Journey to the West (vol. 1)

by Wu Cheng-En

  “Elder brother,” said the younger monster with a laugh, “you're overrating him. From the way you're going on about how marvellous he is anyone would think that there were none like him on earth and few enough in the heavens. As I see it he's nothing special: he hasn't any powers.”

  “Did you catch him?” the elder demon asked.

  “He can't move an inch,” the other replied. “He's crushed under three mountains I dropped on him. It was only when I'd done that to him I collected the Tang Priest, Friar Sand, the horse and the baggage and brought them all here.”

  The news filled the old monster's heart with pleasure. “What luck! What luck! Now you've dealt with that wretched Sun the Tang Priest is as good as food in our mouths.” Saying this the older monster ordered the young devils, “Bring wine at once, and give the Junior King a drink to celebrate his success.”

  “No, I won't have a drink,” said the younger demon. “Tell the little devils to pull Pig out of the water and hang him up.” Pig was then hung up in the Eastern wing of the cave, Friar Sand in the West, and Tang Priest in the middle. The white horse was sent off to the stables, and the luggage was stored away.

  “You have great powers, my brother,” said the older monster with a laugh. “You've caught the three monks twice. But even though you've crushed him under a mountain you'll need some magic to get that Sun into our cooking pot. That'll be the day.”

  “Please sit down, elder brother,” said the younger monster. “I can get Monkey without lifting a finger. I just need to send two little devils with a couple of treasures to bring him back in.”

  “What treasures?”

  “My gold and red gourd and your vase of mutton-fat jade.” The older monster fetched the two treasures, handed them to him, and asked which two little devils were to be sent. “Send Dexterous Ghost and Skillful Beast,” replied the younger monster. He then instructed them, “Take the two treasures straight to the top of a high mountain, put them there upside-down and call out to Sun. If he responds he'll go straight inside. You must immediately paste this label on: 'Supreme Lord Lao: to be dealt with urgently in accordance with the Statutes and Ordinances.' Within three and a half hours he'll just be pus.” The two little devils kowtowed and went off with treasures to catch Monkey.

  As he lay crushed under the three mountains the Great Sage thought in his distress of the holy priest Sanzang.

  “Master,” he wailed, “I remember how you removed the paper sealing me under the Double Boundary Mountain, delivered me from terrible agony, and brought me into the Buddhist faith. The Bodhisattva ordered me to stay with you and improve myself, sharing you fate, your appearance, and your knowledge. I never thought I'd have this demon trouble here and be crushed by mountains again. Oh dear, oh dear. If you die it serves you right. But I do feel sorry about Friar Sand, Pig, and the little dragon who was turned into a horse. Indeed:

  A tall tree invites the wind;

  The wind then shakes the tree.

  Whoever strives for fame

  By fame destroyed is he.”

  Then he sighed and the tears flowed like rain.

  All this had alarmed the mountain spirits, the local gods and the Protectors of the four quarters and the center. “Whose mountains are these?” asked the Gold-headed Protector.

  “Ours,” said the local gods.

  “And who is it pinned under your mountains?”

  “We don't know,” said the local gods.

  “You lot wouldn't,” said the Protector.

  “It's Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who made havoc in the palaces of Heaven five hundred years ago. Now he's found religion and become the Tang Priest's disciple. Why ever did you let that demon use your mountains to crush him? You've had it now. He'll not spare you if ever he gets free. Even if he decides to let you off lightly it'll be exile for the local gods and hard labor for the mountain spirits. And I'll get a severe reprimand.”

  “We didn't know, really we didn't,” said the gods and spirits, now terrified. “When the chief demon recited the mountain-moving spell we just moved them here. We never knew it was the Great Sage Sun.”

  “Don't be afraid,” said the Protector. “The Legal Code says that you cannot be punished for what you are unaware of. We'll have to work out a plan to let him out in such a way that he won't kill us all.”

  “It would be very unfair of him to kill us if we set him free,” said the local gods.

