by Wu Cheng-En
Seeing that he was unable to make up his mind, Monkey went up to him and said, “No need for all these doubts, Your Highness. Why don't you ride back to the capital and ask Her Majesty the queen how the love between her and your father is compared with three years ago. That's the only question that will prove that I'm telling the truth.”
That changed the prince's mind for him. “That's it,” he said, “I'll ask my mother.” He sprang to his feet, put the scepter in his sleeve and was just about to go when Monkey tugged at his clothes and said, “If all your men and horses go back it'll give the game away and make it much harder for me to succeed. You must ride back alone and not draw attention to yourself or make a fuss. Don't go in through the main gate; use one of the back gates instead. And when you enter the women's quarters in the palace to see your mother, don't shout or make a lot of noise. You must keep your voice down and talk very quietly. That fiend probably has tremendous magical powers, and once the cat is out of the bag your mum's life won't be worth tuppence.”
The crown prince accepted these instructions with great respect, then went outside the monastery gates to give these orders to his officers: “Stay encamped here and do not move. I have some business to attend to. Wait till I come back and then we shall all return to the capital together.” Watch him:
Giving his orders to the army to encamp,
He rides back to the city as if on wings.
If you don't know what was said when he met the queen, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 38
Questioning His Mother, the Boy Sorts Right from Wrong
When Metal and Wood Join in the Mystery, Truth and Falsehood Are Clear
If you speak only of the causation arising from birth,
You can be present at the Buddha's assembly.
The Buddha of the dusty world thinks only peaceful thoughts;
People of all quarters watch while the spirit is subdued.
If you wish to know who is the true monarch,
You must ask the mother who bore you.
You have never yet seen another world;
At every step a new flower appears.
Soon after taking his leave of the Great Sage, the crown prince of Wuji was back in the city. As instructed, he did not make for the main palace gates or announce his arrival, but went straight to a back gate that was kept by some eunuchs. Not daring to stop him, they let him in. The splendid prince rode his horse straight to the foot of the Brocade Fragrance Pavilion, in which sat the queen attended by some dozens of consorts and concubines holding fans. The queen was in tears, leaning against a carved balustrade. Do you know why? It was because she half remembered but had half forgotten a dream she had had in the small hours of the morning. Now she was deep in thought.
The prince dismounted, knelt at the foot of the pavilion and called, “Mother.”
The queen forced herself to look cheerful and called to him, “What a pleasure to see you, my child, what a pleasure. I've been worried about you for two or three years. Despite all my requests to His Majesty your father in the hall of audience I haven't been able to see you. How ever were you able to get leave to see me today? I'm so, so happy. But why do you sound so sad, child? Your father is getting on now. One day the dragon will have to return to the jade-green sea and the phoenix to the crimson clouds. Then the throne will be yours. So why be so miserable?”
To this the prince replied with a kowtow, “Mother, who is it who now occupies the throne? Who is it who uses the royal 'we?'”
“The boy's gone mad,” exclaimed the queen. “It's your father who's king. Why do you ask?”
“I beg you, Mother,” said the prince, kowtowing again, “to forgive your son's crime so that I may ask once more. If you can't pardon me, I can't ask.”
“There can't be criminal proceedings between mother and son,” the queen said. “You're forgiven. Now, hurry up and ask.”
“Mother,” said the prince, “I want to ask you whether there is any difference in the affection between you and my father now compared with three years ago.”
The moment the queen heard this her souls went flying and she rushed down to the foot of the pavilion to hug the prince close to her. “Child,” she said as tears flowed from her eyes, “why do you come to the harem after we've been kept apart for such a long time to ask me this?”
“Mother,” said the prince in great anger, “tell me at once what you have to say or you will ruin everything.”
The queen ordered her attendants to withdraw, then said in a low and tearful voice, “If you hadn't asked me about it I would have taken the secret to the grave with me. Now that you have asked, listen while I tell you:
He used to be so passionate and tender,
But three years later on he's turned to frost.
If I whisper to him warmly on the pillow
He pleads old age and says the urge is lost.”
At this the crown prince broke away from his mother's embrace and remounted his horse. “What's up, child?” the queen asked, holding on to him. “Why are you off before we've even finished our conversation?”
The prince then knelt before her and said, “I hardly dare tell you, Mother. When I went out hunting this morning with the falcons and hounds His Majesty kindly lent me I happened to meet a holy monk who was on his way to fetch the scriptures. His senior disciple is Sun the Novice, or Brother Sun. He is very good at exorcising demons. It appears that His Majesty my father is dead in the eight-sided well with glazed tiles in the palace gardens, and that the wizard turned himself into my father's double in order to usurp the throne. In the middle of last night my father came to him in a dream. He asked the priest to come here to capture the fiend. I came to ask you that question because I couldn't quite bring myself to believe them. From what you have just told me, Mother, I'm now sure he is an evil spirit.”
“You shouldn't believe what strangers tell you, my son,” said the queen.
“I wouldn't have believed him at all,” replied the crown prince, “except that His Majesty my father left proof with him.” When the queen asked what it was, the prince produced the gold-bordered white jade scepter from his sleeve and handed it to her. The queen saw it and recognized it as the king's treasure. She could not hold back her tears.
