Journey to the West (vol. 2)

by Wu Cheng-En

  “Yes,” said Monkey. “I'll go with you.” The Fire Star Lord stood with Prince Nezha and two thunder gods on a high peak to challenge the demon to battle.

  When the Great Sage reached the mouth of the Jindou Cave he shouted, “Open up! Give me my master back at once.”

  “Sun Wukong's back,” the little devils reported with urgency, and the demon led his horde out of the cave to say to Monkey, “Impudent ape, what soldiers have you brought here?”

  Heavenly King Li, the Pagoda-carrier, came forward to shout back, “Vicious monster, do you know who I am”

  “Heavenly King Li,” replied the demon with a laugh, “no doubt you want to avenge your distinguished son and get his weapons back.”

  “I want my revenge and his weapons,” replied the Heavenly King, “and I'm also going to catch you and rescue the Tang Priest. Stay where you are while I get you with my sword.” The demon dodged the cut and thrust back with his spear. The two of them fought a magnificent fight in front of the cave. Just watch:

  The Heavenly King hacked with his sword,

  The demon's spear parried.

  The sword gleamed cold and breathed out fire,

  The sharp spear belched out baleful clouds.

  One was the monster who had grown up in Jindou Cave;

  The other had been sent from the Hall of Miraculous Mist.

  One wished to use his might to oppress the dharma nature;

  One was employing his greatness to rescue the priest.

  The Heavenly King's powers made sand and gravel fly,

  The demon fighting back stirred up the dust.

  The dust cast heaven and earth in darkness,

  The sand and gravel made seas and livers turbid.

  The two of them struggled hard for victory

  Because the Tang Priest wanted to see the Buddha.

  When Monkey saw the two of them starting to fight he jumped up to the highest peak and said to the Star Lord of Fire, “Pay attention.” Watch as the demon produces his ring again when the fight is at its fiercest. When Heavenly King Li saw this he set his auspicious light moving and fled in defeat. At once the Star Lord of Fire issued the order to his troops from his peak to release all their fire together. It was a terrifying sight:

  The Classic says that in the South is the essence of fire.

  Even a single spark

  Can burn a hundred thousand acres.

  The might of the Star Lord

  Could create a hundred different kinds of fire.

  He had fire spears, fire swords,

  Fire bows and crossbows,

  And all his gods used different weapons.

  The sky was filled with cawing crows of fire.

  Fire horses galloped on the mountaintops.

  Fire rats came in twos,

  Fire dragons in pairs.

  The fire rats coming in twos breathed flame,

  Making a thousand miles glow red;

  The pairs of fire dragons belched thick smoke,

  Casting a pall of darkness all around.

  The fire carts were brought out,

  The fire gourds opened up.

  When fire banners waved the skies glowed sunset-red;

  Fire cudgels made the whole earth blaze.

  Compared with this the charge of burning oxen was nothing;

  This beat Zhou Yu's fire ships attacking Red Crag.

  It was a terrible heavenly conflagration,

  A blazing burning storm of fire.

  But the onslaught by the fire did not frighten the demon in the least. He threw his ring up into the air, and as it came whistling down it caught the fire dragons, fire horses, fire crows, fire rats, fire swords, fire spears, fire bows and fire arrows. The demon then led his troops back to his cave in victory.

  The Fire Star Lord, holding a useless banner, called back his officers and went to sit with Heavenly King Li and the others on the Southern slope of the mountain. “Great Sage,” he said to Monkey, “I've never seen so ferocious a demon before. Now I've lost all my fire-raising equipment what am I to do?”

  “Stop complaining,” said Monkey with a smile. “Will you gentlemen please sit here for a while while I go off again?”

  “Where are you going this time?” Heavenly King Li asked.

  “If that fiend isn't bothered by fire I'm sure he must be vulnerable to water. As the saying goes, water defeats fire. I'm going to the Northern Gate of Heaven to ask the Star Lord of Water, the planet Mercury, to use the power of water to flood the cave and drown the demon king. Then I'll be able to return you all your things.”

