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30 The Kingdom of Lion-Camel

Now the Tang Monk and his disciples rode on westward, and after many days of travel summer had ended and autumn begun, the fresh coolness striking through to the bone. Suddenly a high mountain rose before them, its peaks piercing the blue sky, truly tall enough to brush the stars and block the sun. Master and disciples went straight up the high ridge, and before they had gone many li they saw an old man with hair and beard all white, a string of prayer beads about his neck and a dragon-headed staff in his hand, standing far off on the hillside and shouting, "Tang Monk, halt! There is a band of demons on this mountain; you must not go on!" The Tang Monk turned pale with fright and fell from his horse with a thud. Wukong stepped forward and helped him up. "Fear not, Master. Sit you here a while, and let me go and ask him." Wukong made a magic sign and, with a shake of his body, turned himself into a young monk of bright eyes and fine brows. He went up to the old man and bowed. "I am told, good sir, that you spoke of demons. My master sent me to ask how terrible these demons truly are." "That demon," said the old man, "has but to send one letter to Vulture Peak and five hundred arhats come out to greet him; one note to the heavenly palace and the eleven great luminaries all hold him in honour. The dragon kings of the four seas have been his friends, and the immortals of the eight grottoes oft keep company with him. The ten lords of the underworld call him brother, and the earth gods and city gods treat him as a beloved guest." Wukong could not help bursting into loud laughter. "Even if that demon wished to be brother and friend to a youngster like me, I doubt I would care to receive him!" The old man said, "Amitabha! Little monk, for such overweening words you will never grow any bigger." Wukong said with a laugh, "I will not hide it from you. My home is the Water Curtain Cave on Flower-Fruit Mountain in the Kingdom of Aolai. My surname is Sun and my name Wukong, and in years past I too was a demon and did great deeds." With that he wiped a hand across his face and showed his true form. The old man went white with terror. Bajie said, "Master, do not take it ill if I speak plain. He went at it head first and tail behind, asked a question or two and came running back. Let old Zhu go and get a straight answer." Bajie straightened his black robe, ran up the hillside and called to the old man, "Good sir, I salute you!" The old man was about to leave when he caught sight of Bajie coming and grew still more frightened. "What evil dream did I dream last night, to meet such a pack of frights!" Bajie soothed him with soft words, then said with a laugh, "My brother offended you, good sir, and our master sent me especially to ask: what mountain is this, and what cave? And what demons truly dwell within? Pray enlighten us." "This mountain is called the Lion-Camel Ridge, eight hundred li across, and in its midst lies the Lion-Camel Cave, where three demon chiefs dwell. As for the lesser demons under them, five thousand guard the south ridge and five thousand the north, ten thousand hold the east road and ten thousand the west; and with the scouts, the gate-keepers, the fire-tenders and the wood-cutters there are forty-seven or forty-eight thousand in all, and they live by eating men." Bajie came running back, trembling all over, and repeated what the old man had said. "There is no more to be said," he cried. "Let each of us look to his own life and be off betimes!" Wukong swore at him. "You silly fellow! I sent you to learn the truth, and here you come back witless with fright." The Tang Monk's hair stood on end. "Wukong, what is to be done?" Wukong said with a laugh, "Set your heart at rest, Master. A few demons are no great matter while I am here." "Brother," said Bajie, "the whole mountain is full of demons. How can we go on?" Wukong laughed. "Stretch out my rod at both ends and it grows eight zhang around. Let me roll once to the south of the mountain and I crush five thousand; roll north and I crush five thousand more; roll from east to west, and though there be forty or fifty thousand demons, they become so much minced meat and pulp."

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