Righteousness bound them as brothers of one womb; The Dharma returned to original nature. Metal compliant, Wood subdued, the true fruit was achieved; Mind-Ape and Wood-Mother merged in the elixir's source. Together they climb to the World of Ultimate Bliss, Together they enter the Dharma Gate of Non-Duality. The scriptures are the great high road of cultivation; The Buddha matches each one's own primal spirit. Elder brother and younger joined in the threefold covenant; Demons and monsters, lust-formed, answer to the Five Elements. Cut away the six paths of rebirth, And straight to the Thunderclap Monastery you go.
[Translator's note: "Mind-Ape" and "Wood-Mother" are the inner-alchemy code names of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie used throughout the novel.]
Now tell how the idiot was seized by a whole tribe of monkeys, who hauled him, dragged him, and tugged him about until his tunic was torn to rags, while he muttered and grumbled to himself: "Done for! Done for! This time there'll be a killing!"
Before long they came to the mouth of the cave.
The Great Sage was sitting on the rocky cliff above, and he cursed: "You chaff-guzzling wretch! Going off was one thing—but how dare you curse me?"
Bajie knelt on the ground and said: "Brother, I never cursed you. If I cursed you, may my tongue-root be chewed off! I only said that since my brother wouldn't go, I'd go report to Master myself—how would I dare curse you?" The Pilgrim said: "How could you ever fool me? Pull my left ear upward, and I can hear the talk of the Thirty-Three Heavens; pull my right ear downward, and I can hear the Ten Kings of Hell and the judges settling their accounts. You cursed me every step of the road—could I fail to hear it?" Bajie said: "Brother, I knew you were up to your sneaky tricks—you must have turned yourself into some little thing and followed me to listen." The Pilgrim shouted: "Little ones, bring the big sticks! First give him twenty strokes on the anklebones, then twenty across the back, and then I'll see him off with my iron staff!" Bajie panicked and kowtowed: "Brother, for Master's sake, a thousand times I beg you—spare me!" The Pilgrim said: "Much that Master cares for me, with all his fine benevolence!" Bajie pressed on: "Brother, if not for Master's sake, then for the sake of the Bodhisattva from the Southern Sea—spare me!"
At the mention of the Bodhisattva the Pilgrim softened by three parts. "Brother," he said, "since you put it that way, I'll not beat you—for now. But you'll tell me the honest truth, no hiding. Where is Master in trouble, that you come here to fool me?" Bajie said: "Brother, there's no trouble at all—I just missed you." The Pilgrim cursed: "You beatable wretch! Still telling your lies? Old Sun's body may have come back to the Water Curtain Cave, but his heart has followed the scripture-seeking monk. That master of ours meets peril at every step and calamity in every place. Tell me quickly, and spare yourself a beating!"
Hearing this, Bajie knocked his head on the ground and pleaded: "Brother, I meant to keep it from you and trick you into coming—I never dreamed you were so sharp. Spare me the beating, let me up, and I'll tell you everything." "Very well, get up and talk." The monkeys loosed their grip, and the idiot scrambled to his feet, looking all around him. "What are you staring at?" asked the Pilgrim. "Seeing which road looks open—good for running." "And where would you run to? I'd give you three days' head start, and old Sun would still have the skill to run you down! Speak quickly! If you rouse my temper once more, there'll be no mercy!" Bajie said: "To tell you the truth, brother, ever since you went back, Sha Monk and I have been escorting Master along the road. We came to a black pine forest; Master dismounted and sent me to beg for food. The way was far, not a household in sight, and I was worn out, so I lay down in the grass for a little sleep.
Who knew that Sha Monk would leave Master and come looking for me. You know Master has no gift for sitting still: he strolled through the woods admiring the scenery, and coming out of the forest he saw a golden pagoda shining. He took it for a monastery—but under the pagoda there was a demon named Yellow-Robe, who seized him. Later, when Sha Monk and I returned to look for him, we found only the white horse and the baggage, and no Master. We tracked them to the mouth of the cave and joined battle with that monster.
Master, inside the cave, was lucky enough to find a savior: the third daughter of the king of the Kingdom of Baoxiang, whom the monster had carried off years before. She wrote a letter home and entrusted it to Master, then spoke on his behalf and got him released. When we reached the kingdom and delivered the letter, the king asked Master to subdue the demon and win the princess back. Brother, you know well enough—could that old monk subdue demons? The two of us went back and fought him again.
