Journey to the West (vol. 2) Page 38

  The king fell to his knees and replied, “If you can rescue our queen we will gladly take our three queens and nine consorts away from the capital and go to live as commoners, leaving the whole kingdom to be yours to reign over, holy monk.”

  When Pig, who was sitting beside them, heard all this being said and such great honors being done he could not help bursting into noisy laughter.

  “This king's got no sense of what's proper,” he chortled. “Fancy giving up his kingdom and going on his knees to a monk for the sake of his old woman.”

  Monkey hurried forward to help the king back on his feet and ask, “Your Majesty, has the evil spirit been back since he got the Golden Queen?”

  “In the fifth month of the year before last,” the king said, “he carried off the Golden Queen. In the tenth month he came back to demand a couple of ladies in waiting to serve her, and we presented him with a couple. In the third month of last year he came to demand another couple, and two more in the seventh month. Then in the second month of this year it was a fourth pair. We do not know when he will be back again.”

  “If he comes that often you must be terrified of him,” Monkey replied.

  “Because he has come so frequently we are afraid of him and of his murderous intentions,” said the king. “In the fourth month last year we ordered the building of a demon shelter, so that whenever we hear the wind and know that he's coming we can shelter there with our two queens and nine consorts.”

  “Would Your Majesty mind taking me to see the shelter?” Monkey asked, and the king led Monkey by his left hand from the table. All the officials rose to their feet.

  “Brother,” protested Pig, “you're very unreasonable. Why leave this royal wine and break up the banquet to go looking at something?”

  Hearing this and realizing that Pig was worried for his stomach the king told his attendants to have two tables of vegetarian food brought along so that Pig could go on being wined outside the demon shelter. Only then did the idiot stop making a fuss and join in with his master and Friar Sand saying, “Let's break up the banquet.”

  As a column of civil and military officials led the way the king and Monkey went arm-in-arm through the living quarters of the palace to the back of the royal gardens, but there were no great buildings to be seen.

  “Where's the demon shelter?” Monkey asked, and before the words were out of his mouth two eunuchs levered open a square flagstone with red lacquered crowbars.

  “Here it is,” said the king. “Twenty feet or more below us a large underground palace hall has been excavated. In it there are four great vats of purified oil in which lights burn night and day. When we hear the wind we take shelter here and the flagstone is put on again from outside.”

  “So the evil spirit doesn't want to kill you,” said Monkey with a smile. “If he did this would give you no protection.” Just as he was speaking there came the roaring of a wind from due South that made the dust fly.

  In their alarm all the officials complained, “That monk has the mouth of an oracle. The moment he mentions the evil spirit it turns up.” The panic-stricken monarch abandoned Monkey and scuttled into his underground shelter. The Tang Priest went with him, and all the officials fled for cover.

  Pig and Friar Sand wanted to hide too, but Monkey grabbed one of them with each hand and said, “Don't be afraid, brothers. You and I are going to identify him and see what sort of evil spirit he is.”

  “Nonsense,” said Pig. “What do we want to identify him for? The officials have all hidden and the king's shut himself away. Why don't we clear off? What kind of hero are you trying to be?” But struggle though he might the idiot could not break free. When Monkey had been holding on to him for some time an evil spirit suddenly appeared in mid-air. Just see what it looked like:

  A loathsome great body nine feet tall,

  Round eyes flashing like lamps of gold.

  Two huge ears sticking out as if they were round fans,

  Four steel fangs like very long nails.

  Red hair curled at his temples; his brows were as flames;

  His nose was a hanging trough; his nostrils flared.

  His whiskers were strands of cinnabar thread,

  And jutting cheekbones shaped his green face.

  On red-muscled arms were hands of indigo blue,

  And ten sharp claws grasped a spear.

  A leopardskin kilt was tied round his waist.

  Bare feet and tangled hair completed his fiendish looks.

  “Friar Sand,” asked Monkey when he saw the evil spirit, “can you recognize him?”

  “I don't know who he is,” Friar Sand replied. “I've never seen him before.”

  “Pig,” Monkey next asked, “do you know?”

  “I've never had a cup or a drink with him,” Pig replied. “He's no friend or neighbour of mine. How could I know?”

  “He reminds me of the sallow-faced golden-eyed gate keeper ghost under the Equal of Heaven of the Eastern Peak.”

  “No he isn't, no he isn't,” said Pig.

  “How do you know he isn't?” Monkey asked.

  “Because ghosts are spirits of the dark and the underworld,” Pig replied. “They only come out at night, between five and midnight. It's only ten in the morning, and no ghost would ever dare come out now. And even if it was a devil it'd never ride a cloud. Ghosts that stir up winds make whirlwinds, not gales. Perhaps he's the Evil Star Matcher.”

  “You're not such an idiot after all,” said Monkey. “That sounds sensible, so you two look after the master while I go to ask him his name. That'll help me rescue the Golden Queen and bring her back to the palace for the king.”

  “Go if you must,” Pig replied, “but don't tell him anything about us.” Monkey did not deign to answer, but leapt straight up on his magic light. Goodness!

  To settle the nation he started by curing the king;

  To preserve the Way love and hatred had to go.

