by Wu Cheng-En
The fiend-monarch sent for them at once. As he went in through the palace gates with the Tang Priest, the king who had been brought back to life could not hold back his tears, which flowed down his cheeks. “How awful it is,” he thought, “that my kingdom, which is as strong as bronze and iron, has been secretly stolen from me.”
“Don't upset yourself, Your Majesty,” said Monkey, “or you'll give the game away. My cudgel is dancing in my ear and it's absolutely bound to succeed. I guarantee that I'll kill the fiend and sweep away all his filth. The kingdom will soon be yours again.” The king dared not disobey, so wiping away his tears with his clothes he took his life in his hands and followed them as they went into the main audience hall of the palace.
Next were to be seen the civil and military officials and the four hundred courtiers, all towering over them in majestic silence. Monkey led the Tang Priest to stand unmoving at the foot of the white jade steps. The officials below the steps all trembled with fear.
“What a stupid monk,” they said. “Fancy seeing our king without even bowing to him or saying anything polite. He hasn't even made a respectful chant. What brazen effrontery.”
Before the words were out of their mouths the fiend-king asked, “Where is that monk from?”
To this Monkey boldly replied, “He is a pilgrim sent by imperial command from the land of Great Tang in the East of the Southern Jambu Continent to go to the Thunder Monastery in India in the West in order to worship the living Buddha and fetch the true scriptures. Now that he is here he does not wish to pass through your country without reporting his presence, which is why he has come today to submit his credentials.”
Hearing this, the fiend-king thought angrily, “What's so special about your Eastern land? I don't pay tribute to your court or have any dealings with your monarch. So how dare you be so rude and not bow to me?”
“We in the East have long had a Heavenly dynasty,” said Monkey with a smile, “and been regarded as a superior country, while yours is just an inferior frontier state. As the old saying has it,
The emperor of a greater land
Is the father and the superior,
The ruler of a lesser state
Is the son and the inferior.
You didn't even come out to meet us. How dare you complain about us not bowing!”
In a raging fury the fiend-king ordered his civil and military officials, “Arrest that uncouth monk.” At the word “Arrest” the officials all rushed at Monkey, who gave a shout, pointed at them, and told them to keep back. By pointing at them he made magic that immobilized them. None of the officials could now move. Indeed:
The colonels before the steps became wooden figurines;
The generals in the hall were statues of clay.
Seeing that all his civil and military officials had been turned to statues, the fiend-king leapt down from his dragon throne and was just about to seize Monkey, who thought gleefully, “Just what I want. Even if his head is made of iron, one touch of my cudgel will be enough to make a hole in it.” But as the fiend started to move a rescuer came forward from beside him.
Do you know who it was? It was the crown prince of Wuji, who rushed forward to grab the fiend's court robes, kneel before him, and say, “Please don't be angry, Your Majesty.”
“Why, my boy?” asked the fiend.
“Let me tell you, father. Three years ago I heard tell that a holy monk had been sent by the Tang Emperor to worship the Buddha and fetch the scriptures from the Western Heaven. I never thought that he would be here in our country today. Your Majesty has a fiery temper, and I'm afraid that you will have the monk beheaded, and that the Great Tang Emperor will be furious when he eventually hears the news. Since making himself ruler the Tang Emperor Li Shimin has unified the country, but he isn't satisfied yet. He has sent military expeditions overseas already. If he learns, sir, that you have killed this holy priest who is his sworn brother he's bound to raise an army to wage war on you. Our forces are much too weak to cope, but by then it will be too late for regrets. If Your Majesty will accept your son's suggestion you should have the four monks arrested and thoroughly questioned. Hold them on the charge of not paying obeisance to the royal presence; sentence can be passed later.”
All these suggestion to hold the fiend back were made because the crown prince was worried that the fiend would harm the Tang Priest. He did not realize that Monkey had deliberately done things in that way in order to get a crack at the fiend.