Who knew the monster's powers were so vast? He captured Sha Monk too, and I fled from the battlefield and hid in the grass. The monster then transformed himself into a handsome scholar, entered the court, claimed kinship with the king, and turned Master into a tiger. Once more we were lucky: the white dragon horse took on his dragon body by night and went into the city to look for Master. He never found Master, but he ran into the monster drinking in the Silver Peace Hall. He changed into a palace maid, served his wine and danced with a blade, hoping to cut him down when the chance offered—only to have the monster strike and wound his foreleg with a cherry-red staff.
It was he who sent me to fetch you, elder brother, saying: 'Your elder brother is a gentleman of honor and righteousness. A gentleman does not hold old grudges—he will surely come to save Master from this peril.' I beg you, brother, remember the saying 'A teacher for a day, a father for life'—save him, a thousand times save him!"
The Pilgrim said: "You idiot! When I took my leave I told you over and over: 'If demons or monsters seize Master, tell them old Sun is his eldest disciple.' Why didn't you mention me?" Bajie thought to himself: "Asking a general to come works worse than provoking him—let me provoke him a little." Aloud he said: "Brother, I'd have done better not to mention you! Mentioning you only made him worse!" "How so?" "I said: 'Demon, none of your insolence! Don't harm my master! I have an elder brother called Sun the Pilgrim. His powers are vast, and he is a master at subduing demons. When he comes, you'll die without a grave to hold your bones!' At those words the monster only grew the more enraged, and he cursed: 'Who's this Sun the Pilgrim? Am I supposed to fear him? If he comes, I'll flay his hide, snap his sinews, gnaw his bones, and eat his heart! Let him be a skinny monkey—I'll mince him fine and fry him in oil!'" At this the Pilgrim scratched his ears and clawed his cheeks, hopping about in a fury: "Who dares curse me like that!" Bajie said: "Calm yourself, brother. That was the Yellow-Robed Demon cursing you—I was only quoting him for your benefit." The Pilgrim said: "Rise, worthy brother. It's not that I couldn't go—but since the demon dares curse me, I cannot not subdue him. I'll come with you. Five hundred years ago, when old Sun wrought havoc in Heaven, every divine general in all the sky, at the sight of me, bent his back and bowed, every mouth crying 'Great Sage.' And this demon has the insolence to curse me behind my back and to my face! This time I'll seize him and hack him to ten thousand pieces, to avenge the insult! Once my revenge is done, I'll come straight back." Bajie said: "Just so, brother. Go and seize the demon and take your revenge; then whether you come back or not is entirely as you please."
At that the monkey leapt down from the cliff, dashed into the cave, shed his demon garb, straightened his brocade tunic, tightened his tiger-skin kilt, took up his iron staff, and strode straight out the door.
The monkeys, alarmed, crowded round to stop him: "Grandpa Great Sage, where are you going? Take us along to play for a few years!"
The Pilgrim said: "Little ones, what talk is that! This business of mine, escorting Tang Sanzang—Heaven above and Earth below, all know that Sun Wukong is Tang Sanzang's disciple. He didn't really drive me home; he sent me home to look around, let me come home and take my ease. Now, just because of this affair, you must all guard the family estate with care—plant your willows and set out your pines in season, and let nothing fall to ruin. Wait until I have gone back to escort Tang Sanzang and fetched the scriptures to the land of the East. When the work is done, I shall come back to share the joys of innocent nature with you all." The monkeys each took the command.
Then the Great Sage took Bajie's hand, and they mounted the clouds together, left the cave, crossed the Eastern Ocean, and on reaching the western shore stayed their cloud-glow. The Pilgrim called: "Brother, you go on slowly here while I drop down to the sea and wash myself clean."
Bajie said: "We're in a hurry—what's all this about washing?" The Pilgrim said: "You wouldn't know. Since I came back, these last few days I've picked up some of the reek of demons about me. Master is a great one for cleanliness—I'm afraid he'd be disgusted." At this Bajie knew for the first time that the Pilgrim's heart was wholly true, with nothing else in it.
In a moment he had washed, and they mounted the clouds again and pressed on westward. Presently they saw the golden pagoda shining. Bajie pointed: "Isn't that the Yellow-Robed Demon's home? Sha Monk is still inside his house."
