The story tells how the blacksmiths in the courtyard, worn out from days of unrelenting toil, had all fallen asleep in the night. When they rose at daybreak to resume their forging, they found that the three weapons were gone from under the awning. Every one of them stood gaping in stupefaction, their spirits shaken, and they hunted for the weapons high and low all around.
Just then the three young princes came out from the palace to have a look, and the blacksmiths all fell to their knees and kowtowed. "Young masters," they cried, "the three weapons of the divine masters have vanished, and we know not where!"
At these words the young princes were stricken with fear and trembling. "Perhaps the masters packed them up and took them away last night," they said, and they hurried at once to the Gauze-Drying Pavilion. Seeing the white horse still standing in the corridor, they could not help calling out, "The master is still sleeping!"
"He is up," said the Sha Monk, and he opened the door of the room and let the princes come inside. But when they looked about and saw no weapons anywhere, they asked in a fluster, "Have the master's weapons all been put away?"
Monkey leaped up. "They have not been put away!"
"Then the three weapons have all disappeared in the night," said the princes.
Bajie scrambled hastily to his feet. "Is my rake still there?"
"When we came out just now," said the young princes, "we saw the workmen searching back and front without finding anything. We were afraid the master had taken charge of them, and so we came to ask. Your treasures, venerable teachers, can all grow large or small at will; no doubt you have them hidden about your persons and are only teasing your disciples."
"On my word they are not put away," said Monkey. "Let us all go and look for them."
So they went to the courtyard and looked under the awning, and sure enough there was not a trace of the weapons.
"They must have been stolen by this crew of blacksmiths!" cried Bajie. "Hand them over, and quick! If you delay even a little, we will beat every one of you to death! To death!"
The blacksmiths were so terrified that they kowtowed and wept. "Lord!" they cried. "For days on end we have toiled until, worn out, we slept through the night, and when we rose at dawn they were gone. We are plain common mortals—how could we ever have lifted them? We beg you, lord, to spare our lives! Spare our lives!"
Monkey said nothing, but silently he fretted: "It is our own fault. Once we had let them copy the patterns, we should have taken the weapons back and kept them at our sides. How could we have left them lying about there? Those treasures shed such radiant, dazzling light—no doubt they drew the attention of some villain, who stole them away in the night."
Bajie would not believe it. "What kind of talk is that, brother! This is a peaceful, well-ordered place, not some wild moor or deep mountain—how would any villain ever get here? It must be that these blacksmiths have turned crooked. They saw how our weapons gleamed and shone, and they knew they were three precious treasures. In the night they slipped out of the prince's palace, gathered up a band of confederates, and carried them off—some hauling, some dragging, some lifting. Hand them over here and let's beat them! Beat them!"
The workmen could only kowtow and swear oaths of innocence.
Amid the uproar, the old prince came out and asked what had happened; when he heard the story, the color drained from his face too. He brooded for a long moment and then said, "The weapons of the divine masters are of course no common things—a hundred men, even ten times that number, could not have budged them. Moreover, my family has ruled this city for five generations now; this is no idle boast, but I have a certain reputation for virtue abroad, and the soldiers, civilians, and craftsmen of this city all stand in some awe of my laws and discipline. They would never dare turn crooked. I beg the divine masters to think it over once more."
Monkey laughed. "There is no need to think it over, and no need to torment the blacksmiths for nothing. Let me ask Your Highness this: in the mountains and forests round about your city, are there any monsters or demons?"
"Your question is most pertinent," said the prince. "To the north of this city there is a mountain called Leopard Head Mountain, and in that mountain there is a cave called Tiger's Mouth Cave. People have often said there is an immortal in the cave; others say there are tigers and wolves; still others say there is a monster. I have never gone to find out the truth of it, and I do not know what it really is."
Monkey laughed. "No need to say more. It must certainly be some villain from that quarter who learned that they were all treasures and stole them away in a single night."
Then he called out: "Bajie, Sha Monk, you two stay here and guard the master and protect the city while old Monkey goes to track them down." And he told the blacksmiths not to let their forges go cold, but to keep smelting and forging one thing after another.
