by Wu Cheng-En
Watch as he starts lashing out wildly with the rake. The Bull Demon King, who had been fighting Monkey all day, was tiring, and he also realized that he would never be able to withstand the onslaught of Pig's rake, so he fled in defeat. But his way was blocked by a force of spirit soldiers led by the local god of the Fiery Mountains.
“Wait, Strongarm King,” the local deity said. “All the gods and heavens are protecting Tang Sanzang on his journey West to fetch the scriptures. The Three Worlds all know about him, and the Ten Directions are supporting him. Please lend him your plantain fan to blow out the flames so that he can cross the mountains without danger or disaster. Otherwise Heaven will hold you criminally responsible and you're bound to be executed.”
“You haven't looked into the rights and wrongs of this at all,” King Demon Bull replied. “That damned ape has done one evil thing after another: he's stolen my son, bullied my concubine, and defrauded my wife. I wish I could swallow him whole and turn him into shit to feed to the dogs. I'll never lend him my treasure.”
Before the words were all out of his mouth Pig had caught up with him and was saying abusively, “I'll get you, you poxy bull. The fan or your life!” The Bull Demon King had to turn round to fight Pig off with his swords while the Great Sage Monkey wielded his cudgel to help him. It was a fine fight they had there:
A boar turned spirit,
A bull become monster.
A monkey who had robbed Heaven and found the Way.
Dharma-nature can always overcome what has been created;
Earth must be used to combine with the prime cause.
Pointed and sharp were the nine teeth of the rake;
Flexible and keen were the two sword blades.
The movements of the iron cudgel dominated the fray;
The local god formed the cinnabar head.
The three of them struggled to overcome,
Each of them scheming to give play to his powers.
Metal money is best at making the bull draw the plough;
If the boar goes in the oven, wood is finished.
Unless the heart is in it the Way cannot be completed;
To keep the spirit controlled the monkey must be tied up.
Amid wild shouts and desperate pleas
The three types of weapon whistled through the air.
There was no kindness in the blows of rake and sword;
The gold-banded cudgel rose for good reason.
Their fight put out the stars and dimmed the moon;
The sky was filled with a cold, dark dreary fog.
The demon king fought hard and courageously for mastery, falling back all the while. When the dawn came after a whole night of battle there was still no victor, and in front of them now was the entrance to the Cloud-touching Cave on Mount Thunder Piled. The ear-splitting noise that the three of them, the local god and the spirit soldiers were making alarmed Princess Jade, who sent her serving girls to see who was causing the din.
The little demons on the doors came in to report, “It's our master. He's fighting the man with a face like a thunder god, another monk with a long snout and big ears, and the local god of the Fiery Mountains and his men.” The moment Princess Jade heard this she ordered the senior and junior officers of the guard to take their swords and spears and help their lord.
“Good to see you,” said the Bull Demon King with delight, “good to see you.” All the demons rushed wildly into the attack. It was more than Pig could cope with and he fled in defeat, trailing his rake behind him. The Great Sage sprang aloft out of the multiple encirclement on a somersault cloud; the spirit soldiers broke and ran. Old Bull led his host of demons back to the cave in victory and the doors were shut tightly behind them.
“He's tough, damn him,” said Monkey. “He started fighting me at about four yesterday afternoon and we were nowhere near a result when you two came along to help last night. He fought for half a day and a whole night without showing any sign of tiring. And that bunch of little devils who came out just now were a rough lot too. Now he's shut the doors of his cave and won't come out. What are we to do?”
“It was about ten yesterday morning when you left the master, brother,” Pig said, “so why was it four in the afternoon when you started fighting him? What were you doing for the six hours in between?”