The Pilgrim said: "You wait up in the sky while I go down and look over his gateway, so I may meet the demon in proper battle array." Bajie said: "Don't go—the demon isn't home." The Pilgrim said: "I know." What a Monkey King! He brought down his auspicious light and went straight to the cave gate to look. There he saw two little boys playing with curved-headed sticks, batting a furry ball, competing for the hole. [Translator's note: "competing for the hole" (qiangwo) was a children's game rather like field hockey.] One was ten or so, the other eight or nine. As they played, the Pilgrim rushed up, and caring nothing for whose household they belonged to, seized each by the topknot and hauled them over. [Translator's note: the topknot was the little tuft of hair left unshaved on a child's crown.] The children were terrified out of their wits, screaming and cursing and bawling all at once, which alarmed the little demons of Wave-Moon Cave, who rushed in to report to the princess: "Madam, someone has carried off the two young masters!" Those two children were the princess's own, borne to the monster. At the news she hurried out of the cave door, and there was the Pilgrim standing on the high cliff, holding the two children, plainly meaning to dash them to the rocks below. In her terror the princess cried out at the top of her voice:
"You there, good sir! I've done you no wrong—why seize my sons? Their father is a fierce one; if the least harm comes to them, he will never rest till he's even with you!"
The Pilgrim said: "You don't know me? I am Sun Wukong the Pilgrim, eldest disciple of Tang Sanzang. I have a junior brother, the Sha Monk, inside your cave—go and release him, and I'll hand you back these two boys. Two for one, as it were—you'd be getting the better of the bargain." At these words the princess hurried inside, dismissed the few little demons guarding the door, and with her own hands untied Sha Monk.
Sha Monk said: "Princess, you mustn't free me. When your monster comes home and asks you for me, it will only bring trouble and abuse on your own head."
The princess said: "Venerable one, you are my benefactor. You argued my case in the family letter and saved my life, and I had already set my heart on freeing you. Who could have known that outside the cave door your eldest brother Sun Wukong would arrive, bidding me release you?"
Ah! When Sha Monk heard the three words "Sun Wukong," it was like clarified butter poured over his crown and sweet dew moistening his heart—a joy born in his very face, a springtime flooding all his breast. It was not like hearing that some mere man had come; it was as though he had picked up a slab of gold or jade.
See him shake out his sleeves, straighten his robe, walk out through the door, and salute the Pilgrim: "Brother, you have truly dropped from the heavens! I beg of you, save me!"
The Pilgrim laughed: "You little shaved rascal! When Master recites the Band-tightening Spell, would you put in so much as one kind word for me? You all just wag your tongues and show off! If you wanted to escort Master, why aren't you walking the western road—what are you squatting here for?" Sha Monk said: "Brother, say no more. A gentleman does not rake up the past. I am a general of a routed army—not the man to boast of valor. Just save me, that's all I ask!" The Pilgrim said: "Come up here."
Then Sha Monk leapt up onto the rock cliff.
Now tell how Bajie, hovering in the air, saw Sha Monk come out of the cave, pressed down his cloud, and shouted: "Sha brother, bear up! Bear up!"
Sha Monk turned to look: "Second Brother, where did you come from?" Bajie said: "Yesterday I lost the battle, and in the night I entered the city and met the white horse. I learned Master was in trouble—that the Yellow-Robe Demon had used magic and turned him into a tiger. The white horse and I talked it over, and I came to fetch our elder brother." The Pilgrim said: "Idiot, save your long-lost greetings. Take these two children, the pair of you, carry them into Baoxiang city, and provoke that monster into coming out—I'll wait here to beat him." Sha Monk said: "Brother, how do we provoke him?" The Pilgrim said: "The two of you mount your clouds, stand above the Golden Chime Hall, and without more ado dash those children down before the white jade steps. If anyone asks who you are, say: 'These are the sons of the Yellow-Robed Demon—we two have brought them in!' When the monster hears it, he's certain to come rushing back, and I needn't enter the city to fight him. For if we did battle over the city, we'd be spraying clouds and puffing fog, kicking up dirt and scattering dust, frightening the court, the officials, and all the common folk—no peace for anyone." Bajie laughed: "Brother, whenever there's work to do, you always leave us holding the bag." The Pilgrim said: "How do I leave you holding the bag?" Bajie said: "These two children you grabbed are already scared out of their wits; by now they've cried themselves hoarse, and in another little while they'll certainly be dead. We dash them down and smash them into meat patties—do you think the monster will simply let that pass when he catches up? He'll have us two pay with our lives for his sons. And you? You'll stand there with clean hands—not even a witness against you! If that isn't leaving us holding the bag, what is?" The Pilgrim said: "If he grabs at you, the two of you fight him and fall back this way. There's a broad battlefield here, and I'll be waiting to give him a thrashing." Sha Monk said: "Just so, just so—eldest brother speaks sense. Let's be going." And the two of them, leaning on their prowess, carried the children off.