A fine Monkey King he was! He took leave of Tripitaka, gave one shrill whistle, and vanished body and shadow alike—already he had strode to the top of Leopard Head Mountain. The city, in fact, was only seventy li away, and he covered the distance in a blink. Straight up onto the peak he went to survey the scene, and sure enough there was something of a demonic miasma about the place. Truly:
The dragon vein runs long; the terrain stretches far and wide. Sharp peaks stand tall, thrusting high into heaven; steep ravines lie deep, their rushing waters swift. Before the mountain, jasper grasses spread like carpet; behind the mountain, rare flowers brocade the ground. Tall pines and ancient cypresses, old trees renewing their green; mountain crows and magpies fly crying in swarms; wild cranes and wild gibbons alike shrill and call. Below the crags, pairs and pairs of deer; before the sheer walls, twinned badgers and foxes. Rising and falling, the dragon comes from afar; nine turns and nine bends conceal the earth's pulse. The ridge-ends join the County of Yuhua— a place of splendor for ten thousand ages, a thousand autumns.
As Monkey was gazing about, he suddenly heard voices behind the mountain. He turned his head quickly to look, and there were two wolf-headed demon sprites, chattering away cheerfully as they walked toward the northwest.
Monkey reckoned: "These must be the monsters who patrol the mountain. Let old Monkey follow them and listen to what they have to say."
He made a magic sign with his fingers, recited a spell, shook his body, and changed into a butterfly. Spreading its wings, fluttering and flitting, it caught up with them in no time. And a fine transformation it was, truly in the best style:
A pair of powdered wings, two trails of silver whiskers. Riding the wind, it flies away swift; dancing in the sunlight, it comes drifting slow. Over water and over walls it flits with nimble grace, stealing fragrance, sporting with catkins, in high delight. Light of body, it dotes on the scent of fresh flowers; elegant in manner, sweet in feeling, it curls and unfurls at will.
It flew right above the demons' heads, floating and swaying, and listened to their talk.
One of the demons suddenly called out, "Second Brother, our Great King has had a run of luck these past days. Last month he got hold of a beautiful lady, and he has been dallying with her in the cave, merry as can be. And last night he got three weapons, and they truly are priceless treasures. Tomorrow morning he opens a banquet to celebrate the Rake Assembly, and we shall all share in the feast."
"And we've had a stroke of luck too," said the other. "We're taking these twenty taels of silver to buy pigs and sheep. Now that we've reached the Qianfang Market, let's first drink a few pots of wine, cook the accounts a little, skim off two or three taels for ourselves, and buy a padded coat to get through the winter with. Wouldn't that be fine?"
And so the two monsters chatted and laughed their way onto the high road, hurrying along as fast as flying.
When Monkey heard them speak of celebrating the Rake Assembly, he was secretly delighted. He would gladly have struck them dead, but they, after all, had done no wrong worth the name; besides, he had no weapon in his hand. So instead he flew out ahead of them, resumed his true form, and planted himself squarely at the crossroads. As the monsters drew near, he spat a mouthful of magic spittle at them and recited the words "Om! Hong! Zha! Li!"—and so cast his body-fixing spell, freezing the two wolf-headed sprites in their tracks.
Wide-eyed, they could not open their mouths; stiff and straight, their feet were rooted to the ground. He toppled them over, lifted their clothes, and searched them, and sure enough they had twenty taels of silver, knotted in a carrying-bag fastened to the waistband of their skirts. Each also wore a lacquered placard: one read "Crafty Weirdo," the other "Weirdo Crafty."
A fine Great Sage! He took their silver, untied their placards, and strode back to the city. Arriving at the prince's palace, he saw the princes, the Tang monk, and all the officials great and small, the overseers and workmen, and told them the whole story.
Bajie laughed. "So it's because old Pig's treasure sheds such radiant light that they're buying pigs and sheep and laying a banquet to celebrate! But how are we to get them to come to us?"
"The three of us brothers will all go," said Monkey. "This silver was for buying the pigs and sheep, so first let's give the silver to the workmen as a reward, and let His Highness find us some pigs and sheep. Bajie, you change into Crafty Weirdo; I'll change into Weirdo Crafty; and Sha Monk, you dress up as a trader in pigs and sheep. We'll walk right into that Tiger's Mouth Cave, and when the chance offers, each of us will grab his own weapon, wipe out those demons utterly, and then come back and pack up to be on our way."
"Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!" said the Sha Monk with a laugh. "No time like the present! Let's go!"
The old prince indeed followed this plan, and at once ordered his stewards to buy seven or eight pigs and four or five sheep.
The three of them took leave of their master and put on a grand display of supernatural power outside the city.
Bajie said, "Brother, I never clapped eyes on this Crafty Weirdo—how am I to change into his likeness?"
"That monster is pinned where he stands by old Monkey's body-fixing spell," said Monkey, "and he won't wake until this time tomorrow. I remember exactly what he looked like. Stand still, and I'll teach you to change. Like this and like that—and there you have his very image."
The blockhead truly recited the spell, Monkey blew him a puff of immortal breath, and in an instant he was transformed into the very image of Crafty Weirdo, not one whit different, with one of the lacquered placards hung at his waist.
Monkey then changed himself into Weirdo Crafty, with a placard at his waist as well. The Sha Monk got himself up to look like a trader in pigs and sheep, and all together they drove the pigs and sheep onto the high road and headed straight for the mountain.
Before long, as they entered a hollow in the hills, they met another little demon. And what a fierce and wicked face he had! Just look at him:
Two round, rolling eyes, gleaming like lanterns; a head of red bristling hair, flashing like drifting fire. A pockmarked nose, a wry, gaping mouth, tusks sharp and pointed; jagged ears, a hewn-looking brow, a green face puffy with swellings. He wears a pale yellow tunic on his body and a pair of sedge-cloth shoes on his feet. Strutting fiercely, like a baleful god; hurrying anxiously, like an evil ghost.
The little demon had a lacquered invitation box tucked under his left arm, and he hailed the three of them as they came. "Weirdo Crafty! You two are here? How many pigs and sheep did you buy?"
"Are these not the ones we're driving?" said Monkey.
The demon turned to the Sha Monk. "And who might this be?"
"He's the trader who sold us the pigs and sheep," said Monkey. "We still owe him a few taels of silver, and we've brought him along to our place to collect it. Where are you off to?"
"I'm going to Bamboo Joint Mountain," said the demon, "to invite the Senior Great King to the feast tomorrow morning."
Monkey, catching the drift of his words, asked, "How many are being invited in all?"
"The Senior Great King will sit in the seat of honor," said the demon. "Counting our own Great King of this mountain together with the chieftains and the rest, there'll be some forty or more."
As they were talking, Bajie burst out: "Get along! Get along! The pigs and sheep are scattering in all directions!"
"You go and keep them together," said Monkey, "while I ask him to show me the invitation."
The demon, taking them for his own folk, unclasped the box, took out the card, and handed it to Monkey. Monkey unrolled it and read:
"Tomorrow at dawn we reverently prepare meats and wine to celebrate the felicitous Assembly of the Rake. We beseech you to condescend to cross the mountain and join us for a while. Pray consider us no strangers—this to our utmost gratitude! Respectfully submitted to our honored grandsire, the Nine-Spirit Sage of Primordial Sanctity, Old Master. Your grandson, the Yellow Lion, bows his head a hundred times."
When Monkey had read it through, he handed it back to the demon, who put it away in the box and went off toward the southeast.
"What did the card say, Brother?" asked the Sha Monk.
"It was an invitation to celebrate the Rake Assembly," said Monkey. "The signature reads 'Your grandson, the Yellow Lion, bows his head a hundred times,' and it was addressed to 'our honored grandsire, the Nine-Spirit Sage of Primordial Sanctity, Old Master.'"
The Sha Monk laughed. "This Yellow Lion must be a golden-maned lion that has become a spirit. But I wonder what this Nine-Spirit Sage of Primordial Sanctity can be."
When Bajie heard this, he laughed. "That's old Pig's merchandise!"
"How do you make it out to be your merchandise?" asked Monkey.
"The ancients say," Bajie replied, "that a scabby old sow always chases after golden-maned lions. So I know it's old Pig's goods!"