  “There's something else you don't know,” said the Protector. “He has a truly lethal As-You-Will gold-banded cudgel. If he hits you with that you've dead, and just a touch of it will wound. A tap will shatter your sinews, and a graze from it rip your skin to shreds.”

  The terrified local gods and mountain spirits then conferred with the Protectors, approached the gates of the three mountains, and called, “Great Sage, the mountain spirits, local gods and Protectors from the four quarters and the center have come to see you.”

  Splendid Monkey. He was like a tiger who though skinny was as always full of spirit. “So what?” he called in a loud, clear voice.

  “We have a communication for the Great Sage,” replied the local gods. “If we remove the mountains and set you free, Great Sage, will you forgive us humble spirits for our discourtesy?”

  “Move these mountains,” said Monkey, “and I won't hit you.” Then he shouted, “Get up.” It was just like the authorities giving an order: the deities all said the magic words and the mountains went back to where they had come from. Monkey was free. He jumped up, shook the dirt off his body, tightened his kilt, pulled out his cudgel from behind his ear, and said to the local gods and mountain spirits, “All hold out your feet. I'm going to give you two strokes each to work off my bad temper.”

  “But you promised just a moment ago, Great Sage,” said the deities in horror, “to forgive us. How can you go back on your word and hit us?”

  “My dear local gods and mountain spirits,” said Monkey, “you're more afraid of that monster than of me.”

  “But that demon has great and powerful magic arts! When he says his true spells he forces us to take it in turns to be on duty in his cave every day.”

  Monkey was shocked to hear them talk about being on duty. He looked up to the skies and shouted, “Heaven, Heaven, when the primal chaos was first differentiated and heaven divided from earth I was born on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. I visited many a wise teacher and learned the secrets of eternal life. I could change as swiftly as the winds, subdued tigers and dragons, and made great havoc in the palaces of Heaven. But never did I bully mountain spirits and local gods or make them run my errands. What a disgrace, when these evil monsters have the effrontery to treat mountain spirits and local gods as their slaves, and make them take turns to serve them. Heaven! If you created me, why ever did you create them?”

  Just as the Great Sage was in the middle of his complaint a rosy light began to shine in the mountain hollow. “Mountain spirits, local gods,” asked Monkey, “you serve in the cave, so what is it that's shining?”

  “The monsters' treasures,” replied the local gods, “some of the demons must have brought them to catch you out with.”

  “Just what I need to play a little trick on them,” said Monkey: “Tell me, who comes to see them in the cave?”

  “What they're interested in is refining elixirs of immortality, and their best friends are Taoist masters of the Quanzhen School,” replied the local gods.

  “No wonder he turned himself into an old Taoist priest to trick my master,” said Monkey. “Very well then, I'll let you off for now. Back you go. I'll get them myself.” The spirits all rose into the air and made off.

  The Great Sage shook himself and turned himself into an old Taoist master. Do you know what he made himself like?

  His hair drawn into two tufts,

  A motley robe of a hundred patches.

  He tapped a fisherman's drum,

  A Lord Lu sash around his waist.

  He leaned beside t
he path,

  Awaiting the little devils.

  Soon the devils arrived

  To be prey for the Monkey King's tricks.

  It was not long before the two little devils arrived. Monkey thrust his gold-banded cudgel out and tripped up the two demons, who were taken right off guard. It was only as they picked themselves up that they saw Monkey. “You villain. If our Great King weren't such an admirer of the likes of you we'd soon sort you out.”

  “What do you mean, sort me out?” asked Monkey with a forced smile. “We're all Taoists-one big happy family.”

  “Why are you lying here, and why did you trip us up?” asked the devils.

  “A little fall is a way for you boys to show your respect on meeting a Taoist elder like me,” said Monkey.

  “Our Great King only demands a few ounces of silver when people first meet him,” said the little devils, “so why do you expect us to fall over for you? That's not the custom here. You must be from somewhere else.”

  “Indeed I am,” said Monkey. “I'm from Mount Penglai.”

