Journey to the West (vol. 3)

by Wu Cheng-En

  Endless expanses stretched out in his gaze;

  The embankment had vanished amid willows and haze.

  When he could not find the grange the Great Sage Sun made a spell with his hands, said the magic word “Om” and summoned the local deity, who approached shivering and shaking, fell to his knees and called out, “Great Sage, the local god of Willow Bank kowtows to you.”

  “Don't be afraid,” Monkey said, “I'm not going to hit you. Tell me this: is there a Pure Splendor Grange on Willow Hill? And where is it?”

  “There is a Pure Splendor Cave,” the local deity replied, “but there has never been a Pure Splendor Grange. I suppose you have come from Bhiksuland, Great Sage.”

  “Yes, yes,” Monkey replied. “The king of Bhiksuland was hoodwinked by an evil spirit till I turned up, saw through the monster, defeated him and drove him away. He turned into a beam of cold light and I don't know where he went. When I asked the king of Bhiksuland about it he told me that when the demon first presented him with the girl three years ago he asked the spirit about his background. The demon said that he lived in Pure Splendor Grange on Willow Hill twenty miles South of the city. I've found this place with its wooded hill but can't see any Pure Splendor Grange. That's why I asked you about it.”

  “I beg your forgiveness, Great Sage,” said the local god, kowtowing. “This is part of the domain of the king of Bhiksuland, and I should have kept a closer watch on things. But the evil spirit had such terrible magical powers. If I had given away what he was doing he would have come and given me a bad time. That is why he has never been caught. Now that you are here, Great Sage, you need only go to the foot of the nine-forked willow on the Southern bank, walk round it three times to the left and three times to the right, hit the tree with both hands and shout 'Open up' three times. The Pure Splendor Cave Palace will then appear.”

  On learning this the Great Sage sent the local god away again, jumped over the stream with Pig and went to look for that willow tree. There was indeed a tree with nine forks on a single trunk. “Stand well back,” Monkey ordered Pig, “while I make the gates open. When I've found the demon and chased him out you're to help.”

  In response to this order Pig took up his stand about three hundred yards from the tree while the Great Sage followed the local god's advice and went round the tree three times to the left and three times to the right then hit it with both hands, shouting, “Open up! Open up!” An instant later a pair of double doors opened with a noisy whoosh and the tree was nowhere to be seen. Inside the doors was bright light of many colours but no sign of human life. Confident in his divine might, Monkey charged in. He could see that it was a fine place:

  Shimmering clouds, from which

  Sun and moon stole their brightness.

  White clouds billowing from the caves,

  Bright green lichens running wild in the courtyard.

  Along the path rare flowers competed in beauty,

  While plants on the steps vied in fragrant blossom.

  Warm was the air

  Where it was ever spring.

  This was just like a fairyland,

  Or Penglai, the paradise of immortals.

  Creepers grew all over the benches;

  Vines ran wild across the bridge.

  Bees flew into the cave carrying flowers;

  Butterflies flirted with orchids as they passed the screen of stone.

  Hurrying forward for a closer look Monkey saw that on the stone screen was carved IMMORTAL PALACE OF PURE SPLENDOR. Unable to restrain himself, he jumped over the stone screen to see the old monster embracing a beautiful woman and telling her breathlessly what had happened in Bhiksuland.

  “That was our chance,” they said together. “Three years' efforts should have paid off today, but that ape's ruined everything.”

  Monkey charged up to them, brandishing his cudgel and shouting, “I'll get you, you fools. What do you mean, that was your chance? Take that!” Pushing the woman aside, the old monster swung his dragon-headed stick to block the cudgel. It was a fine battle that the two of them fought in front of the cave, and quite unlike the previous one:

  The upraised cudgel spat out golden light;

  Vicious vapors came from the swinging staff.

  The monster said,

  “How dare you in your ignorance come to my home?”

  Monkey replied,

  “I intend to subdue evil monsters.”

  Said the monster,

  “My love for the king was no business of yours,

  So why did you come to bully and interfere?”

