by Unknown
Dear Demon King! He strode out of the library and went up to the main hall to put on his armor. After he was suited up properly, he picked up a cast-iron rod and went out of the door, crying, “Who is being so rowdy at my place?” When Pilgrim caught sight of him, the figure he saw was quite different from that of five hundred years ago. He saw that
He had had on a wrought-iron helmet, water polished and silver bright;
He wore a yellow gold cuirass lined with silk brocade;
His feet were shod in a pair of pointed-toe and powdered-sole buckskin boots;
His waist was tied with a lion king belt6 of triple-braided silk.
A pair of eyes that shone like bright mirrors;
Two thick eyebrows that glowed like red lightning.
His mouth seemed like a bloody bowl;
His teeth stood like slabs of bronze.
A roaring snort that made mountain gods cringe;
An imposing stride that vile spirits feared.
Famed in the four seas, he was named World-Wrecker,
The Powerful of the West called Demon King.
Straightening his clothes, our Great Sage walked forward and bowed deeply, saying, “Eldest Brother, do you still recognize me?” Returning his bow, the Bull King said, “Aren’t you Sun Wukong, the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven?” “Indeed, I am,” replied the Great Sage. “I have not had the privilege of bowing to you for a long time. Just now I had to ask a girl before I got to see you again. You look better than ever. Congratulations!”
“Stop this clever talk!” bellowed the Bull King. “I heard that as a result of your causing great disturbance in the Celestial Palace, you were pinned beneath the Mountain of Five Phases by the Buddhist Patriarch. Recently liberated from your Heaven-sent calamity, you were accompanying the Tang Monk to see Buddha for scriptures in the Western Heaven. But why did you bring harm to my son, Bull Holy Child, the master of Fiery Cloud Cave by the Dried Pine Brook on Roaring Mountain? I’m quite mad at you already. Why are you here also looking for me?”
Bowing again to him, the Great Sage said, “Don’t wrongly blame me, Eldest Brother. At that time your son caught my master and wanted to eat his flesh. Your youngest brother was not able to get near him at all, and it was fortunate that the Bodhisattva Guanyin came to rescue my master. She persuaded your son to return to the right. Now he has become the Boy of Goodly Wealth, a rank higher even than yours, and he’s enjoying the halls of ultimate bliss and the joys of everlasting life. Is there anything wrong with that? Why blame me instead?” “You smart-mouthed ape!” scolded the Bull King. “I’ll let you talk yourself free of the charge of hurting my son. But why did you insult my beloved concubine and attack her right at my door?”
With a laugh, the Great Sage said, “Because I had a hard time trying to find you, I questioned that girl, but I had no idea that she was my second Sister-in-law. She scolded me a little, and I lost my head momentarily and treated her rather roughly. I beg Eldest Brother to pardon me, please!” “If you put it that way,” said the Bull King, “I’ll spare you for old time’s sake. Leave!”
“I can’t thank you enough,” said the Great Sage, “for your great kindness. But I still have another matter that I must bring to you, and I beg you to be hospitable.” “Monkey,” scolded the Bull King, “you don’t know your limits! I’ve spared you already. Instead of going away, you stay here to pester me. What’s this business about being hospitable?” “To tell you the truth, Eldest Brother,” said the Great Sage, “I was accompanying the Tang Monk on his westward journey, but our path was blocked by the Mountain of Flames and we couldn’t proceed. When we asked the natives of that region, we learned that my esteemed Sister-in-law, Rākṣasī, had in her possession a palm-leaf fan. Since it could be used to extinguish the fire, we went to your house and begged her to lend it to us. She adamantly refused. That’s why I now come to you and beg you to extend to us the compassion of Heaven and Earth. Go with me to the place of my big Sister-in-law and persuade her to lend us the fan. As soon as the Tang Monk has safely crossed the Mountain of Flames, we shall return it to you.”
