The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 3

by Unknown

  All transformations of the former suns.

  These magic springs of yang are:

  Fragrant-Cold Spring,

  Mountain-Mate Spring,

  Hot Spring,

  Eastern-Fusion Spring,

  Mountain-Flooding Spring,

  Filial-Peace Spring,

  Wide-Whirling Spring,

  And Torrid Spring.

  This is the Purgation Spring.

  We have also a testimonial poem, which says:

  One climate without heat or cold,

  E’en in autumn it’s ever spring.

  Hot ripples like a boiling cauldron’s;

  Snowy waves like newly made soup.

  Spilling out it warms the crops;

  Its still body washes our dust.

  Its bubbles seem like swelling tears;

  It churns like jade liquified.

  Such moisture was never brewed;

  Self-heated, it’s clear and smooth.

  A good sign of auspicious land,

  Truly it’s Heaven’s creation,

  Where beauties wash their smooth and ice-white skins:

  All dirt removed, their jadelike frames renewed.

  This bathing pool was about fifty feet wide and over one hundred feet long. Inside, it was about four feet deep, the water being so clear that one could see to the bottom. A jet of water, like rolling pearls and swelling jade, continued to bubble up from the base, and there were on all four sides some six or seven outlets for the water to drain. By the time it reached some rice paddies two or three miles away, the water would still be warm. Adjacent to the pool were three small pavilions; behind the middle one was placed an eight-legged bench, on both ends of which there were also color lacquered garment racks. Secretly delighted by what he saw, Pilgrim spread his wings and landed with a buzz on one of those racks.

  Seeing how warm and clear the water was, the girls immediately wanted to bathe in it. They took off their clothes, put them on the racks, and leaped into the pool together. Pilgrim saw them

  Undoing their buttons and clasps,

  Untying their sashes of silk.

  Their bosoms were white like silver;

  Their bodies all resembled snow.

  Their limbs appeared gilded in ice;

  Their shoulders seemed kneaded with dough.

  Their bellies looked soft and yielding;

  Their backs were both shiny and smooth.

  Their knees and wrists were round and small;

  Their feet, no wider than three inches.

  Desire ringed their midsections,

  Showing their apertures of love.

  After jumping into the pool, the girls began to leap and bounce on the water as they swam and frolicked. “If I want to hit them,” thought Pilgrim to himself, “all I have to do is to stick my rod in the pool and give it a stir. That’s called:

  Pouring hot water on the rats,

  You wipe out the entire nest.

  Pity! Pity! I can kill them all right, but old Monkey’s fame will diminish somewhat. As the proverb says, ‘A man does not fight with a woman.’ A fellow like me would look rather feckless if I beat to death a few of these scullions. No, I won’t strike at them. I’ll devise a plan that’ll make them unable to move. That ought to do some good.”

  Dear Great Sage! Making the magic sign and reciting a spell, he changed with one shake of his body into an old, hungry hawk. You see

  Feathers like snow and frost,

  And eyes bright as the stars.

  Seeing him, the fiendish fox loses its wits;

  Meeting him, the wily hare’s terrified.

  Steel-like claws gleaming and quick

  Make his looks fierce and heroic.

  He uses his old fists to serve his mouth,

  Ready to chase himself all things that fly.

  He soars through vast stretches of frigid air,

  Boring clouds, grasping things, without a care.

  With a flap of his wings, the hawk flew up to the pavilion, stretched out his sharp claws, and picked the racks clean of the seven suits of clothing left draping there before darting back to the ridge, where he changed into his original form to meet Eight Rules and Sha Monk.

  Look at our Idiot now! He met Pilgrim and said, laughing, “So Master has been imprisoned in a pawn shop!” “How do you know?” asked Sha Monk. “Don’t you see,” said Eight Rules, “that Elder Brother has robbed it of all its clothing?” Putting them down, Pilgrim said, “These are things worn by monster-spirits.” “How could there be so many?” asked Eight Rules.