“I reached this mountain soon after I left you,” Monkey replied, “and saw a woman. When I questioned her she turned out to be his favorite concubine Princess Jade. I gave her a bit of a fright with my cudgel, so she fled into the cave and sent her Bull Demon King out. He and I swapped a few insults then started fighting. We'd been at it for a couple of hours when someone came to invite him to a banquet. I tailed him to the bottom of the Green Wave Pool on Ragged Rock Mountain and turned into a crab to do a little spying. Then I stole his water-averting golden-eyed beast and changed myself into the Bull Demon King's double to go back to the Plantain Cave on Mount Turquoise Cloud, where I conned Raksasi into giving me the fan. I went outside to try the magic spell out on the fan and made it grow, but I didn't know how to make it shrink again. As I was walking along with it on my shoulder he turned himself into your spitting image and tricked it back off me again. That's how I wasted six hours.”
“As the saying goes,” Pig replied, “it's just like a boatful of beancurd sinking: it came out of the wet and it disappeared into the wet. Easy come, easy go, But how are we going to take our master across the mountains if we're having so hard a time getting the fan? We'll just have to go back and make a bloody detour.”
“Don't get impatient, Great Sage,” the local god said, “and don't try to be lazy, Marshal Tian Peng. If you make a detour that will mean leaving the straight and narrow: you'll never cultivate your conduct that way. As the old saying goes, 'In walking never take a short cut.' You mustn't talk about detours. Your master is waiting by the main road, desperate for your success.”
“Yes, yes,” said Monkey, his resolve stiffened, “don't talk nonsense, idiot. The local deity is right. As for that Bull Demon King, we'll have to”
Straggle for mastery,
Use our powers,
Until we can make the whole earth change.
Since coming to the West he has never met a rival:
The Bull King was originally the mind-ape transformed.
Only today do the sources flow:
We must hold out till we borrow the fan.
Put out the flames in the cool of the dawn,
Smash through obstinate emptiness to visit the Buddha.
When all is fulfilled we will rise to heavenly bliss,
And all go to the assembly under the Dragon-flower Tree.”
These words braced Pig's spirits too, and eagerly he said,
“Yes, yes, yes!
Go, go, go!
Never mind what the Bull King's powers are,
Wood grows in the nor'nor'west and is matched with a pig;
The bull-calf will be led back to the earth.
Metal was born in West sou'west and was an ape,
Without any conflict or conquest and full of peace.
We must use the plantain leaf as if it were water
To put out the flames and bring harmony.
Hard work by night and day with never a rest
Will lead us to success and the Ullambana feast.”
The two of them led the local deity and his spirit soldiers forward, then battered the doors of the Cloud-touching Cave to pieces with the rake and the cudgel. This so terrified the guard commanders that they rushed inside to report, “Your Majesty, Sun Wukong's brought his troops here and has smashed down our front doors.”
The Bull Demon King was just then telling Princess Jade what had happened and feeling thoroughly fed up with Monkey. The news of the front doors being smashed made him beside himself with fury, so he put his armor on immediately and went outside with his iron mace in his hands shouting abusively, “Damned macaque! You must think you're a very big shot indeed, coming here to pl
ay the hooligan and smash down my front door.”
“Old skinflint,” retorted Pig, going forward, “who do you think you are, trying to put other people in their place? Don't move! Take this!”
“Idiot!” the Bull Demon King replied. “Chaff-guzzler! You're not worth bothering with. Tell that monkey to come here.”
“You don't know what's good for you, cud-chewer,” called Monkey. “Yesterday you were still my sworn brother, but today we're enemies. Watch this carefully!” The Bull Demon King met their onslaught with spirit, and the ensuing fight was even finer than the one before. The three heroes were locked in a melee. What a battle!
Rake and iron cudgel showing their might,
Leading the spirit soldiers to attack the ancient beast.
The beast displayed his terrible strength when fighting alone,
Reviving his powers that rivaled those of Heaven.
The rake hit hard,
The mace struck,
The iron cudgel showed its heroic powers.
The three weapons rang against each other,
Blocking and parrying, never giving way.
One said he was the champion,
Another claimed, “I am the best.”
The earth soldiers who were watching could hardly tell them apart.
As wood and earth were locked in combat.