The Pilgrim jumped down from the rock cliff to beneath the pagoda gate. The princess said: "You monk—no honor, no faith at all! You said if I released your brother-disciple, you'd give me back my children. Your brother-disciple is free, yet you keep my children and come stand at my very door—what is the meaning of this?"
The Pilgrim put on a smiling face: "Don't be angry, Princess. You've been here a long, long while—I'm taking your young sons off to meet their grandfather." The princess said: "Monk, none of your insolence! My Yellow-Robe Lord is not like other men. If you've frightened my children out of their wits, you'll have to soothe the fright out of them."
The Pilgrim laughed: "Princess, a person born between Heaven and Earth—how is it that anything comes to be an 'offense'?"
The princess said: "I know how." The Pilgrim said: "You're a woman—what would you know?" The princess said: "From childhood in the palace I received my parents' teaching. I remember the old books say: of the three thousand offenses under the five punishments, none is greater than unfiliality."
The Pilgrim said: "Then you are just such an unfilial person. 'Father, you begot me; mother, you reared me. Alas, alas, my parents—begetting me and rearing me, what toil and pain they bore!' [Translator's note: a quotation from the Book of Songs.] Filial piety is the source of the hundred conducts, the root of the ten thousand virtues. Yet you have given your body to keep company with a demon, and never once turn your thoughts to your father and mother. If that is not the crime of unfiliality, what is?" At these upright words the princess flushed red to the ears, ashamed beyond all bearing, and burst out despite herself: "Venerable one, your words are most just. How could I not long for my parents? But this demon tricked me and carried me off here; his rules are strict, my feet can scarcely walk, the road is far and the mountains are many, and there is no one to carry word for me. I thought of killing myself, but I feared my parents would suspect I had run away, and the matter would never be cleared. So I have had no choice but to drag out my wretched breath—truly a great sinner between Heaven and Earth!" And as she spoke, her tears gushed forth like a spring.
The Pilgrim said: "Grieve no more, Princess. Zhu Bajie told me of you—how you wrote a letter that once saved my master's life, and how even in that letter there was longing for your parents. Old Sun has come to seize the demon for you, take you back to court to see your father, find you another good match, and let you wait upon your parents to the end of their days. What do you say?"
The princess said: "Monk, don't go seeking your own death. Yesterday your two brothers—fine stout fellows—could not get the better of my Yellow-Robe Lord. A skinny, bony wretch like you, the very image of a crab with its bones all grown on the outside—what powers could you have, to talk of seizing demons?"
The Pilgrim laughed: "So you have no eye for people. The proverb says: a bladder, big as it is, weighs nothing at all; a scale-weight, small as it is, presses down a thousand catties. Their looks—big and useless: walking, they strain against the wind; dressing, they waste cloth; for kindling they're hollow at heart; at the crown they're soft in the small of the back; at table they labor with no gain. Old Sun, small as he is, is all sinew and knuckle."
The princess said: "Do you truly have some skill?" The Pilgrim said: "My skill you've never set eyes on: I subdue demons to perfection and master monsters past compare." The princess said: "Then don't you go ruining things for me." The Pilgrim said: "I'll surely ruin nothing." The princess said: "Since you can subdue demons and master monsters, how will you take this one?" The Pilgrim said: "You go hide yourself, out of my sight. If he comes while you're standing there, my hands and feet will be hampered—I'm afraid your affection for him still runs deep, and you couldn't bear to part with him." The princess said: "How could I not bear to part with him? My lingering in this place was never my own choice!" The Pilgrim said: "Thirteen years you've been wife to him—how could there be no feeling between you? When I see him, there'll be no playing about: one staff will be one staff, one fist one fist; I must beat him to the ground before you can return to court and see your father."
The princess did as the Pilgrim said and hid herself away in some quiet spot—for indeed her karmic marriage was due to end, and hence the coming of the Great Sage. The Monkey King hid the princess away, then shook his body, changed his form, and transformed into the very image of the princess, returned into the cave, and waited there for the monster.
Now tell how Bajie and Sha Monk carried the two children into the Kingdom of Baoxiang and dashed them down before the white jade steps. Pitiful to tell! They were smashed flat like meat patties, fresh blood spattering, bones ground to powder. The whole court of officials cried out in alarm: "Disaster! Disaster! Two men have fallen from the sky!" Bajie shouted at the top of his voice: "Those children are the sons of the Yellow-Robed Demon—the old hog and Brother Sha have carried them here!"
