The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 3

by Unknown

  The Great Sage displays his might;

  The demon’s no longer tame.

  The two wage a fierce contest,

  For neither’s willing to quit.

  This one’s iron rod seems like a dragon’s tail;

  That one’s long lance resembles a python’s head.

  From this one, the strokes of the rod roar like the wind;

  From that one, the blows of the lance flow like strong currents.

  You see colored mists close in to darken the peaks

  And auspicious clouds hover o’er the woods.

  The birds in the air all stop their wings;

  The beasts in the wilds all hide their heads.

  On the battlefield the little fiends cheer;

  On this side the Great Sage rouses himself.

  His one iron rod that none can withstand

  Has fought throughout the West’s ten thousand miles.

  But that long lance is truthfully his match,

  E’re ruling Golden Helmet with all success.

  They meet this time and they won’t leave in peace;

  Till one obtains a victory they’ll never cease.

  For three hours the demon king fought with the Great Sage Sun, but no decision could be reached. Soon it was getting dark. Using the lance to hold back the rod, the demon said, “Wukong, you stop now. When it’s dark everywhere, it’s no time to fight. Let’s each of us take some rest. We’ll resume our contest tomorrow morning.” “Shut up, you lawless beast!” scolded Pilgrim. “Old Monkey’s just getting inspired! Who cares if it’s getting late! I’m determined to find out which of us is better.” With a shout, however, the fiend turned and fled, leading all those fiends and their arms back into the cave, after which they had the door tightly shut.

  As the Great Sage walked back to the peak with his rod trailing behind him, the Heaven deities all congratulated him with these words: “Truly a mighty power Equal to Heaven! What boundless, what limitless powers!” “Thanks for the compliments! Thanks for the compliments!” said Pilgrim. “We haven’t exaggerated in our praise,” said Devarāja Li, drawing near. “You are indeed quite a man! The way you fought just now reminded us of the time when you defied the cosmic nets.” “Let’s not revive old gossip,” said Pilgrim. “After he had fought with old Monkey all this while, that fiend must be tired. I won’t complain of fatigue; while all of you sit here and relax, I want to go into the cave to find out where he has hidden that fillet of his. I’m determined to steal it and to catch the fiend. Then we can find your weapons so that you all may return to Heaven.” “It’s getting late,” said the prince. “Why not rest for the night and go there tomorrow morning?” Laughing, Pilgrim said, “Our little boy is still ignorant of the ways of the world! Who has ever seen a thief starting something in daytime? To sneak inside, one must go during the night, undetected; that’s how this business is done!” Both Fiery Virtue and one of the thunder squires said, “Don’t talk anymore, Third Prince. This sort of thing may be foreign to us, but the Great Sage is an expert. He has to make use of this time, for the demon is tired and his guard may be down during the night. Let the Great Sage go now. Go quickly!”

  Dear Great Sage! Grinning broadly, he put away his iron rod and leaped down from the tall summit to go once more before the cave. He shook his body once and immediately changed into a small cricket. Truly he has

  Hard mouth, long whiskers, and black skin,

  With keen eyes and legs forked like branches.

  Midst bright moon and clear breeze he chirps on the wall,

  Like someone speaking in silent night.

  He weeps when dew saddens prospect,

  A proud voice, though halting and faint.

  The window’s pensive guest dreads hearing him,

  This lodger ’neath the steps or the bed.1

  Stretching forth his long legs, he jumped up to the door with three or four leaps and crawled inside through a crack. He squatted near the foot of the wall and, by the light of lamps and torches inside, looked carefully around. The various fiends, young and old, were just wolfing down their dinners. Pilgrim creaked and cricked for a while, and soon after, the fiends finished eating and put away their utensils. After laying out their bedding, all the fiends retired. Not until the time of the first watch did Pilgrim go to the rear chamber, where he heard the old demon give this command: “All the little ones guarding the doors should sleep lightly. I fear that Sun Wukong may change into something to come in here to steal again.” Those who were taking turns to stand watch began to beat their rattles or ring their bells. Our Great Sage, however, was most eager to do what he came to do!