  Answered Monkey,

  “A compassionate monk should bring misrule to an end:

  We could not endure the slaughter of children.”

  As they flung words at each other hostility grew:

  Staff parried cudgel as blows struck at the heart.

  Precious flowers were destroyed as they fought for their lives;

  Green moss became slippery when trampled underfoot.

  Pale grew the light in the cave as they struggled:

  Crushed were the fragrant blooms on the crags.

  At the clash of their weapons the birds dared not fly;

  Their shouts sent the beauties all running in terror.

  Only the monster and Monkey were left

  To stir up a hurricane that roared over the earth.

  Slowly their battle took them out of the cave

  Where Wuneng gave play to his mindless wrath.

  The sound of the commotion they were making inside so excited Pig where he was waiting outside that his heart itched. As he could get no relief from scratching he raised his rake, smashed the nine-forked willow to the ground, then hit it several times so hard that blood gushed straight out with a barely audible sound. “This tree's become a spirit,” he said, “this tree's a spirit.” Pig had just raised his rake for another blow when he saw Monkey drawing the monster after him. Without another word the idiot rushed forward, raised his rake and struck. The old monster was already finding Monkey too much to cope with, so that Pig's rake made him more desperate than ever. Abandoning the fight he shook himself, turned back into a beam of cold light, and headed East again. The two of them would not let the demon go but headed Eastwards in pursuit.

  Above the shouts of battle they heard the calls of the phoenix and the crane and looked up to see that it was the Star of Longevity from the Southern pole of the heavens. Placing a cover over the cold light the old man called out, “Don't be in such a hurry, Great Sage; stop chasing him now, Marshal Tian Peng. This old Taoist offers his greetings.”

  Monkey returned his courtesy and asked, “Where have you come from, Longevity my brother?”

  “You've capped the cold light, so you must have caught the monster, old fat chops,” said Pig with a grin.

  “Here he is, here he is,” said the Star of Longevity, smiling back. “I trust you two gentlemen will spare his life.”

  “The old devil's nothing to do with you, brother,” said Monkey, “so why have you come to plead for him?”

  “He's a messenger of mine,” replied the star with a smile. “I carelessly let him escape to become a monster here.”

  “Since he's yours make him turn back into what he really looks like for us to see,” said Monkey.

  The Star of Longevity then let the cold light out and shouted, “Evil beast! Turn back into yourself at once if you want to be spared the death penalty.” The demon turned himself round and revealed that he was really a white deer. Picking the staff up the Star of Longevity said, “You've even stolen my staff, evil beast.” The deer lay down in submission, unable to speak, but only kowtowing and weeping. Look at him:

  Brindled like a tablet of jade,

  And carrying a pair of seven-branched antlers.

  When hungry he used to find the herb garden;

  On mornings when thirsty he drank from the misty stream.

  In his lengthening years he had taught himself to fly

  And
through many a day had mastered transformation.

  Now that he heard the call of his master

  He resumed his own form and lay down in the dust.

  Thanking Monkey, the Star of Longevity mounted his deer and was just leaving when Monkey grabbed hold of him and said, “Not so fast, brother. There are a couple more jobs still to be done.”

  “What jobs?” the star asked.

  “The girl hasn't been caught yet and I don't know what sort of monster she is,” Monkey replied. “We've also got to go back to Bhiksuland together to see the deluded ruler and show him what they really are.”

  “In that case I'll be patient,” the star replied. “You and Marshal Tian Peng can go down into the cave to capture the girl and take her back to show the king what she really is.”

  “Just wait a little while,” said Monkey. “We'll soon be back.”

  Pig then summoned up his spirits and went straight into the Immortal Palace of Pure Splendor with Monkey. “Catch the evil spirit,” he shouted, “catch the evil spirit.” Hearing this great roar the beauty, who was trembling with fear and unable to escape, rushed behind the stone screen, but there was no rear exit.