Laughing and chattering, the three of them drove the pigs and sheep along until they came in sight of the gates of Tiger's Mouth Cave. And there, outside the gate:
Green hills encircle it round; a single vein of air joins the city. Sheer crags are scaled by green creepers; high cliffs hang with purple briers. Birdsong rings thick through the deep trees; flower shadows greet the cave gate. No less than the Grotto of Peach Blossom Springs— a very fit retreat from the madding world.
As they drew gradually near the gate, they saw a whole cluster of demons, big ones and little ones of every assorted kind, disporting themselves beneath the flowering trees. Suddenly they heard Bajie crying "Ho! Ho!" as he drove the pigs and sheep up, and the demons all came out to welcome them. Some seized the pigs, some seized the sheep, and they trussed them up and threw them down together.
This soon alarmed the demon king inside, who came out at the head of a dozen or more little demons and asked, "You two are back? How many pigs and sheep did you buy?"
"Eight pigs and seven sheep—fifteen head in all," said Monkey. "The pigs come to sixteen taels of silver, the sheep to nine. We drew twenty taels in advance, so we still owe five. This is the trader, come along after us for his money."
When the demon king heard this, he called out at once, "Little ones! Bring five taels of silver and send him off."
"This trader," said Monkey, "has come for his silver, it's true, but he also wants a look at our felicitous assembly."
The demon flew into a rage and cursed: "You Crafty Weirdo, you lazy lout! Buying things is one thing—but what's all this talk about a look or no look!"
Bajie stepped forward. "Our master has come by a treasure, and a rare marvel in this world it is. What harm is there in letting him have a look?"
"Hateful creature!" snapped the demon. "My treasure was got from the city of Yuhua. If this trader sees it and goes back to spread the tale in that city, and the word gets about, and the prince comes one day to seek it out—then what?"
"Master," said Monkey, "this trader is from behind the Qianfang Market, far from the city. He is no townsman of theirs—where would he go spreading tales? Besides, his belly is hungry, and the two of us haven't eaten either. There's ready wine and food in the house; give him some, send him off fed, and be done with him."
Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when a little demon brought five taels of silver and handed them to Monkey. Monkey passed the silver to the Sha Monk. "Trader, take your silver, and come with me round to the back for a bite to eat."
The Sha Monk summoned his courage and went with Bajie and Monkey into the cave, up to the second court and its broad hall. There, on a table in the very center, was a nine-toothed rake set up on high as an offering, truly dazzling to the eye. On the east gable leaned a gold-hooped cudgel; on the west gable leaned a demon-quelling staff.
The demon king followed along behind them, saying, "Trader, that shining thing in the middle is the rake. Look if you like—only when you leave, whatever you do, don't tell anyone."
The Sha Monk nodded his thanks.
Ah! Truly it is said: when a thing beholds its master, it must be claimed. Bajie, all his life a crude and clumsy soul, was in no mood to stand on ceremony when he saw his rake. He ran forward, snatched it down, swung it in his hands, resumed his true form, broke into his flourishes, and smote straight at the demon's face. Monkey and the Sha Monk likewise rushed to the two gables, each seized his own weapon, and showed their true forms.
The three brothers fell to belaboring the demon together. In panic the demon king wrenched himself aside, slipped away, darted into the back of the cave, and came out with a four-bright shovel, its shaft long and its edge keen. He hurried into the courtyard, parried the three weapons, and shouted in a stern voice, "Who are you, that dare play this trick and cheat me of my treasures?"
Monkey cursed him: "You thieving hairball! Don't you know me? We are the disciples of the holy monk Tang Sanzang of the Land of the East. Passing through the County of Yuhua to have our travel rescript endorsed, we were honored by your wise prince with his three young princes taking us as masters to learn the martial arts, and our treasures were used as models to forge weapons in their likeness. Because they were left standing in the courtyard, you thieving hairball stole into the city in the dead of night and carried them off—and you dare say I play tricks to cheat you of your treasure! Don't run! Have a taste of these three weapons of ours—each of them will wait on you a few strokes!"
The demon spirit raised his shovel to meet them.