  If you don't know who won the battle that followed when Monkey rose up into the sky or how the evil monster was captured and the Golden Queen rescued listen to the explanation in the next chapter.

  Chapter 70

  The Evil Monster's Treasures Emit Smoke,

  Sand and Fire Wukong Steals the Golden Bells by Trickery

  The story tells how Brother Monkey summoned up his divine prestige and rose up into the air on his magic light, wielding his iron cudgel. “Where are you from, evil monster?” he asked, shouting in the evil spirit's face. “And where are you going to wreak havoc?”

  “I'm the vanguard warrior under the Great King Evil Star Matcher from Horndog Cave on Mount Unicorn,” shouted the demon at the top of his voice, “that's who I am. His Majesty has ordered me to fetch two ladies-in-waiting to serve Her Majesty the Golden Queen. Who are you and how dare you question me?”

  “I'm Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven,” Monkey replied. “I was passing through this country while escorting the Tang Priest to worship the Buddha in the Western Heaven. Now I know that your gang of monsters was oppressing the king I'm going to use my heroic powers to bring the country back to order and wipe out this evil. And now you've come along to throw your life away just when I didn't know where to find you.” When the monster heard this he foolishly thrust his spear at Monkey, who struck back at his face with the iron cudgel. They fought a splendid battle up in mid-air:

  The cudgel was the sea-settler from the dragon's palace;

  The spear was of iron tempered by mankind.

  An ordinary weapon was no match for that of an immortal;

  In a few clashes its magic powers all drained away.

  The Great Sage was an immortal of the Supreme Ultimate;

  The spirit was only an evil monster.

  How could a demon approach a True One?

  In the face of truth the evil would be destroyed.

  One stirred up wind and dust to terrify a king;

  The other trod on mist and cloud to blot out sun and moon.

>   When they dropped their guard to try for victory

  Neither of them dared to show off.

  The Heaven-equaling Great Sage was the abler fighter:

  With a loud clash of his cudgel the spear was broken.

  When his spear was quickly broken in two by Monkey's iron cudgel the evil spirit was in fear for his life, so he turned the wind right round and fled Westwards.

  Instead of chasing him Monkey brought his cloud down to the entrance of the underground demon shelter. “Master,” he called, “you and His Majesty can come out now. The monster's run away.” Only then did the Tang Priest come out of the underground shelter, supporting the king. The sky was clear, and all traces of the evil spirit had disappeared.

  The king went over to the table, filled a golden goblet from the wine bottle with his own hands, and presented it to Monkey with the words, “Holy monk, allow us to offer our provisional thanks.”

  Monkey took the cup, but before he could reply an official came in from outside the Western gate of the palace to report, “The Western gate is on fire.”

  As soon as he heard this Monkey threw the wine, cup and all, up into the air. The cup fell with a clang. This so alarmed the king that he bowed to Monkey with the words, “Forgive us, holy monk, forgive us. We have treated you shabbily. The proper thing would have been to ask you into the throne hall to bow to you in thanks. We only offered you the wine here because it was to hand. Did you not throw the goblet aside because you were offended, holy monk?”

  “Nothing of the sort,” laughed Monkey, “nothing of the sort.”

  A moment later another official came in to report, “There's been a miraculous fall of rain. No sooner had the Western gate caught fire than a heavy rainstorm put it out. The streets are running with water and it all smells of wine.”

  “Your Majesty,” said Monkey with another smile, “you thought I'd taken offence when I tossed the cup aside, but you were wrong. When the evil spirit fled Westwards I didn't go after him, so he started that fire. I just used the goblet to put out the demon's fire and save the people outside the Western gate. It didn't mean anything else.”

  The king, even more delighted than before, treated Monkey with still greater respect. He invited Sanzang and his three disciples to enter the throne hall with him, clearly intending to abdicate in their favour.

  “Your Majesty,” said Brother Monkey with a smile, “the demon who was here just now said he was a vanguard warrior under the Evil Star Matcher who'd come here to fetch palace girls. Now he's gone back beaten he's bound to report that damned monster, who's certain to come here to fight me. I'm worried that if he comes here at the head of his hordes he'll alarm the common people and terrify Your Majesty. I'd like to go out to meet him, capture him in mid-air and bring back your queen. But I don't know the way. How far is it to his cave from here?”

  “We once sent some of the horsemen and infantry of our night scouts to find out what was happening,” the king replied. “The return journey took them over fifty days. It's over a thousand miles away to the South.”

  “Pig, Friar Sand,” said Monkey on learning this, “stay on guard here. I'm off.”

  “Wait another day, holy monk,” said the king, grabbing hold of him. “Don't go till we have had some dried provisions prepared for you. We'll give you silver for the journey and a fast horse too.”

  “You're talking as if I'd have to go slogging up mountains and over ridges, Your Majesty,” Monkey replied. “I tell you truthfully that I can do the return journey of a thousand miles each way before a cup of wine you've poured out has had time to get cold.”

  “Holy monk,” the king replied, “I hope you won't take offence at our saying this, but your distinguished features are very much like those of an ape. How can you have such magical powers of travel?” To this Monkey replied:

  “Although my body is the body of an ape,

  When young I mastered the paths of life and death.

