by Wu Cheng-En
“No need to tell me,” Brother Monkey replied with a smile. “On this trip I'd force the Eastern Ocean to make way for me, and I'd smash my way in even if it were a mountain of silver cased in iron.”
The splendid Great Sage went whistling straight up to the peak by his somersault cloud. Holding on to the vines and creepers, he surveyed the mountain only to find it silent and deserted. “I was wrong,” he said involuntarily, “I was wrong. I shouldn't have let that old Great White Planet go. He was just trying to scare me. There aren't any evil spirits here. If there were they'd be out leaping around in the wind, thrusting with their spears and staves, or practicing their fighting skills. Why isn't there a single one?”
As he was wondering about this there was a ringing of a bell and a banging of clappers. He turned round at once to see a little devil boy with a banner on which was written BY ORDER over his shoulder, a bell at his waist and clappers in his hands that he was sounding. He was coming from the North and heading South. A close look revealed that he was about twelve feet tall.
“He must be a runner,” thought Monkey, grinning to himself, “delivering messages and reports. I'll take a listen to what he's talking about.” The splendid Great Sage made a spell with his hands, said the magic words, shook himself and turned into a fly who landed lightly on the devil's hat and tilted his head for a good listen.
This is what the little devil was saying to himself as he headed along the main road, sounding his clappers and ringing his bell: “All we mountain patrollers must be careful and be on our guard against Sun the Novice. He can even turn into a fly!” Monkey was quietly amazed to hear this. “That so-and-so must have seen me before. How else could he know my name and know that I can turn into a fly?” Now the little devil had not in fact seen him before. The demon chief had for some reason given him these instructions that he was reciting blindly. Monkey, who did not know this, thought that the devil must have seen him and was on the point of bringing the cudgel out to hit him with when he stopped.
“I remember Pig being told,” he thought, “when he questioned the planet that there were three demon chieftains and 47,000 or 48,000 junior devils like this one. Even if there were tens of thousands more juniors like this it would be no problem. But I wonder how great the three leaders' powers are. I'll question him first. There'll be time to deal with them later.”
Splendid Great Sage! Do you know how he questioned the demon? He jumped off the devil's hat and landed on a tree top, letting the junior devil go several paces ahead. Then Monkey turned round and did a quick transformation into another junior devil, sounding clappers, ringing a bell and carrying a flag over his shoulder just like the real one. He was also dressed identically. The only difference was that he was a few inches taller.
He was muttering the same things as the other as he caught him up, shouting, “Hey, you walking ahead, wait for me.”
Turning round, the junior devil asked, “Where have you come from?”
“You're a nice bloke,” Monkey said with a smile, “not even recognizing one of your own people.”
“You're not one of ours,” said the demon.
“What do you mean?” Monkey asked. “Take a look and see if you can recognize me.”
“I've never seen you before,” the demon said. “I don't know you.”
“It's not surprising you don't know me,” said Monkey. “I work in the kitchens. We've rarely met.”
“You don't,” said the demon, shaking his head, “you don't. None of the brothers who do the cooking has got a pointy face like yours.”
“I must have made my face too pointy when I did the transformation,” thought Monkey, so he rubbed it with his hands and said, “It isn't pointy.” Indeed it was not.
“But it was pointy just now,” the little devil said. “How did you stop it being pointy just by rubbing it? You're a very shady character. I don't have the faintest idea who you are. You're not one of us. I've never met you. Very suspicious. Our kings run the household very strictly. The kitchen staff only work in the kitchen and the mountain patrols keep to patrolling the mountain. How could you possibly be a cook and a patroller?”
“There's something you don't know,” said Monkey, improvising a clever answer. “I was promoted to patrolling because the kings saw how well I'd worked in the kitchens.”
“Very well then,” said the little devil. “We patrollers are divided into ten companies of forty each, which makes four hundred in all. We're all known by our ages, appearances, names and descriptions. Because Their Majesties want to keep the organization neat and roll-calls convenient they've given us all passes. Have you got one?” Monkey, who had seen what the devil looked like and heard what he had said, had been able to turn himself into the devil's double. But not having seen the devil's pass he was not carrying one himself. Instead of saying that he did not have one the splendid Great Sage claimed that he had.
“Of course I've got one,” he said. “But it's a new one that's only just been issued to me. Show me yours.”
Not realizing what Monkey was up to, the little devil lifted his clothes to reveal a gold-lacquered pass with a silken cord through it fastened next to his skin that he lifted out to show Monkey. Monkey saw that on the back of it were the words “Demon-suppresser,” while on the front was handwritten “Junior Wind-piercer.”
“Goes without saying,” Brother Monkey thought, “all the ones in mountain patrols have 'Wind' at the end of their names. Put your clothes down now,” he said, “and come over here while I show you my pass.” With that he turned away, put a hand down to pull a little hair from the tip of his tail, rubbed it between his fingers, called “Change!” and turned it into another gold-lacquered pass on a green silken cord on which were handwritten the words “Senior Wind-piercer.”
With his liking for taking things to extremes and his gift of finding the right thing to say, Monkey remarked, “There's something you don't know. When Their Majesties promoted me to patrolling for doing so well in the kitchen they gave me a new pass as a Senior Patroller and put me in charge of you forty lads in this company.”