  After he crawled into the bedroom, he found a stone bed, on both sides of which were several mountain ghosts or tree spirits all powdered and rouged. They were making the bed and helping the old demon to retire; some were unlacing his boots while others were untying his robe. After the demon king took off his clothes, at once the fillet—all ghostly white—could be seen. It was attached to his left shoulder like an armlet made of a string of pearls. Look at him! Instead of taking the fillet off, he pushed it up a couple of times until it was snugly clamped to his shoulder. Only then did he lie down to sleep. With one shake of his body again, Pilgrim changed into a flea with yellow skin. Leaping onto the stone bed and crawling inside his covers, he crept up to the left shoulder of the fiend and gave him a sturdy bite. The fiend was so stung by it that he turned over, shouting, “These slaves! They ought to be beaten more often! They didn’t shake the covers, nor did they brush the bedding. Now I’ve been bitten by I don’t know what!” He gave his fillet two further shoves before dozing off once more. Crawling above the fillet, Pilgrim gave him another bite. Unable to sleep, the fiend sat up, yelling, “I’m itching to death!”

  When Pilgrim saw how carefully he guarded the fillet, refusing to let it leave his body for even a moment, Pilgrim knew that he would not be able to steal it. He leaped down from the bed, changed once more into a cricket, and left the bedroom to go to the rear, where he again heard dragons whining and horses neighing. Behind two doors tightly locked, you see, fire dragons and fire horses all hung inside. Pilgrim changed back to his original form as he walked up to the door to exercise his lock-opening magic. He recited a spell and gave the padlock a wipe: immediately the double patches snapped open. Pushing open the doors, he walked into a room so brightly lit by fire equipment that it seemed like daylight. Several weapons were seen leaning against the east and the west walls: they were the fiend-slashing scimitar of the prince, the fire bows and fire arrows of Fiery Virtue, and the like. In the glow of the light, Pilgrim looked carefully around and saw on top of a stone table behind the door a small basket woven of bamboo. Inside was placed a bunch of hairs. Filled with delight, the Great Sage picked up the hairs and blew on them two mouthfuls of hot air, crying, “Change!” They changed at once into forty or fifty little monkeys, who were then told to pick up the scimitar, the sword, the club, the wheel, together with the bows, the arrows, the lances, the carts, the gourds, the fire crows, the fire rats, and the fire horses—all those things sucked away by the fillet. After they had mounted the fire dragons, they started a huge blaze that burned outward from deep inside the cave. All you could hear were the snapping and cracking—bing-bing, bang-bang—as if thunderbolts or fire cannons were let loose inside. Those monster-spirits, young and old, were utterly terrified; in a stupor, they hugged their blankets or covered their heads, some screaming, some weeping. None of them knew which way to run and more than half of them were burned to death by the fire. The Handsome Monkey King thus returned to his camp in triumph at about the hour of the third watch.

  We now tell you about Devarāja Li and his companions on the tall summit. They suddenly saw a bright flare of lights rushing toward them, and then they discovered Pilgrim riding on a dragon and shouting commands to a team of little monkeys as they ascended the mountain. After reaching the peak, he yelled: “Come and get your weapons! Come and get your weapons!�
� Fiery Virtue and Naṭa immediately answered his call, while Pilgrim shook his body to retrieve his hairs. Prince Naṭa took back his six weapons, and Fiery Virtue told his subordinates to put away the fire dragons and other equipment. All of them were full of smiles and praises for Pilgrim, and we shall leave them there for the moment.