  1 visited all the great teachers who taught me their Way

  And trained myself by night and day beside the mountain.

  I took heaven as my roof and the earth as my furnace

  And used both kinds of drug to complete the sun and moon,

  Taking from positive and negative, joining fire and water,

  Until suddenly I-was aware of the Mystic Pass.

  1 relied entirely on the Dipper for success in my movements,

  Shifting my steps by relying on the handle of that constellation.

  When the time is right I lower or increase the heat,

  Taking out lead and adding mercury, watching them both.

  By grouping the Five Elements transformations are made;

  Through combining the Four Forms the seasons can be distinguished.

  The two vital forces returned to the zodiac;

  The three teachings met on the golden elixir road.

  When understanding of the laws came to the four limbs

  The original somersault was given divine assistance.

  With a single bound I could cross the Taihang mountains;

  At one go I could fly across the Cloud-touching Ford.

  A thousand steep ridges are no bother to me,

  Nor hundreds of rivers as great as the Yangtse.

  Because my transformations are impossible to stop

  I can cover sixty thousand miles in a single leap.

  The king was both alarmed and delighted to hear this. He presented a cup of royal wine to Monkey with a chuckle and the words, “Holy monk, you have a long and tiring journey ahead of you. Won't you drink this wine to help you on your way?”

  All the Great Sage had on his mind was going off to defeat the demon, he was not at all interested in drinking. “Put it down,” he said. “I'll drink it when I come back.” No sooner had the splendid Monkey said this than he disappeared with a whoosh. We will not describe the amazement of the king and his subjects.

  Instead we tell how with a single leap Monkey was soon in sight of a tall mountain locked in mists. He brought his cloud down till he was standing on the summit. When he looked around he saw that it was a fine mountain:

  Soaring to the heavens, occupying the earth,

  Blocking out the sun and making clouds.

  Where it soared to the heavens

  The towering peak rose high;

  In the earth it occupied

  Its ranges spread afar.

  What blocked the sun

  Was the ridge dark with pines;

  Where clouds were made

  Was among the boulders glistening underneath the scar.

  The dark pines

  Were green throughout all seasons;

  The glistening boulders

  Would never change in many a thousand years.

  Apes could often be heard howling in the night,

  And evil pythons would often cross the deep ravines.

  On the mountains birds sang sweetly

  While the wild beasts roared.

  Mountain roebuck and deer

  Moved around in many a pair.

  Mountain magpies and crows

  Flew in dense flocks.

  There was no end of mountain flowers in sight,

  While mountain peaches and other fruit gleamed in season.

  Steep it was, and the going impossible,

  But this was still a place where evil immortals could live in retirement.

  The Great Sage gazed with unbounded delight and was just about to look for the entrance to the cave when flames leapt out from a mountain hollow. In an instant the red fire blazed to the heavens, and from the flames there poured out evil smoke that was even more terrible than the fire. What splendid smoke! This is what could be seen:

  The fire glared with a myriad golden lamps;

  The flames leapt in a thousand crimson rainbows.

  The smoke was not a stove chimney's smoke,

  Nor the smoke of grass or wood,

  But smoke of many colours,

  Blue, r
ed, white, black and yellow.

  It blackened the columns outside the Southern Gate of Heaven,

  Scorched the roofbeams in the Hall of Miraculous Mist.

  It burned so hard that

  Wild beasts in their dens were cooked through, skins and all,

  And the forest birds lost all their plumage.

  At the mere sight of this appalling smoke he wondered

  How the demon king could be captured in the mountain.

  Just as the Great Sage was transfixed with terror a sandstorm burst out of the mountain. What magnificent sand! It blotted out the sun and the sky. Look:

  Swirling masses of it filled the sky,

  Dark and turbid as it covered the earth.

  The fine grains blinded the people everywhere,

  While bigger cinders filled the valleys like rolling sesame seeds.

  Immortal boys collecting herbs lost their companions;

  Woodmen gathering firewood could not find their way home.

  Even if you were holding a bright-shining pearl

  It still would have blown too hard for you to see.

  Monkey had been so absorbed in enjoying the view that he did not notice the sand and cinders flying into his nose till it started tickling. Giving two great sneezes he stretched his hand out behind him, felt for two pebbles at the foot of a cliff and blocked his nostrils with them, then shook himself and turned into a fire-grabbing sparrowhawk that flew straight in among the flames and smoke, made a few swoops, and at once stopped the sand and cinders and put out the fires. He quickly turned back into himself, landed, and looked around again. This time he heard a banging and a clanging like a copper gong.

  “I've come the wrong way,” he said to himself. “This is no den of demons. The gong sounds like an official messenger's gong. This must be the main road to some country, and that I must be an official messenger on his way to deliver some document. I'll go and question him.”

  As Monkey went along what looked like a young demon appeared. He was holding a yellow flag, carrying a document on his back and beating a gong as he hurried along so fast he was almost flying. “So this is the so-and-so who was beating that gong,” Monkey said. “I wonder what document he's delivering. I'll ask him.”