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24 The Flaming Mountain

When Princess Iron Fan heard that her husband had returned, she was overjoyed. She hurriedly dressed herself, came out of the cave to welcome him, bowed, and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty." Wukong returned the courtesy and said, "My wife, we have not seen each other for many days." With her mortal eyes Princess Iron Fan could not tell that her husband was an impostor. She took Wukong's hand and together they walked into the cave. After they sat down and exchanged pleasantries, the serving girl busily laid out a banquet. After drinking several cups of wine, the princess asked softly, "Your Majesty has taken a new love and abandoned me—what wind blows you here today?" Wukong smiled apologetically, "How could I abandon my wife? I stayed outside because I was gathering with friends. Recently I heard that Sun Wukong came to borrow your fan, and I grew worried, so I hurried back." Princess Iron Fan could not help shedding tears. "A woman without a husband has no protector—my life was nearly destroyed by that monkey!" She recounted how Wukong had begged for the fan. Hearing this, Wukong pretended to beat his chest and lamented, "What a pity! Did you actually give the precious fan to that monkey?" The princess giggled and said, "Rest assured, Your Majesty. What I gave the monkey was a fake fan—the real one is still with me." From her mouth she produced a fan the size of an apricot leaf and said, "Look, Your Majesty—is this not the treasure?" Wukong took it in his hand and asked doubtfully, "How can this tiny fan extinguish eight hundred li of flame?" The princess was already drunk and let down her guard. "Your Majesty, you have truly been bewitched by that fox-spirit—how can you have forgotten the ways of your own treasure?" And she taught Wukong the incantation for enlarging the palm-leaf fan. Wukong memorized the spell, tucked the fan into his mouth, wiped his face, and revealed his true form, crying, "Sister-in-law, look—am I your own dear husband?" When the princess saw it was Wukong, she was overwhelmed with shame. She overturned the table and chairs, crying out repeatedly, "You have enraged me to death!" Wukong paid no heed whether she lived or died. He strode out of the cave, leaped onto a high mountain, spat out the fan, recited the incantation once, and the fan indeed grew to a foot and two inches. Pleased, Wukong recited the spell several more times, and the palm-leaf fan instantly grew to twelve feet in size. Only then did Wukong remember that he had learned the method of enlargement but not the incantation for shrinking. Helpless, he slung the fan over his shoulder and hastened toward the Flaming Mountains. Meanwhile, at the bottom of Green-Wave Pool, the Bull Demon King broke up his banquet. Stepping outside, he found his Water-Clearing Golden-Eyed Beast gone and demanded, "Who stole my mount?" A shrimp soldier hurriedly answered, "While we were drinking just now, we were all attending in the hall—but we did see a strange-looking crab-spirit outside." The Bull Demon King realized at once, "It must be Sun Wukong who stole my mount and went to deceive my wife out of the palm-leaf fan!" He hastily took leave of the water-dwellers, leaped out of the pool, mounted his cloud, and sped straight to Mount Cuiyun. He arrived outside the Palm-Leaf Cave, pushed open the door, and saw Princess Iron Fan beating her chest and stamping her feet, wailing and shrieking, with the Water-Clearing Golden-Eyed Beast tethered nearby. The Bull Demon King asked, "Wife, where is Sun Wukong?" When the princess saw the Bull Demon King, she rushed forward, grabbed him, and wept, "You heavens-cursed man! Sun Wukong stole your mount, disguised himself as you, and tricked me out of the precious fan!" The Bull Demon King hastened to comfort her, "Do not fret, my wife. I will catch that monkey, recover the treasure, skin him alive, and avenge you!" Because he had brought no weapon, the Bull Demon King snatched up Princess Iron Fan's twin swords, left the cave, and gave chase to Wukong. Before long he saw Wukong carrying the fan on his shoulder, walking ahead. The Bull Demon King thought to himself, "If I demand it face to face, he certainly will not give it. I might as well transform into Zhu Bajie and fool this monkey too." He hid his sword, shook himself, and took on the appearance of Zhu Bajie.

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