by Wu Cheng-En
“Master,” he said to Sanzang after chanting a “na-a-aw” of respect, “you should drink this wine first, but His Majesty gave it to me and I dare not disobey him. Please allow me to drink first as it will brace my spirits for the capture of the monster.”
He drained the cup in one gulp, refilled it, and handed it to Sanzang, who said, “As I cannot touch alcohol you two must drink it for me.” Friar Sand came over and took it. Clouds now sprouted under Pig's feet and he shot up into mid-air.
“Venerable Pig,” exclaimed the king, “you can walk on clouds too!”
When Pig had gone Friar Sand drained his cup of wine at one draft too and said, “When the Yellow-robed Monster captured you, master, the pair of us were only just a match for him in combat. I'm afraid that my elder brother won't be able to beat him by himself.”
“Yes,” Sanzang replied. “You'd better go and help him.”
When Friar Sand too sprang up into the air on a cloud and went off, the anxious king grabbed hold of Sanzang and said, “Stay here with me, venerable sir. Don't you go flying off on a cloud too.”
“I, alas, cannot take a single step by cloud.” We leave the two of them talking to each other in the palace.
“I'm here, brother,” said Friar Sand as he caught Pig up.
“Why?” Pig asked. “The master told me to come and lend you a hand,” replied Friar Sand.
“Good, it's as well you've come. We two'll do our damndest and capture this fiend. Even though it won't be anything very big, it'll at least make us famous in this country.”
On shimmering clouds they left the country,
Departing from the capital in a blaze of magic light.
On the king's command they came to the mountain cave
To fight hard side by side to capture the evil spirit.
Before long they reached the mouth of the cave and landed their cloud. Pig brought his rake down with all his might on the door of the cave and made a hole the size of a bucket in it. The junior demons guarding it were so frightened that they opened up the gates; at the sight of the pair of them they rushed inside to report, “Bad news, Your Majesty. The long-snouted monk with big ears and the other one with a horrible face have come back and smashed down our doors.”
“Pig and Friar Sand again?” exclaimed the monster in astonishment. “How dare they come and break down my door after I've spared their master's life?”
“Perhaps they've come to fetch something they left behind,” suggested a junior demon.
“Nonsense,” snorted the monster. “Would they break the gate down if they'd just left something behind?” He hastily tied on his armor, took his steel sword, went outside and asked, “Monks, what do you mean by smashing down my door? I spared your master, didn't I?”
“Will you do a decent thing, wretched ogre?” said Pig.
“What?” asked the old monster.
“You forced the Third Princess of the land of Elephantia to come to your cave,” said Pig, “and you've made her stay here for thirteen years. You should send her back now. We've come here to capture you on the king's orders, so you'd better hurry in and tie yourself up if you don't want me to hit you.” The old fiend was now furious. Just watch him as he gnashes his fangs of steel, glares so hard that his eyes become round with fury, raises his sword, and hacks at Pig's head. Pig avoided the blow and struck back at the monster's face with his rake, after which Friar Sand rushed forward to join in the fight with his staff. This battle on the mountain was not the same as the earlier one:
Saying the wrong things can make men angry;
Wicked intentions and hurt feelings give birth to wrath.
The great steel sword of the demon king
Sliced down at the head;
Pig's nine-toothed rake
Went for the face.
As Friar Sand let fly with his staff
The demon king parried with his magic weapon.
One wild ogre,
Two holy monks,
Moving to and fro with the greatest of calm.
One says,
“You deserve to die for your crime against the country.”
The other replies,
“Interfering fellow, trying to put the world to rights.”
“By seizing the princess you have insulted the state,” said the one.
“Just mind your own business,” said the other.
It was all because of the letter,
That the monks and the monster were now in combat.
When they had fought eight or nine bouts on the mountain side Pig was beginning to tire; his strength was flagging and he could only raise his rake with difficulty. Do you know why they could not hold out against the monster this time? In the first battle all the guardian gods had been helping Pig and Friar Sand as Sanzang was in the cave, so that they had then been a match for the ogre. This time the guardian gods were all looking after Sanzang in Elephantia, which was why Pig and Friar Sand could not hold out against the fiend.
“You come forward and fight him, Friar Sand,” said the idiot, “while I go off for a shit.” Then with no further thought for Friar Sand he streaked off into the undergrowth of grass, wild figs, thorns and creepers, diving straight in and not bothering about the scratches on his face. Then he fell into a doze, too frightened to come out again. He kept an ear cocked for the sound of clashing weapons.
Seeing Pig flee, the monster charged at Friar Sand, who could do nothing to stop the ogre from seizing him and carrying him into the cave. The junior fiends tied him up hand and foot. If you don't know what became of him, listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
Chapter 30
An Evil Monster Harms the True Law
The Mind-Horse Remembers the Heart-Ape
Now that he had tied up Friar Sand, the monster did not kill him, hit him, or even swear at him. Instead he raised his sword and thought, “Coming from so great a country the Tang priest must have a sense of propriety-he can't have sent his disciples to capture me after I spared his life. Hmm. That wife of mine must have sent some kind of letter to her country and let the secret out. Just wait till I question her.” The monster became so furious that he was ready to kill her.