The fiend accepted the prince's advice, stood before his throne, and roared, “Monk, when did you leave the East? Why did the Tang monarch send you to fetch scriptures?”
Monkey stood proud as he replied, “My master is the Tang Emperor's sworn brother, and his title is Sanzang. The Tang Emperor has a minister called Wei Zheng who beheaded the old dragon of the Jing River in a dream because Heaven ordered him to. When the Tang Emperor came back to life after dreaming that he had toured the Underworld, he held a Great Water and Land Mass to save the souls of all those who had been unjustly slain. Because my master preached on the scriptures with such broad compassion the Bodhisattva Guanyin instructed him to travel West. My master made a solemn vow volunteering gladly to do this in order to express his full loyalty to his country, and was given a letter of credence by the Tang Emperor. This was three days before the full moon in the ninth month of the thirteenth year of the reign-period Tien Guan. After leaving the lands of the East he came to the Double-boundary Mountain, where he took me to be his senior disciple; my name is Sun Wukong, Sun the Novice, or Brother Monkey. Then he came to Gao Village in the Land of Stubet, where he took his second disciple, called Zhu Bajie, Zhu Wuneng, or Pig. At the Flowing Sands River he took his third disciple, Sha Wujing, or Friar Sand. Then the day before yesterday he took on a lay brother at the Precious Wood Monastery to be our porter.”
On hearing all this the fiend, who had no way of searching the Tang Priest, or of using a crafty approach to questioning Monkey, glared angrily and said, “When you left the East you were travelling alone. Of the four followers you picked up the three regular monks are no problem. But I won't stand for your taking that lay brother. I'm sure the fellow was kidnapped. What's he called? Does he have an official ordination license? Bring him forward to make a statement.”
At this the real king began to tremble as the asked, “Master, what shall I say?”
“Don't be afraid,” said Monkey, giving him a pinch. “I'll speak for you.”
The splendid Great Sage hurried forward and yelled to the fiend at the top of his voice, “Your Majesty, this old lay brother is dumb, and a bit deaf too. But when he was young he once went to the Western Heaven, so he knows the way. I'm very familiar with his background, so I beg Your Majesty in your mercy to allow me to speak on his behalf.”
“Unless you want to be punished you'd better make a full and frank statement at once,” said the fiend.
To this Monkey said,
“The brother now confessing is getting on in years,
Struck both deaf and dumb, and bankrupt too.
Long have his family lived in this region
Till five years ago catastrophe struck.
No rain fell, and the people suffered drought;
Monarch and commoners all kept and fast.
Incense was burned amid their prayers to Heaven,
But for hundreds of miles no clouds could be seen.
When all of the people were in agonies of hunger,
A wizard from Zhongshan suddenly arrived.
He showed his great powers to bring the wind and rain,
Then secretly murdered the ruler of the country,
Pushed him down the well in the palace's garden,
Took the throne himself in the king's own likeness.
Luckily I came and did a great good deed,
Raising the dead and restoring him to life.
Then he volunteered to act as our porter
And go to the West together with us monks.
> The false king is really a very evil wizard;
The lay brother is in fact the true king in disguise.”
Hearing this as he sat in his palace's throne hall, the fiend was so frightened that his heart leapt like a little deer, and his face flushed. He drew away at once and was just about to flee, but he was unarmed. He turned round to see that one of the officers of the palace guard who had a sword at his waist was standing stock-still like an idiot because Monkey's magic had immobilized him.
The fiend grabbed the sword and rose into the air on a cloud, to the thunderous fury of Friar Sand and loud complaints from Pig about Monkey's impatience: “If you'd taken it a bit more gently you could have calmed him down and got him. If he gets away on his cloud now, where ever will you find him?”
