fruit? Mingyue went back and saw the gold mallet lying on the ground. "This is terrible! Let's go to the garden and look!" Qingfeng and Mingyue hurried to the garden. The gate was open, and when they counted the fruits there were only twenty-two. Mingyue said, "There were originally thirty. Master ate two at the orchard opening, and two were picked for the Tang Monk. That should leave twenty-six, but there are only twenty-two — four are missing. The monks must have stolen them." The two boys came from the garden to the hall and cursed the Tang Monk the moment they saw him, using foul language without pause. The Tang Monk explained, "The very sight of those things terrified me; how could I have stolen and eaten them? Let me call my disciples and ask." Sandy heard the master calling and said anxiously, "This is bad; Master must have heard about it." Wukong said, "We only stole a snack. If it's found out, we'll admit it." Bajie pouted, and the three had to leave the kitchen and go to the hall. When the disciples came, the Tang Monk asked, "Did you steal and eat the ginseng fruit of this temple? Monks must not lie; if you ate it, apologize!" Seeing how things stood, Wukong admitted that he had knocked down three fruits and shared them with his brothers. Mingyue cursed, "Thieving monks, you clearly stole four, yet you say three." Qingfeng and Mingyue cursed more and more fiercely. Wukong could not endure such insults; his steel teeth ground and his fiery eyes glared.

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