The monster was still in the Silver Peace Hall, not yet sober from the night's drinking, deep in a drunken sleep. Hearing someone call his name, he rolled over, raised his head to look, and there in the clouds were Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk, bawling out.
The demon thought to himself: "Zhu Bajie is one thing—but Sha Monk is tied up at my house. How did he get out? How could my wife have released him? And how did my children fall into their hands? This must be Zhu Bajie's scheme, unable to get me out to fight, come to bait me. If I fall for the bait and go fight him—hmph! I'm still sick with wine! If he lands one rake on me, my prestige will be finished and the whole trick exposed. Better to go home first and see whether they're my sons or not, and settle accounts with them after."
What a demon! Without even taking leave of the king, he slipped away through the hills and forests and made straight for the cave to check the news. By now the court already knew him for a monster: in the night he had eaten a palace maid, and seventeen others had escaped with their lives and reported the whole matter to the king at the fifth watch. And when he too went off without taking leave, they knew beyond all doubt that he was a demon. The king then ordered his officials to keep close guard over the sham tiger—but of that we say no more.
The demon returned straight to the mouth of the cave. When the Pilgrim saw him coming, he devised a way to gull him: he squeezed his eyes, and the tears came pattering down like rain; wailing to Heaven and Earth, stamping his feet and beating his breast, he howled and sobbed there in the cave. For the moment the demon could not tell the false from the true. He came up and put his arms around "her": "Wife, what has happened, that you grieve so?" The Great Sage had his lies ready woven, his fictions neatly molded, and tearfully he told him:
"My lord! As the saying goes, a man without a wife has no master over his wealth; a woman without a husband has nothing to lean upon! Yesterday you went to court to claim kinship—why did you never come home? This morning Zhu Bajie carried off Sha Monk, and then seized our two children as well. I begged and pleaded, but he would show no mercy. He said he was taking them to court to meet their grandfather. Half the day has gone by and no sign of the children—are they alive or dead? And you never came home—how am I to bear it?
That is why I cannot hold back my grieving." At these words rage boiled up in the demon's heart: "Were they truly my sons?" "Truly," said the Pilgrim. "Zhu Bajie carried them off." The demon hopped about in fury:
"Done for! Done for! My sons have been dashed to death! There's no bringing them back to life! Nothing for it but to take that monk and make him pay with his life for my sons! Wife, stop your crying. How do you feel within yourself? Let me doctor you a little."
The Pilgrim said: "There's nothing much wrong with me—I only cannot bear the loss of my children, and I've cried myself into a pain of the heart." The demon said: "No matter. Get up. I have a treasure here; let me but touch it to the place that hurts, and the pain will be gone. Only be careful—don't let your thumb flick it. If a thumb so much as flicks it, my true form will show through." Hearing this, the Pilgrim laughed inwardly: "This wretched monster is honest after all—no tortures applied, and he confesses on his own. When he brings out his treasure, I'll give it a flick and see what kind of monster he is." The demon took the Pilgrim by the hand and led him straight into the deepest, most sealed recesses of the cave.
There he spat from his mouth a treasure the size of a hen's egg: a luminous inner elixir, a sarira. The Pilgrim rejoiced inwardly: "What a thing! Who knows how many sessions of seated work went into it, how many years of fiery trials endured, how many cycles of male and female matched, to refine this elixir-sarira! Today old Sun's luck has run great, to meet with it." The monkey reached out and took it. Where was there any pain? He felt the place purely for form's sake, then flicked it with one finger. The demon panicked and snatched at it—but think for yourself: how quick that monkey is! He gulped the treasure down in one swallow.
The demon clenched his fist and struck. The Pilgrim blocked it with one hand, wiped his face with the other, and showed his true form, crying: "Monster! None of your insolence! Look closely—who am I?"