This battle, from the courtyard they fought out through the front gate. Watch the three monks gang up on one monster! A fine fight:
The cudgel whooshes like the wind; the rake rolls like the rain. The demon-quelling staff rises, filling the sky with rosy clouds; the four-bright shovel thrusts out, and mists of splendor rise. Just like three immortals refining the Great Elixir, its fire and flashing light alarming gods and ghosts. Pilgrim Sun exerts his might with wondrous skill; the demon who stole the treasure shows a vast insolence! Marshal Tianpeng, Zhu Bajie, displays his power divine; General Sha the Monk, more heroic still and fine. The brothers, of one accord, lay their plans and schemes; in Tiger's Mouth Cave the battle flames arise. That monster, fierce and bold, plays all his cunning tricks; four heroes worthily matched, they lock in strifes. They fought until the sun hung in the west; the demon's strength ran soft, he could not hold.
They fought on Leopard Head Mountain for a long while, and the demon spirit could not withstand them. Before the Sha Monk he shouted, "Take my shovel!" The Sha Monk swayed aside with a twist of his body and dodged it, whereupon the demon saw his opening, fled, and rose into the southeast quarter of the Xun sign, riding the wind away in flight.
Bajie strode after him, but Monkey said, "Let him go for now. As the old saying has it, a desperate foe should not be pursued. Let us instead cut off his road home."
Bajie obeyed. The three of them went straight to the mouth of the cave and beat to death the hundred and more demons, big and little—all of them in truth tigers, wolves, panthers, leopards, horses, deer, and mountain goats become sprites. Then the Great Sage, by a lift of his magic arts, brought out everything of value from the cave, together with the carcasses of the assorted slain beasts and the pigs and sheep they had driven there.
The Sha Monk fetched dry firewood and set it ablaze, while Bajie fanned the flames with his two ears, and in a moment the whole lair was burnt to nothing. Then, with everything they had brought out, they turned back toward the city.
By this time the gates were still open and the households not yet abed. The old prince, his sons, and the Tang monk were all waiting anxiously in the Gauze-Drying Pavilion. Suddenly, with a great thump and clatter, the three of them flung down a whole courtyard full of dead beasts, pigs, sheep, and sundry valuables, crying all together, "Master! We return in triumph!"
The princes thanked them again and again with respectful murmurs, and the venerable elder Tang was overjoyed. The three young princes knelt and kowtowed on the ground. The Sha Monk raised them up, saying, "Wait with your thanks—all of you come close and look at these things."
"Where did all this come from?" asked the princes.
Monkey laughed. "Those tigers, wolves, panthers, leopards, horses, deer, and mountain goats were all demons turned sprites. We took back our weapons and fought our way out the gate. That old monster is a golden-maned lion; he wielded a four-bright shovel and fought us until the sky darkened, then fled the field to save his life and made off toward the southeast. We didn't chase him; instead we cut off his road home, beat to death this rabble of demons, rummaged out all these goods of his, and brought them back with us."
When the old prince heard this, he was glad and worried at once—glad that they had returned victorious, worried lest that demon come some day to take his revenge.
"Set your heart at ease, Your Highness," said Monkey. "I have already turned the matter over and settled how it should be handled. Rest assured I shall sweep them out to the very last before we set out on our journey; I will never leave a plague behind me. When I went at noon I ran into a little green-faced, red-haired demon delivering invitations. I read his card, and it said, 'Tomorrow at dawn we reverently prepare meats and wines to celebrate the felicitous Assembly of the Rake; we beseech your honor to cross the mountain with your retinue and join us for a while. Pray consider us no strangers—to our utmost gratitude! Respectfully submitted to our honored grandsire, the Nine-Spirit Sage of Primordial Sanctity, Old Master,' signed 'Your grandson, the Yellow Lion, bows his head a hundred times.' Now that the demon has lost the field, he is bound to go pour out his tale to his grandsire. Tomorrow without fail they will come seeking revenge, and it will be my task to sweep them clean away for you."
The old prince expressed his thanks, and a late vegetarian meal was laid out. When master and disciples had finished their meal, each retired to his sleeping quarters, and of them no more need be said.