The unwitting princess, who had just finished making herself up, came out to see the ogre knitting his brows and gnashing his teeth in anger.
“What is bothering you, my lord?” she asked with a smile. The monster snorted and started to insult her.
“You low bitch,” he said, “you haven't a shred of human decency. You never made the slightest complaint when I first brought you here. You wear clothes of brocade and a crown of gold, and I go out to find anything you need. You live in luxury all four seasons of the year, and we've always been very close to each other. So why do you think only of your mother and father? Why do you have no wifely feelings?”
This so frightened the princess that she fell to her knees and said, “What makes you start talking as if you are going to get rid of me?”
“I'm not sure whether I'm getting rid of you or you're getting rid of me,” the monster replied. “I captured that Tang Priest and brought him here to eat, but you released him without asking me first. You must have secretly written a letter and asked him to deliver it for you. There's no other explanation for why these two monks should have made an attack on this place and be demanding your return. It's all your fault, isn't it?”
“Don't blame me for this, my lord,” she replied. “I never wrote such a letter.”
“Liar,” he said. “I've captured one of my enemies to prove it.”
“Who?” she asked.
“Friar Sand, the Tang Priest's second disciple.” Nobody likes to accept their death, even at their last gasp, so she could only try to keep up the pretence.
“Please don't lose your temper, my lord,” she said. “Let's go and ask him about it. If there really was a letter I'll gladly let you kill me; but if there wasn't, you'd be killing your slave unjustly.” With no further argument the monster gra
bbed her by her bejeweled hair with his fist the size of a basket and threw her to the floor in front of him. Then he seized his sword to question Friar Sand.
“Friar Sand,” he roared, “When you two had the impertinence to make your attack was it because the king of her country sent you here after getting a letter from her?”
When the bound Friar Sand saw the evil spirit throw the princess to the ground in his fury then take hold of his sword to kill her, he thought, “It's obvious she must have sent a letter. But she did us a very great favour by sparing our master. If I tell him about it, he'll kill her. No, that would be a terrible thing to do after what she did for us. Besides, I haven't done any good deeds all the time I have been with our master, so as a prisoner here I can pay back my master's goodness to me with my life.”
His mind made up, he shouted, “Behave yourself, evil monster. She sent no letter, so don't you mistreat her or murder her. I'll tell you why we came to demand the princess. When my master was your prisoner in this cave he saw what the princess looked like. Later on when he presented his credentials to the King of Elephantia, the king showed him her picture and asked him if he'd seen her on his journey. The king had this picture of her painted long ago, and made enquiries about her all over the place. My master told the king about her, and when he heard this news of his daughter the king gave us some of his imperial wine and sent us to bring her back to the palace. This is the truth. There was no letter. If you want to kill anybody, kill me, and don't be so wicked as to slaughter an innocent woman.”
Impressed by Friar Sand's noble words, the monster put aside his sword and took the princess in his arms, saying, “Please forgive me for being so boorishly rude.” Then he put her hair up again for her, and turning tender again, urged her to go inside with him. He asked her to take the seat of honour and apologized to her. In her female fickleness the princess was prompted by his excess of courtesy to think of an idea.
“My lord,” she said, “could you have Friar Sand's bonds loosened a little for the sake of our love?” The old fiend ordered his underlings to untie Friar Sand and lock him up there instead.
On being untied and locked up, Friar Sand got up and thought, “The ancients said that a good turn to someone else is a good turn to yourself. If I hadn't helped her out, she wouldn't have had me untied.”
The old fiend then had a banquet laid on to calm his wife and make it up to her. When he had drunk himself fairly tipsy he put on a new robe and girded a sword to his waist. Then he fondled the princess and said, “You stay at home and drink, wife. Look after our two sons and don't let Friar Sang get away. While the Tang Priest is in Elephantia I'm going to get to know my relations.”
“What relations?” she asked.
“Your father,” he replied. “I'm his son-in-law and he's my father-in-law, so why shouldn't we get acquainted?”
“You mustn't go,” was her reply.
“Why not?” he asked.
“My father,” she answered, “didn't win his country by force of arms; it was handed down to him by his ancestors. He came to the throne as a child and has never been far from the palace gates, so he's never seen a tough guy like you. You are a bit on the hideous side with that face of yours, and it would be very bad if a visit from you terrified him. You'd do better not to go and meet him.”
“Then I'll make myself handsome,” he said.
“Try it and show me,” said the princess.
The splendid fiend shook himself, and in the middle of the banquet he changed himself into a handsome man.
Elegant he was, and tall.
He spoke like a high official,
His movements were those of a youth.
He was as brilliant as the poet Cao Zhi,
Handsome as Pan An to whom the women threw fruit.