  “That's a very good idea,” said the Heavenly King, “except that I'm afraid your master might be drowned too.”

  “No problem,” said Monkey. “Even if he is drowned I have a way that will bring him back to life. But I'm wasting your time, gentlemen, and that is quite wrong.”

  “In that case,” said the Star Lord of Fire, “please be on your way.”

  The splendid Great Sage went straight to the Northern Gate of Heaven by his somersault cloud. He looked up to see the Heavenly King Vaisravana bowing to him and asking, “Where are you going, Great Sage Sun?”

  “There is something about which I must see the Star Lord of Water in his Palace of Dark Vastness,” said Monkey. “What are you doing here?”

  “It is my turn to patrol today.” Vaisravana replied. As he was speaking the four heavenly generals Pang, Liu, Gou and Bi greeted him courteously and offered him tea.

  “As I'm in such a hurry I won't trouble you,” said Monkey, and taking his leave of them he went straight to the Palace of Dark Vastness, where he sent all the gods of Water in to announce him.

  “Sun Wukong, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, is here,” they reported. As soon as he learned this the Star Lord of Water dismissed the gods of the Four Seas, the Five Lakes, the Eight Rivers, the Four Streams, the Three Great Watercourses and the Nine Tributaries, as well as all the dragon kings, then straightened his hat, tightened his belt, and went out through the gates of the palace to greet him and lead him inside.

  “Yesterday Kehan came here on his inspection,” the Star Lord said. “He wondered if any of my Water gods had become demons because they longed for worldly things. We are checking all the gods of rivers, seas and streams but have not yet finished.”

  “That demon king's no river god,” said Monkey, “He's a much more powerful spirit. The Jade Emperor sent Heavenly King Li, Prince Nezha and two thunder gods down to the lower world to capture him, but he caught Nezha's six magic weapons with a ring. So I had to go up to the Palace of Crimson Splendor to ask the Star Lord of Fire to take all his fire gods to start fires, but the fiend caught the fire dragons, fire horses and everything else with his ring. I reckon that as he isn't bothered by fire he must be vulnerable to water, which is why I've come here to ask you to deploy your water, capture the fiend for me, return the heavenly generals' weapons, and rescue my master too.”

  When the Star Lord of Water heard this he ordered the Earl of the Yellow River to go with the Great Sage to help him. “I can carry water in this,” said the river earl, taking a white jade bowl from his sleeve.

  “But that can't hold very much,” said Monkey. “How could it possibly drown the fiend?”

  “I'm not lying when I tell you that this bowl can hold the waters of the Yellow River,” the earl replied. “Half a bowlful is half the river, and the whole bowlful is the whole river.”

  “Half a bowlful will be all we need,” replied a delighted Monkey, who then took his leave of the Star God of Water and hurried out through the gates of Heaven with the Earl of the Yellow River.

  The earl half filled his bowl in the Yellow River then went with the Great Sage to Mount Jindou, where he greeted the Heavenly King, the prince, the two thunder gods and the Star Lord of Fire, who started telling him what had happened until Monkey said, “Cut out the details. River earl, come with me. When I shout at the doors telling them to open up don't wait till the doors are open. Ti
p the water straight in and drown the whole den of demons. Then I'll fish out the master's body and bring him back to life.”

  The earl did as he was told, following Monkey round the mountain to the mouth of the cave.

  “Open up, devils,” Monkey shouted, and when they recognized his voice the little devils hurried in to report that he was back, At this the demon king went out again, brandishing his spear and taking his treasure as the doors opened with a loud noise. The river god threw all the water in his white jade bowl into the cave. Seeing it coming, the demon threw down his spear and quickly took out his ring to seal the inner doors tightly. The water then all surged noisily out again, giving Sun Wukong such a fright that he had to give an immediate somersault and leap straight back up to the mountaintop with the river god. The Heavenly King and the rest of them then stood on their clouds in front of the peak looking at the great waves of the mighty flood. It was splendid water. Indeed:

  A mere scoopful

  Produces fathomless depths;

  A divine achievement

  Fills a hundred rivers for the general good.