At this the demon at once gave a “na-a-aw” of respect and said, “Sir, I didn't recognize you as you've only just been appointed. Please forgive me if anything I said offended you.”
“I'm not angry with you,” said Monkey, returning his courtesy. “There's just one thing. I want some money from you all to mark our first meeting: five ounces of silver each.”
“Please be patient, sir,” the little devil replied. “When I get back to the Southern end of the ridge to meet the rest of our company we'll all give it to your together.”
“In that case I'm coming with you,” said Monkey, and he followed behind as the demon led the way.
After a mile or two a writing-brush peak was seen. Why was it called a writing-brush peak? Because on the top of the mountain there was a pinnacle about forty or fifty feet high that looked just like a writing brush standing upright on a brush stand.
Going up to it Monkey lifted his tail, jumped to the top of the pinnacle, sat down and called, “Come here, all of you.”
The young Wind-piercers all bowed low beneath him and said, “We're at your service, sir.”
“Do you know why Their Majesties appointed me?” Monkey asked.
“No,” they replied.
“Their Majesties want to eat the Tang Priest,” said Monkey, “but they're worried about Sun the Novice's tremendous magic powers. They've heard that he can do transformations and are worried that he might turn himself into a young Wind-piercer and come along the path here to find out what's going on. That's why they're made me Senior Wind-piercer to check up on you and find out if there are any impostors among you.”
“We're all genuine, sir,” the junior Wind-piercers all replied at once.
“If you're all genuine do you know what powers His Senior Majesty has?” Monkey asked.
“Yes,” one of the young Wind-piercers said.
“In that case,” said
Monkey, “tell me about them at once. If what you say matches what I know, you're genuine. If it's at all wrong you're impostors, and I'll take you to Their Majesties for punishment.”
Seeing him sitting up on high, playing wise and cunning as he shouted at them, the young devils had nothing for it but to tell him the truth. “His Majesty has vast magical abilities and enormous powers,” one of the young devils replied. “He once devoured a hundred thousand heavenly warriors in a single mouthful.”
“You're an impostor,” Monkey spat out when he heard this.
“Sir, Your Honour,” said the young devil in panic, “I'm real. How can you call me an impostor?”
“If you're genuine why did you talk such nonsense?” Monkey replied. “No matter how big he is His Majesty couldn't have swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers in a single mouthful.”
“This is something you don't know about, sir,” the young devil replied. “His Majesty can do transformations. He can make himself tall enough to hold up the sky or as small as a cabbage seed. Some years ago when the Queen Mother invited all the immortals to a peach banquet she didn't send him an invitation, so His Majesty wanted to fight Heaven. The Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers to subdue His Majesty, gave himself a magical body and opened his mouth that was as big as a city gate. He made as if to swallow hard, which frightened the heavenly soldiers so much that they dared not give battle, and the Southern Gate of Heaven was shut. That's how he could have swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers at a single mouthful.”
Monkey grinned to himself and thought, “Frankly, I've done that too. What powers does His Second Majesty have?” he asked.
“His Second Majesty is thirty feet tall with brows like sleeping silkworms, phoenix eyes, a voice like a beautiful woman, tusks like carrying-poles and a nose like a dragon. If he's in a fight he only needs to wrinkle his nose for his enemy to be scared witless even if he's covered in bronze and iron.”
“Evil spirits who get people with their noses are easy enough to catch,” said Monkey, who then asked, “and what powers does His Third Majesty have?”
“He's no monster from the mortal world,” the young devil replied. “His name is Ten Thousand Miles of Cloud Roc. When he moves he rolls up the wind and shifts the waves, shaking the North as he heads for the South. He carries a treasure about with him called the Male and Female Vital Principles Jar. Anyone who's put in that jar is turned liquid in a few moments.”
That news gave Monkey something to worry about. “I'm not scared of the monsters,” he thought, “but I'll have to watch out for his jar.” Then he said aloud, “Your account of Their Majesties' powers isn't bad-it fits exactly with what I know. But which of them wants to eat the Tang Priest?”
“Don't you know, sir?” said the young Wind-piercer.
“As if I didn't know better than you!” shouted Monkey. “I was told to come and question you because they're worried that you don't know all the details.”
“Our Senior King and Second King have long lived in Lion Cave on Lion Mountain,” the young devil replied, “but the Third King doesn't live here. He used to live over a hundred miles to the West of here in the capital of a country called Leonia. Five hundred years ago he ate the king of the country, his civil and military officials, and everybody else in the city, young and old, male and female. So he seized their country, and now all the people there are evil monsters. I don't know which year it was in which he heard that the Tang court has sent a priest to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. They say this priest is a good man who has cultivated his conduct for ten incarnations, and anyone who eats a piece of his flesh will live for ever and never grow old. But the Third King is worried about the priest's disciple Sun the Novice who's a real terror, so he's come to swear brotherhood with our two kings, all three are now working together to catch the Tang Priest.”
