by Unknown
In Toad Palace4 it has long stayed with me,
A frequent companion by Cassia Hall.
For love of flowers I came down to Earth
And went to India, posing as a girl.
I shared the king’s joys with no other wish
Than wedding the Tang Monk to seal my fate.
How wicked you are that you wreck our match!
So savage that you hunt me down to fight!
This weapon of mine has tremendous fame,
Surpassing greatly your golden-hooped rod.
A pestle for herbs in Vast-Cold Palace,5
Its one blow will send one to Yellow Spring.”
On hearing this, Pilgrim laughed scornfully and said, “Dear cursed beast! If you had lived in the Toad Palace, you couldn’t be ignorant of old Monkey’s abilities, could you? And you still dare take a stand here? Reveal your form and surrender at once, and I’ll spare your life!”
“I recognize that you are the BanHorsePlague,” said the fiend, “who greatly disturbed the Celestial Palace five hundred years ago. I should defer to you, I suppose. But ruining one’s marriage is an act of bitter enmity like murdering one’s parents. Neither reason nor sentiment would allow me to give in, and that’s why I’m going to fight you Heaven-defying Ban-HorsePlague!”
Now, those three words, BanHorsePlague, were most irksome to the Great Sage. When he heard them, he became enraged and immediately raised his iron rod to strike at her face. The monstrous deviate wielded her club to meet him, and right before the West Heaven Gate they locked in savage combat once more. In this battle,
The golden-hooped rod,
The pestle for herbs,
Two weapons divine formed a worthy match
That one for marriage descended to Earth;
This one protecting the Tang Monk arrived here.
The king, actually, was not quite upright—
His love of flowers won a fiend’s delight
And brought on this moment a bitter fight,
Both parties stirred to stubbornness and hate.
They charged and sallied to see who would win;
With taunts and slurs they waged a war of words.
The mighty pestle was rare in the world;
The rod’s divine strength had e’en more appeal.
Golden beams flashing lit up Heaven’s gate;
Cold mists lambent spread throughout the Earth.
They fought back and forth for over ten rounds.
The monster, growing weak, now lost her ground.
That monster-spirit fought more than ten rounds with Pilgrim. When she saw how taut and fast was the style of the rod, she realized that it would be difficult for her to prevail. After one feeble blow with her club, she shook her body and changed into myriad shafts of golden light to flee toward the south. The Great Sage gave chase, and they suddenly reached a huge mountain. The monster’s golden light lowered and entered a mountain cave, completely disappearing from sight. Fearing that she might sneak back to the kingdom to harm the Tang Monk, Pilgrim took careful note of the shape of that mountain before reversing the direction of his cloud to return to the kingdom himself.
This was about the hour of the Monkey. The king, tugging at Tripitaka, was still shaking all over. “Sage monk, please save me!” was all he could say. Those concubines and the queen, too, were quite apprehensive when they saw the Great Sage dropping down from the edge of the clouds.
“Master,” he cried, “I’m back!”
“Stand still, Wukong,” said Tripitaka, “and don’t alarm His Majesty. Let me ask you what, in fact, has become of the princess?” Standing outside the gate to the Magpie Palace, with hands folded across his chest, Pilgrim said, “The false princess is a monstrous deviate. At first I fought with her for half a day. When she found that she could not prevail, she changed into a clear breeze and fled toward the gate of Heaven. I shouted for the celestial deities to bar her way. She changed back to her form and again fought over ten rounds with me. Once more she changed into shafts of golden light to flee to a mountain due south of here. I chased her there but couldn’t find her. Fearing that she may come back here to harm you, I came back to look after you.”
When the king heard this, he tugged at the Tang Monk to ask, “If the false princess is a monstrous deviate, where is our real princess?”
“Let me catch the false princess first,” Pilgrim responded at once, “and your real princess will naturally return to you.”
When the queen and palace ladies heard this declaration, their fears were lifted. Each one of them went forward, bowed low, and said, “I beg the sage monk to rescue our real princess and bring her back. When this whole affair has been cleared up, you will be amply rewarded.”
“This is no place for us to talk,” said Pilgrim. “Let His Majesty go to the main hall with my master. And let the queen and her companions return to their palaces. Have my brothers Eight Rules and Sha Monk summoned to the palace so that they may give my master protection. I can then leave to subdue the monster. In that way, proper etiquette for what is public and private will be observed, and I shall be spared from worry. Please take note of what I have said, for it betokens a great deal of energy expended.”
