Journey to the West (vol. 1) Read online

  “Come back with me,” he ordered the monkeys.

  “Your Majesty,” they replied, “when we came here all we could hear was the wind howling in our ears as it blew us here, so we don't know the way. How are we ever going to get back?”

  “There's nothing at all to that spell he used,” said Sun Wukong. “I can do it too, as now I only have to know the smallest bit about something to understand it completely. Shut your eyes and don't worry.”

  Splendid Monkey King. He recited a spell, took them riding on a hurricane, then brought the cloud down to the ground.

  “Open your eyes and look, children,” he shouted. As soon as the monkeys' feet touched the ground they recognized their home. In their delight they all ran along the familiar path to the cave, and the monkeys who had stayed in the cave all crowded in as well. They divided themselves into age-groups and bowed in homage to the Monkey King. Wine and food was laid out to celebrate, and they asked him how he had defeated the demon king and saved their children. When Sun Wukong had told them the whole story the monkeys were full of admiration.

  “Where did you learn such arts, Your Majesty?” they asked insistently.

  “When I left you,” Sun Wukong replied, “I followed the waves and the currents, and drifted across the Eastern Ocean to the Southern Jambu Continent. Here I taught myself to take human form and to wear these clothes and boots. I swaggered around for eight or nine years, but I never found the Way, so I sailed across the Western Ocean to the Western Continent of Cattle-gift. After long enquiries I was lucky enough to meet a venerable Immortal, who taught me the True Result, which makes me as immortal as heaven, and the great Dharma Gate to eternal youth.” The monkeys all congratulated him and exclaimed that his like could not be found in a billion years.

  Sun Wukong laughed and said, “Children, we should congratulate ourselves on having a surname.”

  “What is Your Majesty's surname?” the monkey masses asked.

  “My surname is now Sun, and my Buddhist name is Wukong.”

  The monkeys all clapped their hands with joy and said, “Your Majesty is Old Sun, and we are Second Sun, Third Sun, Thin Sun, Little Sun-a family of Suns, a nation of Suns, a den of Suns.” They all offered Old Sun their respects, with big plates and small bowls of coconut toddy, grape wine, magic flowers, and magic fruit. The whole household was happy. My word!

  By uniting themselves with a single surname

  They are waiting to be transferred to the Register of Immortals.

  If you don't know how this ended and want to know about the rest of their lives there, then listen to the explanation in the next installment.

  Chapter 3

  The Four Seas and Thousand Mountains All Submit

  In the Ninth Hell the Tenth Category Is Struck Off the Register

  We have related how the Handsome Monkey King returned home in glory, bringing a large sword he had captured when he killed the Demon King of Confusion. From then on they practiced the military arts every day. He asked the little monkeys to cut down bamboo to make spears, carve swords out of wood, and learn to use banners and whistles. They learned to advance and retreat, and build a camp with a stockade round it. They spent a lot of time playing at this.

  Once Sun Wukong was sitting in his seat of meditation when he wondered: “What would happen to us if our games were taken for the real thing? What if it alarmed some human monarch or gave offence to some king of birds or beasts? They might say that we were having military training for a rebellion, and attack us with their armies. You would be no match for them with your bamboo spears and wooden swords. We must have really sharp swords and halberds. What are we to do about it?”

  When the monkeys heard this they all said with alarm, “Your Majesty has great foresight, but there's nowhere we can get them.” When it was the turn of four older monkeys to speak-two bare-bottomed apes and two gibbons-they came forward and said, “Your Majesty, if you want sharp weapons they can be very easily obtained.”

  “How could it be easy?” asked Sun Wukong.

  “To the East of our mountain,” they replied, “there is a lake some seventy miles wide that is the boundary of the country of Aolai. That country has a princely capital, and huge numbers of soldiers and civilians live in the city. It must have workshops for gold, silver, bronze and iron. If you went there, Your Majesty, you could either buy arms or get them made; then you could train us to use them in the defense of our mountain. This would give us long-term security.” Sun Wukong was delighted with the suggestion.

  “Wait here while I go there,” he said.