“Stop that awful din, brothers,” laughed Monkey. “Let's ask the prince to come down and pay his respects to his father, and invite the queen and the consorts to bow to their husband.” He then recited the words to lift the immobilizing spell, and said, “When the officials come to, tell them all to come and pay homage to their sovereign. Then it will be known who is the real king. Tell everyone what has happened so that the truth can be known. I'm off to find the demon.” The splendid Great Sage then gave Pig and Friar Sand his parting instructions: “Look after them all-king and ministers, father and son, queen and consorts, and our master.” By the time he had finished speaking he had already disappeared.
He was already up in the ninth layer of cloud, looking all around for the fiend. He saw that the wretch had got away with his life and was fleeing back to the East. Monkey was soon close behind him and shouting, “Where do you think you're going, monster? Monkey's after you.”
The fiend turned to look, raised his sword, and shouted, “You scoundrel, Monkey. It was none of your business that I was sitting on someone else's throne. Why did you have to come here righting wrongs and giving my secret away?”
“I'll get you, you cheeky monster,” chuckled Monkey. “Don't imagine you'll ever be a king again. As you knew who I was you should have made yourself scarce instead of giving my master a bad time. What sort of confession were you trying to extort from him? The one you got just now? If you won't go, tough guy, try a taste of my cudgel.” The fiend dodged the blow then struck back at Monkey's face with his sword. Once the two of them were in action it was a splendid fight. Indeed:
Fierce was the Monkey king, and strong the demon monarch,
As cudgel parried sword while they fought against each other.
For one whole day the Three Worlds are in cloud
Just because a monarch recovered his throne.”
After a few rounds the fiend realized that he was no match for Monkey and fled back to the city by the way he had come. He rushed through the two lines of civil and military officials before the white jade steps, turned himself into the likeness of the Tang Priest with a shake of his body, and stood holding his hands together before the steps of the throne hall.
When the Great Sage caught the monster up and had raised his cudgel to strike him down the monster said, “Disciple, it's me, don't hit me.” Monkey then raised his cudgel to strike the real Tang Priest, who also said, “Disciple, it's me, don't hit me.” Both Tang Priests were so alike as to be indistinguishable.
“If I kill the Tang Priest who is really the demon in disguise, that will be a great achievement,” thought Monkey. “But if I killed my real master that would be terrible.” So he had to stay his hand while he asked Pig and Friar Sand, “Which one is the fiend and which is our master? Point the fiend out to me and I'll kill him.”
“You made such a noise when you were fighting up there,” said Pig, “that I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again there were two masters. I don't know which is the real one.”
As soon as he heard this Monkey made magic with his hands, said the words of the spell, and called on all the devas who guard the dharma, the Six Dings, the Six Jias, the Protectors of the Four Quarters and the Centre, the Four Duty Gods, and the Eighteen Guardians of the Faith, as well as the local deities and mountain gods: “I'm here to subdue a demon, but the demon has turned himself into my master. They're so alike I can't tell them apart. As you have secret understanding, please invite my master to enter the throne hall so that I can capture the fiend.”
Now the fiend was good at cloud-jumping, and the moment he heard what Monkey was saying he got out by leaping on the roof of the throne hall, so that when Monkey raised his cudgel he struck at the Tang Priest. Oh dear! Had he not called in those gods he would have beaten twenty Tang Priests to pulp there and then. Luckily the gods blocked his cudgel and said, “Great Sage, the fiend is a cloud-jumper. He's got up on the roof.” But as soon as Monkey went up on the roof after him the fiend jumped down again, grabbed hold of the real Tang Priest, and got the two of them muddled up again in the crowds. They were once again indistinguishable.
Monkey was most upset, and on hearing Pig's mocking laughter from beside him he burst into a fury: “What's wrong with you, cretin? You'll have to be at the beck and call of two masters now, so why are you looking so pleased?”
“Call me stupid if you like, brother,” laughed Pig, “but you're even sillier than me. If you can't tell which is the master, don't waste your effort trying. If you can bear the headache, ask our master to say the spell. Friar Sand and I will each stand by one of them and listen. The one who doesn't know the words will be the fiend. What's the problem?”