The king was most grateful to follow his suggestion. Hand in hand, he walked with the Tang Monk to the main hall, while the queen and the ladies returned to their own palaces. The king then asked for the preparation of a vegetarian meal and sent for Eight Rules and Sha Monk. In a little while the two of them arrived, and Pilgrim gave them a thorough account of what had taken place and enjoined them to protect their master with all diligence. Mounting the cloud somersault, our Great Sage hurtled through the air and left. All those officials before the main hall bowed low to the sky, and we shall leave them there for the moment.
The Great Sage Sun headed straight for the mountain to the south of the kingdom to begin his search. The monstrous deviate, you see, had fled there in defeat; on reaching the mountain, she crawled inside her lair and used pieces of rock to stop up its entrance. Terribly dismayed, she hid herself and kept totally out of sight. Pilgrim searched for a while, but he could detect no movement whatever. Growing anxious, he made the magic sign with his fingers and recited a spell to summon into his presence the local spirit and the mountain deity for interrogation. The two gods arrived and immediately kowtowed, both crying, “We didn’t know! We didn’t know! If we had known, we would have gone far to receive you. We beg you to pardon us.”
“I’ll not hit you just yet,” said Pilgrim. “Let me question you instead. What’s the name of this mountain? How many monster-spirits are to be found here? Tell me the truth and I’ll pardon you.”
“Great Sage,” those two deities said, “this mountain is named Mount Hairbrush. It has three rabbit lairs in it.6 From antiquity till now there has never been any monster-spirit, for it is a blessed land of complete circularity. If the Great Sage wishes to find monster-spirits, he’d better stick to the road to the Western Heaven.”
Pilgrim said, “When old Monkey arrived at the Kingdom of India in the Western Heaven, he discovered that the princess, the daughter of the king, had been abducted by a monster-spirit and left in the wilds. The monster-spirit assumed the form of the princess to deceive the king into erecting a festooned tower, from which she would toss an embroidered ball to select her husband. When I escorted my master beneath the tower, she purposely threw the ball on the Tang Monk, for she wanted to become his mate so that she could steal his primal yang through temptation. I saw through all that and revealed myself in the palace to capture her. Stripping off her human clothes and jewelry, she fought with me for half a day, wielding a short club called a pestle for herbs. Then she changed into a clear breeze to flee, but old Monkey caught up with her before the West Heavenly Gate, and we fought for another ten rounds or more. Realizing that she could not prevail, she changed into beams of golden light and fled here. Why is it that she can’t be seen now?”
When the two deities
heard this, they led Pilgrim at once to search the three rabbit lairs. They began with the one at the foot of the mountain; looking there, they could see only a few wild rabbits, which were frightened away. When they searched their way up to the hole on the peak, however, they at once spotted two huge slabs of stone blocking its entrance. “This has to be where the monstrous deviate is,” said the local spirit. “She must have crawled in there to evade your pursuit.”
Pilgrim lifted away the stones with his iron rod. The monstrous deviate was indeed hiding in there. With a loud whoosh, she leaped out and attacked with upraised pestle. Pilgrim wielded his iron rod to parry the blow, so terrifying the two deities that the mountain god backed up and the local spirit darted away. “Who asked you two,” whined the monster to the two of them, “to bring him here to look for me?” Barely able to withstand the iron rod, she fought as she retreated, rising to midair.
It was getting late, and the situation became more precarious. Growing more and more violent, Pilgrim was about to give her the coup de grace. Suddenly a voice rang out from the azure air of the Ninefold Heaven: “Great Sage, don’t raise your hand! Don’t raise your hand! Be lenient with your rod!”
Pilgrim turned to look and discovered the Star Lord of Supreme Yin, followed by the immortal Chang’e and other lunar goddesses, all descending in front of him on a pink cloud. Pilgrim was so startled that he quickly put away his iron rod and bowed to receive them, saying, “Old Supreme Yin, where are you going? Pardon old Monkey for not stepping out of the way!”