The story turns instead to that demon spirit, who fled indeed toward the southeast until he reached Bamboo Joint Mountain. In that mountain there was a grotto-heaven of a cave called the Cave of Nine Windings, and in the cave dwelt the Nine-Spirit Sage of Primordial Sanctity, his honored grandsire. Never once pausing in his flight, the Yellow Lion traveled until the fifth watch, when he reached the mouth of the cave, knocked, and entered. The little demons who saw him said, "Great King, last night there came the green-faced one with the invitation, and the Old Master kept him overnight until this very morning, intending to go with him to your Rake Assembly. Why have you come in person at this early hour to give the invitation yourself?"
"Hard to tell, hard to tell!" cried the demon. "The assembly will never be!"
Even as he spoke, the green-faced one came out from within, saying, "Great King, what brings you here? As soon as Grandfather the Senior Great King was up, he was going with me to attend the feast!"
The demon only waved his hands in agitation, too distraught for words. Presently the old monster rose and summoned him in. The demon spirit cast down his weapon, threw himself to the ground in a bow, and could not stay the tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Worthy grandson," said the old monster, "yesterday you sent your invitation card, and this morning I was just about to come to your feast—and now you come in person as well. Why this grief and trouble?"
The demon kowtowed and said, "Your unworthy grandson was idly walking beneath the moon the night before last when he saw a radiance soaring into the sky above the city of Yuhua. Hurrying to look, I found it was three weapons shining in the courtyard of the prince's palace: a nine-toothed rake plated with gold, a precious staff, and a gold-hooped cudgel. Your grandson used magic to whisk them away, and gave the affair the grand name of the Felicitous Assembly of the Rake, ordering the little ones to buy pigs, sheep, fruits, and the like, and to lay a banquet for the celebration, inviting you, my grandsire, to enjoy it as a pleasure.
"After I sent the green-faced one with the invitation yesterday, who should come up but Crafty Weirdo and the others who had been sent to buy the pigs and sheep, driving a few hogs along, with a trading merchant in tow come for his silver. He insisted on staying to see the assembly, and because I feared he would spread talk abroad, I would not let him look. Then he said his belly was hungry and begged for some food, so I had him shown to the back to eat. But when he walked inside and saw the weapons, he claimed them for his own! The three of them each snatched one, and out of them appeared their true forms: one a monk with a hairy face and a Thunder God's beak, one a monk with a long snout and great big ears, one a monk with a face the color of doom. Without distinguishing good from bad, they raised a shout and fell to beating on every side.
"I snatched up my four-bright shovel and hurried out to hold them off, asking who they were that dared play such tricks. They said they were disciples of the Tang monk sent by the Great Tang of the Land of the East to fetch scriptures in the Western Heaven; that passing through your city to have their travel rescript endorsed, they had been detained by the prince to teach the martial arts; that these three weapons had been used as models for forging and left standing in the courtyard; and that since I had stolen them, they would have it out with me. I never learned what those three monks are called, but they truly have power. Your grandson alone could not stand against three, and so I fled away to you, my grandsire.
"I beg you to draw your blade and help me—to seize those monks and avenge me—so that I may see what a grandsire's love for his grandson is worth!"
When the old monster heard this, he pondered silently for a moment, then laughed. "So it is they. Worthy grandson, you have provoked the wrong ones!"
"Does my grandsire know who they are?" asked the demon.
"The one with the long snout and big ears is Zhu Bajie," said the old monster, "and the one with the face the color of doom is the Sha Monk. Those two are nothing much. But the one with the hairy face and the Thunder God's beak is called Sun the Pilgrim. That one has truly vast magic powers—five hundred years ago he wrought great havoc in Heaven, and a hundred thousand celestial soldiers could not lay hold of him. He makes it his whole business to hunt people out; he is a regular captain of calamity—a mountain-comber and sea-dredger, a cave-breaker and city-stormer! How could you provoke him? Well then, let me go with you, and we will seize that rogue along with the prince of Yuhua and vent your spleen for you!"
When the demon heard this, he kowtowed his thanks.
