Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 1)

Although good deeds always run into trouble,

The Tang Priest on his Westward journey has been most unlucky.

The junior devils carried the Tang Priest as far as the bamboo curtain and put him down outside it as they announced with great delight, “We've brought the monk back, Your Majesty.” The old demon stole a look and saw that Sanzang, who was holding his head high with dignity, must be a fine monk.

“So fine a monk,” he thought, “must be a superior person, so I mustn't treat him as a nobody. If I don't overawe him he won't submit to me.” Like a fox pretending to be as awe-inspiring as a tiger, he made his red whiskers bristle, his bloody hair stand on end, and his eyeballs bulge in a glare. “Bring that monk in,” he roared.

“Yes sir,” the other fiends shouted in chorus, pushing Sanzang inside. As the saying goes, “You have to bow your head under low eaves,” and Sanzang was obliged to put his hands together and greet him.

“Where do you live, monk?” the monster asked. “Where have you come from, and where are you going? Tell me at once.”

“I am a priest from the Tang country, and I am going to the West on the command of His Majesty the Tang Emperor to ask for holy scriptures. As I was passing your distinguished mountain, I came over to visit the holy men of this pagoda. I did not realize that I would disturb Your Excellency, and I beg you to forgive me. When I return East with the scriptures from the West I shall see to it that your fame will be eternally celebrated.”

“I thought you must be someone from a superior country,” said the fiend, bellowing with laughter, “and as that's who you are, I'm going to eat you up. It was splendid of you to come, splendid-otherwise we might have let you slip. You were fated to be the food in my mouth, so of course you came rushing here. We'll never let you go; and you'll never escape.” Then he ordered the junior demons to tie him up. They rushed upon him and bound him tight to a soul-fixing stake.

Holding his sword in his hands, the old fiend asked, “How many of you are there altogether? You wouldn't have the guts to go to the Western Heaven all by yourself.” Eyeing the sword in his hand, Sanzang had to answer truthfully.

“I have two disciples, Your Majesty,” he said, “called Pig and Friar Sand. They have both gone begging for food outside the pine forest. Apart from them there is a load of baggage and a white horse that I left in the wood.”

“More luck!” said the fiend. “Two disciples as well makes three of you, four counting the horse, which is enough for a meal.”

“We'll go and get 'em,” the junior fiends said.

“No,” the old monster said, “don't go. Lock the front gate. As they've gone begging for food they'll have to find their master for him to eat it, and when they can't find him they're bound to come searching for him here. As the saying goes, 'it's easiest to do business at home.' Just wait and we'll catch them all in good time.” The junior demons shut the front gate.

We will leave the unlucky Sanzang and return to Friar Sand, who was now three or four miles outside the forest in his search for Pig but had not yet seen any village. As he stood on a hillock looking around him, he heard a voice in the undergrowth; and sweeping the tall grass aside with his staff, he discovered the idiot talking in his sleep. Pig woke up when Friar Sand twisted his ear. “You idiot,” said Friar Sand, “who said you could sleep here instead of begging for food as our master told you?”

Pig, waking up with a start, asked, “What's the time, brother?”

“Get up at once,” replied Friar Sand. “The master told us two to find somewhere to stay whether we can beg any food or not.”

Holding his begging bowl and his rake, the drowsy Pig headed straight back with Friar Sand, and when they looked for their master in the wood they could not see him. “It's all because you didn't come back from begging for food, you idiot,” said Friar Sand indignantly. “Master must have been carried off by an evil spirit.”

“Don't talk nonsense, brother,” replied a grinning Pig. “This forest is a very proper sort of place and couldn't possibly have any evil spirits in it. I expect the old monk got bored sitting here and went off somewhere to look around. Let's go and find him.” They took the horse's bridle, picked up the shoulder-pole with the luggage, collected Sanzang's hat and staff, and left the pine wood in search of their master.

But Sanzang was not fated to die this time. When the two had been looking for him without success for a while, they saw a shimmering golden light due South of them. “Blessed indeed are the blessed, brother;” said Pig. “Look where the master must be staying. That light is coming from a pagoda, and they would be bound to look after him well. I expect they've laid on a meal and are making him stay to eat it. Let's get a move on and have some of it ourselves.”

“It certainly can't be anything sinister,” replied Friar Sand. “We must go and have a look.”

As the pair of them arrived at the gates they found them closed. Above the gates they saw a horizontal tablet of white jade on which were carved the words MOON WATERS CAVE, BOWL MOUNTAIN.

“Brother,” said Friar Sand, “this is no temple. It's an evil spirit's cave. If our master is in there we'll never see him.”

“Never fear,” replied Pig. “Tether the horse and mind the luggage while I ask for news of him.” With that the idiot raised his rake and shouted at the top of his voice. “Open up, open up.” The junior devil who was on gate duty opened the gates, and at the sight of the pair of them he rushed inside to report, “Your Majesty, we're in business.”

“What sort of business?” the old monster asked.

“There are two monks outside the gates,” the junior demon replied. “One has a long snout and big ears and the other looks down on his luck, and they are shouting at us to open up.”

“That means Pig and Friar Sand have come looking for him,” said the old monster. “Ha! They were bound to. What brought them here? They look stupid, but I'd better treat them with respect.” He called for his armor to be put on him, and when the junior demons had brought it and fastened it on, he took his sword in his hand and marched straight out of the cave.

When Pig and Friar Sand, who were waiting outside, saw the ferocious demon come out this is what he looked like:

A blue face, a red beard, and scarlet hair blowing free;

Golden armor dazzling bright.

Around his waist was a belt of cowries,

And his armor was strapped to his chest with cloud-walking cords.

As he stood before the mountain the wind roared;

Mighty were the waves when he roamed across the seas.

A pair of indigo, muscled hands

Held a soul-chasing, life-snatching sword.

If you want to know this creature's name,

Address him as Yellow Robe.

As the old monster Yellow Robe came out through the gates he asked, “Where are you monks from, and why are you yelling at my gates?”

“Don't you recognize me, son?” said Pig. “I'm your father. I've been sent by the Great Tang on a mission to the Western Heaven. My master is Sanzang, the Emperor's younger brother. If he's here, send him out at once and save me the trouble of having to smash my way in with this rake.”

“Yes indeed,” laughed the monster, “there is a Tang Priest in my place. I haven't showed him any discourtesy, and I've laid on a meal of human flesh dumplings for him. Why don't you two come in and have some?”

The idiot would have gone in quite trustingly if Friar Sand had not held him back and said, “He's luring you in, brother. Besides, when have you ever eaten human flesh?” The idiot saw the light as last, and he struck at the evil monster's face with his rake. The monster sidestepped and parried with his steel sword. They both showed their magic powers as they leapt up on clouds to continue the fight in mid-air. Friar Sand abandoned the baggage and the white horse and rushed to Pig's aid. It was a fine battle up in the clouds between the two wolfish monks and the evil monster: