Now the two little demons held the sham gourd in their hands, wrangling over it and examining it, when suddenly they looked up—the Pilgrim was gone.
Clever Bug said: "Brother, even immortals tell lies! He said he'd traded treasures with us and would save us into immortality—how is it he's gone without a word of leave?"
Meticulous Sprite said: "We got the best of that bargain by far—could he really have gone off? Hand me the gourd; let me bottle some Heaven and try it out too." He truly flung the gourd upward—and flap!—it fell right back down. Clever Bug, panicked, said: "Why won't it bottle! Won't bottle! Could it be that Sun the Pilgrim disguised himself as an immortal and tricked our real gourd away with a false one?" Meticulous Sprite said: "None of your nonsense! Sun the Pilgrim is pinned under three mountains—how could he get out? Hand it here; let me try his spell and bottle it." That demon too flung the gourd into the sky, reciting: "If there is so much as half a word of refusal, I'll march straight up to the Hall of Divine Mists and start a war!" Before he finished—flap!—it fell down again.
The two demons said: "It won't bottle! Won't bottle!
It must be a fake." While they were bawling about it, the Great Sage Sun, in midair, heard every word and saw it all plainly. Fearing that if the game dragged on too long, the truth would leak at some critical moment, he gave his body a shake and drew back onto himself the hair that had turned into the gourd—leaving the two demons empty-handed, all four hands.
Meticulous Sprite said: "Brother, hand me the gourd."
Clever Bug said: "You were holding it. Heavens! Where has it gone?" They groped all over the ground, rummaged in the grass, tucked their sleeves in, patted their waistbands—nowhere was it to be found.
The two demons stood staring and quaking: "What now! What now! The Great King entrusted us the treasures and told us to fetch Sun the Pilgrim. Now the Pilgrim isn't fetched, and the treasures are gone into the bargain. How could we dare go back and report? We'll be beaten to death, straight out! What now! What now!"
Clever Bug said:
"Let's run away." Meticulous Sprite said: "Run where?" Clever Bug said: "Anywhere at all. If we go back and say the treasures are gone, it's certain death." Meticulous Sprite said: "Don't run—we'll go back. The Second Great King has always thought well of you; I'll push the blame onto you. If he'll let it pass, we keep our lives; if he won't be talked round, we're beaten to death—right here either way. Better than missing out on both ends. Let's go, let's go!" The two demons talked it over, turned their steps, and headed back to the mountain.
The Pilgrim, in midair, watched them turn back. He shook his body once more, turned into a housefly, flew down, and followed the little demons. But you ask: he being now a fly, where did he keep the treasures? To drop them on the road or hide them in the grass would risk someone finding and taking them—wouldn't that be labor lost? So he kept them on his body. On his body, true—but a fly is no bigger than a bean; how could they fit?
The fact is, those treasures were like his gold-banded cudgel: they were As-You-Will Buddha-treasures, changing with their bearer, now large, now small—so on his body they could be stowed. Whirr—he flew down, kept close behind the demons, and before long they were at the cave. There sat the two demon chiefs drinking wine. The little demons knelt facing the upper seats, and the Pilgrim perched on the door-frame, cocking an ear to listen.
The little demons said: "Great Kings—" The two old demons stopped their cups at once: "So you're back?" "We're back." "And have you caught Sun the Pilgrim?" The little demons kowtowed and dared not speak. The old demon asked again; again they dared not answer, only kowtow. Asked a third time, the little demons pressed their faces to the floor: "Pardon your small ones ten thousand deaths! Pardon your small ones ten thousand deaths!
We were carrying the treasures along, halfway up the mountain, when we suddenly met an immortal from Mount Penglai. He asked us where we were going, and we answered, to fetch Sun the Pilgrim. At the name Sun the Pilgrim the immortal took a dislike to him too, and offered to help us. We hadn't asked for his help, but we told him the whole business of fetching treasures to bottle a man. That immortal had a gourd too, marvelously able to bottle Heaven.
And we, in a fit of vain fancy, thinking of the family's good: his bottles Heaven, ours bottles men—let's trade, we thought. It was to be gourd for gourd, and Clever Bug threw in the vase besides. Who could have known that an immortal's things will not come near a mortal's hand? Right in the middle of trying them out, he vanished, man and all. We beg you, pardon your small ones the death penalty!"
The old demon heard, and raged like thunder: "Done for! Done for! It was Sun the Pilgrim disguised as an immortal who swindled them away! That ape-head's powers are vast, he knows everyone everywhere—some mangy god or other must have let him out, and he's cheated us of our treasures!"
The Second Demon said: "Calm yourself, Elder Brother. That ape-head is utterly without manners, past bearing. If he had the means to escape, escape he might—but why also steal the treasures? If I lacked the skill to catch him, I would never again be a demon on the western road!" The old demon said: "How will you catch him?" The Second Demon said: "We had five treasures; two are gone; three remain. We must catch him with those." The old demon said: "Which three?" The Second Demon said: "The seven-star sword and the plantain-leaf fan are at my side; the gold rope is kept with our old mother at Dragon-Press Cave on Dragon-Press Mountain. Let's send two little demons to invite Mother to come eat Tang monk's flesh, and have her bring the gold rope to catch Sun the Pilgrim." The old demon said:
"Whom shall we send?" The Second Demon said: "We're not sending good-for-nothings like those!"—and with one shout he had Meticulous Sprite and Clever Bug hauled up.
The two said: "Luck! Luck! Neither beaten nor cursed—and let off just like that."
The Second Demon said: "Summon the two regular attendants, Mountain Tiger and Sea-Leaning Dragon." [Translator's note: the names of two little demons, Bashanhu and Yihailong, "Tiger of the Mountain Crags" and "Dragon Leaning on the Sea."] The two knelt. The Second Demon instructed them: "You must be careful." Both answered: "Careful." "You must be thorough." Both answered: "Thorough." He asked again: "Do you know the way to Old Grandmother's house?" Both answered: "We know it." "Since you know it, be off at once. Go to Old Grandmother's, present our deepest respects, and say she is invited to eat Tang monk's flesh. And she is to bring the gold rope, for we mean to catch Sun the Pilgrim."
The two demons took the command and sped off—little knowing that the Pilgrim at their side had heard every word plainly. He spread his wings, flew after them, caught up with Mountain Tiger, and perched on him. After two or three li he thought to kill the two of them.
Then he thought again: "Killing them would be easy enough. But their grandmother has the gold rope, and I don't yet know where she lives. Let me ask them first, then beat them."
What a Pilgrim! With a whirr he slipped away from the little demons, let them get a hundred paces ahead, then shook his body and changed into a little demon too, wearing a fox-fur cap, his tiger-skin kilt hitched up and belted tight. He caught up with them and called:
"Travelers, wait for me!" Sea-Leaning Dragon turned his head: "Where are you from?" The Pilgrim said: "Good brothers—can't you know your own family?" The little demon said: "Our family has no you." The Pilgrim said: "How could it not have me? Look again." The demon said: "A strange face, a strange face—we've never met." The Pilgrim said: "True—you've never met me. I'm from the outer guard." The demon said:
"An officer of the outer guard—we'd never have met. Where are you bound?"
The Pilgrim said: "The Great King says he sent you two to invite Old Grandmother to eat Tang monk's flesh, and to have her bring the gold rope to catch Sun the Pilgrim. Fearing you two might walk slow, linger over your games, and hold up the business, he sent me to hurry you along." At hearing the matter put to its very bottom, the little demons doubted nothing and took the Pilgrim truly for one of the family; they hurried on at a flying pace, another eight or nine li at a stretch.
The Pilgrim said: "That's a bit too fast. How far are we from home now?"
The little demons said: "Fifteen or sixteen li." The Pilgrim said: "How much farther?"
Sea-Leaning Dragon pointed: "That dark wood yonder." The Pilgrim raised his head: a belt of black forest not far off. He reckoned the old demon must be in or near the wood; he planted his feet, let the little demons go on ahead, then drew out his iron staff, stepped up behind them, and swept their heels with it. Pitiful—so little could they take! The two little demons were swept into a pair of meat patties, and he dragged them by the feet and hid them in the deep grass beside the road.
Then he plucked one hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, cried "Change!", and turned it into Mountain Tiger, while he himself changed into Sea-Leaning Dragon. Disguised as the two little demons, he went straight to Dragon-Press Cave to invite Old Grandmother. This was: the seventy-two transformations, divine powers great; pointing at things and shifting them, skill supreme.
In three or five bounds he was in the wood. As he was searching, he saw two leaves of a stone door, half open, half shut. Not daring to enter unbidden, he could only call out: "Open the door! Open the door!" This startled a female demon who kept the gate; she opened one leaf and said: "Where are you from?" The Pilgrim said: "I'm sent from Lotus Cave on Flat-Top Mountain to invite Old Grandmother." The female demon said: "Come in." At the second gate he craned his head to look within, and there, seated high in the very center, was an old dame.
And what did she look like? See her:
Snow-white temples in wisps, Star-bright eyes agleam. Her face ruddy, but wrinkled deep; Her teeth sparse, but her spirit stout. She looks like a chrysanthemum lingering after frost; Her frame is a pine grown old after rain. White silk bound on her head in a figured kerchief; Gold earrings hung with gems at her ears.
At the sight of her the Great Sage dared not go in; he stood outside the second gate making faces, and burst out crying. And why did he cry? Could it be he feared her?
If he feared her he wouldn't cry. He'd already cozened her treasure and killed her little demons—why weep?
This was the one who had plunged into a cauldron of nine-tripod boiling oil and fried seven or eight days without one tear. It was only that, remembering the tribulations of Tang Sanzang's scripture quest, the tears came welling from his anguished heart and his eyes overflowed. Yet his mind reasoned on: "Old Sun, having shown his skill and turned himself into a little demon to invite this old demon, cannot simply stand and talk on his feet—he must kowtow to her, that's certain. All my life, for all my heroism, I have bowed to only three: to the Buddha Patriarch in the Western Heaven, to Guanyin in the Southern Sea, and at Double Boundary Mountain, when my master saved me, I bowed to him four times. For him I have worn out the six lobes of my liver and lungs and spent the three hairs and seven apertures of my heart. And what's one scroll of scriptures worth? Yet today I'm made to bow to this monster. If I don't kneel and bow, the game is given away.
Bitter! Reckon it up: only because my master is in bondage do I suffer this humiliation at another's hands!"
At that pass there was nothing for it; he dashed in, knelt facing the seat of honor, and said: "Grandmother—your servant bows." The demon said: "My child, rise." The Pilgrim thought: "Fine! Fine! Fine! That 'my child' comes pat!" The old demon asked: "Where are you from?" The Pilgrim said: "From Lotus Cave on Flat-Top Mountain. By the two Great Kings' command I've been sent to invite Grandmother to eat Tang monk's flesh, and she is asked to bring the gold rope, for we mean to catch Sun the Pilgrim." The old demon was delighted: "What a dutiful son!" And she called for her sedan chair to be brought out.
The Pilgrim thought: "My son! So demons keep sedan chairs too!"
From the back quarters two female demons carried out a rattan sedan and set it outside the gate, hanging round it green silk curtains. The old demon rose and came out of the cave, sat in the sedan, and behind her came several little female demons, carrying her toilette case, holding up her mirror-stand, bearing towels, toting an incense box, attending at her left and right. The old demon said:
"What are you all coming for? I'm going to my own son's place—do you fear there'll be no one there to wait on me, that you must come along to thrust out your chattering mouths? All of you back! Shut the gate and mind the house!"
The little demons indeed all went back, leaving only the two chair-bearers.
The old demon asked: "What are the two messengers called?"
The Pilgrim answered promptly: "He is called Mountain Tiger, and I am called Sea-Leaning Dragon." The old demon said: "You two walk ahead and clear the way for me." The Pilgrim thought: "What luck! The scriptures not yet fetched, and here I am playing yamen-runner for her!" But he dared not resist; he could only lead the way ahead, shouting a great four-part bawl as he went.
After five or six li he sat down on a rock ledge to wait for the chair-bearers to catch up. The Pilgrim said: "How about a little rest? My shoulders ache from the pressing."
The little demons, knowing no better, set the chair down. The Pilgrim, behind the sedan, plucked a hair from his chest, changed it into a big sesame flatbread, and hugged it, gnawing away.
The bearers said: "Officer, what are you eating?"
The Pilgrim said: "I'm ashamed to say. This long road, coming to invite Grandmother, without a farthing of reward—my belly got hungry, so I'm eating a little of the dry rations I brought along before we go on." The bearers said: "Give us a bit to eat too." The Pilgrim laughed:
"Come, come—we're all one family; why stand on ceremony?" The little demons, not knowing good from bad, crowded round the Pilgrim to share the rations—and the Pilgrim whipped out his staff, gave it one turn against their heads: one, but touched by it, was smashed to pulp;
the other, but grazed by it, lay groaning, not dead. Hearing the groans, the old demon poked her head out of the sedan to look—and the Pilgrim leapt before the chair and brought the staff down on her skull with a crash that caved it in: brains spattering, fresh blood welling. He dragged her out to look at her: she was in truth a nine-tailed fox.
The Pilgrim laughed: "Evil beast! Who are you calling 'Old Grandmother'! If you're Old Grandmother, then you should be calling old Sun your Great-Great-Grandfather!"
What a Monkey King! He searched out her gold rope, tucked it in his sleeve, and rejoiced: "Though that wretched demon has his skills, three of the treasures now bear the surname Sun!" Then he plucked two hairs and turned them into Mountain Tiger and Sea-Leaning Dragon, plucked two more and turned them into the chair-bearers, changed himself into the very image of the old grandmother, and sat in the sedan. The chair was hoisted, and they headed straight back the way they had come.
Before long they reached the mouth of Lotus Cave. The hair-changed little demons went ahead, calling: "Open the door! Open the door!" The little demons keeping the gate opened it: "Mountain Tiger and Sea-Leaning Dragon are back?" The hairs said: "We're back." "And the Grandmother you invited?" The hairs pointed: "Isn't she in the sedan?" The little demons said: "Wait there while I go in and announce." They announced: "Great Kings, Grandmother is come." The two demon chiefs, hearing this, ordered incense tables laid out to receive her.
The Pilgrim heard and rejoiced inwardly: "Luck! Now it's my turn to be somebody! Before, as a little demon, I went to invite the old demon and kowtowed one bow to her. This time, as the old demon—his mother—surely I'll get the full four bows. Small pickings, maybe, but at least I'll have cozened a couple of heads out of them!"
What a Great Sage! He stepped down from the sedan, shook out his clothes, and drew the four hairs back onto his body. The little demons at the gate carried the empty sedan inside while he followed at a slow pace—mincing, simpering, swaying and teetering, every movement the very image of the old demon—as he made his way in. And see: the demons, great and small, all came kneeling to receive him; pipes, drums, and flutes rang out in one bright strain; from the hill-censer curled thick incense smoke.
He went to the main hall, sat down facing south, and the two demon chiefs fell on their knees, kowtowed toward him, and cried: "Mother, your sons salute you!"
The Pilgrim said: "My sons, rise."
Now Zhu Bajie, hanging from the beam, gave a great haw-haw of laughter.
Sha Monk said: "Well done, Second Brother! Hanged till you laugh!"
Bajie said: "Brother, there's meaning in my laugh." Sha Monk said: "What meaning?" Bajie said: "We were afraid it was Grandmother come, and then we'd be steamed and eaten. But it isn't Grandmother—it's an old story come back." Sha Monk said: "What old story?" Bajie laughed: "The Bimawen has come." Sha Monk said: "How do you know it's him?" Bajie said: "Bending over and calling 'my sons, rise'—and behind, up cocks a monkey's tail! I'm hung higher than you, that's how I see clearer."
Sha Monk said: "Hush now—listen to what he says." Bajie said: "Just so, just so."
The Great Sage Sun, seated in the middle, asked: "My sons, what business did you invite me for?" The demon chiefs said:
"Mother, your sons have been remiss of late and not attended to their filial duty. This morning we brothers captured the Tang monk of the East Land. We dared not eat him on our own; we invited Mother to view him alive, so we may steam him for Mother to eat and lengthen her years." The Pilgrim said: "My sons, Tang monk's flesh I'll not eat—I hear that Zhu Bajie's ears are excellent. Cut them off and dress them up for me to go with my wine." Hearing this, Bajie panicked: "Plague take it!
So you came to cut off my ears! If I shout it out, it won't sound nice!"
Ah, for one sensible sentence from the idiot, the secret of the Monkey King's transformation leaked away.
The little demons scouting the mountain and keeping the gate all came tumbling in to report: "Great Kings, disaster! Sun the Pilgrim killed Grandmother and came in her disguise!"
At this, would the demon chiefs hear explanations? The Second Demon whipped out his seven-star sword and slashed at the Pilgrim's face. What a Great Sage! With one sway of his body—red light filled the cave, and he was gone before it struck. A trick like that is fine sport indeed: gathering, it takes form; scattering, it becomes breath. The old demon chief's soul flew and scattered in fright, and the whole horde of spirits stood biting their fingers and shaking their heads.
The old demon said: "Brother, let's return Tang Sanzang, the Sha Monk, Bajie, the white horse, and the luggage to that Sun the Pilgrim, and shut the door on this whole quarrel."
The Second Demon said: "Brother, what talk is that? Who knows how much sweat I spent, what schemes I worked, to carry off those monks! If we let ourselves be scared by Sun the Pilgrim's trickery into meekly handing everything back, we'd be what the proverb calls men who fear the knife and shun the sword—and is that any way for a great fellow to behave?
"Sit you down and fear nothing. I've heard you say Sun the Pilgrim's powers are vast, but though I've crossed him once, I've never tried him in earnest. Bring my armor; let me go seek him and fight three rounds. If he cannot beat me in three rounds, the Tang monk stays our food; if I can't beat him in three fights, then it will be time enough to send the Tang monk back to him."
The old demon said: "Well said, worthy brother." He called: "Bring the armor." The demons carried out the armor; the Second Demon buckled it on, smart and complete, and gripping his precious sword stepped outside the gate, calling: "Sun the Pilgrim! Where have you fled?" By now the Great Sage was up in the clouds; hearing his name called, he turned quickly to look—it was the Second Demon. And see how he was dressed:
On his head a phoenix helm outdazzling winter snow; On his body battle-armor of wrought wrought-iron gleaming. The belt at his waist is of python-dragon sinew; His white-hide boots are pleated in plum-blossom folds. His face is the living True Lord of Guankou; [Translator's note: i.e., Erlang, the deity who once captured Sun Wukong.] His look differs nothing from the Giant Spirit's. The seven-star sword he holds in his hand, His wrath soars to the sky, his might blazing.
The Second Demon shouted from below: "Sun the Pilgrim! Give back my treasures and my mother at once, and I'll let your Tang Sanzang go fetch his scriptures!"
The Great Sage could not hold back his curses: "Wretched monster—you've mistaken your Grandpa Sun! Quickly return my master, my brother-disciples, the white horse, and the baggage, and throw in some traveling money for me to walk west with. If so much as half a 'no' slips through your teeth, go twist yourself a rope and hang—save your grandpa the trouble of lifting a hand." Hearing this, the Second Demon sprang into the air, whirling his precious sword to stab; the Pilgrim whipped out his iron staff and met it hand to hand.
The two of them, in midair—what a battle! Chess meets its match, a general meets his equal. When chess meets its match, neither can hide his flair; when a general meets his equal, both may use their skill. Those two divine champions crossing blades—just like tigers dueling in the southern hills, dragons wrestling in the northern sea. Where the dragons wrestle, scales and armor flash light; when the tigers duel, claws and fangs scatter. Claws and fangs scattering, flinging out silver hooks; scales and armor flashing, bracing plates of iron. This one wheeling and turning—a thousand routines;
that one coming and going—not one instant off guard. The gold-banded cudgel—a mere three hairs' breadth from the crown; the seven-star sword—just a finger's width from the heart. That one's might presses cold upon Dipper and Ox; this one's wrath outdoes the peril of thunder and lightning.
The two fought thirty rounds, and neither had the upper hand.
The Pilgrim rejoiced inwardly: "This wretched monster can actually hold up under old Sun's iron staff! I've already got three of his treasures—what's the use of grinding away at this killing? It only wastes my time. Better to bottle him with the gourd or the vase—far more tidy."
Then he thought: "No! No! As the saying goes: a thing obeys its master. What if I call him and he doesn't answer—wouldn't that spoil the business? Let's try the gold rope with its loop." What a Great Sage! With one hand he worked the staff, holding off the precious sword; with the other he flung up the rope—whisk!—and looped it over the demon chief's head. Now that demon chief had a Rope-Tightening Spell and a Rope-Loosening Spell.
Loop an enemy with it, recite the Tightening Spell, and he can never get free; loop one of your own, recite the Loosening Spell, and no harm comes to him. The demon knew it for his own treasure, recited the Loosening Spell at once, slipped the rope loose, wriggled free—and flung it back at the Pilgrim, catching the Great Sage in its loop before he knew it.
The Great Sage was just about to use the Body-Shrinking Spell to slip away when the demon recited the Rope-Tightening Spell; the loop bit tight—how could he get free? He wriggled it down below his neck: the thing was a gold band clamped round him. The demon gave the rope a yank, hauled him down, and hacked seven or eight blows of the precious sword onto his shining head—the Pilgrim's scalp didn't so much as redden.
The demon said: "This monkey! With a skull that hard, I'll not hack at you. I'll take you home and beat you there. And hand back my two treasures, and be quick about it!"
The Pilgrim said:
"What treasures of yours have I taken, that you dun me for them?"
The demon chief searched him over minutely, head to foot, and searched out the gourd and the vase both; then, leading him by the rope, he hauled him into the cave and said: "Elder Brother, here's one brought in." The old demon said: "Whom have you brought?" The Second Demon said: "Sun the Pilgrim. Come and see! Come and see!" The old demon looked, knew the Pilgrim at once, and his whole face bloomed with joy: "It's him! It's him! Tie him to that pillar with the long rope for our amusement!" And indeed they tied the Pilgrim fast, and the two demon chiefs went into the back hall to drink their wine.
The Great Sage, wriggling and twisting at the foot of the pillar, startled Bajie. The idiot, hanging from the beam, gave a great haw-haw: "Brother, so the ears are off the menu!" The Pilgrim said: "Idiot, hanging comfortably? I'll be out of here presently, and I'll save the lot of you, never fear." Bajie said:
"Shame! Shame! Can't free yourself, and still talks of saving others! Enough, enough! Let master and disciples all die in one spot together—easier to ask the road in the netherworld!"
The Pilgrim said: "None of your blather! Watch me get out." Bajie said: "I'm watching—how will you get out?" The Great Sage kept his mouth talking to Bajie while his eyes sized up the demons. He saw them at their wine within, a few little demons carrying plates and cups, holding flagons and pouring, running busily back and forth without pause—the watch was a little slack.
Seeing no one before him, he worked his magic: he slid out the staff, blew on it a breath of immortal air, cried "Change!", and it turned into a file of tempered steel. He twisted round the gold band at his neck and filed—three or five strokes, and it fell in two. He pried open the file's bite and slipped free, plucked one hair, cried "Change!", turned it into a sham body tied in his place, then swayed his true body once and changed into a little demon, standing to one side.
Bajie again bawled from the beam: "Bad! Bad! The one tied up is a fake—the real one's hanging loose!"