  Splendid Monkey King! He leapt on to his somersault cloud, crossed the seventy miles of lake, and saw that on the other side there was indeed a city wall, a moat, streets, markets, ten thousand houses, a thousand gates, and people coming and going in the sunlight.

  “There must be ready-made weapons here,” Sun Wukong thought, “and getting a few by magic would be much better than buying them.” So he made a magic with his fist and said the words of the spell, sucked in some air from the Southeast, and blew it hard out again. It turned into a terrifying gale carrying sand and stones with it.

  Where the thunderclouds rise the elements are in chaos;

  Black fogs thick with dust cloak the earth in darkness.

  Boiling rivers and seas terrify the crabs and fish;

  As trees are snapped off in mountain forests tigers and wolves flee.

  No business is done in any branch of commerce;

  And no one is working at any kind of trade.

  In the palace the king has gone to his inner quarters;

  And the officials in front of the steps have returned to their offices.

  The thrones of princes are all blown over;

  Towers of five phoenixes are shaken to their foundations.

  Where the storm blew, the prince of Aolai fled in terror, and gates and doors were shut in the streets and markets. Nobody dared to move outside. Sun Wukong landed his cloud and rushed straight through the gates of the palace to the arsenal and the military stores, opened the doors, and saw countless weapons: swords, pikes, sabres, halberds, battleaxes, bills, scimitars, maces, tridents, clubs, bows, crossbows, forks, and spears were all there.

  At the sight of them he said happily, “How many of these could I carry by myself? I'd better use the magic for dividing up my body.”

  Splendid Monkey King. He plucked a hair from his body, chewed it up, spat it out, made the magic with his fist, said the words of the spell, and shouted “Change!” It turned into hundreds and thousands of little monkeys, who rushed wildly about grabbing weapons. The strong ones took six or seven each and the weaker ones two or three, and between them they removed the lot. He climbed back up on the clouds, called up a gale by magic, and took all the little monkeys home with him.

  The monkeys big and small of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit were playing outside the gates of the cave when they heard the wind. At the sight of countless monkey spirits flying through the air they fled and hid. A moment later the Handsome Monkey King landed his cloud, put away his mists, shook himself, replaced his hair, and threw all the weapons into a pile beside the mountain.

  “Children,” he shouted, “come and get your weapons.” When the monkey masses looked they saw Sun Wukong standing by himself on some level ground, and they all rushed over to him to kowtow and asked what had happened. Sun Wukong told them the whole story of how he had raised the gale and taken the weapons. After all the monkeys had thanked him they snatched sabres, grabbed swords, seized battleaxes, fought for pikes, drew bows, stretched crossbows, shouted, yelled, and so amused themselves for the rest of the day.

  The next day they paraded as usual. Sun Wukong assembled all the monkey host, and they numbered over forty-seven thousand. This had alarmed all the strange beasts of the mountain-wolves, monsters, tigers, leopards, deer, muntjacs, river-deer, foxes, wild cats, badgers, raccoons, lions, elephants, horses, orangutans, bears, stags, wild boar, mountain cattle, antelope
s, rhinoceroses, little dogs, huge dogs. The kings of various kinds of monsters, seventy-two in all, all came to pay homage to the Monkey King. They offered tribute every year and attended court in each of the four seasons. They also took part in drill and paid their seasonal grain levies. Everything was so orderly that the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit was as secure as an iron bucket or a wall of bronze. The kings of the monsters sent gongs, drums, coloured flags, helmets, and armour in great abundance, and every day there were military exercises.

  One day, amid all this success, the Handsome Monkey King suddenly said to the other monkeys, “You are now expert in the bow and crossbow, and highly skilled in other weapons; but this sword of mine is too clumsy for my liking. What shall I do about it?”

  The four veteran monkeys came forward and submitted a suggestion: “Your Majesty is an Immortal, so mortals' weapons are not good enough for you. We wonder if Your Majesty is able to travel underwater.”

  “Since hearing the Way,” Sun Wukong replied, “I have mastered the seventy-two earthly transformations. My somersault cloud has outstanding magical powers. I know how to conceal myself and vanish. I can make spells and end them. I can reach the sky and find my way into the earth. I can travel under the sun or moon without leaving a shadow or go through metal or stone freely. I can't be drowned by water or burned by fire. There's nowhere I cannot go.”