“Good for you, brother,” said Monkey. “Only three people know the words of that spell. They came from the heart of Lord Buddha and were taught to the Bodhisattva Guanyin, who passed them on to our master. Nobody else knows them. Very well then. Say the spell, Master.” The Tang Priest then really did begin to recite it. The fiend, who could not possibly have known the words, could only mumble some gibberish.
“This one here who's mumbling is the fiend,” said Pig. Letting go of the monster and raising his rake to strike him with, the fiend leapt up into the air and flew away on a cloud.
With a great shout the splendid Pig mounted another cloud and went after him. Friar Sand too was so excited that he abandoned the Tang Priest and brandished his own staff for battle. Only then did the Tang Priest stop saying the spell. The Great Sage Monkey grabbed his cudgel and joined in the aerial chase despite his headache. In this fight three ferocious monks had one wretched fiend surrounded. As the fiend was held in check by Pig's rake and Friar Sand's staff, Monkey laughed and said, “I can't go straight up to him and hit him head-on because he's so scared of me that he'd run away. I'll go up higher, turn myself upside-down, and hit him that way.”
The Great Sage then sprang up in auspicious light to the ninth layer of cloud, and was just about to deliver his blow when a multicolored cloud appeared to the Northwest and a voice shouted loudly, “Don't hit him, Sun Wukong.” Monkey turned round to see that this was the Bodhisattva Manjusri checked his blow at once, and did obeisance.
“Where are you going, Bodhisattva?” he asked.
“I'm here to collect that fiend for you,” Manjusri replied. Monkey thanked him for his trouble. Manjusri produced the demon-revealing mirror from his sleeve to reveal the fiend's true form, then Monkey called Pig and Friar Sand to come to greet the Bodhisattva. When they all looked in the mirror they saw that the monster was quite appallingly ugly:
Eyes like glazed dishes,
A head like a steel cauldron.
His whole body blue as indigo in summer,
His claws as white as autumn frosts.
Two floppy ears,
A tail as long as a broom.
Blue hairs bristling with courage,
Red eyes shining with gold.
Flat teeth like jade flagstones,
Round whiskers sticking out like spears.
When his true image is shown in the mirror
He is Manjusri's Lion King.
“Bodhisattva,” said Monkey, “he's the blue-haired lion from under your throne. Why did he run
away here to be an evil spirit, and why didn't you subdue him before?”
“Wukong,” replied the Bodhisattva, “he didn't run away. He was sent here by the Lord Buddha.”
“How could the Lord Buddha possibly have sent this beast here to become a spirit and usurp a throne? I could have done with some of his edicts to help me to put up with the misery of escorting the Tang Priest.”
“There are some things you don't know,” said Manjusri. “That king of Wuji was a benevolent man and used to feast monks. The Lord Buddha sent me here to bring him to the West, where he might become a golden arhat. Because I could not appear to him in my real form I turned into an ordinary monk and asked him for some vegetarian food. When he was unable to answer some questions I asked he took me for an evildoer, had me tied up, and immersed me in the palace moat for three days. Luckily the Six Jias saved me with their golden bodies and took me back to the West, where I reported to the Tathagata Buddha. It was he who ordered that the king be pushed into the well and soaked for three years as punishment for my three-day soaking. 'Every mouthful we eat or drink is predestined.' By coming here you have now won a great merit.”
“You may have repaid your private grudge, like repaying every mouthful, but goodness only knows how many people that monster murdered,” replied Monkey.
“He never killed anyone,” the Bodhisattva replied. “In the three years since his arrival the winds and rains have come at the right time, the state has been strong and the people have known peace. He did nobody any harm.”
“Even if all that is granted,” said Monkey, “he's been sleeping with the queen and the consorts in the harem. Surely this has sullied them and been an affront to morality.”
“He has not sullied them at all,” the Bodhisattva replied. “He's a gelded lion.”