The old demon stopped his cup and asked: "What's that Zhu Bajie yelling about?" The Pilgrim, in his little-demon shape, stepped forward: "Zhu Bajie was egging Sun the Pilgrim on to transform and escape; the Pilgrim wouldn't go, and Bajie's been yelling about it." The Second Demon said: "And they said Zhu Bajie was the honest one—so he's dishonest after all! He deserves twenty strokes on the mouth with a stick!"
The Pilgrim went and fetched a stick to beat him. Bajie said: "Beat me gently—and if you beat hard, I'll start yelling, for I know you!"
The Pilgrim said: "Old Sun went through all these transformations for your sakes—how could you let the cat out of the bag? Not one demon in this whole cave knows me. How is it you alone knew?" Bajie said: "You changed your face, but you never changed your rump. Aren't those two red patches on it yours? That's how I knew you."
The Pilgrim then went round to the back, made his way to the kitchen, felt along the bottom of the cauldron, and smeared the soot over both his haunches; then he walked to the front again. Bajie saw him and laughed once more: "Where has that monkey been fooling around all this while, to come back with a black behind?"
The Pilgrim stood as before in attendance, planning to steal the treasures—and with rare presence of mind. He walked up into the hall and tugged the demon's sleeve: "Great King, look at Sun the Pilgrim tied to that pillar, wriggling right and left. He'll wear through that gold rope. Better fetch a thicker, stouter rope and change it for him." The old demon said:
"Well said." He untied the lion-plaque belt from his waist and handed it to the Pilgrim. The Pilgrim took the belt, tied up the sham Pilgrim with it, took down the rope, and coiled it away in his sleeve; then he plucked another hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, changed it into a sham gold rope, and presented it to the demon with both hands. The demon, deep in his cups, never looked closely—he simply put it away. So it was: the Great Sage by nimble trickery showed his skill—a hair bought back the gold rope.
Treasure in hand, he spun round, leapt out the gate, resumed his true form, and shouted: "Demons!"
The little demons at the gate asked: "Who are you, making all this noise?"
The Pilgrim said: "Get inside quick and report to those wretched demons of yours: 'Pilgrim the Sun is here.'" [Translator's note: the Pilgrim invents a "younger brother" whose name is his own name with its syllables reversed—Sun Xingzhe, "Sun the Pilgrim," turned backward into Zhe Xingzhe, "Pilgrim the Sun."] The little demon reported as told. The old demon was astonished: "We've caught Sun the Pilgrim—how can there be a 'Pilgrim the Sun' as well?" The Second Demon said: "Brother, what's to fear? The treasures are all in my hands. Let me take the gourd out and bottle him and bring him in." The old demon said: "Careful, brother." The Second Demon took the gourd, walked out the mountain gate, and saw someone exactly like Sun the Pilgrim, only a shade shorter. He asked: "Where do you come from?" The Pilgrim said: "I'm Sun the Pilgrim's brother. I hear you've seized my elder brother, and I've come to have it out with you." The Second Demon said: "I'm the one who took him; he's locked in our cave. Since you've come, you must want to fight. But I'll not cross weapons with you—I'll only call your name. Do you dare answer me?" The Pilgrim said: "Call me a thousand times if you like—I'll answer you ten thousand!" The demon gripped his treasure, leapt into the air, held it bottom-up and mouth-down, and called: "Pilgrim the Sun!" The Pilgrim dared not answer, thinking: "If I answer, I'll be bottled." The demon said: "Why don't you answer?" The Pilgrim said: "I'm a little deaf—I didn't hear. Call louder." The monster called again: "Pilgrim the Sun!" The Pilgrim below counted on his fingers and reasoned: "My real name is Sun the Pilgrim; the ghost-name I invented is Pilgrim the Sun. My real name could get bottled, but surely a ghost-name can't." He couldn't hold back—he answered—and whump! he was sucked into the gourd, and the seal pasted on.
For the truth is, that treasure cared nothing whether a name were true or false: catch one breath of an answer, and the man is in.
