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

A desolate garden scene.”

“What are you getting so upset about?” Pig asked. “Let's get on with our bit of business.” Despite his distress Monkey remembered how in his dream the Tang Priest had been told that the well was under a plantain. As he went further he did indeed see a plantain that was most luxuriant, unlike all the other flowers and trees. Indeed:

It was a divine shoot

Born with an empty nature.

Papery strips came from every branch,

And all the leaves wrapped up fragrance.

A thousand fine stands of emerald green,

A touch of red at the heart.

It grieved in the cold of autumn rain;

It withered with fear of the autumn winds.

It was grown through the efforts of the gardener,

Raised through the Creator's work.

Wonderful its value as writing paper,

Marvellous its use for dripping water.

Would that phoenix feathers could have compared;

A phoenix tail was no match for its leaves.

When the ample dew dripped gently

The tree was lightly wreathed in mist.

Its green shade covered the window,

Its jade shadow fell on the frame.

The wild goose could not perch in its fronds,

Nor the charger be tethered to its trunk.

On a frosty day it looked withered;

It was dim in the moonlight.

It could only refresh one in summer's heat

And offer some shelter from the blazing sun.

It lacked the beauty of peach or plum,

Standing lonely to the East of the whitewashed wall.

“Set to, Pig,” said Monkey. “The treasure's buried under the plantain.” The idiot raised his rake in both hands and sent the tree crashing down. Then he rooted in with his snout to a depth of three or four feet, revealing a stone cover.

“We're in luck, brother,” exclaimed the idiot with delight. “There really is a treasure here under this stone cover. I wonder whether it's inside a jar or a box.”

“Lift the cover and we'll see,” said Monkey. With another root of his snout the idiot prized it open. There was a glow of multicolored light, and a bright, white vapor.

“We're in luck, we're in luck,” chortled Pig. “The treasure's shining.”

Going nearer for a closer look they saw that it was in fact the starlight and the moonlight reflected by the water in a well.

“Brother,” said Pig, “you ought to think ahead.”

“What do you mean, think ahead?” asked Monkey.

“This is a well,” said Pig. “If you'd told me back in the monastery that the treasure was hidden in a well I'd have brought a couple of the luggage ropes along with me and we could have worked out a way of letting me down the well. But how am I going to go down there to fetch the thing empty-handed?”

“Are you willing to go down?” Monkey asked.

“I would if I could,” said Pig, “but there's no rope.”

“Take that garment off-I know what to do,” said Monkey with a grin.

“I've got nothing good enough to be called a garment,” said Pig. “The only thing I could take off is this tunic.”

The splendid Great Sage brought out his gold-tipped cudgel, pulled it at both ends, and said, “Grow!” It grew seventy or eighty feet long. “You hold one end, Pig, and I'll lower you in,” said Monkey.

“Let me down till I reach the water, brother, and then stop,” said Pig.

“Understood,” said Monkey. As the idiot clung to the tip of the cudgel Monkey lightly lifted him up and lowered him into the well. Before long Pig had reached the water. As soon as Monkey heard him call out that he was there, Monkey thrust the cudgel down, making the idiot let go of it and tumble in with a splash.

“Heavens, I'm being murdered,” Pig mumbled in the water. “I told you not to let me go when I got to the water, but you pushed me in.”

Monkey pulled his cudgel out and asked with a laugh, “Can you find the treasure, brother?”

“What treasure?” said Pig. “There's only a wellful of water.”

“The treasure's at the bottom,” said Monkey, “so go down and have a feel around.” The idiot, who really was a good swimmer, did a surface dive and plunged down. Wow! The well was extremely deep, so he thrust himself even further down, and was suddenly gazing in astonishment at an ornamental arch on which were written the word WATER CRYSTAL PALACE.

“That's enough of this,” said Pig with horror. “I've taken the wrong turning. I must have blundered into the sea. There are water crystal palaces in the sea, but there couldn't possibly be one in a well.” What Pig did not realize was that this was the water crystal palace of the Dragon King of the Well.

As Pig was talking to himself a patrolling yaksha opened the gates and shot straight back inside again at the sight of him to report, “A disaster, Your Majesty. A monk with big ears and a long snout has just fallen into the well. He's dripping wet and stark naked. He's still alive and is talking for all he's worth.”

The news was a great shock to the Dragon King of the Well, who thought, “This must be Marshal Tian Peng. Yesterday evening the Patroller of the Night came with an edict ordering me to send the soul of the king of Wuji to visit the Tang Priest and ask that the Great Sage Equaling Heaven be sent to capture the fiend. I suppose that the Great Sage and the Marshal must be here now. I must be very polite to them and go straight out to welcome them.”

The dragon king neatened up his clothes and went out through the gates at the head of his watery tribe. “Please come in and take a seat, Marshal Tian Peng,” he called at the top of his voice.

This made Pig feel a great deal happier. “So it's an old friend,” he thought. Without any further thought the idiot went straight into the water crystal palace. He really had no sense of proper behavior, and sat, stark naked as he was, in the place of honour.

“Marshal,” said the dragon king, “I hear that you have been given a new life, been converted to the Buddhist faith, and are escorting the Tang Priest on his journey West to fetch the scriptures. What bring you here?”

“It's just as you say. My senior fellow-disciple Monkey sends his respects and has told me to come here to ask you for some kind of treasure.”

“Oh dear,” said the dragon king, “we don't have any treasure here. I'm no match for the dragon kings of the Yangtse, Yellow, Huai or Ji rivers, who can fly around, do transformations, and get treasure that way. I've been stuck here for ages, and not been able to broaden my horizons for many a long month, so how could I possibly get any treasures?”

“Stop trying to fob me off,” said Pig. “Bring out whatever you've got.”

“It's true I do have one treasure,” admitted the dragon king, “but I can't move it. Perhaps you would like to come and see it for yourself, Marshal.”

“Splendid, splendid, splendid,” said Pig. “I really must have a look.”

The idiot followed as the dragon king led the way. As they left the halls of the water crystal palace they saw a body six feet long lying in an open corridor. “There's the treasure,” said the dragon king, pointing to it. When Pig took a closer look he saw to his astonishment that it was the body of a king stretched ramrod-straight and wearing a heaven-touching crown, a robe of yellow ochre, no-worry shoes and a belt of Lantain jade.

“This is no good at all,” chuckled Pig, “no good at all. Can't call that a treasure. I remember that when I was an ogre in the mountains I often used to make a meal out of things like that. Never mind how many of them I've seen-I've eaten a lot. There's no way you could call that a treasure.”

“There are some things you don't know, Marshal,” said the dragon king. “It's the body of the king of Wuji. When he fell into the well I put a face-preserving pearl on him and he has not decomposed. If you were to carry the body up to see the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, and if it could be brought back to life, then you'd get anything you asked for, never mind just treasures.”