  “If Your Majesty has these magical powers, the stream under our iron bridge leads to the Dragon palace of the Eastern Sea. If you are willing to go down there, go and find the Dragon King and ask him for whatever weapon it is you want. Wouldn't that suit you?”

  “Wait till I get back,” was Sun Wukong's delighted reply.

  Splendid Monkey King. He leapt to the end of the bridge and made a spell with his fist to ward off the water. Then he dived into the waves and split the waters to make way for himself till he reached the bed of the Eastern Sea. On his journey he saw a yaksha demon who was patrolling the sea.

  The yaksha barred his way and asked, “What sage or divinity are you, pushing the waters aside like that? Please tell me so that I can make a report and have you properly received.”

  “I am the Heaven-born Sage Sun Wukong from the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, and your old Dragon King's close neighbour. How is it you don't know me?”

  When the yaksha heard this he hurried back to the crystal palace and reported, “Your Majesty, Sun Wukong, the Heaven-born Sage from the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit who says he is your neighbour, is coming to your palace.” Ao Guang, the Old Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, leapt to his feet and went out to meet Sun Wukong with his dragon sons and grandsons, his prawn soldiers, and his crab generals.

  “Come in, exalted Immortal,” he said, taking Sun Wukong into the palace where they introduced themselves, seated him in the place of honour, and offered him tea. Then the Dragon King asked him, “Exalted Immortal, when did you find the Way, and what magic arts did you acquire?”

  “After my birth,” said Sun Wukong, “I renounced the world and cultivated my conduct, and thus obtained an immortal and indestructible body. Recently I have trained my sons and grandsons to guard our cave, but unfortunately I have not yet found my self a weapon. I have long heard that my illustrious neighbour enjoys the delights of a jade palace with gate-towers of cowry, and I was sure that you must have some magic weapons to spare, so I have come especially to beg one of you.”

  Not wishing to refuse this request, the Dragon King sent Commander Perch to fetch a large sword and offer it to Sun Wukong.

  “I don't know how to use a sword,” said Sun Wukong, “so could I ask you to give me something else?” The Old Dragon King then sent Colonel Mackerel and Guard Commander Eel to fetch a nine-pronged spear.

  Sun Wukong leapt down from his seat, took it, tried it out, then flung it down, saying, “It's too light, far too light; and it doesn't suit me. I beg you to give me another.”

  The Dragon King smiled as he said, “Exalted Immortal, don't you see that this weighs three thousand six hundred pounds?”

  “It doesn't suit me, it doesn't suit me at all,” protested Sun Wukong.

  The Dragon King, feeling frightened now, ordered Provincial Commander Bream and Garrison Commander Carp to bring out a patterned heavenly halberd for warding off spells that weighed seven thousand two hundred pounds.

  As soon as he saw it Sun Wukong bounded forward to take it. He tried a few postures and thrusts with it then stuck it in the ground between them. “Still too light, far too light.”

  The Dragon King, now really terrified, said, “Exalted Immortal, that halberd is the heaviest weapon in my palace.”

  “As the old saying goes,” said Sun Wukong with a grin, “'Never think the dragon king has no treasures.' Have another look, and if you find anything satisfying I'll give you a good price for it.”

  “I really have nothing else,” the Dragon King replied.

  As he was speaking, his dragon wife and dragon daughters came in from the back of the palace and said, “Your Majesty, by the look of him this sage must be really somebody. The piece of miraculous iron that anchors the Milkey Way in place has been shining with a lovely rosy glow for the last few days, and creating a most auspicious atmosphere. Perhaps it has started to shine to greet this sage.”

  “That piece of miraculous iron is one of the nails that Yu the Great used to fix the depths of rivers and seas when he brought the waters under control,” said the Dragon King. “What use could it be?”

  “Never mind whether it's useful or not,” his wife replied. “Just give it to him and let him do with it as he pleases. At least you'll get him out of the palace.”

  The Dragon King did as she suggested and described the piece of iron to Sun Wukong, who said, “Bring it out and let me see.”

  “It can't be moved. You will have to go and look at it yourself, exalted Immortal.”