“Damn this thoroughly ill-behaved monster,” thought Brother Monkey with great fury. “I'm protecting the Tang Priest while he works for the true achievement. How dare they plot to eat my man?” With a snort of fury he ground his steel teeth and brandished his iron cudgel as he leapt down from the high pinnacle and smashed the poor young devil's head into a lump of meat. When he saw what he had done Monkey felt sorry.
“Oh dear,” he thought, “he meant well, telling me all about the house. Why did I finish him off all of a sudden like that? Oh well! Oh well! That's that.” The splendid Great Sage had been forced to do this because his master's way ahead had been blocked. He took the little devil's pass off him, tied it round his own waist, put the “By order" flag over his shoulder, hung the bell from his waist and sounded the clappers with his hand. Then he made a hand-spell into the wind, said a spell, shook himself, turned into the exact likeness of the junior Wind-piercer, and went straight back the way he had come, looking for the cave to find out about the three demon chieftains. Indeed:
The Handsome Monkey King had a thousand transformations
And the true power of magic to make ten thousand changes.
Monkey was rushing deep into the mountains along the way he had come when suddenly he heard shouts and whinnies. As he looked up he saw tens of thousands of little devils drawn up outside the entrance to the Lion Cave with their spears, sabers, swords, halberds, flags and banners. Monkey was delighted.
“Li Changgeng, the planet, was telling the truth,” he thought. “He wasn't lying at all.” The devils were drawn up in a systematic way, each 250 forming a company, so that from the forty standards in many colours that were dancing in the wind he could tell that there were ten thousand infantry and cavalry there.
“If I go into the cave disguised as a junior Wind-piercer and one of the demon chiefs questions me about my mountain patrol,” Monkey thought, “I'll have to make up answers on the spur of the moment. The moment I say anything at all wrong he'll realize who I am and I won't be able to get away. That army on the gates would stop me and I'd never get out. If I'm going to catch the demon kings I'll have to get rid of the devils on the gates first.”
Do you know how he was going to do that? “The old demons have never seen me,” he thought, “they've only heard of my reputation. I'll talk big and scare them with my fame and prestige. If it's true that all living beings in the middle land are destined to have the scriptures brought to them, then all I need do is talk like a hero and scare those monsters on the gate away. But if they're not destined to have the scriptures brought to them I'll never get rid of the spirits from the gates of this cave in the West even if I talk till lotus flowers appear.” Thus he thought about his plans, his mind questioning his mouth and his mouth questioning his mind, as he sounded the clappers and rang the bell.
Before he could rush in through the entrance to Lion Cave he was stopped by the junior devils of the forward camp, who said, “You're back, young Wind-piercer.” Monkey said nothing but kept going with his head down.
When he reached the second encampment more young devils grabbed hold of him and said, “You're back, young Wind-piercer.”
“Yes,” Monkey replied. “On your patrol this morning did you meet a Sun the Novice?” they asked.
“I did,” Monkey replied. “He was polishing his pole.”
“What's he like?” the terrified devils asked. “What sort of pole was he polishing?”
“He was squatting beside a stream,” Monkey replied. “He looked like one of those gods that clear the way. If he'd stood up I'm sure he'd have been hundreds of feet tall, and the iron cudgel he was holding was a huge bar as thick as a rice-bowl. He'd put a handful of water on a rocky scar and was polishing the cudgel on it muttering, 'Pole, it's ages since I got you out to show your magic powers: This time you can kill all the demons for me, even if there are a hundred thousand of them. Then I'll kill the three demon chiefs as a sacrificial offering to you.' He's going to polish it till it shines then start by killing the ten thousand of you on the gates.”
On hearing this the little devils were all terro
r-struck and their souls all scattered in panic. “Gentlemen,” Monkey continued, “that Tang Priest has only got a few pounds of flesh on him. We won't get a share. So why should we have to carry the can for them? We'd do much better to scatter.”
“You're right,” the demons said. “Let's all run for our lives.” If they had been civilized soldiers they would have stayed and fought to the death, but as they were all really wolves, tigers and leopards, running beasts and flying birds, they all disappeared with a great whoosh. Indeed, it wasn't as if the Great Sage Sun had merely talked big: it was like the time when Xiang Yu's army of eight thousand soldiers disappeared, surrounded by foes who were former comrades.
“Splendid,” said monkey to himself with self-congratulation, “the old devils are as good as dead now. If this lot run away at the sound of me they'll never dare look me in the face. I'll use the same story when I go in there. If I said anything different and one or two of the young devils had got inside and heard me that would give the game away.” Watch him as he carefully approaches the ancient cave and boldly goes deep inside.
If you don't know what of good or ill was to come from the demon chieftains listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 75
The Mind-Ape Bores a Hole in the Male and Female Jar
The Demon King Returns and the Way Is Preserved
The story tells how the Great Sage Sun went in through the entrance of the cave and looked to either side. This is what he saw:
Hills of skeletons,
Forests of bones,
Human heads and hair trampled into felt,
Human skin and flesh rotted into mud,
Sinews twisted round trees,
Dried and shining like silver.
Truly there was a mountain of corpses, a sea of blood,
An unbearable stench of corruption.
The little devils to the East
Sliced the living flesh off human victims;