  “Where do you think you're going?” Pig shouted. “I'll get you, you man-trap, you whore spirit. Try my rake!” As the beauty was unarmed she could not fight back, so she dodged the blow and turned herself into a beam of cold light and fled, only to be stopped by the Great Sage, who with two thumping blows of his cudgel knocked her off her feet and laid her low in the dust. She turned back into her real form as a white-faced vixen. Unable to restrain himself, the idiot lifted his rake and struck her a blow on the head. The great beauty of so many smiles was now a hairy fox.

  “Don't smash her to pulp,” Monkey said, “keep her in that shape to show her to the deluded king.” The idiot grabbed her by the tail, not minding the filth, and dragged her out through the cave entrance with Monkey. Here he saw the Star of Longevity stroking the deer's head and giving him a dressing-down.

  “Evil beast,” he was saying, “why did you run away from me and come here to turn yourself into a spirit? If I hadn't turned up the Great Sage Sun would certainly have killed you.”

  “What's that you're saying, brother?” asked Monkey, springing out of the cave.

  “I was telling the deer off,” the star explained, “telling the deer off.”

  Throwing the body of the dead fox in front of the deer, Pig said, “Your daughter, I suppose.”

  The deer nodded then stretched its head out to sniff the body and whimpered as if with grief at its bereavement until the Star of Longevity cuffed its head and said, “Evil beast. You're lucky to have got away with your life. What are you sniffing her for?” He then took off the belt he wore round his gown, fastened it round the deer's neck, and led it off with the words, “Great Sage, let's go to Bhiksuland.”

  “Wait a moment,” said Monkey, “I feel like cleaning the whole place up so that no other evil creatures can ever live here again.”

  When Pig heard this he raised his rake and started to smash the willow down wildly. Monkey then said the magic word “ Om ” and summoned the local deity once more. “Gather some dried firewood,” Monkey ordered him, “and start a roaring fire that will rid this place of yours of evil. Then you won't be bullied any more.”

  The local deity then turned around and with a roaring negative wind led his spirit soldiers to gather all sorts of withered vegetation that had dried out since the previous year: frostbitten grass, autumn grass, knotweed grass, mountain grass, dragonbone grass, rushes and reeds. Once set alight they would burn like oil or grease.

  “There's no need to go knocking trees over, Pig,” said Monkey. “Fill the mouth of the cave with all this and set it alight: that'll burn the place clean out.” And indeed once they were lit they turned the evil demons' Pure Splendor home into a fiery furnace. Only then did Monkey dismiss the local god and go with the Star of Longevity as they dragged the fox to the steps of the throne hall where he said to the king, “Here's your Queen Beauty. Do you want to fool around with her now?”

  This caused the king a terrible shock. At the sight of the Great Sage Monkey bringing the Star of Longevity with the white deer before the throne hall, monarch, ministers, consorts and queens all dropped to the ground to kowtow. Monkey went up to the king and held him up. “Don't kowtow to me,” he said with a smile. “This deer is the Elder of the Nation. It's him you should be kowtowing to.”

  The king was now so overcome with shame that he could only say, “Thank you, holy monk, for saving the boys in my kingdom. It truly was an act of heavenly kindness.” He then ordered the department of foreign relations to prepare a vegetarian feast, had the Eastern hall of the palace opened up and invited the star, the Ancient of the Southern Pole, to take part in a thanksgiving feast with the Tang Priest and his three disciples. Sanzang bowed in greeting to the Star of Longevity, as did Friar Sand.

  “If the white deer is one of your creatures, Star of Longevity,” they both asked, “how did he get here to become such a nuisance?”

  “Some time ago the Lord of Eastern Splendor came to my mountain,” the Star of Longevity replied with a smile, “and I persuaded him to sit down for some chess. The wicked creature escaped before our first game was over. It was only when I couldn't find him after my visitor had gone that I worked out by calculating on my fingers that he must have come here. I had just reached here in my search for him when I met the Great Sage Sun using his mighty powers. If I had been any later this beast would be dead.” Before he could finish his remarks it was announced that the banquet was ready. It was a splendid vegetarian feast:

  The room was overflowing with color;

  Exotic fragrances filled the hall.