The demon stared at him, greatly startled: "Why—wife! What face is this you've put on?" The Pilgrim cursed: "Wretched monster! Who's your wife? You don't even know your own ancestor!" The demon suddenly came to his senses: "I seem to know you, somehow." The Pilgrim said: "I'll not beat you yet—look again." The demon said: "Your face is familiar, but for the moment I can't put a name to it. Who are you, truly, and where do you come from? Where have you stowed my wife away, that you come to my house and swindle me out of my treasure? Insolent! Detestable!" The Pilgrim said: "So you don't know me. I am Tang Sanzang's eldest disciple, Sun Wukong the Pilgrim—I'm your ancestor of five hundred years back!" The demon said: "Nonsense! Nonsense! When I captured Tang Sanzang, I knew he had only two disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Monk. No one ever spoke of anyone surnamed Sun. You must be some freak from who knows where, come here to cheat me!" The Pilgrim said: "I didn't come along with those two. My master, because old Sun was ever beating demons and had killed such numbers—and he being a man of compassion and goodness—drove me home; that's why I wasn't traveling the road with him. You simply don't know your ancestor's name and surname." The demon said: "What a fine fellow you are! Expelled by your own master—and you still have the face to come see him!" The Pilgrim said: "Wretched monster, do you not know the saying: a teacher for a day, a father for life—and between father and son no feud lasts overnight! You did harm to my master—how could I not come to save him? Harming him were bad enough, but you cursed me behind my back and before my face—what do you say to that?" The demon said: "When did I ever curse you?" The Pilgrim said: "Zhu Bajie said so." The demon said: "Don't you believe him. That Zhu Bajie, with his pointed snout, is clever at carrying wives' tongues—how can you listen to him?" The Pilgrim said: "Never mind that idle talk. Just this: old Sun has come to your house today, and you have given a guest from afar a cold welcome indeed. Though you've no wine or food to set before him, a head you certainly have—stretch it out quickly, and old Sun will give it one stroke of the staff by way of tea!" At the talk of beating, the demon laughed aloud: "Sun the Pilgrim, you've misreckoned! If you mean to fight, you should never have followed me in here. My demons, great and small, still number a hundred and more. Though you were covered all over with hands, you could never fight your way out of my door." The Pilgrim said: "No more of your blather! Never mind a hundred—were there thousands upon tens of thousands, so long as each one is checked off and tallied, no stroke of mine will fall empty, and I'll wipe you out, root and branch, beyond all trace!"
At these words the demon hastily passed the order: all the demons of mountain-front and mountain-back, all the monsters within the cave and without, were mustered at once, each gripping his weapon, packing tight the three and four successive gates, letting nothing through. Seeing this, the Pilgrim was delighted to the bottom of his heart. With both hands he stroked his staff, shouted the word "Change!", turned into a figure with three heads and six arms, and with one shake of the gold-banded cudgel turned it into three gold-banded cudgels.
Watch him: six hands wielding three staves, fighting his way straight through—just like a tiger bursting into a flock of sheep, an eagle sweeping into the chicken coop. Pitiful, those little demons! Those he butted had their heads smashed to powder; those he grazed bled like flowing water! Back and forth, across and over, he rampaged as though entering an empty land.
Only one old demon was left, who charged out the gate cursing: "Damned monkey! What a scoundrel you are—coming to a body's own house to play the bully!"
The Pilgrim wheeled round quickly and beckoned with his hand: "Come! Come! Only when I've beaten you down will it count as merit!"
The monster raised his precious blade and hacked at his head. What a Pilgrim! He whipped out his iron staff and met him face to face. This battle they fought on the mountaintop, half in cloud and half in mist:
The Great Sage's powers were great; the demon's skill was high. This one leveled crosswise his gold-banded staff; that one slanted up his dipped-steel blade. The blade rose, unhurried, bright as dawn-clouds aflame; the staff parried, lightly, colored mists adrift. Back and forth they guard their crowns, wheeling over and over; to and again they swing their bodies, turning round upon round. One shifts his face with every passing wind; the other on the spot gives his body a shake. That one's fiery eyes flare wide, ape arms outstretched; this one's golden gleams dazzle bright, tiger-waist bent low. You come, I go, locked in combat; blade greets staff, parry answering blow. The Monkey King's iron staff goes by the Three Strategies; the monster's steel blade follows the Six Secret Teachings. [Translator's note: two ancient manuals of the art of war.] One, long practiced in cunning, is lord of the demons; the other, lavish with magic power, guards Tang Sanzang. The fierce Monkey King grows ever fiercer; the heroic monster grows more heroic still. Neither heeds life or death, battling in mid-air—all for Tang Sanzang, who yet worships the Buddha far away.
The two of them fought fifty or sixty rounds, and neither had the upper hand.
The Pilgrim rejoiced inwardly: "This wretched monster—that blade of his can truly hold its own against old Sun's staff. Let old Sun show him an opening and see whether he knows enough to take it."
What a Monkey King! Both hands raised the staff in the posture of the "High Horse-Prancing Probe."