On his head was a hat with magpie feathers,
To which the black clouds submitted;
He wore a robe of jade-coloured silk
With wide and billowing sleeves.
On his feet were black boots with patterned tops,
And at his waist hung a gleaming sword.
He was a most imposing man,
Tall, elegant and handsome.
The princess was thoroughly delighted at the sight of him. “Isn't this a good transformation?” he asked her with a smile.
“Wonderful,” she replied, “wonderful. When you go to court like that the king will be bound to accept you as his son-in-law and make his civil and military officials give you a banquet, so if you have anything to drink you must be very careful not to show your real face-it wouldn't do to let the secret out.”
“You don't need to tell me that,” he said, “I understand perfectly well myself.”
He sprang away on his cloud and was soon in Elephantia, where he landed and walked to the palace gates. “Please report,” he said to the High Custodian of the gate, “that His Majesty's third son-in-law has come for an audience.”
A eunuch messenger went to the steps of the throne and reported, “Your Majesty's third son-in-law has come for an audience and is waiting for your summons outside the palace gates.” When the king, who was talking with Sanzang, heard the words “third son-in-law” he said to the assembled officials, “I only have two sons-in-law-there can't be a third.”
“It must be that the monster has come,” the officials replied.
“Then should I send for him?” the king asked.
“Your Majesty,” said Sanzang in alarm, “he is an evil spirit, so we mortals can do nothing about him. He knows about the past and the future and rides on the clouds. He will come whether you send for him or not, so it would be better to send for him and avoid arguments.”
The king accepted the proposal and sent for him. The fiend came to the bottom of the steps and performed the usual ritual of dancing and chanting. His handsome looks prevented any of the officials from realizing that he was a demon; instead they took him in their mortal blindness for a good man. At the sight of his imposing figure the king thought that he would be a pillar and the savior of the state. “Son-in-law,” he asked him, “where do you live? Where are you from? When did you marry the princess? Why haven't you come to see me before?”
“I come,” the monster replied, knocking his head on the ground, “from the Moon Waters Cave in Bowl Mountain.”
“How far is that from here?” asked the king.
“Not far,” he replied, “only a hundred miles.”
“If it's a hundred miles away,” said the king, “how did the princess get there to marry you?”
The monster gave a cunning and deceptive answer. “My lord,” he said, “I have been riding and shooting since childhood, and I support myself by hunting. Thirteen years ago as I was out hunting one day with falcons, hounds, and a few score retainers when I saw a ferocious striped tiger carrying a girl on its back down the mountainside. I fitted an arrow to my bow and shot the tiger, then took the girl home and revived her with hot water, which saved her life. When I asked her where she was from she never mentioned the word 'princess'-had she said that she was Your Majesty's daughter, I would never have had the effrontery to marry her without your permission. I would have come to your golden palace and asked for some appointment in which I might have distinguished myself. As she said she was the daughter of ordinary folk I kept her in my home. With her beauty and my ability we fell in love, and we have been married all these years. When we were married I wanted to kill the tiger and serve him up at a banquet for all my relations, but she asked me not to. There was a verse that explained why I should not:
“'Thanks to Heaven and Earth we are becoming man and wife;
We will marry without matchmaker or witnesses.
A red thread must have united us in a former life,
So let us make the tiger our matchmaker.'
“When she said that I untied the tiger and spared its life. The wounded beast swished its tail and was off. Little did I realize that after escaping with its life it would have spent the pa
st years making itself into a spirit whose sole intention is to deceive and kill people. I believe that there was once a group of pilgrims going to fetch scriptures who said that they were priests from the Great Tang. The tiger must have killed their leader, taken his credentials, and made himself look like the pilgrim. He is now in this palace trying to deceive Your Majesty. That man sitting on an embroidered cushion is in fact the very tiger who carried the princess off thirteen years ago. He is no pilgrim.”
The feeble-minded king, who in his mortal blindness could not recognize the evil spirit, believed that his tissue of lies were the truth and said, “Noble son-in-law, how can you tell that this monk is the tiger who carried the princess off?”
“Living in the mountains,” he replied, “I eat tiger, dress in tiger, sleep amid tigers, and move among tigers. Of course I can tell.”
“Even if you can tell,” said the king, “turn him back into his real form to show me.”
“If I may borrow half a saucer of water,” answered the fiend, “I will turn him back into his real form.” The king sent an officer to fetch some water for his son-in-law. The monster put the water in his hand, leapt forward, and did an Eye-deceiving Body-fixing Spell. He recited the words of the spell, spurted a mouthful of water over the Tang Priest, and shouted “Change!” Sanzang's real body was hidden away on top of the hall, and he was turned into a striped tiger. To the king's mortal eyes the tiger had:
A white brow and a rounded head,
A patterned body and eyes of lightning.
Four legs,
Straight and tall;
Twenty claws,
Hooked and sharp.
Jagged fangs ringed his mouth,
Pointed ears grew from his brow.