“The monstrous deviate opposing you,” said Supreme Yin, “happens to be the jade hare of my Vast-Cold Palace, the one who helps me pound the immortal drug of mysterious frost. On her own she picked open the gold lock and jade bolt and fled the palace for a year. I calculated that she might be in mortal danger at this moment, and that’s why I have come to save her life. I beg the Great Sage to spare her for this old man’s sake.”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!” said Pilgrim. “I dare not refuse you, of course! No wonder she knows how to use a pestle for herbs! So, she is the little jade hare! But I wonder whether the old Supreme Yin knows of her kidnapping the princess of the Kingdom of India. She speciously assumed the form of the princess in order to ruin the primal yang of a sage monk, my master. Her desire and her offense are really intolerable. How could she be spared so lightly?”
“You have no knowledge of this either,” said Supreme Yin. “The daughter of the king is no ordinary mortal. Originally she was the Lady White7 of the Toad Palace. Eighteen years ago, after giving a slap to the little jade hare, she was overcome by mortal longings and went to the Region Below. The light of her soul found conception in the belly of the queen, and she was born to the royal family. Nursing the grudge of that single slap, this little jade hare ran away from our palace last year so that she could send Lady White into the wilds. But she should not have wanted to marry the Tang Monk, and this offense is certainly unforgivable. Fortunately you were alert enough to discern the true and the false, so that she did not have a chance to ruin your master. I beg you, therefore, to pardon her for my sake. I’ll take her back now.”
“When you present me with this sort of karma,” said Pilgrim, chuckling, “old Monkey dares not go against your wishes. But if you take away the little jade hare now, I fear that the king may not believe me. I hope, therefore, that Lord Supreme Yin and my immortal sisters will take the trouble of bringing the little jade hare to the kingdom and giving a clear testimony. In that way, not only the ability of old Monkey will be made known, but the reason for the descent of Lady White can also be told. Then we may ask the king to send for Princess Lady White, so that the purpose of manifest retribution may be clearly established.”
Consenting to what he said, Lord Supreme Yin pointed at the monstrous deviate and snapped, “Cursed beast! Aren’t you returning to what is right?” Rolling over on the ground, the little jade hare revealed her true form. Truly she has
Sharp teeth and divided lips,
Long ears with little hair.
Her body is a ball of furlike jade;
She can fly through mountains with paws outstretched.
The creamy straight nose
Seems brightly frosted or thickly powdered;
The shining red eyes
Can rival e’en white snow dotted with rouge.
Hugging the ground,
She’s all fleecy like a bundle of silk;
Torso stretched out,
She’s argent like a silver-threaded frame.
A number of times
She drinks at dawn the clear dew of Heaven’s air,
And pounds long-life drug with a jade pestle rare.
Delighted by the sight, the Great Sage trod the cloudy luminosity, leading the way, followed by Lord Supreme Yin, Chang’e and other lunar goddesses, and the jade hare.
They arrived at the Kingdom of India about dusk, and the moon was just rising. When they neared the city, they could hear the roll of drums on the watchtower. The king and the Tang Monk were still in the main hall, while Eight Rules and Sha Monk, along with many officials at the foot of the steps, were discussing the cessation of court. They saw a glowing sheen of colored mists approaching from due south, its luminosity making the whole place bright as day. As they stared into the sky, they heard the Great Sage Sun crying out in a loud voice: “Your Majesty of India, please ask your queen and concubines to come out and look. Beneath this treasure canopy is the Star Lord of Supreme Yin, and the immortal sisters on both sides of him are the lunar goddesses and Chang’e. This little jade hare is the false princess of your household; she has now revealed her true form.”
The king hurriedly assembled the queen, his concubines, the palace maidens, and gaily-attired girls to bow to the sky and worship. He himself and the Tang Monk also expressed their thanks toward the sky by bowing low. All the households in the city also set up incense tables and kowtowed, chanting the name of Buddha.
As they looked up into the air, Zhu Eight Rules was moved to lust. Unable to contain himself, he leaped into the air and embraced a rainbow-skirted immortal, crying, “Sister, you and I are old acquaintances! Let’s go play!”
Walking forward to grab hold of him, Pilgrim gave him a couple of slaps on the face and a scolding. “You vulgar Idiot!” he said. “Where do you think you are, that you dare vent your lust?”
“It’s just a bit of slapstick,” replied Eight Rules, “to dispel my boredom and have some fun! That’s all!” That Lord Supreme Yin ordered the entourage to turn. With the goddesses, they took the jade hare back to the Lunar Palace, while Pilgrim yanked Eight Rules back to the ground.