“My lord,” she cried out, “why did you never come to me in the three years since you died? Why did you appear to the holy monk and then to the prince first?”
“What do you mean, Mother?” the prince asked.
“My child,” said the queen, “I too had a dream in the small hours of the morning. I saw your father standing soaking wet in front of me. He told me himself that he had been killed and that his ghost had called on the Tang Priest to ask him to capture the impostor on the throne and rescue him. I can remember him saying all this, but only very vaguely. I was just wondering about it when you came, asked that question, and showed me the scepter. I'll keep it, and you go and ask that holy monk to be as quick as possible. Then the evil mists can be swept away, truth can be separated from falsehood, and you can repay His Majesty your father for his kindness in raising you.”
The prince quickly remounted and went out through the back gate of the palace to get away from the city. Indeed:
With tears in his eyes he took leave of his mother;
Bowed down with grief he returned to Sanzang.
He was soon out of the city and back at the gate of the Precious Wood Monastery, where he dismounted amid the greetings of the whole army. It was now almost sunset. The crown prince ordered that the soldiers were to make no unnecessary movements. He then went back into the monastery, neatened up his clothes, and went to pay his respects to Brother Monkey just as he was swaggering out of the main hall.
The prince fell to his knees and said, “Master, I'm back.”
Monkey went over to him to raise him to his feet and said, “Please get up. Who did you question when you went into town?”
“I questioned my mother,
” the crown prince replied, going on to tell him everything that had happened.
Monkey grinned slightly as he said, “If he's that cold he must be a transformation of something icy. Never mind. It doesn't matter. I'll wipe him out for you. The only trouble is that it's a bit late to do anything today. Go back now and wait till I come to see you tomorrow.”
The prince knelt down again, kowtowed and said, “Let me stay here to be at your beck and call till I go in with you tomorrow.”
“No,” said Monkey, “that would be no good. If we two went into town together the fiend would have his suspicions. He wouldn't think that I'd just met you by chance. He'd say that you'd asked me to come, and then be angry with you.”
“But-he's going to be angry with me anyhow if I go back to the city now,” replied the prince.
“Why?” asked Monkey.
“Because I'll have no way to face him when I go back without having caught a single thing after taking out so many men, horses, falcons and hounds on his orders this morning,” said the prince. “If he punishes me for incompetence I'll be thrown into jail and you'll have nobody to help you when you go into town tomorrow. And in this whole force there isn't a single friend of mine.”
“No problem,” said Monkey. “If you'd told me earlier I'd have a good bag ready for you now.”
Splendid Great Sage. Watch him as he shows off his powers in front of the prince, leaping up into the clouds with a single bound, making the magic with his fingers, and saying the esoteric words, “Om ram Pure Dharma World.”
He made the mountain gods and local deities of the place bow to him in mid-air and say, “Great Sage, what orders do you have for us humble deities?”
To this Brother Monkey replied, “I've escorted the Tang Priest this far and now I want to capture a demon. The trouble is that the crown prince has caught nothing on his hunt, so he doesn't dare return to the palace. I'd like to ask a favour of you all. Will you fetch some river-deer, antelopes, deer, hares, other birds and beasts to send him back with?” None of the mountain gods or local deities dared not to accept this order.
When they asked how many of each were wanted the Great Sage replied, “It doesn't matter. Just get some.”
The gods then mustered their invisible soldiers and made a magical animal-gathering wind blow. They caught hundreds and thousands of pheasants, deer, antelopes, river-deer, foxes, badgers, raccoon dogs, hares, tigers, leopards and wolves, which they presented to Monkey.
“I don't want them,” he said. “I'd like you to hamstring them and set them out on both sides of the fifteen miles of the road back so that the hunters can take them to the capital without having to use their falcons or hounds. That will redound to your credit.” The gods did as they were told, put their magic wind away, and set the prey out beside the road.
Only then did Brother Monkey bring his cloud down to land and say to the prince, “You may go back now, Your Highness. Your bag is set out by the road for you to collect.” After the mid-air display of Monkey's amazing powers the prince was utterly convinced that this had happened, so he could but kowtow and take his leave. He then went out of the monastery and ordered the soldiers back to the city. There were indeed no end of wild animals by the road that the soldiers could catch with their bare hands, not needing the falcons or dogs. They all cheered the prince and said that this was due to his very good luck, not realizing that it was Monkey's magical achievement. Just listen to the triumphant songs as they swarm back to the capital.
Monkey, meanwhile, was guarding Sanzang. Seeing how well the two of them were getting on with the prince, the monks of the monastery had to treat them with great respect. They provided them with vegetarian meals and looked after the Tang Priest, who was still resting in the meditation hall. For nearly a whole watch, or about two hours, Monkey was too troubled to sleep.
He jumped up, went over to the Tang priest's bed and called, “Master.”
Sanzang was still awake too, but he pretended to be asleep because he knew that Monkey was someone who caused alarms and trouble. So Monkey rubbed Sanzang's shaven pate and shouted wildly, “Why are you asleep, Master?”