  We tell you instead about the Golden Helmet Cave, where flames were still shooting up everywhere. The Bovine Great King was scared out of his wits; dashing out of his room, he held his fillet up high with both hands. He pushed it toward the fire this way and that way, and it immediately went out. Though the air was filled with flame and smoke, they all subsided after he and his treasure had run through the entire cave. He tried to rescue the other fiends, but over half of them had been burned to death. Those who survived, male and female, did not number a hundred. Then he went to inspect the place where he had hidden the weapons, but not a single item could be found. Finally, he reached the rear of the cave where he saw Eight Rules, Sha Monk, and the elder still securely bound. The white dragon horse was tied to the stall, and even the load of luggage remained in the room. Angrily, the demon said, “I wonder which of the little fiends was so careless that he started the fire and brought all this on us!” “Great King,” one of the attendants by his side said, “This fire could not have been started by any one of our own. It had to be the work of someone intent on raiding our camp; after he had released the equipment of the fire department, he also stole the divine weapons.” Only then did the old demon realize what had happened. “There is no one else!” he said. “It has to be that thief, Sun Wukong! No wonder I had such a hard time when I tried to sleep just now! That larcenous ape must have gotten in here by means of transformation and gave my shoulder a couple of bites. Undoubtedly he wanted to steal my treasure, but when he saw how tightly it was attached to my body, he could not do it. That was the reason he stole the other weapons instead and let loose the fire dragons. How vicious of him! He wanted to burn me to death! Oh thievish ape! You’ve made vain use of your trickery! When I have this treasure on me, I can’t be drowned even when I plunge into the ocean, nor can I be burned if I leap into a pool of fire. But when I catch you, thief, this time, I’m going to skin and cut you up alive. Only then will I be satisfied.”

  He spoke sullenly in this manner for a long time, and soon thereafter it was dawn. On the tall summit, the prince, holding his six weapons that had just been recovered, said to Pilgrim, “Great Sage, it’s getting bright. Let’s not wait any further. We should make use of this opportunity when that demon’s will to fight has been blunted by you. With the help of the fire department, let us go again to do battle with him. Most probably he’ll be captured this time.” “You are right,” said Pilgrim, chuckling. “Let us unite and go have some fun!”

  In high spirits and eager to fight, each of them went up to the cave entrance. “Lawless demon, come out!” bellowed Pilgrim. “Come and fight with old Monkey!” The two stone doors of the cave, you see, had been reduced to ashes the night before by the intense heat. At the moment, several little fiends by the entrance were just in the process of gathering up the ashes and sweeping the ground. When they saw the various sages approach, they were so terrified that they abandoned their brooms and ash forks and dashed inside to report: “Sun Wukong has led many gods to provoke battle outside our door!” So astounded was he by this report that the bovine fiend gnashed his teeth and rolled his ringlike eyes. He picked up his lance and his treasure, and no sooner had he emerged from the door when he began to castigate his adversary, saying, “You thievish ape! You camp-raider and arsonist! What skills do you have that you dare treat me so contemptuously?” Smiling broadly, Pilgrim said, “You brazen fiend! If you want to know my skills, come up here and listen to my recital.

  My skills were great since the time of my birth,

  As was my name throughout the universe.

  Enlightened, I practiced the transcendent way;

  In days past came the means to eternal youth.

  I willed to bow at the place of the Heart,2

  To seek with reverence the home of a sage.

  I learned how to change with endless power,

  Taking as my playground the whole cosmos.

  At leisure I tamed tigers on the mount;

  When bored I subdued dragons in the sea.

  I claimed a throne at native Flower-Fruit,

  Flaunting my strength in Water-Curtain Cave.

  A few times I lusted for Heaven’s realm;

  Ignorant, I robbed the Region Above.

  My royal name: Great Sage, Equal to Heaven;

  I was called also Handsome Monkey King.

  When the Feast of Peaches was under way,

  I took offense for no invitation came.

  In secret I stole jade juice at Jasper Pool

  And drank it in stealth at the treasure tower.

  Dragon and phoenix organs I did taste;

  A hundred dainties I would steal and eat.

  Millennial peaches I freely enjoyed,

  Stuffing my guts with long-life drugs and pills.

  Strange things of Heav’n I took piece by piece,

  And rare goods from sage mansions bit by bit.

  When Jade Emperor learned what great skills I had,

  He sent divine soldiers to the battlefield.

  I banished those fierce Nine Luminaries;

  And wounded the Five Quarters’ Vicious Stars.

  All Heaven’s warriors were no match of mine;

  A hundred thousand troops dared not meet me.

  Hard pressed, the Jade Emperor gave a decree:

  Libation Stream’s Little Sage then raised his sword.

  Seventy-two transformations we struggled through,

  Each rousing his spirit, each showing his might.