At once the old monster mustered his grandsons—the Nao Lion, the Snow Lion, the Suanni, the Bai Ze, the Fox-Subduing Lion, and the Elephant-Wrestling Lion—and each took up sharp weapons. With the Yellow Lion leading the way, they all mounted fierce winds and made straight for the borders of Leopard Head Mountain. There the reek of smoke and fire assailed their nostrils, and they heard besides the sound of weeping. When they looked closely, it was Crafty Weirdo and Weirdo Crafty, calling upon their lord and weeping for him.
The demon spirit strode up and shouted at them, "Are you the real Crafty Weirdo, or a false one?"
The two sprites fell to their knees, holding back their tears, and kowtowed. "How could we be false? Yesterday at this hour we took the silver and went to buy the pigs and sheep. When we reached the great ravine on the west side of the mountain, we met a monk with a hairy face and a Thunder God's beak. He spat on us, and at once our legs went weak and our mouths went stiff; we could not speak, we could not stir a step. He toppled us over, searched away our silver, and untied our placards. The two of us lay groggy and befuddled until only this moment did we wake. Hurrying home, we found the smoke and fire not yet out, the whole dwelling burnt away, and no sign anywhere of our lord or the chieftains great and small; and so we are grieving and weeping here. We cannot imagine how this fire began!"
When the demon spirit heard this, he could no longer hold back; the tears gushed from him like a spring. He stamped both feet, and his cries shook the sky. "Those bald slaves!" he raged. "What consummate wickedness! To do such a poisonous deed—burning my cave-dwelling to the last stick, burning my beautiful lady to death, wiping out my whole household and all my kin! It angers me to death! It angers me to death!"
The old monster bade the Nao Lion pull him over. "Worthy grandson, the thing is done; grieving avails nothing. Rather husband your strength and spirit, and let us go into the city and seize those monks."
But the demon spirit could not stop his weeping. "Old Master! That mountain estate of mine was not the work of a single day, and now that bald slave has destroyed it utterly—what do I want with this life of mine!" He struggled to his feet and dashed his head against the stone crags, battering his own skull, until the Snow Lion, the Nao Lion, and the others reasoned with him in grief and only with difficulty made him stop.
Then they abandoned the place and all made for the city.
The wind came rolling, the fog came seething, and they drew very near. So great was the terror that the people of the wards outside the city walls, dragging their sons and carrying their daughters, with no thought for their household goods, all streamed into the city; entering the gates, they shut them fast. Someone ran to report to the prince's palace: "Calamity! Calamity!"
The prince, the Tang monk, and the rest were just taking their morning meal in the Gauze-Drying Pavilion when they heard the report of calamity, and they came out of the gate to ask.
"A whole horde of demons!" the people cried. "Flying sand, rolling stones, belching fog and heaving wind—they are near the city!"
The old prince was greatly alarmed. "What is to be done?"
Monkey laughed. "All of you set your hearts at ease! Set your hearts at ease! These are the demons of Tiger's Mouth Cave. Defeated yesterday, they went off southeast and have come back with this Nine-Spirit Sage of Primordial Sanctity, or whatever he calls himself. Wait while my brothers and I go out. Give orders to close the four gates, and muster men to stand guard over the city."
The prince indeed gave the command: the four gates were shut, and men were detailed to mount the walls. The prince and his sons, together with the Tang monk, stood on the city tower marshaling their forces, banners darkening the sun, cannon fire filling the sky. Monkey and his two brothers went out, half on cloud and half on mist, to meet the foe. And this was truly:
For heedless loss of weapons of wisdom's light, in a trice the demons rise, and thronging evils rage.
If you would know how this battle ended, in victory or in defeat, you must listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
[Translator's note: The Rake Banquet (dingpa hui) is the Yellow Lion Spirit's celebration of his stolen treasure. "Crafty Weirdo" and "Weirdo Crafty" render the paired demon names Diaozuan Gugai and Gugai Diaozuan, which are punning reversals of each other. The Suanni and the Bai Ze are mythical beasts of old Chinese lore—the former a lion-like creature often carved on temple pedestals, the latter an omniscient beast that appeared to the Yellow Emperor. "A scabby old sow always chases golden-maned lions" is Bajie's self-mocking proverb, twisting a saying about mismatches. The Xun sign denotes the southeast in the Eight Trigrams, hence the demon's flight "into the southeast quarter of the Xun sign."]