When he heard these words, the Bull King could not suppress the fire leaping up in his heart. He gritted his teeth and shouted, “You claimed you weren’t rowdy, but you wanted the fan all along. You must have insulted my wife first, and when she refused, you came to find me. What’s more, you even chased my beloved concubine around! As the proverb says,
Ye must not slight
A friend’s wife of thine,
Nor must ye snub
A friend’s concubine.
You have, in fact, insulted my wife and snubbed my concubine. How insolent can you be? Come up here and have a taste of my rod!” “If you mention fight,” said the Great Sage, “you won’t frighten me. But I have come to beg you for the fan in all earnestness. Please lend it to me!”
The Bull King said, “If you can withstand me for three rounds, I’ll tell my wife to give it to you. If not, I’ll kill you—just to relieve my wrath!” “You are right, Eldest Brother,” replied the Great Sage. “I have been rather remiss in visiting you, and I don’t know whether your martial skill is as good as previous years. Let us practice a little with our rods.” Without permitting further talk, the Bull King wielded his cast-iron rod and brought it down hard on his visitor’s head, and it was met by the golden-hooped rod of the Great Sage. The two of them thus began quite a battle:
The golden-hooped rod,
The cast-iron rod—
Their colors change and they speak no more as friends.
That one says, “I still blame you, Monkey, for hurting my son!”
This one says, “Your son has attained the Way, so don’t get mad!”
That one says, “How dare you be so brash as to approach my door?”
This one says, “I have good reason to give you a request.”
One wants the fan to protect the Tang Monk;
One is too stingy to lend the palm-leaf.
Words are exchanged, their old amity’s gone;
Friendship destroyed, they have but anger left.
The Bull King’s rod like a dragon rears up;
The Great Sage’s rod comes, gods and ghosts take flight.
Before the mountain they battle at first;
Then they rise jointly on auspicious clouds
To show in midair their great magic might,
To flaunt their powers in five-colored lights.
Two rods resound to shake the gates of Heav’n—
None’s the stronger, they’re evenly matched.
Our Great Sage and the Bull King fought for over one hundred rounds, but no decision could be reached.
In that moment when it was virtually impossible to separate the two of them, someone suddenly called out from the mountain peak: “Sire Bull, my Great King sends you his earnest invitation. Please come early so that the banquet may begin.” On hearing this, the Bull King stopped the golden-hooped rod with his cast-iron rod and said, “Monkey, you stop for a moment. I have to attend a banquet in a friend’s house first.” He dropped down at once from the clouds and went inside the cave to say to Princess Jade Countenance, “Pretty Lady, that man just now with a thundergod beak happens to be the monkey, Sun Wukong, who has been driven away by the blows of my rod. He won’t dare return. I am off to drink in a friend’s house.” He took off his armor and put on instead a duck-green silk jacket. Walking outside, he mounted a water-repellent golden-eyed beast, and, after giving instructions to the little ones to guard the door, departed midway between cloud and fog toward the northwest.
When the Great Sage, standing on the tall summit, saw him leave, he thought to himself, “I wonder what sort of friend that old Bull has, and where he is going to attend a banquet. Let old Monkey follow him.” Dear Pilgrim! With one shake of his body he changed into a gust of wind to catch up with the Bull King and proceed with him. In a little while, they arrived at a mountain, and the Bull King soon disappeared. Collecting himself
to change back into his true form, the Great Sage entered the mountain to look around, and he came upon a deep lagoon with lovely clear water. There was, beside the lagoon, a stone tablet, on which there was in large letters this inscription: Scattered-Rocks Mountain, Green Wave Lagoon. The Great Sage thought to himself, “That old Bull must have gone into the water, and an aquatic fiend has to be some kind of dragon spirit, fish spirit, or turtle spirit. Let old Monkey go in also to have a look.”
Dear Great Sage! Making the magic sign with his fingers, he recited a spell and with one shake of his body changed into a crab; neither too big nor too small, it weighed about thirty-six pounds. He leaped into the water with a splash and sank quickly to the bottom of the lagoon. There he saw all at once a towered gateway with finely carved openwork. Beneath the arch there was tied the water-repellent golden-eyed beast, but it was waterless inside the gateway. Crawling through, the Great Sage stared all around and he heard the sound of music coming from buildings still further in. This is what he saw:
Scarlet halls and shelled arches
Not commonly found in this world;
Roof tiles made of yellow gold;
Door frames formed by milk-white jade;
Railings built from coral twigs;
Spread screens of tortoise-shell inlay.
Auspicious clouds hang o’er the lotus throne—
Above, the Three Lights,7 below, the Milky Way.
Though it’s not Heav’n or the sea’s treasure chest,
This place quite rivals the island of Peng.
Guests and hosts gather in a tall banquet hall;
Pearls stud the caps of officials great and small.
They beckon jade girls to serve their ivory trays;
They urge divine maids to make merry tunes.
Long whales squeal;
Huge crabs dance;
Scorpaenids play flutes;
Iguanas roll drums.
Rare, lustrous pearls light up the food and drink;
Nature’s patterns are carved on kingfisher screens.
Shrimp-whiskered curtains hang o’er corridors.
Eight instruments8 play in divine harmony,
Their glorious tones resound throughout the sky.
Green-headed perch-cocottes stroke the zithers,
And red-eyed young boys9 blow the flutes of jade.
Perch matrons present the venison stripes;
Gold-phoenix hairpins crown the dragon girls.
What they have to eat:
The eight treasure dainties10 of Heaven’s kitchen;
What have they to drink:
The rich mellow brew from the purple mansion.11
Sitting above in the middle honored seat was the Bull Demon King, while several female dragon spirits sat on his immediate left and right. Facing him was an old dragon spirit, attended by scores of dragon sons, dragon grandsons, dragon grandmothers, and dragon daughters on both sides. They were toasting one another and drinking with abadon when the Great Sage Sun walked right in. The old dragon caught sight of him, and he at once gave the order: “Seize that wild crab!” The various dragon sons and grandsons surged forward and took hold of the Great Sage, who assumed human speech, crying, “Spare me! Spare me!” The old dragon said, “Where did you come from, wild crab? How dare you barge into our hall and hobble around without permission? Confess quickly, and we’ll spare your life!”
Dear Great Sage! With specious words of a lyric to the tune of “Moon Over West River,” he made this confession:
Since birth the lake’s my livelihood,
I dwell in a cave by the ridge.
Of late time’s passage has my body freed—
My rank, Private Sidewise-Carriage.
Treading on grass and trailing mud,
I’ve ne’er learned to walk properly.
Untaught in law, I your kingly might offend;
I beg your Grace to pardon me.
When those spirits attending the banquet heard what he said, they all rose to bow to the old dragon and to say, “This is the first time that Private Crab has entered the royal palace, and he’s unfamiliar with the proper etiquette. We beg our lord to pardon him.” The old dragon expressed his consent, and one of the spirits gave this command: “Release him. We’ll stay the sentence of flogging. Let him go outside and wait on us.” The Great Sage dutifully gave his obedient reply before fleeing outside. Once he reached the towered gateway, he thought to himself, “This Bull King is so fond of his cup. How could I wait for him to leave here? And even when he leaves, he won’t lend me the fan. Why don’t I steal his golden-eyed beast, change into his appearance, and go deceive that Rākṣasī? I can then wangle her fan and help my master cross the mountain. That’s a much better move.”
Dear Great Sage! Changing back into his original form all at once, he untied the reins of the golden-eyed beast and mounted the carved saddle. He rode it out of the lagoon’s bottom and went up to the surface of the water. He then changed himself into the form of the Bull King; whipping the beast and mounting the clouds, he reached the entrance of the Palm-Leaf Cave on the Jade Cloud Mountain in no time. “Open the door!” he cried, and two maids inside immediately opened the door when they heard his call. When they saw, moreover, that it was the Bull King, they rushed inside to report: “Madam, our sire has come home.”
On hearing this, Rākṣasī quickly straightened her hairdo and walked out of her room to receive him. Our Great Sage thus
Dismounted
To lead in the golden-eyed beast;
In boldness
He would deceive the fair lady.