  Guanyin of South Sea came, too, at length

  To lend them her help with willow and vase.

  Laozi then made use of his diamond snare

  To have me captured and brought up there

  To see, bound firmly, the Great Emperor Jade,

  As judge and tribunal indicted me.

  They told God Powerful to cut me dead,

  But sparks flew up when knives fell on my head.

  Since no means was found to put me to death,

  They sent me all shackled to Laozi’s hall:

  A brazier, watched by the Six Gods of Light,

  Refined me till I became hard as steel.

  With vessel opened on day forty-ninth,

  I leaped out to work violence yet once more.

  When gods hid themselves and none withstood me,

  The sages agreed that Buddha be called.

  Tathāgata’s power was mighty indeed!

  His wisdom, truly vast and limitless!

  A somersault match waged upon his hand

  Made a mountain press me, now no more strong.

  When the Emperor gave the Feast of Heaven’s Peace,

  The West regained its name of Ultimate Bliss.

  Old Monkey jailed for full five hundred years

  Did not once taste a bit of tea or rice.

  But when Elder Gold Cicada came to earth,

  The East sent him to go to Buddha’s home

  To fetch true scriptures for a noble state,

  Where the Great Tang ruler might save the dead.

  Guanyin taught me to submit to the Good

  And let faith held firmly my wildness check.

  Free of my ordeal at that mountain root,

  I now go West to fetch the scripture texts.

  Lawless demon, cease your foxlike cunning!

  Return my Tang Monk, bow to Dharma King!”

  When he heard these words, he pointed at Pilgrim and cried, “So, you were the big thief who robbed Heaven! Don’t run away! Swallow my lance!” The Great Sage met him with the rod and the two of them began to fight. On this side Prince Naṭa became angry and the Star of Fiery Virtue grew vicious: they hurled those six divine weapons together
with the fire equipment at the demon. The Great Sage Sun fought even more fiercely as the thunder squires took up their thunderbolts and the devarāja his scimitar to rush at their enemy. Smiling scornfully, the demon calmly took out from his sleeve his treasure and tossed it in the air, crying, “Hit!” With a loud whoosh, the six divine weapons, the fire equipment, the thunderbolts, the scimitar of the devarāja, and the rod of Pilgrim were all snatched away. Once again, the deities and the Great Sage Sun were empty-handed. After the demon returned in triumph to his cave, he gave this order: “Little ones, gather rocks and boulders to rebuild our doors, and tidy up our rooms and hallways. When we finish our work, we shall slaughter the Tang Monk and his companions to thank the Earth. Then all of us can disperse the blessing and enjoy.” The little fiends all obeyed, and we shall leave them for the moment.

  We tell you now about the Devarāja Li, who led the rest of the gods back to the tall summit. Fiery Virtue then began to rail at Naṭa for being too impulsive, while the thunder squires blamed the devarāja for acting too recklessly. Water Lord, however, stood to one side and sulked. When Pilgrim saw how distraught they looked, he had little alternative but to appear cheerful and said to them, forcing a smile, “Please don’t be so distressed, all of you. After all, the ancient proverb says, ‘Victory or defeat is a common thing for the soldier.’ If we want to consider the demon’s fighting skill, it’s no more than so-so. The reason he can cause so much harm is that fillet in his possession, which has again sucked away all our weapons. Nonetheless, try to relax. Let old Monkey go and see if he can find out something more about his pedigree.” “When you first presented your memorial to the Jade Emperor,” said the prince, “there was a thorough search made throughout the celestial realm, but not a trace of this monster could be found. Now where are you going to make further investigation?” Pilgrim replied, “Come to think of it, the dharma power of Buddha is boundless. I shall go now to the Western Heaven to question our Buddha Tathāgata; I shall ask him to scan with his eye of wisdom the four great continents of Earth and see where this fiend was born and raised. I want to learn what sort of treasure his fillet is, and no matter what, I’m determined to have him arrested. Only then will all of you be avenged and have a happy trip back to Heaven.” “If that’s your intention,” said the gods, “don’t delay. Go quickly! Go quickly!”