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30 The Kingdom of Lion-Camel

Sandy said with a smile, "Master, our eldest brother has powers like these. What is there to fear? Mount, and let us go." The Tang Monk had no choice but to take heart and ride on. As they went, the old man who had brought the warning vanished. Wukong leapt up a high peak and saw a shimmer of coloured light in mid-air, so he sprang onto a cloud and gave chase. It was the Great White Star. Wukong caught hold of him and cried, "Li Changgeng! Why could you not say it to my face, that you must become an old man of the hills and hoodwink me?" The star made a hasty bow. "Wukong, pray forgive me. These demon chiefs are truly great in power. If you are clever and full of stratagem you may yet get through; but if you are careless, in truth you will not." Wukong thanked him at once. Wukong took leave of the star, brought his cloud down and told the Tang Monk what Li Changgeng had reported. Then he said to Bajie and Sandy, "Guard the master well. Old Sun will go up the ridge first and have a look about." Wukong rode his somersault cloud to the mountaintop and, clutching at vines and creepers, peered about him. Suddenly he heard the clack of a watchman's clapper from behind the hill. Looking closely, he saw a young demon coming from north to south, a banner bearing the word "Order" upon his shoulder, a bell at his waist and a clapper in his hand. Wukong thought to himself, "He must be one of the patrol. Let me question him." He made a magic sign, muttered a spell and, with a shake, changed himself into a young demon; then he hurried forward and called, "You there, walking! Wait for me!" Wukong said glibly, "I tend the fires. The great king saw what a fine blaze I made and promoted me to patrol the mountain." The young demon said, "All of us who patrol have a pass as our token. Have you one?" "Show me yours first," said Wukong. The young demon, knowing nothing of Wukong's tricks, untied the pass and handed it over; the three characters on it were written in rouge, and they read "Xiao Zuanfeng", the little wind-borer. Wukong said, "Now let me show you my pass." He turned, quietly plucked a hair from the tip of his tail, and softly cried "Change!" It became a lacquered golden tablet bearing three seal-script characters: "Zong Zuanfeng", the chief wind-borer. This he handed to the young demon to look at. The young demon cried in amazement, "Why are you called the chief wind-borer?" Wukong said, "The great king gave me this pass and bade me command the whole of your company." The demon hastily made his salute. "I spoke out of turn; pray, sir, do not take offence." Wukong went ahead and the young demon followed behind. After several li they came to a steep crag. Wukong said, "The great king means to eat the Tang Monk's flesh, but he fears Sun Wukong's great powers, and dreads that he may change himself into a little wind-borer and come spying here. That is why he made me chief wind-borer, to search out whether any of your company is false." The little wind-borer said again and again, "Sir, we are all true men." Wukong said, "If you are true, then you must know what powers the great king has. Out with it, and quickly." The little wind-borer could but tell the truth: "My Eldest Great King is vast in power and mighty in skill; with one gulp he once swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly troops." The little wind-borer explained, "That year the Queen Mother held her peach festival, and my Eldest Great King meant to fight for heaven itself. The Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand heavenly troops to subdue him. My Eldest Great King swelled his body to giant size, opened his great jaws wide and swallowed at them, till the heavenly soldiers dared not give battle and shut fast the southern gate of heaven. Hence they say that one gulp swallowed a hundred thousand troops." Wukong asked, "And what powers has the Second Great King?" The little wind-borer said, "My Second Great King stands three zhang tall, with brows like silkworms, eyes like a phoenix, a voice like a beauty's, teeth like a carrying-pole and a nose like a river dragon. In a fight he need only curl that nose about you, and though you had an iron back and a body of bronze, your soul would flee and your spirit perish." "And how many tricks has the Third Great King?" asked Wukong. The little wind-borer replied, "My Third Great King is called the Roc of Far-Flung Flight. When he moves he rides the wind and stirs the sea, shaking the north and striking for the south. He carries a treasure called the Two-Breath Vase of Yin and Yang. Shut a man inside it and in an hour or so he melts into broth."

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