“Why won't you lend us the plantain fan?”
“You had the effrontery to mistreat my wife,
To ruin my son and terrify my concubine.
I haven't punished you for all of that yet,
And now you harass us and beat down my doors.”
“Be on your guard against the As-You-Will cudgel:
A touch of it will tear your skin open.”
“Mind you avoid the teeth of my rake:
One blow, and nine wounds all gush blood.”
The Bull Monster fearlessly gave play to his might,
Wielding his mace with skill and with cunning.
Their movements turned the rain clouds upside-down,
As each of them snorted out his mists and winds.
This was indeed a battle to the death,
As they fought it out together with hatred in their hearts.
Taking new stances,
Offering openings high and low,
They attacked and they parried with never a mistake.
The two brother disciples were united in their efforts;
The solitary mace showed its might alone.
They battled from dawn till eight in the morning
Till the Bull Demon had to abandon the fight.
With death in their hearts and no thought of survival the three of them fought another hundred or so rounds till Pig took advantage of Monkey's miraculous powers to put all his brute strength into a rain of blows from his rake that were more than the Bull Demon King could withstand. He turned and fled defeated back to his cave, only to find the entrance blocked by the local god and his spirit troops.
“Where do you think you're going, Strongarm King?” the local god shouted. “We're here.” As he could not get into his cave the Bull Demon King fled, only to be pursued by Pig and Monkey. In his panic the Bull Demon King tore off his helmet and armor, threw away his mace, shook himself, turned into a swan and flew away. Monkey looked around and said with a grin, “Pig, Old Bull's gone.”
The idiot had not the faintest idea of what had happened and neither had the local god as they looked all around and aimlessly searched Mount Thunder Piled. “Isn't that him flying up there?” said Monkey, pointing.
“It's a swan,” Pig replied.
“Yes,” said Monkey, “it's what Old Bull turned himself into.”
“So what are we going to do about it?” the local god asked.
“You two charge in there, wipe all the demons out without quarter and tear down his den,” Monkey replied. “That will cut off his retreat while I go and match transformations with him.” We shall say no more of Pig and the local god smashing their way into the cave as they had been instructed.
Putting away his gold-banded cudgel and saying the words of a spell while making the necessary hand movements, Monkey shook himself and turned into a vulture who soared up into the clouds with his wings beating noisily, then swooped down on the swan, seizing its neck and gouging at its eyes. Realizing that this was Sun Wukong transformed the Bull Demon King braced himself and turned into a golden eagle who gouged, back at the vulture. Then Monkey turned into a black phoenix to chase the eagle, only to be recognized by the Bull King, who turned into a white crane and flew off South with a loud call. Monkey stopped, braced his feathers, and turned into a red phoenix, who called loudly too. At the sight of the phoenix, the king of all the birds whom no bird dared treat with disrespect, the white crane swooped down beside the precipice with a beat of his wings, shook himself, and turned into a river-deer grazing in a timid, stupid way at the foot of the cliff. Monkey spotted him, came swooping down too, and turned into a hungry tiger that came running after the river-deer, swishing his tail hungrily. The demon king had to move fast as he transformed himself into a huge leopard with spots like golden coins who turned to savage the hungry tiger. Seeing this, Monkey faced the wind, shook himself, and turned into a golden-eyed lion with a voice like thunder, a brazen head and an iron brow. He spun round to devour the leopard, at which the Bull Demon King immediately became a giant bear that ran after the lion. Monkey then rolled himself up and became an elephant with tusks shaped like bamboo shoots, and a trunk like a python that he stretched out to wrap round the bear.
The Bull Demon King chuckled and switched back into his own original shape as a great white bull with a craggy head and flashing eyes. Each of his horns was like an iron pagoda, and his teeth were rows of sharp swords. He was about ten thousand feet long from head to tail and stood eight thousand feet high at the shoulder.