  “But that's an island in the sea where immortals live,” said the devils.

  “If I'm not an immortal,” said Monkey, “I don't know who is.” By now the devils' anger had given way to delight.

  “Venerable immortal,” they said, “venerable immortal, please don't take offence at our rudeness. It was only because our common mortal eyes failed to recognize you.”

  “I don't hold it against you,” said Monkey. “As the saying goes, 'An immortal body does not tread the common ground.' You couldn't be expected to know. I've come to your mountain today to bring over a virtuous man who has become an immortal and completed the Way. Anyone want to come with me?”

  “I'll go with you, Master,” said Dexterous Ghost.

  “Me too,” said Skilful Beast.

  “Where have you two gentlemen come from?” asked Monkey, as if he did not know already.

  “From the Lotus Flower Cave,” they said. “Where are you going?”

  “We are under orders from our Great King to capture Sun the Novice,” the devils replied.

  “Who?” Monkey asked.

  “Sun the Novice,” they repeated.

  “The Sun the Novice who's going with the Tang Priest to fetch the scriptures?” asked Monkey.

  “Yes, that one,” the devils replied. “Do you know him?”

  “That ape's outrageous,” said Monkey. “I know him, and I'm very angry with him too. Let me come along with you and help you catch him.”

  “Thank you, Master,” they replied, “but we won't be needing your help. Our Junior King used his magic arts to bring three mountains here to crush him. Now he can't move an inch. We two have been sent here with treasures to pack him into.”

  “What treasures?” asked Monkey.

  “I've got the red gourd,” said Dexterous Ghost, “and he's got the jade vase.”

  “How are you going to fit him into them?” asked Monkey.

  “We'll set them upside down,” said the little devils, “and call to him. If he responds we'll put him inside and stick on a label saying: 'Supreme Lord Lao: to be dealt with urgently in accordance with the Statutes and Ordinances.' Three and a half hours later he'll be just so much pus.” This news shocked Monkey, who remarked to himself what a deadly plot this was.

  “The Duty God of the Day told me that there were five treasures altogether,” he thought. “These are two of them. I wonder what the other three are.”

  “Gentlemen,” he said aloud, “would you let me have a look at your treasures?” Not realizing that this was a trick the two little devils produced them from their sleeves and offered them respectfully with both hands to Money. He was delighted, though he did now show it. “Splendid things,” he thought, “splendid. I just have to flick my tail in the air and go whizzing off with a jump. They've given them to me.” Then he had second thoughts: “No, that's no good. Stealing them would be easy enough, but it would destroy my reputation. It'd be daylight robbery.” So he handed them back with the words, “But you haven't seen my treasure yet.”

  “What is it?” the devils asked. “Would you let us common mortals see it? It'd bring us luck.”

  The splendid Monkey put his hand down, pulled a hair from his tail, made a spell, and called “Change!” It turned into a big gold and red gourd one foot seven inches long that he produced from his waist. “Would you like to see my gourd?” he asked.

  Skillful Beast took it, looked at it, and said, “It's a very big gourd, Master, shapely, and very fine to look at, but it's useless.”

  “What do you mean, useless?” asked Monkey.

  “Each of our treasures can contain a thousand people,” the devils replied.

  “What's so special about being able to contain people?” said Monkey. “Mine can hold the sky itself.”

  “The sky?” asked the devils.

  “Yes, it really can,” Monkey replied.

  “You must be lying,” said the little devils. “We could only believe that if we saw you do it. There's no way we're going to believe you otherwise.”

  “If the sky annoys me,” said Monkey, “I pack it in here seven or eight times a month; but if it doesn't annoy me I might leave it alone for half a year.”

  “Let's see if he'll swap his sky-holding treasure with us,” said Skilful Beast to the other demon.

  “But he'd never swap his sky-holder for our one that can only hold people,” replied Dexterous Ghost. “If he won't swap we can throw our vase in too,” said Skilful Beast.

