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

“If the prince doesn't ride out of the city, that will be that,” said Monkey, “and if he does leave the city as your dream predicted I'll definitely bring him here to see you.”

“If he does come to see me, what shall I say to him?” asked Sanzang. “I'll give you a tip-off just before he comes,” said Monkey. “I want you to open the lid of that box a little while I turn myself into a tiny monk two inches high, then take me into your hands with the scepter. When the prince comes into the monastery he's bound to worship the Buddhas. No matter how much he prostrates himself you are to pay no attention to him whatsoever. At the sight of you sitting there without moving he'll certainly have you arrested. Let him arrest you. Let him have you beaten, tied up or even killed if he likes.”

“Goodness!” exclaimed Sanzang. “With all his military authority he might really have me killed, and that would be terrible.”

“No problem,” said Monkey. “I'll be there. If things get sticky I'll look after you. If he questions you, tell him that you are the imperially commissioned monk sent from the East to go to the Western Heaven to worship the Buddha, fetch the scriptures and offer some treasures. When he asks you what treasures, tell him about the golden cassock and say, 'This is my third-grade treasure. I also have very fine treasures of the first and second grade.' When he asks you about them tell him that in this box you have a treasure that knows everything that has happened or will happen for five hundred years in the past, five hundred years in the present era, and another five hundred years after that-fifteen hundred years in all. Then let me out of the box and I'll tell the prince everything that you were told in your dream. If he believes me I'll go to capture the fiend. That will avenge his father and do our reputation a lot of good. But if he still doesn't believe you, show him the white jade scepter. My only worry is that he may be too young to remember it.”

Sanzang was delighted with Brother Monkey's suggestions. “Disciple,” he said, “this is a superb plan. When I talk about my three treasures I can call one of them the golden cassock and another the white jade scepter. But what shall I call the one you turn yourself into?”

“Call it the King-maker,” said Monkey. Sanzang committed his instructions to memory. There was no way that the master and his disciples were going to sleep that night as they waited for the dawn. They only wished that by giving a nod they could make the sun rise, and blow away all the stars in the sky with a puff of breath.

Before long the Eastern sky did grow lighter. Monkey gave his parting instructions to Pig and Friar Sand: “You mustn't disturb the monks or go rushing wildly about the place. As soon as we've succeeded in our mission we'll continue on the journey with you.” No sooner had he taken his leave of them than he leapt up into mid-air with a whistling somersault. As he gazed due West with his fiery eyes he did indeed see the city. You may wish to ask how this was possible. We were told before that the city was only some fifteen miles away, so he would have been able to see it from that great height.

Brother Monkey went for a close look and saw thick clouds of demoniacal fog hanging over it, as well as an abundance of evil winds and vapors of injustice. Up in the air Monkey sighed and said,

“Auspicious light would shine all around

If a true monarch now sat on the throne.

But black vapors hang over the gates of the palace

Now that a fiend has made it his own.”

As he was sighing Monkey heard the clear report of a cannon. The Eastern gate of the city opened, and out poured a column of people and horses. It was indeed an impressive hunting party:

Leaving the Forbidden City at dawn,

They fan out into the bush,

Their coloured flags bright in the sun,

White horses galloping into the wind.

Alligator-skin drums pound

As fencing spears clash together.

Ferocious the corps of falconers,

Martial the masters of the bounds.

Cannons shake the heavens,

While sticky-poles gleam red in the sun.

Each man carries a crossbow;

Everyone has a bow at his waist.

The nets are spread at the foot of the hills,

And snares are set along the paths.

With a noise more frightening than thunder

A thousand horsemen surround a bear.

The cunning hare cannot save itself,

And the crafty river-deer is at its wit's end.

The foxes are fated to meet their doom,

And death now faces the roebuck.

The mountain pheasant cannot fly away,

Nor can its cousin on the plain escape.

They have taken over the mountains to catch wild beasts,

And are destroying the forests to shoot the flying birds.

After they all left the city they ambled through the Eastern outskirts and before long they were on high ground some six miles away where there was a military encampment. There was a very short general wearing a helmet, a breast plate, a sash round his waist, and eighteen metal plates. He held a blue-edged sword and sat astride a yellow charger. At his waist hung a ready-strung bow. Indeed:

He was the image of a monarch,

With an emperor's noble visage.

His manners were not those of a petty man;

He moved like a true dragon.

As Brother Monkey looked down from mid-air he was delighted. “It goes without saying that he must be the crown prince. I think I'll play a trick on him.” The splendid Great Sage brought his cloud down to land and charged straight through the soldiers till he was before the crown prince's horse. Then he shook himself and turned himself into a white hare that started to run around frantically in front of the prince's horse, to the delight of the prince when he spotted it. Fastening an arrow to his bow, he drew it and hit the hare with his first shot.

Now the Great Sage had deliberately made the prince hit him, and with the quickness of his hand and eye he caught the arrowhead, dropped its feathers on the ground beside him, and started to run. Seeing his arrow hit the jade rabbit, the crown prince gave his horse its head and galloped ahead of the field in pursuit. He did not notice that when his horse galloped fast Monkey went like the wind, and that when the horse slowed down Monkey slowed down too, keeping only a little distance ahead. Watch as he leads the prince for mile after mile until he has lured him to the entrance of the Precious Wood Monastery. Here Monkey turned back into himself. The hare was no longer to be seen. There was only an arrow stuck into the lintel. Monkey rushed inside and told the Tang Priest, “He's here, Master, he's here.” Then with another transformation he turned himself into a tiny monk only two inches tall and squeezed into the red box.

Having chased the jade here as far as the monastery entrance the prince was most surprised when it disappeared and all that could be seen was an arrow fletched with vulture feathers stuck in the lintel.

“That's odd,” he exclaimed, “very odd indeed. I'm quite sure that I hit the jade here. It can't have disappeared, leaving only my arrow here. I suppose that over the years the here must have become a spirit.” Pulling his arrow out he saw the words ROYALLY FOUNDED PRECIOUS WOOD MONASTERY written large over the entrance.

“I remember,” he said to himself. “Some years ago when my father was in the palace's throne hall he sent officials with gifts of money and silk for the monks here to build a Buddha hall with Buddha statues. I didn't expect to come here today; but, as they say,

To hear the monk's words when you pass a shrine

Is half a day's rest from the vanity of life.”

The crown prince dismounted and was just on the point of going inside when his personal guards and the three thousand horsemen galloped up in a great crowd, all pushing and shoving to get into the monastery. Deeply alarmed, the monks all came out to kowtow in greeting and lead the prince into the monastery's main hall, where he worshipped the statues of Buddhas. When he raised his head to look around before taking a stroll along the cloisters to see the sights he noticed a monk sitting right in the middle of the hall. “What effrontery!” he exclaimed. “I, the crown prince, have come to visit this monastery in person today, and although the monks did not have to travel to meet me as they were not notified by royal decree, this monk should at least have got up when I arrived with all my army. How dare he carry on sitting there?” He then ordered that the monk be arrested.