After thanking Pilgrim in the main hall, the king asked, “Since the false princess has been captured by the mighty magic power of the divine monk, where is our true princess to be found?”
“That true princess of yours,” replied Pilgrim, “did not come from mortal stock either. She was actually the immortal Lady White of the Lunar Palace. Because she slapped the jade hare once eighteen years ago, she thought of this world and descended to the Region Below, where she was conceived in your queen, who gave birth to her. Nursing this former enmity, the little jade hare last year picked open the jade bolt and gold lock and escaped to this place also. She kidnapped the Lady White and left her in the wilds before assuming her form to deceive you. This entire karmic process was told to me personally by Lord Supreme Yin himself. Today the false one has been removed; tomorrow you will be asked to go search for the real one.”
On hearing this, the king became both embarrassed and alarmed, hardly able to hold back the tears flowing down his cheeks. “Child!” he said. “Since I was enthroned in my youth, I have never even left the gate of the city. Where should I go look for you?”
With a smile, Pilgrim said, “No need to be upset. Right now your princess is feigning madness at the Benefactor-of-Orphans Gold-Spreading Monastery. Let’s retire. By morning I promise you I’ll return your true princess.” The other officials, too, p
rostrated themselves and said, “Let our king put his worries to rest. These several divine monks are buddhas who are able to soar on the clouds and ride the fog. Most certainly they possess the knowledge of past and future. Let the divine monks go make a search tomorrow, and undoubtedly they will get to the end of the matter.” The king agreed, and ordered the pilgrims again taken to the Spring-Detaining Arbor for their meals and lodging. By then it was almost the hour of the second watch. Truly
The moon is fair, the copper pots mark their times
As wind wafts the tinklings of golden chimes.
Spring has half faded and the nightjars weep;
Petals shroud the path for the night is deep.
An idle swing the royal garden shades;
The silver stream a jade-blue sky invades.
None walks the streets or visits the bazaars
When night’s aglow with a sky full of stars.
They all rested that night, and we shall leave them for the moment.
Because his demonic aura had been dispelled, the king’s energy revived during the night. By the third quarter of the fifth watch, he appeared again to hold his morning court, after which he asked for the Tang Monk and his three disciples to come and discuss the matter of finding his daughter. The elder arrived and greeted him, while the Great Sage and his two brothers also bowed. Returning their bows, the king said, “We spoke of our child, the princess, yesterday. May I trouble the divine monks to look for her?”
The elder said, “The day before your humble cleric came from the East, by nightfall we had entered a Benefactor-of-Orphans Gold-Spreading Monastery to ask for lodging. The priests there were good enough to accommodate our request. After dinner we took a stroll in the moonlight to go to look at the foundation of the old Gold-Spreading garden. Suddenly we heard the sound of lament. When we inquired into the matter, a priest of the monastery, who was already over one hundred years of age, sent away his attendants and told us, ‘This is the source of that lament: Late spring last year, I was just meditating on the dialectical relation of the moon and our nature when a breeze brought to me the sounds of weeping and lament. When I arose from my mat and went down to the foundation of the Jetavana garden to look, I found a girl. On being questioned, she told me that she was the daughter of the King of India, blown to that place by a strong gust when she was enjoying the sight of flowers in the moonlight.’ Since that old priest was quite knowledgeable in human propriety, he locked the princess in a quiet room. Fearing that she might be defiled by other priests in the monastery, he only told them that a monster-spirit had been locked up by him. The princess, too, understood his intentions; during the day she would babble absurdities just to win some sustenance of tea and rice for herself. During the night, however, with no one present, she would think of her parents and weep. That old priest had journeyed to the capital several times to try to ascertain the truth. When he learned that the princess, to all appearance, was in the palace and unharmed, he dared not present a memorial on the matter. When he learned, however, that my disciple had some magic powers, he urged us repeatedly to make a thorough investigation. Little did we expect that the jade hare of the Toad Palace had become a monster and, falsely fused with the true form, had taken on the appearance of the princess. The monster, moreover, was hoping to ruin my primal yang, and it was fortunate that my disciple exercised his magic power to distinguish the true from the specious. Now the hare has been taken back by the Star of Supreme Yin, but your worthy daughter may still be seen feigning madness at the Gold-Spreading Monastery.”