  Pilgrim said, “There are seven suits altogether.” “How could you strip them so easily,” asked Eight Rules, “and so well?” “I didn’t need to,” replied Pilgrim. “This place, you see, is called the Cobweb Ridge, and that village actually bears the name of Cobweb Cave. Inside the cave are seven girls who, having captured our master and hung him up, went to take a bath in the Purgation Spring. That spring is actually a hot spring formed by Heaven and Earth. After they took their baths, the monster-spirits were planning to steam Master for food. I followed them there, and when I saw them disrobing and getting into the water, I wanted to strike at them. But I feared that I might soil my rod and lower my reputation, and that was why I didn’t move my rod. Instead, I changed into a hungry, old hawk and grabbed all of their clothing. Too embarrassed to leave the pool, they just squatted in the water. Let us go quickly to untie Master and we can be on our way.”

  “Elder Brother,” said Eight Rules with a chuckle, “whenever you do anything, you always leave something behind. If you have seen monster-spirits, how could you not kill them and want instead to go untie Master? Though they are too embarrassed to leave the pool now, they’ll come out once it is night. They must have some old clothes at home, which they can put on and then chase us down. Even if they don’t chase us, they can remain here, and after we have acquired the scriptures, we will have to take this road back. As the proverb says,

  Rather give up your travel expenses;

  Never lack what your fist dispenses.

  If they bar our way and give us trouble by the time we return from the West, we will meet up with enemies, won’t we?”

  “What do you want to do then?” asked Pilgrim. “As I see it,” said Eight Rules, “we must first slay the monster-spirits before we go untie Master. This is the plan of ‘Mowing the Grass by Rooting It Out.’” “I don’t want to strike at them,” said Pilgrim. “If you do, you go ahead.”

  Elated with delight, Eight Rules held high his muckrake and ran up to the pool with big strides. After he pushed open the doors to look, he found those seven girls all squatting in the water and casting abusive profanities at the hawk, shouting, “That flattened-hair beast! That wretched outcast! May a big cat gnaw on his head! He seized our clothes! How could we move?”

  “Lady Bodhisattvas,” said Eight Rules, hardly able to contain his giggles, “so you are taking a bath here. How about asking a priest like me to join you?” When they saw him, the fiends became angry. “You are a very rude priest!” they cried. “We are women in a home, and you are a man who has left the home. The ancient book said, ‘By the seventh year, a man and a woman are not to sit on the same mat.’10 How could you bathe in the same pool with us?”

  “It’s so hot now,” said Eight Rules, “that there’s no alternative. Don’t be so fussy and let me wash with you. Stop throwing the book at me! What’s all this about sitting and not sitting on the same mat!” Refusing to permit any further discussion, our Idiot abandoned his rake, took off his black silk shirt, and leaped into the water with a splash. More incensed than ever, the fiends rushed forward and wanted to hit him. Little did they know that Eight Rules could be extremely agile once he landed in water. With a shake of his body he changed at once into a sheat fish spirit. All the fiends reached for him with their hands and tried to catch the fish; but as they dove toward him in the east, he darted to the west with a swoosh, and when they plunged their hands down in the west, h
e spurted to the east once more. All slimy and slippery, he darted madly between their legs. The water, you see, was about chest deep; after Eight Rules swam around on top of the water for awhile, he dove straight for the bottom, so tiring the fiends that they all collapsed, panting, in the pool.

  Only then did Eight Rules leap out of the pool, change back into his original form, put on his shirt, and take up his muckrake once more. “Who do you think I am?” he bellowed. “Just a sheat fish spirit?” When they saw him, the fiends were terrified. “You are the priest who came in just now,” said one of them. “You changed into a sheat fish when you leaped into the water, and we couldn’t catch hold of you. Now you look like this again. Where, in fact, did you come from? You must give us your name.”

  “So, you bunch of lawless fiends really don’t recognize me!” said Eight Rules. “I’m the disciple of the Tang elder, someone from the Great Tang in the Land of the East who is on his way to acquire scriptures. I am Zhu Wun-eng, Eight Rules, the Marshal of Heavenly Reeds. You have my master hung up in a cave, and you are planning to have him steamed for food. My master! Steamed for food? Stretch out your heads at once, and receive a blow, each of you. I want to finish you off!”