  Hear the great roaring shake the valley,

  See the mighty waters flood the sky.

  A sound like thunder fills the world with awe;

  Fierce are the waves with curling crests like snow.

  The towering waves now inundate the roads,

  While countless billows wash against the mountains.

  Cold they are as nephrite,

  Rolling with the sound of strings.

  As they crash against the rocks they scatter chips of jade;

  The waters swirl in eddies as they ebb.

  The current sweeps across all dips and hollows,

  Filling ravines and joining all the streams.

  The sight filled Brother Monkey with alarm. “This is terrible,” he said. “The water's flooding the peasants' fields, and going everywhere except into the demon's cave. What are we to do?” He asked the river god to put his water away at once.

  “I can only let it out,” the earl replied. “I can't put it away again. As the saying goes, spilt water can't be picked up.” Oh dear! But as the mountain was both high and steep the water flowed down it fast and in a few moments had all gone away along gullies and ravines.

  Some little devils leapt out from the cave and played around with great pleasure as before, shouting, yelling, shaking their fists, waving their sleeves, and brandishing their cudgels and spears. “So the water never got inside the cave at all,” said the Heavenly King. “All that effort was for nothing.” Unable to control the great anger that surged up him, Monkey charged the demon king's doors, lashing out with both fists, shouting, “Where do you think you're going? I'll get you.”

  The terrified little devils dropped their spears and cudgels and fled back into the cave to report in fear and trembling, “Your Majesty, he's attacking again.”

  The demon king went out through the doors, his spear at the ready, and said, “Impudent ape, you're such a hooligan. You've tried and failed to beat me several times. Even fire and water have got nowhere near me. So why are you here again? To throw your life away?”

  “You've got it the wrong way round, my boy,” said Brother Monkey. “It's not me throwing my life away, but you throwing yours away. Come here and I'll punch you one.”

  “You're just trying to be awkward, ape,” the demon king replied with a laugh. “You can use your fists, but I'll use my spear. Your skinny little fist is no bigger than a walnut. It's not even the weight of a small hammer. Very well then. I'll put my spear down and we'll try some boxing.”

  “Well spoken,” said Monkey with a smile. “Come on then.”

  The demon then hitched up his clothes and took up a stance with both of his fists raised. They were the size of the mallets used in oil-presses. The Great Sage spread his feet apart, summoned up his energy, and started to show his skill as he traded blows with the demon king in front of the doors of the cave, it was a splendid fight. Goodness!

  They started with a foursquare stance,

  Kicked with pairs of flying feet.

  Each threw with menace at the other's chest

  Hard blows that could cut out the heart.

  The Immortal pointing the way

  “Lao Zi riding his crane.”

  Terrible as the tiger when he falls on his prey,

  Vicious as the dragons sporting in the water.

  The demon king did a dragon roll;

  The Great Sage fought like a roebuck with his antlers.

  They kicked up their heels like spitting dragons,

  Twisting their wrists like sky-supporting camels.

  The blue lion opened its jaws,

  The carp leapt so high he risked breaking his back.

  Flowers were scattered around their foreheads,

  And ropes pulled tight around their waists.

  The wind stayed close to the fan,

  The driving rain made blossoms fall.

  When the demon used a “Guanyin hand”

  Monkey countered with an “arhat's foot.”

  The longer punches were open and relaxed,

  Not as intense as the short jabs to the body.

  When they had fought for several dozen rounds

  Their skills were equal; no winner had emerged.