  “Where is it? Take me there,” said Sun Wukong.

  The Dragon King took him into the middle of the sea treasury, where all of a sudden they could see ten thousand rays of golden light. Pointing at it, the Dragon King said, “That's it, where all the light is coming from.”

  Sun Wukong hitched up his clothes and went to give it a feel. He found that it was an iron pillar about as thick as a measure for a peck of grain and some twenty feet long. Seizing it with both hands he said, “It's too thick and too long. If it were a bit shorter and thinner it would do.” As soon as these words were out of his mouth this precious piece of iron became several feet shorter and a few inches thinner.

  Sun Wukong tossed it in his hands, remarking that it would be even better if it were thinner still. The precious iron thereupon became even thinner. Sun Wukong was taking it out of the sea treasury to have a look at it when he saw that it had two gold bands round it, while the middle part was made of black iron. There was a line of inlaid writing near the bands which said that it was the AS-YOU-WILL COLD-BANDED CUDGEL: WEIGHT 13,500 POUNDS.

  Sun Wukong was delighted, though he did not show it. “I think that this little darling will do whatever I want.” As he walked along he weighed it in his hand and said reflectively, “If it were even smaller still it would be perfect.” By the time he had taken it outside it was twenty feet long and as thick as a rice bowl.

  Watch him as he uses his magical powers to try a few routines with it, whirling all round the crystal palace. The Old Dragon King was trembling with fright, and the little dragons were scared out of their wits. Terrapins, freshwater turtles, seawater turtles and alligators drew in their heads, while fish, shrimps, lobsters and giant turtles hid their faces.

  Holding his treasure in his hands, Sun Wukong sat down in the main hall of the palace of crystal and said with a smile to the Dragon King, “Many thanks, worthy neighbour, for your great generosity.”

  The Old Dragon King humbly acknowledged his thanks, and Sun Wukong went on, “This piece of iron will be very useful, but there is one more thing I want to ask.”

  “What might th
at be, exalted Immortal?” asked the Dragon King.

  “If I hadn't got this cudgel, that would be the end of the matter, but as I have got it the problem is that I don't have-the clothes to go with it. What are we to do about it? If you have any armour here, I'd be most obliged if you gave me a suit.” The Dragon King said he had not any.

  “'A guest should not have to trouble two hosts,'“ said Sun Wukong. “I won't leave without one.”

  “Please try some other sea, exalted Immortal-you may find one there.”

  “'It's better to stay in one house than to visit three.' I beg and implore you to give me a suit.”

  “I really don't have one,” replied the Dragon King. “If I had I would present it to you.”

  “If you really haven't, then I'll try this cudgel out on you.”

  “Don't hit me, exalted Immortal, don't hit me,” pleaded the Dragon King in terror. “Let me see whether my brothers have one that they could give you.”

  “Where do your brothers live?”

  “They are Ao Qin, the Dragon King of the Southern Sea, Ao Shun, the Dragon King of the Northern Sea, and Ao Run, the Dragon King of the Southern Sea.”

  “I'm damned if I'm going there: as the saying goes, 'Two in the pocket is better than three owing.' So be a good chap and give me one.”

  “There is no need for you to go, lofty Immortal,” the Dragon King replied, “I have an iron drum and a bronze bell. In an emergency we strike them to bring my brothers here in an instant.”

  “In that case,” said Sun Wukong, “hurry up and sound them.” And indeed an alligator general struck the bell while a terrapin marshal beat the drum. The sound of the bell and the drum startled the other three dragon kings, who had arrived and were waiting together outside within the instant.

  One of them, Ao Qin, said, “Elder Brother, what's up? Why the drum and the bell?”

  “It hurts me to tell you, brother,” the Old Dragon King replied. “There's this so-called heaven-born sage from the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit who came here this morning saying that I was his neighbour, then demanded a weapon. I offered him a steel-pronged spear but he said it was too small, and a patterned halberd that he said was too light. Then he picked up the miraculous iron that fastens the Milky Way and tried a few movements with it. Now he's sitting in the palace and demanding a suit of armour, but we haven't got one. That's why I used the bell and the drum to call you here. You three must have some armour. Please give him a suit, then we can get rid of him.”