  Embroidered hangings made the tables magnificent;

  Red carpets on the floor shimmered like the glow of dawn.

  From duck-shaped censers

  Curled the scented smoke of eaglewood;

  Before the king's place

  Were fragrant vegetables.

  See how high the towers of fruit were piled;

  Sugar dragons and prowling animals.

  Molded mandarin ducks,

  Lion confections,

  Looking quite lifelike.

  Parrot goblets,

  Cormorant ladles,

  Shaped like the real thing.

  Every kind of fruit in abundance,

  Each exquisite dish a delicacy.

  Giant longans and tender bamboo-shoots,

  Fresh lichees and peaches.

  Sweet smelled the jujubes and persimmon cakes;

  More fragrant than wine were the pine-nuts and grapes.

  Many a sweet dish made with honey,

  Steamed pastries of various kinds,

  Sugar-drenched doughnuts

  Piled up like bouquets of flowers,

  Mountains of rolls on golden dishes,

  Fragrant rice heaped high in silver bowls,

  Long bean noodles in hot chili soup,

  Tasty dishes came in succession.

  There was no end of button mushrooms,

  “Tree-ear” fungus,

  Tender bamboo shoots,

  Sealwort,

  Vegetables of many flavors,

  A hundred kinds of rare delights.

  They came and went in endless succession,

  All the abundant dishes offered at the feast.

  The seating was arranged on the spot, the seat of honour going to the Star of Longevity and the next best place to the Tang Priest. The king sat between them while Brother Monkey, Pig and Friar Sand sat at the side places. There were also three senior ministers present to keep them company, and the musicians and singers of the court theatre were ordered to perform. Holding his purple cloud goblet, the king, toasted them one by one.

  The only person who would not drink was the Tang Priest. “Brother,” said Pig to Monkey, “I'll leave the fruit for you, but you must let me have a good feed of the soup, bread and rice.”
With no further thought the idiot ate everything all at once. He devoured everything that was brought in and left nothing behind.

  When the banquet was coming to an end the Star of Longevity took his leave of them. The king went up to him, knelt, kowtowed and begged the star to tell him the secret of eliminating disease and prolonging life. “I didn't bring any elixir as I was here to search for my deer,” the Star of Longevity replied. “I would like to teach you the techniques of self-cultivation, but you are so weak in body and ruined in spirit that you would not be able to convert the elixir. All I have in my sleeve is these three jujubes that I was intending to offer to the Lord of Eastern Splendor to take with tea. As they haven't been eaten I can offer them to you now.”

  The king swallowed them, and he gradually began to feel lighter in body as the illness was cured. This was the origin of his later success in achieving immortality. As soon as Pig saw this he called, “Longevity, old pal, if you've got any fire jujubes give me some.”

  “I didn't bring any,” the star replied, “but I'll give you several pounds of them next time.” The Star of Longevity then went out of the Eastern pavilion, expressed his thanks, called to the white deer, sprang on his back and departed by cloud. We will not relate how the king, queens and consorts in the palace and the common people in the city all burnt incense and kowtowed.

  “Disciples,” said Sanzang, “let us pack up and take our leave of His Majesty.” The king pleaded with them to stay and instruct him. “Your Majesty,” said Monkey, “from now on you should be less greedy for your sexual pleasures and accumulate more hidden merit. In whatever you do you should use your strong points to make up for your weaknesses. This is the way to get rid of your illness and prolong your life. That's what we'll tell you.” Two dishes full of small pieces of gold and silver were then offered to the pilgrims to help with the expenses of their journey, but the Tang Priest refused to accept a single penny. The king then had no choice but to order the royal carriage and invite the Tang Priest to sit in the dragon and phoenix coach while he, his queens and his consorts pushed the wheels. Thus they escorted him out of the palace. In the streets and markets the common people also came with bowls of pure water and incense-burners to see them on their way from the city.