The demon, blind to the trick, saw the opening, whirled his precious blade, and chopped straight for the lower quarters. The Pilgrim swiftly swung round into "Great Level at Center," flicked that blade aside, then followed with "Stealing the Peach Beneath the Leaves," brought the staff down on the demon's crown—and struck him clean out of sight. He hastily drew back his staff to look: no demon. The Pilgrim was amazed: "My son! He couldn't take a single blow—beaten clean out of sight. If he were truly beaten to death, there should at least be some bloody pulp; how is there not the faintest trace? He must have fled."
He sprang up into the clouds to look: on every side, not a stir.
"These eyes of old Sun, wherever they look, see everything in one sweep—how could he have fled so slickly? I have it: the monster said he half recognized me. He must be no common demon of the mortal world—he's likely a spirit come down from Heaven."
For the moment the Great Sage could not master his wrath. Gripping his iron staff, he somersaulted straight up to the South Gate of Heaven. Pang, Liu, Gou, Bi, Zhang, Tao, Deng, Xin, and the rest, in alarm, bowed low on either side, not daring to bar his way, and let him charge through the heavenly gate, all the way to the Hall of Universal Brightness.
The four Heavenly Masters, Zhang, Ge, Xu, and Qiu, came forward at once and asked: "What brings the Great Sage here?" The Pilgrim said: "While escorting Tang Sanzang to the Kingdom of Baoxiang, there was a demon who deceived the king's daughter and did harm to my master. Old Sun joined battle with him, and in the very midst of the fight the monster vanished. I suspect he is no demon of the mortal world below, but a spirit from Heaven above, and I have come to make inspection: which of the watches has let slip some demon god?" At this the Heavenly Masters went in to the Hall of Divine Mists and reported. By imperial command an inspection was made: the Star Officers of the Nine Luminaries, the Twelve Houses of the zodiac, the Five Bushels of east, west, south, north, and center, the host of stars of the River of Heaven, the Five Sacred Peaks and the Four Streams, all the gods of all the firmament—every one was above at his post; not one had dared leave his station.
They then checked the twenty-eight mansions outside the Palace of Dipper and Ox—there were only twenty-seven, and the Star Kui alone was missing. The Heavenly Masters returned and reported: "The Wood Wolf of Kui has descended to the world below."
The Jade Emperor asked: "How long has he been away from Heaven?" The Heavenly Masters said: "He has missed four musters. Roll call comes every three days—thirteen days have passed." The Jade Emperor said: "Thirteen days in Heaven are thirteen years below."
He then ordered that demon's own department to bring him back up to the upper world. The twenty-seven star officials received the decree, went out the heavenly gate, and each recited his incantation, stirring the Star Kui. And where do you suppose he was hiding? He was one of the divine generals whom the Great Sage had terrified in the days of the havoc in Heaven, and he had slipped into a mountain ravine to lurk through his trouble, the watery vapor veiling his demon cloud—that is why no one had seen him. Only when he heard his own department's officials reciting the spell did he dare come out, and he followed them up to Heaven.
The Great Sage blocked the heavenly gate and would have beaten him, but fortunately the other stars talked him round, and the monster was escorted before the Jade Emperor.
The monster took the gold placard from his waist, knelt below the hall, and kowtowed in confession of his guilt. The Jade Emperor said: "Wood Wolf of Kui, the upper world has boundless sights to enjoy—why forgo them to sneak off to some corner below?"
The Star Kui kowtowed and reported: "Spare your servant the death penalty, Your Majesty. That princess of the Kingdom of Baoxiang is no common mortal. She was the Jade Girl who tended the incense in the Hall of Spreading Fragrance, and because she wished to have secret dealings with your servant, I feared to defile the pure precincts of the heavenly palace. She yearned for the mortal world and went down first, to be born within the inner palace. I, unwilling to break our former pledge, transformed myself into a demon, seized a famous mountain, and carried her off to my cave, where I paired with her as husband and wife for thirteen years. Every sip and every peck is predestined—and now the Great Sage Sun has come and brought the matter to its completion." At these words the Jade Emperor took back the gold placard and banished him to the Tushita Palace to tend the fires for Lord Lao Zi, serving on half pay. If he did well, he would be restored to office; if not, his crime would be redoubled.
The Pilgrim, seeing the Jade Emperor dispose of matters in this fashion, was pleased at heart. He bowed a deep bow toward the throne, then said to the assembled gods: "My thanks for your trouble, everyone." The Heavenly Masters laughed: "That monkey is the same rustic as ever. We rounded up the monster god for him, and instead of thanking Heaven for its grace he just bows and bustles off." The Jade Emperor said: "So long as he's satisfied, the peace of Heaven is cheaply bought."