As Rākṣasī had only eyes of flesh, she could not recognize him. They entered the cave hand in hand, and she told the maids to present tea. When the whole family saw that the master had returned, each member treated him with great respect.
In not time at all, the couple were exchanging greetings. “Madam,” said the specious Bull King, “it’s been a long time!” “I wish the Great King ten thousand blessings,” replied Rākṣasī, and then she said, “the Great King is so partial toward his newlywed that he has forsaken this humble maid. Which gust of wind today has blown you back here?”
Smiling at her, our Great Sage said, “I dare not forsake you. Since I was invited to join Princess Jade Countenance, however, I was plagued by all kinds of domestic concerns as well as by the affairs of my friends. That’s why I have stayed away for so long, as I had to take care of another household. Anyway, I heard recently that the fellow Wukong, in the company of the Tang Monk, is about to arrive at the Mountain of Flames. I fear that he may want to ask you for the fan. I hate him, and we have yet to avenge our son’s wrongs. When he comes, send someone to report to me at once so that I can seize him and have him chopped to pieces. Only that can bring us satisfaction.”
On hearing this Rākṣasī fell to weeping and said, “Great King, the proverb says:
A man without wife, his wealth has no boss;
A woman with no husband herself has no boss.
My life was nearly taken by this monkey!” When he heard that, the Great Sage pretended to be outraged. “When did this wretched ape pass through here?” he cried. “He hasn’t yet,” replied Rākṣasī. “But he came here yesterday to borrow our fan. Because he brought harm to our son, I put on my armor and went outside to hack at him with my swords. Enduring the pain, he addressed me even as sister-in-law, saying that he was once your bond-brother.” “There were indeed seven of us,” said the Great Sage, “who entered into a fraternal alliance some five hundred years ago.”
“He didn’t dare answer me at first,” said Rākṣasī, “even when I scolded him, nor did he dare raise his hands when I hacked him with the swords. Afterwards, I fanned him once and sent him away. But he found some sort of wind-arresting magic somewhere and came to our door again this morning to make noises. I used the fan on him once more, but this time I couldn’t budge him at all. When I attacked him then with the swords, he wasn’t so kind anymore. I was intim
idated by the weight of his rod and ran inside the cave, tightly shutting the door. I didn’t know where or how he got through, but he managed to crawl into my stomach and almost took my life. I had to address him several times as brother-in-law and give him the fan.”
Again feigning dismay the Great Sage pounded his chest and said, “What a pity! What a pity! You have made a mistake, Madam! How could you give our treasure to that monkey? I’m so upset I could die!”
Laughing, Rākṣasī said, “Please don’t get mad, Great King, I gave him a fake fan, just to get him away.” “Where did you put the real one?” asked the Great Sage. “Relax! Relax!” replied Rākṣasī. “It’s in my possession.” After she ordered the maids to prepare wine to welcome him, she took up the cup herself and presented it, saying, “Great King, you may have your newfound joy, but don’t ever forget your proper wedded wife. Please have a cup of home brew.” The Great Sage did not dare refuse it; he had no choice, in fact, but to raise the cup and say to her, full of smiles, “Madam, please drink first. Because I had to look after external property, I was away from you for a long time. You have been good enough to watch over our home day and night. Please accept my thanks.” Rākṣasī took the cup and filled it some more before handing it to the Great King again, saying, “As the ancients put it, a wife is one who manages, but the husband is like a father who provides support. What is there to thank me for?” Thus the two of them conversed with great courtesy before they sat down to drink and eat in earnest. Not daring to break his vegetarian diet, the Great Sage took only a few fruits to keep the conversation going.
After drinking a few rounds, Rākṣasī felt somewhat tipsy and her passion was gradually aroused. She began to move closer to the Great Sage Sun, rubbing against him and leaning on him.
Holding hands with him,
She murmured affection;
Shoulder to shoulder,
She whispered endearment.
She took a mouthful of wine, and then he took also a mouthful of wine from the same cup. They also traded fruits with their mouths. The Great Sage, of course, was feigning tenderness in all this, although he had no choice but to laugh and dally with her. Truly