“Wicked creature,” said the Tang Priest angrily, “what are you shouting for at this time of night when you ought to be asleep?”
“But Master,” said Monkey, “there's something I want to talk about with you.”
“What?” Sanzang asked.
“I can't sleep,” Brother Monkey replied, “because when I was boasting to the crown prince yesterday about how my magical powers were higher than mountains and deeper than the sea I said that I could catch that fiend as easily as taking something out of a bag. I'd only have to stretch out my hand to grab him. Thinking about it I realize it would be difficult.”
“If it is difficult,” said the Tang Priest, “then give up the idea of catching the monster.”
“He's certainly got to be caught,” said Monkey, “but it isn't right.”
“You're talking nonsense, ape,” said the Tang Priest. “The fiend has usurped a throne. What do you mean by 'it isn't right?'”
“All you know about is reciting sutras, worshipping the Buddha, sitting in contemplation and seeking religious instruction,” said Monkey. “You've never seen the Legal Code. As the saying goes, 'You can't arrest someone for theft without the loot as evidence.' That fiend has been king for three years now without giving the game away. He sleeps with the consorts and concubines in the harem and shares the pleasures of the civil and military officials at court. I have the power to catch him all right; but it'll be hard to make the charges against him stick.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked the Tang Priest.
“Even if he normally kept his mouth as shut as an unopened gourd,” said Monkey, “he'll brazen it out with you and say, 'I'm the monarch of Wuji. What crime have I committed against Heaven that you should come to arrest me?' What written documentation have you got to back up your case against him?”
“How would you cope?” asked Sanzang.
“My plan's already made,” said Brother Monkey with a laugh. “The only thing is that it affects Your Reverence and your favoritism.”
“How do I show favoritism?” the Tang Priest asked.
“Because Pig is so stupid he's rather a pet of yours.”
“What do you mean by that?” the Tang Priest asked.
“Well, if he's not your favorite, be a bit bolder today and agree to stay here with Friar Sand while Pig and I go ahead to the capital of Wuji, find the palace gardens, open up the glazed-tile well, fish out the remains of the dead king, and wrap them up in a carrying-cloth. Then when we go into town tomorrow never mind about the travel documents-as soon as I see the fiend I'll have my cudgel out to kill him. If he tries to argue, show him the remains and the clothes and say, 'This is the man you murdered.' Then bring the crown prince in to mourn his father and the queen to identify the remains of her husband. Let all the civil and military officials see their true lord, and then Pig and I will set to. That's the only way we'll be able to win a contested lawsuit afterwards.”
On hearing this the Tang Priest concealed his delight and said, “But Pig might not be willing to go.”
“There you are,” said Monkey, “I said you showed favoritism. How do you know he won't want to go? It's just like the way you refused to respond for a whole hour when I kept trying to wake you. My three inches of tongue could make Pig come with me even if he were a Pig-and-a-half.”
“Very well,” said Sanzang, “call him if you like.”
Monkey then took his leave of the master, went straight to Pig's bed, and called his name. The idiot was lying with his head hanging down, snoring heavily after his exhausting journey. Mere calling was not going to wake him. Monkey grabbed him by his ears and his bristles, pulled him up, and shouted “Pig!” again. The idiot was still fast asleep.
When Monkey called him again Pig said, “Go to sleep, and stop fooling around. We've got to be on our way again tomorrow.”
“I'm not fooling,” said Monkey. “There's a piece of business for us two to do.”
“What sort of business?” Pig asked.
“Didn't you hear the prince telling us?” said Monkey.
“I didn't even see him,” said Pig, “let alone hear him say anything.”
“The prince told me that the fiend has a treasure that makes him a match for ten thousand men in a fight,” said Monkey. “When we go into town we'll have to fight him, and if he has that treasure he'll beat us. That would be terrible. I reckon that if the other side is stronger than you the best thing to do is to strike first. Wouldn't be best if the two of us went and stole his treasure?”
“You're trying to trick me into thieving, brother,” said Pig. “I'll come in on this bit of business, and I'll be very useful to you too, but first I want to get something clear with you. When we've stolen the treasure and captured the demon I won't stand for any mean, small-minded sharing out of the treasure. I want the lot.”
“Why?” Monkey asked. “I haven't got your gift of the gab. I can't wheedle food out of people. I'm clumsy and rough-spoken, and I can't recite sutras. When I'm really on my uppers I can always swap it for food.”
“All I'm interested in is fame,” said Monkey. “I don't care about treasures. You can have it if you like.” The idiot was so happy to be promised the treasure that he rolled himself out of bed, dressed, and set out with Monkey. It was a case of
Clear wine makes the cheeks go red;
Gold turns everybody's head.
The two of them opened the door very quietly, left Sanzang and took an auspicious cloud straight to the city.
They were soon there, and as they brought their cloud down to land they heard the drum on the tower being beaten twice. “It's the second watch, brother,” said Monkey.
“Just right,” said Pig, “just right. Everybody's fast asleep.” The two of them avoided the main gate and went round to the back gate of the palace, where clappers and bells were being sounded. “Brother,” said Monkey, “it sounds as though there's an alarm at both front and back gates. How are we going to get in?”