  Concealing his delight, Monkey thought, “A gourd for a gourd and the vase too is two for one: I'll certainly agree to that.” So he went up to Skilful Beast, clutched him, and asked, “Will you swap them if it can hold the sky?”

  “Yes, we'll swap them as long as it can hold the sky,” said the devil, “and I'll be your son if we don't.”

  “Very well then,” said Monkey, “I'll put the sky in it to show you.”

  The splendid Great Sage bowed his head to make the spell and say the words of it. He called on the Patroller of the Day, the Patroller of the Night together with the Protector of the Four Quarters and the Centre: “Report on my behalf to the Jade Emperor that I have now found the true faith and am escorting the Tang Priest to the Western Heaven to fetch the Scriptures. We are now hold up on a high mountain and my master is in dire distress. I want to trick the devils into swapping their treasures with me, so I most humbly beg that I be lent the sky to put away for an hour. This will enable me to succeed. If there's so much as a hint of a refusal then I'll be coming up to the Hall of Miraculous Mist to give battle.”

  The Patroller of the Day went straight in through the Southern Gate of Heaven to the Hall of Miraculous Mist, where he reported everything to the Jade Emperor.

  “Outrageous ape,” said the Jade Emperor. “This is insolence. Previously it was Bodhisattva Guanyin who persuaded us to release him to escort the Tang Priest. We sent the Protectors of the Four Quarters and the Centre and the Four Duty Gods to take it in turns to protect him. Now he wants to put the sky away. It can't be done.”

  As soon as he had said that the sky could not be put away Prince Nezha stepped forward from the officials at court and submitted a memorial: “Your Majesty, it is possible to contain the sky.”

  “How?” the Jade Emperor asked.

  “When the primal chaos was first differentiated,” Prince Nezha replied, “the light and pure became the sky, and the heavy and dirty became the earth. The sky is a ball of pure vapor that holds up the palaces of Heaven, and by rights it should be impossible to contain it. But now that Sun the Novice is escorting the Tang Priest to fetch the Scriptures from the Western Heaven this will be a source of blessings as great as Mount Tai, a good deed as profound as the ocean. Today we ought to help him succeed.”

  “How would you help him?” the Jade Emperor asked.

  “I beg for the issue of an Imperial Edict to the Northern Gate of Heaven asking the True Martial God to le
nd us his Black Vulture Banner to spread outside the Southern Gate and block out the sun, moon and starts. Down there they will be unable to see each other and not even able to tell back from white. That will fool the devils into thinking that the sky has been packed into the gourd, and enable Sun the Novice to succeed.” The Jade Emperor ordered that this suggestion be implemented. Bearing the imperial command Prince Nezha went to see the True Martial God at the Northern Gate of Heaven and tell him what had happened. The True Martial God handed the prince the banner.

  By now a patroller had hurried down to whisper in the Great Sage's ear, “Prince Nezha is coming to help you.” Monkey looked up to see swirling clouds of good omen, a sure sign of the presence of a god, then turned to the little devils and said, “We'll put the sky away then.”

  “Put it away if you like,” said the little devils, “but why all this playing for time?”

  “I was just saying the spell and calling up the magic powers,” said Monkey. The little devils gazed wide-eyed, wondering how he was going to put the sky away. Monkey threw his imitation gourd up into the air. It was only a hair really, so you can imagine how light it was. As the winds round the mountain peak caught it, it floated in the air for an hour before landing. Meanwhile Prince Nezha was noisily spreading the Black Vulture Banner out at the Southern Gate of Heaven, obscuring the sun, the moon and the stars. Indeed:

  Heaven and earth were dyed as black as ink;

  The cosmos into darkness then did sink.

  The two little devils were terrified. “When we were talking a moment ago,” they said, “it was midday. How could it be dusk now?”

  “When the sky is put away,” said Monkey, “distinctions of time disappear. Of course it's murky.”

  “But why's it so dark now?”

  “The sun and the moon and the stars have all been put inside, so there's no light outside. It's bound to be dark.”