The Great Sage brought down his auspicious light and returned straight to Wave-Moon Cave on Bowl Mountain, brought out the princess, and was just recounting how the demon who yearned for the mortal world had been taken away—when from halfway up the sky came the loud cries of Bajie and Sha Monk: "Elder brother, there are demons—leave a few for us to beat!"
The Pilgrim said: "The demons are wiped out to the very last." Sha Monk said: "Since the demons are all destroyed and nothing holds us here, let us bring the princess into the court. Close your eyes, brothers—we'll use the earth-shrinking spell." The princess heard the wind whistling past her ears, and in an instant they were back in the city. The three of them brought the princess up to the Golden Chime Hall, where she bowed to her father the king and her mother the queen, greeted her sisters, and all the officials came forward to pay their respects. Then at last the princess addressed the throne:
"It was thanks to the boundless magic of the Venerable Sun, who subdued the Yellow-Robed Demon and brought your handmaid home to the kingdom." The king asked: "What sort of monster was this Yellow-Robe?" The Pilgrim said: "Your Majesty's son-in-law was the Star Kui from the upper world, and Your Majesty's daughter was the Jade Girl who tended the incense. Because she yearned for the mortal world she descended among men—no small matter, but all was set by former lives and former bonds: these kinships were fated from the start. As for the monster—old Sun went up to the heavenly palace and reported to the Jade Emperor, who found that he had missed four musters, thirteen days in the world below, that is, thirteen years; for one day above is one year below. He then dispatched the star officials of his own department to take him back up, and he has been banished to the Tushita Palace to win merit. And so old Sun has brought Your Majesty's daughter safely home." The king thanked the Pilgrim for his kindness, and then gave orders: "Come, let us go see your master."
The three of them went straight down from the treasure hall, and with the officials went to the court chamber, carried out the iron cage, and loosed the iron chain from the sham tiger. To everyone else he looked a tiger; to the Pilgrim alone he was a man. The master had been bewitched under the demon's magic and could not walk; his mind was perfectly clear, but his mouth and eyes would not open.
The Pilgrim laughed: "Master, what a fine monk you are—however did you come to put on such a wicked face? You blamed me for violence and wickedness and drove me away; you wanted to set your whole heart on goodness—and how did you come by a face like this?"
Bajie said: "Brother, save him and have done—don't keep picking at his sores."
The Pilgrim said: "You're forever egging him on—you're his favorite good disciple, no mistake. If you won't save him, why come bothering old Sun? I told you plainly at the time: once the demon was subdued and my revenge for the cursing was taken, I would go back." Sha Monk stepped forward and knelt: "Brother, the ancients say: for the monk's own sake, no—but for the Buddha's sake, yes. Since you have come all this way, we beg you, save him. If we two could have saved him ourselves, we'd never have traveled all that weary way to fetch you." The Pilgrim raised him up with his hand: "How could I ever have it in my heart not to save him? Fetch water, and quickly." Bajie flew like a shooting star to the post station, brought back the luggage and the horse, took out the purple gold alms bowl, filled it half full of water, and handed it to the Pilgrim.
Taking the water in his hands, the Pilgrim recited the true spell, and with one spray dashed it over the tiger's head and face, dissolving the demon magic and dispersing the tiger-essence.
The elder showed his true form, gathered his spirit, and opened his eyes, and there at last he knew the Pilgrim. Clutching him tight: "Wukong! Where have you come from?"
Sha Monk stood in attendance at the side and told the whole of it: how they had fetched the Pilgrim to subdue the demon, save the princess, disperse the tiger-essence, and come back to court—all of it he recounted in full.
Sanzang thanked him without end: "Worthy disciple, I am indebted to you—indebted to you! From here straight to the Western Heaven, and straight back to the East, to report to the Tang emperor. Your merit stands first."
The Pilgrim laughed: "Say no more, say no more! Only don't recite 'that spell'—that is kindness and love enough for me." Hearing this, the king once more expressed his thanks to the four of them, prepared a vegetarian banquet, and threw open the Eastern Pavilion. Master and disciples, having received the royal grace, took leave of the king and set off toward the west, and the king with all his officials escorted them a long way. And this was truly:
The sovereign returns to his treasure hall to settle the realm; The monks depart for the Thunderclap, to worship the Buddha.
But as for what happened after this, and when they would reach the Western Heaven—listen to the explanation in the next chapter.