  When they heard these words, the fiends were frightened out of their wits. Going to their knees in the water, they cried, “We beg the Venerable Father to forgive us. We have eyes but no pupils and we caught your master by mistake. Though he is hanging there now, he has not been tortured. Please spare our lives in your mercy. We are willing to give you some travel money instead to send your master to the Western Heaven.” Waving his hand, Eight Rules replied, “Don’t talk like that! The proverb has put the matter very well:

  Once the candy salesman did me deceive,

  I could never the sweet talker believe.

  No matter what, I’m going to give you a blow of my rake. Then each of us can be on our way!”

  As he had always been rather crude and rough, more intent on displaying his power than on showing pity and tenderness to women, our Idiot lifted up his rake and, without further regard for good or ill, rushed forward to attack them. Terribly flustered, the fiends were no longer concerned with embarrassment than with the far more important matter of preserving their lives. Shielding their private parts with their hands, they leaped out of the water and stood by the pavilions to exercise their magic. All at once the threads began to pour out of their navels, and in no time at all, Eight Rules was enclosed inside what appeared to be a huge silk tent. Discovering, when he raised his head, that the sky and the sun had suddenly disappeared, our Idiot wanted to run away, but alas, he could hardly even take a step! All over the ground ropes and cords were strewn to trip him up. The moment he moved his legs, he began to stumble: he headed to the left and his face hugged the ground; he went to the right and he fell head over heels; he turned around and his snout kissed the earth; he scrambled up only to do a handstand. He tumbled over countless times until his body turned numb and his legs flaccid, until his head swam and his eyes could not see straight. Unable even to crawl, all he could do was lie on the ground and moan. After the fiends had him trapped like that, they did not beat him or harm him in any way. Leaping out of the door of the pool, they ran back to the cave instead, using the cobweb as a shelter.

  Having passed the stone bridge, they stood still and recited the magic spell again to retrieve the web. Then they darted into the caves, all naked, and ran past the Tang Monk, giggling and still covering their private parts with their hands. After they took out some old clothes to put on from one of the stone chambers, they went to the rear door and cried, “Children, where are you?” Each of the monster-spirits, you see, had an adopted son, their names being Bee, Hornet, Cockroach, Cantharis, Grasshopper, Maggot, and Dragonfly. Those monster-spirits, you see, once set up a huge web to have these seven insects captured and were about to devour them. But as the ancients said, “Fowl have fowl talk, and beasts have beast language.” The insects pleaded for their lives, declaring their willingness to honor their captors as mothers. From that time since,

  They picked a hundred spring flowers to serve the fiends;

  They searched out summer plants to feed monster-spirits.

  When the insects now heard the summons, they immediately gathered before the monster-spirits to say, “Mothers, why did you send for us?” “Sons,” replied the fiends, “earlier this morning we provoked by mistake a priest who came from the Tang court. His disciple just now had us trapped in the pool; not only were we put to dreadful shame, but we almost lost our lives also. You must exert your strength and go out to make him turn back. If you prevail, you may then go to your uncle’s house to meet us.” And so, having escaped with their lives, the fiends went to their elder brother’s house, where their damnable mouths would stir up greater calamity, and where we shall leave them for the moment. Look at those insects! Rubbing their hands and fists eagerly, they all went forth to battle their enemy.

  We tell you now about that Eight Rules, who grew faint and dizzy from all those falls. After awhile, however, he managed to raise his head a little and found that all the cords and threads had disappeared. He scrambled up rather cautiously; taking a step at a time and nursing his pain, he found his way back. When he saw Pilgrim, he tugged at him and said, “Elder Brother, is my face swollen and bruised?” “What happened to you?” asked Pilgrim.

  Eight Rules replied, “I was completely covered up by cords and threads that those fiends let out. They even had tripping tethers set up on the ground. I don’t know how many times I fell, but my torso went limp and my back was about to break, unable to move even a single step. I got my life back and returned here only because the ropes and cords disappeared after awhile.” When he heard that, Sha Monk cried, “Finished! Finished! You have caused a disaster! Those fiends must have gone to the cave to harm Master. Let’s go quickly to rescue him!”