  While the two of them fought in front of the cave Heavenly King Li and the Star Lord of Fire were shouting and clapping in encouragement and admiration. The two thunder gods and Prince Nezha led the armies of the gods to leap down by where they were fighting to help Monkey, while on the other side the devilish horde all came forward to guard their master with banners, drums, swords and cutlasses. Seeing that things were going badly Monkey pulled out a handful of hairs, scattered them in the air, and with a shout of “Change!” turned them into three or four dozen little monkeys who rushed forward and held the demon still.

  They put their arms round his legs, grabbed him by the waist, jabbed at his eyes, and pulled his hair. The demon in his alarm pulled out his ring. When Monkey arid the Heavenly King saw him doing this they turned their clouds away and fled back to the top of the mountain to keep out of the way of the fight. As soon as the demon threw the ring into the air it came whistling down, caught the three or four dozen little monkeys who were hairs transformed and turned them back into their original form. The demon took them into the cave when he led his troops back in triumph, shut the doors and celebrated.

  “Great Sage,” said Prince Nezha, “you really are a tough guy. That was a superb display of boxing, as skilful as putting embroidery on brocade. And by magically dividing yourself up you showed him how good you are.”

  “You gentlemen were all watching from here,” said Monkey with a smile. “How did the demon's technique compare with mine?”

  “His boxing was slack and his footwork slow,” said Heavenly King Li, “where you were neat and quick. When he saw us going he was worried, and when you used your self-dividing magic he was panicked, which was why he had to use his ring magic.”

  “The demon king would be easy enough to deal with,” said Monkey, “if it weren't for his ring. That's hard one to beat.”

  “If we're to beat him,” said the Star Lord of Fire to the Earl of the Yellow River, “we have to get that treasure. We'll be able to capture him then.”

  “But how else are we to get it apart from by stealing it?” Monkey asked.

  The two thunder gods laughed at this and said, “If we're going to do him the honour of stealing it there's nobody to compare with the Great Sage. When he made havoc in Heaven he stole imperial wine, magic peaches, dragon liver, phoenix bone-marrow and even Lord Lao Zi's elixir. That was some skill! Now he ought to be using it to get that ring.”

  “You are flattering me,” said Monkey, “you are flattering me. You'd better sit here while I go and spy things out.”

  The splendid Great Sage sprang down from the peak and made his way stealthily to the mouth of the cave where he shook himself and turn
ed into a most elegant fly. Look at him:

  He had wings just as fine as membranes of bamboo,

  A body as small as a plum blossom's heart,

  His hands and his feet barely thicker than hairs,

  And eyes full of lights that both sparkle and dart:

  He follows his nose when he smells something good,

  And rides on the wind as he flies at great speed.

  The scales would not move if he come to be weighed,

  And yet he's a lovable true friend in need.

  He flew quietly to the doors and crawled in through the narrow gap between them to see all the devils young and old dancing or singing in ranks on either side while the demon king sat on a high dais. Before him were set snakemeat, deer jerky, bears' paws, camels' humps, wild vegetables from the mountain and fruit. He had a celadon jug of wine as well as some delicious-smelling koumiss and coconut toddy, all of which he was drinking freely by the large bowlful. Monkey landed among the little devils and turned himself into a badger spirit. He inched his way nearer to the throne, but even after taking a long look he could not make out at all where the treasure was hidden. He quickly withdrew and went round behind the throne, where he saw hanging high from the ceiling in the rear hall the fire dragons groaning and the fire horses whinnying. He looked up to spy his gold-banded cudgel leaning against the Eastern wall. This made him so happy that his heart had an itch he could not scratch, and forgetting his disguise he went over, picked the cudgel up, resumed his own appearance, tried out some movements with it, and started to fight his way straight out of the cave. All the devils shook with terror, and there was nothing the demon king could do about it as Monkey opened up a trail of blood, pushing three over here and pulling a couple down there as he went straight out through the front doors. Indeed:

  The demon was unready in his pride;

  The cudgel went back to its owner's side.

  If you don't know whether all turned out for good or for ill, listen to the explanation in the next installment.