“What are you going to do to me now, damned macaque?” he shouted to Brother Monkey at the top of his voice; at which Monkey too reverted to his own form, pulled out his gold-banded cudgel, bowed forward and shouted “Grow!” He then grew to be a hundred thousand feet tall with a head like Mount Taishan, eyes like the sun and moon, a mouth like a pool of blood and teeth like doors. He raised his iron cudgel and struck at the Bull Demon King's head; and the Bull Demon King hardened his head and charged Monkey with his horns. This was a ridge-rocking, mountain-shaking, heaven-scaring, earth-frightening battle, and there is a poem to prove it that goes:
The Way grows by one foot, the demon by ten thousand;
The cunning mind-ape puts him down by force.
If the Fiery Mountains' flames are to be put out,
The precious fan must blow them cool.
The yellow-wife is determined to protect the primal ancient;
The mother of wood is set on wiping out the demons.
When the Five Elements are harmonized they return to the true achievement;
Evil and dirt are refined away as they travel to the West.
The two of them gave such a great display of their magic powers as they fought on the mountain that they alarmed all the deities, the Gold-headed Protector, the Six Jias, the Six Dings and the Eighteen Guardians of the Faith, who were passing through the air, came to surround the demon king. He was not in the least afraid as he butted to East and West with his straight, shining, iron horns, and lashed to North and South with his strong and hairy tail. Sun Wukong stood up to him head on while all the other gods surrounded him till in his despair the Bull Demon King rolled on the ground, turned back into his usual form, and headed for the Plantain Cave. Monkey too put away his magical form and joined in the chase with all the gods, but once in the cave the demon king shut the doors fast. The gods then threw a watertight encirclement around Mount Turquoise Cloud. Just when they were all about to storm the doors they heard the shouts of Pig arriving with the local god and his spirit soldiers.
“How are things in the Cloud-touching Cave?” Monkey asked, greeting him.
“I finished off Old Bull's woman with one blow from my rake,” grinned Pig, “and when I stripped her I found she was a jade-faced fox spirit. Her demons were all donkeys, mules, bulls, badgers, foxes, raccoon dogs, river-deer, goats, tigers, elk, deer and things like that. We killed the lot of them and burnt down all the buildings in the cave. The local god tells me he's got another woman who lives here, so we've come here to wipe her out too.”
“You've done well, brother,” said Monkey. “Congratulations. I tried competing with Old Bull in transformations, but I couldn't beat him. He turned into a simply enormous white bull, and I made myself as big as heaven and earth. We were just battling it out when all the gods came down and surrounded him. After a long time he turned back into himself and went into the cave.”
“Is this Plantain Cave?” Pig asked.
“Yes yes,” Monkey replied, “Raksasi's in here.”
“Then why don't we storm the place and wipe the lot of them out to get the fan?” said Pig, his blood still up. “Are we going to let the two of them live to be any older and wiser and love each other with tender passion?”
The splendid idiot then summoned up his strength to bring his rake down on the doors so hard that doors, rock-face and all collapsed with a mighty rumble. The serving girls rushed inside to report, “Your Majesty, someone's smashed the doors in and we don't know who he is.” The Bull Demon King himself had just run panting in and was still telling Raksasi about his fight with Monkey for the fan when he heard this report, which made him very angry indeed.
At once he spat out the fan and gave it to Raksasi, who took it in her hands and said tearfully, “Your Majesty, give the macaque the fan if he'll call his troops off.”
“Wife,” the Bull Demon King replied, “it may only be a little thing in itself, but I hate and loathe him. Wait here while I have it out with him again.” Once more the demon put on his armor, chose another pair of swords, and went out to find Pig smashing the doors down with his rake. Without a word Old Bull raised his swords and cut at Pig's head. Pig parried with his rake and fell back a few paces till he was outside the doors, where Monkey swung his cudgel at the Bull Demon King's head. The Bull Monster then mounted a storm wind and sprang away from the cave to fight Monkey once more on Mount Turquoise Cloud. All the gods surrounded him, while the local god's soldiers joined in the fray from either side. It was a splendid fight:
