by Wu Cheng-En
The evil spirit was still crying as he replied, “Grandfather, this mountain palace of mine wasn't built in a day. Now those damned baldies have destroyed everything! My life's not worth living!” With that he broke free and flung himself forward to smash his head against the rock-face, only stopping after Snowy Lion and Monkey Lion had made great efforts to calm him. They then left the cave and all headed for the city.
With a roaring wind and in a thick fog they approached the city, so frightening all the people living outside the city wall that they abandoned their belongings and dragged or carried their children with them as they fled into the city. Once the people were all inside the gates were shut. A report was then made to the palace that a disaster was upon them. When the prince, who was taking a vegetarian breakfast in the Gauze Pavilion with the Tang Priest and the others, heard this report he went out to ask about it:
“A whole crowd of evil spirits are heading for the city with sandstorms, flying stones, fogs and wind.”
“Whatever shall we do?” asked the prince, deeply alarmed.
“All stop worrying,” said Brother Monkey, “all stop worrying. It's the evil spirit from Tigermouth Cave who ran away when he was beaten yesterday. He went to the Southeast to gang up with the Primal Sage of Ninefold Numinosity or whatever he's called and now he's here. We brothers are going out. Tell them to shut all the city gates, and send men to hold the city wall.” The prince ordered that the city gates be shut, sent men to the wall, and went with his sons and the Tang Priest to inspect. The army's banners blotted out the sun, and the cannon fire reached the sky as Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand left the city amid wind and clouds to give battle. Indeed:
Because they were careless the weapons were lost,
Which led to attacks by the devilish host.
If you do not know the outcome of the battle listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 90
By Giving and Receiving the Master and the Lion Turn into One
After Stealing the Way and Obstructing Dhyana Ninefold Numinosity Is Pacified
The story tells how the Great Sage Sun left the city with Pig and Friar Sand and looked the monsters in the face to see that they were all lions of various kinds. The Tawny Lion Spirit was leading, with Leo and Elephant-fighter Lion on his left, Gryphon and Raccoon-dog Lion on his right and Monkey Lion with Snowy Lion behind him. In the middle of them all was a nine-headed lion. The ogre Greenface was holding a canopy of brocade embroidered with flowers just behind the nine-headed lion; while Wily Freak and Freaky Wile carried a pair of red flags. They were all drawn up at a hollow place.
In his rough way Pig went up to them to shout abusively, “Ogres! Thieves! Treasure-stealers! What did you go there and gang up with that hairy lot for?”
To this the Tawny Lion Spirit retorted, gnashing his teeth in fury, “Vicious baldies! When I was alone yesterday the three of you beat me and I had to run away. You should have done right, instead of burning my cave palace, destroying my mountain home and murdering my family. My hatred for you is as great as the ocean. Stay where you are and take this from my halberd!”
The splendid Pig raised his rake to parry the blow. When the two of them had just started fighting and neither was yet coming out on top Monkey Lion joined in, swinging his spiked iron club, as did Snowy Lion with his three-edged mace.
“Welcome,” shouted Pig. Watch him as he charges straight forward to meet their onslaught and fight with them all. Friar Sand quickly pulled his demon-quelling staff out from where he was at the side and hurried forward to help Pig, at which Leo Spirit, Gryphon Spirit, Elephant-fighter Spirit and Raccoon-dog Spirit all piled in. The Great Sage Monkey held the evil spirits at bay with his gold-banded cudgel. Leo fought with a club, Snowy with a bronze hammer, Elephant-fighter with a steel spear and Raccoon-dog with a battleaxe.
The fight between the seven lion spirits and the three ferocious monks was a splendid one:
Club, hammer, spear, axe and three-edged mace,
Spiked club, ball-staff and four-bright halberd:
Seven lions with seven deadly weapons,
Shouting their war cries as they surround three monks.
Powerful was the Great Sage's gold-banded cudgel;
Friar Sand's staff was almost matchless in the world.
Pig moved around with the power of a whirlwind
As his flashing rake gave off baleful light.
All, displaying their might, blocked before and behind,
Held off the onslaughts with daring and courage.
From the walls of the city the prince lent support,
Where his soldiers felt braver as they beat drums and gongs.
Throwing and thrusting, all showed off their magic,
Turning heaven and earth both dark and upside-down.
After the evil spirits had been fighting the Great Sage and the two others for half a day, night fell. Pig by now was dribbling and his legs were going weak, so he feinted with his rake and fled in defeat.
“Where do you think you're going?” Snowy Lion and Monkey Lion shouted. “Take this!”
The idiot could not dodge them, and he took a heavy blow from the mace on his spine that laid him flat on the ground crying out, “I'm done for, I'm done for!”
The two lion spirits grabbed Pig by the bristles on his neck and by his tail and carried him over to see the nine-headed lion, “Grandfather,” they reported, “we've caught one of them.”
Before the words were out of their mouths Friar Sand and Monkey also had to fall back, beaten. When the evil spirits all came after them Monkey pulled out a handful of hairs, chewed them to pieces, spat them out, shouted, “Change!” and turned them into more than one hundred little Monkeys who went round and round, surrounding Snowy, Leo, Elephant-fighter, Raccoon-dog and Tawny Lion. Friar Sand and Monkey then came forward to join in the fight again. Later that night they caught Leo and Gryphon and put Raccoon-dog and Elephant-fighter to flight.
When Tawny Lion reported to the old demon that two of the lions had been lost the demon ordered, “Tie Pig up but don't kill him. When they give our lions back we'll return Pig to them. If they're stupid enough to kill them we'll make Pig pay with his life.” That evening all the fiends slept outside the city.
The story now turns to the Great Sage Sun, who carried the two lion spirits to beside the city wall, from where the senior prince saw him and ordered that the gates be opened. Twenty or thirty officers were sent out with rope to tie the lion spirits up and carry them into the city. The Great Sage then put his magic hairs away and went straight with Friar Sand to the wall tower, where he saw the Tang Priest.
“This is a terrible business,” the Tang Priest said. “Is Wuneng still alive?”
“No problem,” Brother Monkey replied. “As we've captured a couple of the evil spirits they won't possibly dare harm him. Have them tied up tight. I'll swap them for Pig tomorrow morning.”
The three young princes then kowtowed to Monkey and said, “When you were fighting them at first you were by yourself, Teacher. Then when you pretended to run away and came back again there were over a hundred of you. How was that done? When you came back to the city wall after capturing the evil spirits there was only one of you again. What magical powers did you use to do that?”
“I have 84,000 hairs on my body,” Monkey replied. “Each of them can become ten, and the ten become a hundred, so I can do millions and millions of transformations. It's extra body magic.” The princes all kowtowed as a vegetarian feast was brought to the tower for them. All along the battlements lanterns and banners were displayed. There was the sound of clappers, bells, gongs and drums as the watches were changed, arrows passed on, cannons fired and warcries shouted.
Soon it was dawn, and the old demon sent for Tawny Lion Spirit to make a plan of action: “You must all use your wits to capture Sun the Novice and Friar Sand while I make a secret flight up onto the wall to capture their master, the old prince and his sons. I'll take them
back to the Nine-bend Twisty Cave and wait for you to come back in triumph.”
Accepting this plan, Tawny Lion took Monkey Lion, Snowy Lion, Elephant-fighter and Raccoon-dog back to beside the city wall, all carrying their weapons and demanding battle amid winds and fog.
On the other side Monkey and Friar Sand jumped on the wall, where Monkey yelled abusively at the top of his voice, “Thieving damned ogres! Give me my brother Pig back this moment and I'll spare your lives. If you don't I'll smash your bones to powder and chop you all into little pieces.” With no further argument the evil spirits all charged into the attack. The Great Sage and Friar Sand had to use skill and cunning to hold the five lions at bay. This fight was very different from the one on the previous day.
As an evil wind howled across the land
Black fog blotted out the sky.
Moving stones and flying sands alarmed both gods and demons;
As the trees in the forest fell the tigers and wolves were afraid.
Fierce was the spear of steel and bright the axe,
Merciless the rod, the halberd and the brazen hammer.
They wished they could swallow Monkey up whole,
And capture Friar Sand live and kicking.
The Great Sage's As-You-Will cudgel
Could attack and defend with miraculous effect.
Friar Sand's demon-quelling staff
Had won its fame outside the Hall of Miraculous Mist.
Now that it moved with its magical powers,
It would achieve glory in the West by wiping out demons.
While the five lion spirits with coats of different colours were fighting really well with Monkey and Friar Sand the old demon flew on a black cloud straight to the wall tower, where he shook his heads, which gave the military and civil officials, Sanzang, the senior prince and the soldiers guarding the wall such a fright that they all fell off. The demon then charged into the tower, opened his mouths, took Sanzang, the senior prince and his sons in them one by one, and went back to the hollow ground, where he took Pig in another mouth, one of the nine he had in his nine heads. One mouth held the Tang Priest, one Pig, one the senior prince, one his eldest son, one the second son and one the third son.
With six mouths full of six people he still had three mouths empty and wide open as he roared, “I'm going back ahead.” The five junior lion spirits all fought more bravely than ever now that they had seen their grandfather's triumph.
As soon as Monkey heard the yells from the wall and realized he had fallen for a trick, he gave Friar Sand a quick shout to be careful then pulled all the hairs off his arms, put them in his mouth, chewed them up and spat them out as well over a thousand little Monkeys who swarmed into the attack. They knocked Monkey Lion over, took Snowy alive, captured Elephant-fighter, laid Raccoon-dog Lion low and killed Tawny Lion; but as they returned to the city wall with a great hubbub they let Greenface, Wily Freak and Freaky Wile escape. When the officers on the wall saw what had happened they opened the gates, tied up the five lion spirits with ropes and carried them into the city.
But before they could deal with them the princess appeared, sobbing and weeping, to say, “Holy teachers, His Royal Highness the prince, our sons and your master are all dead. How ever is this isolated city to survive?”
Putting his magic hairs away, Monkey bowed to her and said, “Don't upset yourself, Princess. It was only because I'd captured seven of his lion spirits that the old demon carried off my master, His Royal Highness and your sons with catching magic. I'm certain they'll come to no harm. My brother-disciple and I will go to his mountain first thing tomorrow morning, and I can guarantee that we'll catch the old demon and bring your four princes back to you.”
When the princess and her womenfolk heard this they all bowed to Monkey and said, “We pray that His Royal Highness and his sons will all be safe and that our dynasty will be secure.” When their bowing was done the womenfolk all returned to the palace in tears.
“Skin the Tawny Lion spirit we killed,” Brother Monkey instructed the officials, “and have the five who are still alive securely tied up and put under lock and key. Bring us some vegetarian food to eat before we go to sleep. Stop worrying: I promise nothing will go wrong.”
The next morning the Great Sage took Friar Sand up on an auspicious cloud. Before long they were at the top of Bamboo Mountain, and as they brought their cloud down to look they saw that it was magnificent:
Rows of jutting peaks,
Sheer and craggy ridges.
In the deep gill waters gently flow;
Flowers weave a fragrant brocade before the beetling cliff,
Where the ridges twist and double back,
Encircled by the ancient winding paths.
When the crane comes the pine has a companion,
And the rock is left alone as the cloud drifts away.
The black ape heads for brightness when looking for fruit;
The deer rejoice in the warming sun as they search for flowers.
The green phoenix sings sweetly
And the golden bird's melodies never stop.
In spring the peach blossom contends with the plum;
In summer the willow and locust trees are rivals.
In autumn are carpets of chrysanthemums,
And in winter the snow flies all around.
Here there is beauty throughout the year,
Where the scenery can compare with Yingzhou's magic land.
As the two of them were standing on the mountain admiring the view Greenface suddenly appeared in a ravine between cliffs. He was holding a short cudgel. “Where do you think you're going?” Monkey shouted. “I'm here.”
This gave the young devil such a fright that he went running and tumbling down the ravine. Monkey and Friar Sand went straight after him but could find no sign of where he had gone. When they went further and searched around they found a cave palace with double gates of mottled stone that were firmly closed. Above the gates a stone tablet was set on which was written in large block letters:
NINE-BEND TWISTY CAVE,
MIGHTY BAMBOO MOUNTAIN
Now when the junior devil ran inside the cave he had shut the gates firmly behind him. Once inside he reported to the old demon, “My lord, those two monks are outside.”
“Have your lord, Monkey Lion, Snowy Lion, Elephant-fighter and Raccoon-dog come back yet?” the old demon asked.
“I haven't seen them,” the junior demon replied.
“There were just the two monks looking around from high up on the peak. As soon as I saw them I turned and ran. As they came after me I shut the gates.”
The old demon bowed his head in silence at this news. After a while his tears began to flow as he called out, “This is terrible. My grandson Tawny Lion is dead. My grandsons Monkey Lion and the rest of them have all been captured by those monks and taken into the city. How am I to get my revenge?”
Pig was tied up nearby, crammed in together with the Tang Priest and the princes, terrified and miserable until he heard the old demon saying that his grandsons had been captured and taken into the city. At this he said with quiet delight, “Don't be afraid, Master. Cheer up, Your Royal Highness. My elder brother has won. He's captured the whole lot of the devils and he's found his way here to rescue us.”
When he had said this the old demon could be heard shouting, “Little ones, guard the place well while I go out to catch those other two monks. Then we can punish them all together.”
Watch him as he strides off without armor or weapons. When he heard Monkey shouting he threw the gates of the cave wide open and went straight for him, not deigning to answer. Monkey raised his iron cudgel to stop him with a blow to the head while Friar Sand swung his staff at him. As the demon shook his principal head the eight other heads to left and right of it all opened their mouths, with which they gently picked Monkey and Friar Sand up and carried them into the cave.
“Fetch rope,” he ordered; and Wily Freak, Freaky Wile and Greenface, who
had come back after their escape the previous night, brought two ropes with which they tied the two of them up very securely. “Impudent ape,” said the old demon, “you captured my seven grandsons. But now I've caught you four monks and the four princes I've got enough to ransom them with. Little ones, get some thorns and willow rods and beat this ape for me to avenge my grandson Tawny Lion.”
The three junior devils then beat Monkey with willow rods, but Monkey's body had been so toughened that all the rods could do was to scratch his itches. He made no sound and was not in the least bothered, no matter how hard they hit him. The sight of it, however, made Pig, the Tang Priest and the princes all feel their hair standing on end. Before long the rods started to break up, but the demons kept on till evening, keeping no count of the number of strokes.
Friar Sand was most upset to see Monkey being given so long a flogging, so he said, “Let me take a hundred or so for him.”
“Don't be so impatient,” the old demon replied, “you'll get your beating tomorrow. You'll all be done in turn.”
“That means it'll be me the day after tomorrow,” said Pig with alarm. The beating continued for a while as night slowly fell.
“Little ones,” the old demon called, “stop for now. Light the lamp and go for something to eat and drink. I'm off to my Brocade Cloud Den for a little shut-eye. You three have all had a hard time, so keep a close watch on them. We'll carry on with the beatings tomorrow.” The three junior devils moved a lamp over and hit Monkey some more on the top of his head with their willow rods, tic-tic-toc, toc-toc-tic, like the rhythm of a wooden clapper, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. By then it was very late and they all fell asleep.
Monkey now used escaping magic to shrink himself, wriggled out of his bonds, shook his fur, straightened up his clothes, took the cudgel out of his ear and shook it till it was as thick as a well-bucket and about twenty feet long.