Inside the gourd, all was pitch black. The Great Sage butted his head upward—it wouldn't budge, and it was packed tight as could be. He grew anxious: "When I was on the mountain, those two little demons told me: gourd or vase, once a man is inside, an hour and three quarters and he melts to pus. Could it be melting me?"
Then his heart rallied: "No fear! It can't melt me! Five hundred years ago, when old Sun wreaked havoc in Heaven, Lord Lao Zi put me in the Eight-Trigram Furnace and smelted me forty-nine days, till I came out with a heart and liver of gold, lungs of silver, a head of bronze, a back of iron, and eyes of fire and gold. An hour and three quarters, indeed! I'll just wait and see what he does!"
The Second Demon carried the gourd in and said: "Elder Brother, brought him in." The old demon said: "Whom?" The Second Demon said: "Pilgrim the Sun—I've got him bottled." The old demon rejoiced: "Sit you down, worthy brother.
"Move nothing. Only when it rattles are we to lift the seal."
The Pilgrim, hearing this, thought: "A solid body like mine—how would it rattle? Only if I melt into thin gravy would it rattle. Let me make water, then. When it rattles, they're sure to lift the seal and open the top—and I'll slip out and away with them!"
Then he thought again: "No, no! The water would rattle, true, but it would foul this tunic. When they shake it, I'll just gather spittle and gargle—gurgle-gurgle—and fool them into lifting the lid; then old Sun will be off." The Great Sage made his preparations, but the demon, deep in his cups, never shook it.
The Great Sage played one more trick to coax him into shaking: suddenly he cried: "Heavens! My ankles have melted!"
The demon didn't shake it.
The Great Sage cried again: "Mother! Even my backbone's melted!"
The old demon said: "When it's melted to the waist, it's melted clean through. Lift the seal and let's look." At those words the Great Sage plucked one hair, cried "Change!", turned it into half a body lying at the bottom of the gourd, while his true body changed into a tiny gadfly-midge perched at the gourd's rim. The Second Demon lifted the seal to look—and the Great Sage was already out; he rolled over and changed into Sea-Leaning Dragon.
Sea-Leaning Dragon being one of the little demons sent to invite Old Grandmother, he stood at the side in his shape.
The old demon craned over the gourd's mouth and peered: there was half a body, feebly stirring. He didn't stop to think true or false, but cried in a fluster: "Brother, clap it on! Clap it on! He isn't melted yet!"
The Second Demon pasted the seal on as before.
The Great Sage, standing by, laughed inwardly: "Little they know old Sun is already here!"
The old demon took the flagon, filled a brimming cup, came forward, and offered it to the Second Demon with both hands: "Worthy brother, let me pass you a cup."
The Second Demon said: "Elder Brother, we've been drinking this half while—why pass cups?" The old demon said: "That you took Tang Sanzang, Bajie, and the Sha Monk was well enough—but then you caught Sun the Pilgrim and bottled Pilgrim the Sun. For such merit you deserve several extra cups." The Second Demon, seeing his elder brother so respectful, dared not refuse; but with one hand holding the gourd he could not take the cup with the other, so he handed the gourd to Sea-Leaning Dragon and reached out both hands for the cup—never knowing that Sea-Leaning Dragon was Sun the Pilgrim changed.
See him stand holding the gourd, attentive in his service.
The Second Demon took the wine and drank, and would in turn offer a cup back. The old demon said: "No need to return the toast—I'll drink one with you here."
The two of them kept up their courtesies. The Pilgrim balanced the gourd, eyes fixed, watching the cups pass to and fro between them, their guard wholly down—and he slid the gourd into his sleeve, plucked a hair, changed it into a sham gourd exactly like it, and held it out in his hands. The demon, after his round of pouring, never looked to see true from false; he grabbed the treasure, and each took his seat, settling down to their drinking as before. The Great Sage Sun slipped away, treasure won, and rejoiced inwardly:
"Let the demon chief keep his skills—in the end the gourd still goes by the name of Sun!"
But as for what he did next, and how he saved his master and destroyed the monsters—listen to the explanation in the next chapter.