  On hearing this, Pilgrim began to run toward the village, followed by Eight Rules pulling the horse. When they arrived at the stone bridge, their way was barred by seven little fiends, who cried, “Slow down! Slow down! We are here!” Taking a look at them, Pilgrim said to himself, “How laughable! They’re all so tiny! Even the tallest is no more than two and a half feet, and the heaviest can’t be more than ten pounds.” He then bellowed at them, “Who are you?” The fiends replied, “We are the sons of the seven immortal dames. You have insulted our mothers, and now you dare even fight up to our door. Don’t run away! Look out for yourself!” Dear fiendish creatures! They rushed forward and mounted a wild attack. Our Eight Rules was already sorely annoyed by his falls; when he saw how tiny those insects were, he grew vicious and began to strike out with his rake.

  When those fiends saw how savage Eight Rules was, each of them changed back into his original form and flew up into the air, crying, “Change!” Instantly, one changed into ten, ten into a hundred, a hundred into a thousand, and a thousand into ten thousand—there were in no time at all countless insects. You see

  The sky full of flying maggots,

  The ground covered by dragonflies;

  Bees, hornets, diving at your heads;

  Cockroaches going for your eyes.

  Cantharides bite your front and back,

  And grasshoppers, your crown and feet.

  A huge, black mass striking your face,

  Its chirr would gods and spirits faze.

  Alarmed, Eight Rules said, “O Elder Brother, they may say that scriptures are easy to get, but on the road to the West, even insects bully people!” “Brother,” said Pilgrim, “don’t be afraid. Go and attack them quickly!” “My face, my head,” cried Eight Rules, “all over my body, there must be over ten layers of them! How am I going to attack them?” “It’s nothing! It’s nothing!” cried Pilgrim. “I have my abilities!” “O Elder Brother,” cried Sha Monk, “whatever ability you have, bring it out! My bald head’s swollen from their bites!”

  Dear Great Sage! He pulled off a bunch of hair and chewed them to pieces befo
re spitting them, crying, “Change! Yellow, spar . . .” “Elder Brother,” interrupted Eight Rules, “what sort of street talk are you using again? Yellow? Spar?” “You don’t realize,” replied Pilgrim, “that yellow means yellow hawk and spar is the sparrowhawk. We have also the kite, the gerfalcon, the eagle, the fishhawk, and the harrier. Those sons of the monster-spirits are seven kinds of insect, and my hairs have changed into seven kinds of hawk.” The hawks, of course, were most able to peck at insects; one peck of their bills and a whole insect was devoured. They attacked also with their claws, and they knocked the insects down with their wings. Soon the insects were eliminated; not a trace of them could be found in the air, but there was over a foot of their corpses on the ground.

  The three brothers then raced past the bridge to go into the cave, where they found their old master suspended from the beam and weeping. “Master,” said Eight Rules, walking up to him, “because you wanted to be hung for fun in here, you have made me fall who knows how many times!” Sha Monk said, “Let’s untie Master first before we say anything more.” Pilgrim at once had the rope cut and lowered his master. “Where did the monster-spirits go?” he asked. The Tang Monk said, “They ran to the back, all naked, to call for their sons.” “Brothers,” said Pilgrim, “come with me to go look for them.”

  Holding their weapons, the three of them searched in vain for the fiends in the rear garden, even after they had climbed some of the peach and pear trees. “They are gone! They are gone!” said Eight Rules. Sha Monk said, “No need to look for them anymore. We should go and wait on Master.” The brothers returned to the front to ask the Tang Monk to mount up. “You two take Master out first,” said Eight Rules. “Let old Hog use my rake on their residence so that they’ll have no place to live if they return.” “Using your rake is a waste of strength,” chuckled Pilgrim. “Why don’t you find some firewood, and you’ll finish everything off for them.”

  Dear Idiot! He indeed located some rotted pine, broken bamboo, dried willow, and dead creepers; he started a fire and soon the entire cave-dwelling was burned to the ground. Master and disciples then felt more at ease to proceed. Aha! After their departure, we do not know what will happen to the fiends; let’s listen to the explanation in the next chapter.