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28 The Purple-Gold Bells

Wukong asked, "What is the origin of this monster, that the Bodhisattva herself should descend to take him?" The Bodhisattva said, "He is my mount, the golden-haired hou. While the boy who tended him slept, this beast bit through his iron chain, came to Mount Qilin, and brought calamity upon the king of Zhuzi." Wukong said eagerly, "This beast has insulted the king and stolen his queen. That is bringing calamity upon the king, not taking it away. How can you call it otherwise?" The Bodhisattva said, "In the reign of the late king of Zhuzi, this king was the crown prince of the eastern palace, and was exceedingly fond of hunting. One day he led out his men and horses, slipped his hawks and loosed his hounds, and came to the slope of Luofeng." "Now the Bodhisattva Peacock King of Great Brightness, the Buddha-Mother of the West, had two little ones, a male and a female fledgling, and they were resting their wings at the foot of that slope. This prince drew his bow and wounded the male peacock and killed the female. After the Buddha-Mother had repented, she gave orders that he should be parted from his mate for three years and afflicted with a wasting sickness." "At that time I was riding this very hou, and heard those words with him. I little thought the beast would take them to heart; and so he came and stole the queen away, to bring the king's calamity upon him. Now the three years are fulfilled and the debt is paid. Happily you have cured the king's affliction, and I have come to take this evil creature back." Wukong said, "Bodhisattva, be that as it may, this beast carried off the queen and outraged all law and decency. His mortal sin may be pardoned, but he should not escape the living one. Let me first give him twenty strokes of my staff." The Bodhisattva said, "For my sake, spare him." Then she cried out to the demon king, "Wretched beast! Will you not show your true shape?" The monster rolled over on the ground and resumed his original form. The Bodhisattva mounted him, and looking down at the neck of the golden-haired hou, found the three golden bells missing. "Give me back my bells," she said to Wukong. "What bells?" said Wukong. "Old Sun knows nothing of them." The Bodhisattva made as if to recite the spell of the tightening band, and in a fluster Wukong pulled out the bells and hung them about the hou's neck. Then the Bodhisattva went back to the South Sea. Wukong whirled his iron staff and fought his way into Xiechi Cave, wiping out every demon and monster in it. Then he went into the inner cave and brought out Queen Jin Sheng, and told her in full how the Bodhisattva had taken the demon and why the king had been parted from his queen. The queen thanked him again and again. Wukong gathered some soft grass and wove a dragon of it, and told Queen Jin Sheng to shut her eyes and mount it. Then he called on his magic power. There was a roaring of wind in her ears, and in less than half a watch they were above the capital city of the Kingdom of Zhuzi. Wukong brought his cloud down and told the queen to open her eyes. She knew again the phoenix pavilions and dragon towers, and her heart was glad. She stepped down from the grass dragon and went up with Wukong into the treasure hall. At the sight of her the king came down hastily from the dragon couch and caught at her fair hand, longing to pour out all the grief of their parting. But suddenly he fell to the ground, crying, "My hand hurts!" The officers helped the king to his feet. Wukong said, "The queen has grown poisonous spines upon her body, and that is why, in all her three years on Mount Qilin, the demon could not so much as touch her." They were wondering what was to be done, when a voice called from midair, "Great Sage, I am here!" Wukong looked up, and saw that it was Ziyang the True Man of the Great Luotian Heaven, coming mounted on a crane. Wukong went forward at once to greet him. The True Man Ziyang came before the hall and told them the whole story. Three years before, it appeared, he had been passing that way, and seeing that the king of Zhuzi was fated to be parted from his queen, and fearing that the demon king would dishonor her, he had taken a coir cloak and changed it into a five-colored rosy robe, and presented it to the demon king. As soon as Queen Jin Sheng put it on, a coat of poisonous spines grew all over her body, so that a touch was agony, and the demon king never dared come near her again. The king and Queen Jin Sheng hastened to bow their thanks to the True Man Ziyang. Wukong asked him to undo the spell. The True Man stepped forward and pointed at the queen; the coir cloak fell away, and her whole body was as it had been before. The True Man shook out the cloak and flung it about his shoulders, bowed to them all with folded hands, mounted his crane and rose into the sky. The king, the queen and all the officers, high and low, bowed together toward the heavens in homage.

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